Chapter 8: Kidnapped

About a month after the sand fury fiasco, Queen Rheesa was sitting back on her throne.  Another wearisome day in court and she was already itching to get out again.  She let out a heavy sigh. She only got to see Ben every few nights when he would come by to make sure she slept.  With herself on the throne and Ben helping Walter train soldiers, it left little time for the two lovers to spend together.  Rheesa began to nod off after the last group of nobles left the audience room.

"Princess."

The blond man's voice startled her, making her jerk her head up, "What?  What is it?  More nobles?" she asked.

"Haha, no.  That's all there was today.  Out last night?" Ben chuckled.

"Yeah, I finally figured something out too.  You know where Barlos is getting all those orders from?  Me.  The crown.  I have somehow ended up working for myself." Rheesa joined in.  Ben smiled and leaned over, suddenly picking her up, "Hey, woah!"

"Where to, queenie?  The kitchens?  The gardens?  Or perhaps you'd like to retire to your chambers?" he joked.

"My rooms, please, oh valiant soldier." Rheesa said.  Ben carried her up the stairs, ignoring the maids who snickered and giggled as they went by.  He set her down on the couch and situated himself beside her.  Rheesa stretched and lay down, using his lap as a pillow.

"Comfy?"

"Very much so." she smiled back.

"Would my Queen like some refreshments, as well?" he asked.

"Kiss-ass."

"Ooh, gladly!" the blond chuckled and moved to shift her.

"Ben!"  Rheesa blushed madly and pushed him away, laughing.  Just then, there was a swift knock on the door and Hobson strode in.

"Erm, my Queen..."  He finally noticed the two of them, "I can return at another time...?"  Rheesa set up quickly and smoothed out her clothing.

"No, now's fine.  What is it?" she asked.

"Erm, there is actually a visitor for Mr. Finn...  A woman, to be precise."  Rheesa glanced at Ben, who shook his head as if to say, 'Whatever it was, I didn't do it!', "She said to tell you that she was the 'wife of a certain Finn'." Hobson continued.  Ben's eyes widened.

"Anna...!" he whispered.

"Hobson, have her brought to the throne room." Rheesa ordered, after waiting a minute for Ben to say more.  Hobson bowed and scurried out, "Ben...?"  The queen placed her hand over his, "I can send her away if you don't want to see her...?"

"No, I... I have to make sure it's her!" he finally responded.  He stood and took Rheesa's hand.  Together, they went down to the throne room.

"Send her in."

The guards opened the door and a woman walked timidly in.  She wore a heavy cloak with the hood obscuring her face.  Ben stepped down the dais, to put himself in between Rheesa and the woman.  As soon as she saw him, she threw back her hood, "Ben!"  She ran forward, her strikingly red curls bouncing as she hugged the soldier fiercely.

"Anna!  I-I don't believe it!" Ben stammered.

"Dear Avo, Ben, you've grown so much!" 'Anna' cried.

"Anna, I-"

"Ahem!" Rheesa interrupted, "Care to introduce me, love?"  Anna flushed and dropped to her knees, bowing as low as she could.  Ben laughingly got her back on her feet.

"Of course, Anna, this is the Queen of Albion, Rheesa Black, the most wonderful woman I have ever met.  Rheesa, this is Annabelle Finn, my sister-in-law."

Rheesa's posture instantly relaxed.  Though she had been trying to give Ben the benefit of the doubt, she had still been nervous that this 'Anna' had been some former lover of his or something like that, "Please, Mrs. Finn, there is no need to act so formal.  Any family of Ben's is very welcome in my home."

"Ha!  You might regret saying that." Ben chuckled.

"Th-Thank you, your majesty."  Anna bowed again slightly then turned to Ben, "Benjamin Finn, just what did you do to be such good friends with the Queen?"

"Haha, oh I've missed you, Anna.  But... I thought you escaped somewhere, to start again?" Ben said, gently.  The woman averted her eyes.

"I- I did, but then... Oh, Ben, they took him!  They somehow found me and took him!" Anna broke down, sobbing.

"They?"  He knelt beside her, "Took who, Anna?"

"They took Quentin!"  Ben froze.

"Anna... Quentin...  He's dead, Anna.  You know that.  You were there!" he said, a pained look on his face.

"No, no, my son!" she exclaimed, "That man from before, Ferret, he found me and took my boy!"

"Nigel Ferret?" Rheesa asked.  Anna looked up in surprise, having momentarily forgotten that Rheesa had been there, and nodded, "That bastard...  Page warned me about him a few days ago.  I was going to take care of him tonight... Damn, I should have done something sooner!"

"Anna, you never told me you had a son!" Ben said.

"He was born after I left... I- I couldn't just come back, I was on the run.  Quentin-your brother- had mentioned me to the debt collectors and they came after me, after he died.  Apparently that wasn't enough for them."

"Why didn't you tell me!?" the soldier demanded.

"You were a boy!  A boy who had just seen his brother murdered, I couldn't put that on you!" she cried.

"Still..."  Ben fell into silence.

"Do you know where they are keeping your son?" Rheesa asked.  She had just transported back from the Sanctuary, having changed into more flexible clothing and grabbed her weapons.  Anna blinked, for a moment in confusion, "Mrs. Finn!"

"O-oh yes, here."  She drew a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Rheesa, "I found this when I returned home.  I didn't know who else to turn to, but you, Ben.  I had heard you were a captain in the royal army so I thought if I came here, someone could point me to you."  Ben looked questioningly at Rheesa, who nodded.

"We'll get him back, I promise."

Rheesa strode to the door, "Hobson!" she called, "I want a guard assigned to Mrs. Finn, she is a personal friend and I would see her treated as such.  I'm going out."  She turned to Ben and held out her hand.  Ben gave Anna a quick, reassuring hug and followed Rheesa.  As soon as he grasped her hand the two of them vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Had Ben not been so worried about his newly discovered nephew he would have been awed by the Sanctuary.  Rheesa snapped into action, handing him the ransom note, "That note specifies Industrial.  Now, I can't go there unless I'm one of two very definitive people.  The Queen of Albion, or Finn Grace."  She moved into the dressing room, and changed behind a screen, "So, if Cairn sees us, the story is that you heard about me from the guard and hired me to help you get your nephew back, got it?"  He nodded, "Good, now let's go."

She zeroed in on a deserted alleyway on the map that was in the center room.  All of a sudden, they were there.  The two of them followed the directions on the note and, not surprisingly, ran smack into Cairn on the way.

"Finn!?" he exclaimed.

Damn. "Cairn!" Rheesa answered.

"What are you... hey that's th' guy that was asking about ya before!"

"Um... Yeah, look, I don really have much time to explain, I'll- I'll explain tonight, 'kay?"  Rheesa began to walk past him, praying desperately that he would just let it go.  Of course, he didn't.

"No, whate'er it is that yer doin', I'm comin' too!"  Rheesa glanced at Ben, who shrugged.

"Oh, fine.  We'll explain on the way, come on!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yer after Nigel Ferret!?"

"Ssssh!  Yes, Ferret took Mr. Black, here's, nephew.  He hired me to help him get the boy back." Rheesa lied, using her own last name instead of Ben's.

"You get yerself into th' weirdest situations, Finn..." Cairn sighed.

"Yeah, tell me about it.  Anyway, this should be th' place."  They approached the door of one of the row houses across from the Orphanage.  Kicking it, Rheesa shouted, "Nigel Ferret?  We're here regardin' Quentin! Open up!"

The door creaked open and the man who opened it grunted and pointed to the hatch in the back of the room.  The group followed him down into the sewers, where Ferret was waiting, surrounded by a group of mercenaries.

"Well, well, well.  If I didn't know better I'd say you were the younger brother of the man who owes me quite a bit of coin." Ferret identified Ben.

"Apparently so much so that when he dies you go after his widow and her son?" Ben snapped.

"Give us the boy, Ferret." Rheesa demanded.

"I don't think so, lovey.  Lads, perform the specific services for which I employ you.  Expeditiously."  The man sneered.  His men just looked at him dumbly, "Kill them! Fast!"

He retreated behind a door and a few minutes later sat cowering at the head of Ben's rifle.

"Where. Is. Quentin?" Ben asked, menacingly.

"He-he's not here, all right?  The thing is he's actually not on the premises, exactly, at the present time.  He's incarcerated within a nearby... facility, shall we say.  That access hatch will provide you with... well, access." Ferret explained.

Rheesa drew her pistol and trained it on the man, "You two go and get him.  I'll stay."

"No," both Ben and Cairn said at the same time.  They glanced at each other for a second then back at Rheesa, "Not alone!" Ben continued.

"I'm more than just a girl.  I'm Finn Grace." she said, attempting to console Cairn while implying to Ben that she was also a Hero, "I think I can manage watching one person.  Go."

Ben smiled apologetically and grabbed Cairn, cutting off all of the man's protests.  They disappeared down the hatch and Rheesa turned her attention back to Ferret.

'Jasper,' she called through the Guild Seal, 'Contact Walter and Page and have them get a few men down here to take Nigel Ferret into custody.'

'At once, Madam.' came the reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the castle, having made their excuses to Cairn, Rheesa and Ben delivered Quentin back to his mother's arms.  Anna decided to stay in Bowerstone after hearing Nigel Ferret was behind bars and the two of them spent a few nights in the castle while Anna looked for a job in the market.

Rheesa retired back to her room and flopped on the couch unceremoniously.  Fairly soon she began to hear whispers coming from outside her door, she couldn't tell what they were saying but she thought she heard at least Walter and Page's voices.  Then; there was a bang, followed by silence.  She was just about to get up to go check when she heard someone shush them and whoever it was knocked on the door.  When she opened it, the only person standing there was Ben.  She glanced around in confusion, I could have sworn I heard those two...  Huh.  I must be going crazy. she thought.  Looking up at Ben, "What is it?  Come in."

He seemed... actually nervous.  He held one hand behind his back and scratched his head with the other.  Rheesa had never seen him nervous around her before, "Princess." he said, greeting her.

"What's gotten into you, Ben?  What do you have in your hand?"  She tried to reach around behind him and get whatever it was.  He held her back and chuckled.

"Okay, hang on.  Let me at least try to do this like I practiced." he began, "I wanted... I wanted to thank you.  For helping Anna.  I couldn't have done it without you.  So, thank you."  Rheesa smiled and was expecting him to hand her the assumed gift that he was hiding, but his hand didn't move.

"You're... welcome?  Ben, I would help you no matter what." she said.  The soldier shut his eyes and took a deep breath.  All of a sudden, he dropped to one knee.

"Rheesa Black, Princess, Queen, the most amazing woman in my life, I would do anything for you."  His hand came around and held a tiny box.  Opening it, he continued, "Will you marry me?"