1 The Rhinoceros

"Your highness?" An older man in a black suit and tie wearing white gloves and a tall black top hat gently coughed into his fist, "Your highness, we have to be going now. The cemetery gates will be closing in a quarter-hour."

A young lady wearing a black veil and long black dress with hoop skirt slowly rose to her feet and softly replied, "Buttersworth, contact my uncle. I am ready to respond to his offer."

The older man looked slightly surprised, "As you command, highness." He held out his white-gloved hand and led her up the stairs of her carriage. He gently closed the door and then instructed the driver to head to the palace before taking his own seat beside the young lady in the carriage.

The ornate carriage was white with gold embossing, lead by a team of four white horses that looked more like show horses than a carriage horse. the carriage moved quickly yet at a pace that allowed those inside of the carriage to sit in relative comfort. On the door of the carriage was a red seal with a gold lion's head. The young lady inside of the carriage looked out the window not willing to look in the direction of the older man.

The older man sat in silence until they passed through the large gates of the palace. Once inside the gate, the carriage came to a stop, and then the driver opened the door and said in a deep gravel-like voice, "M'lord, Prince Andrew's office." He bowed deeply and extended his arm in the direction of a tall stone tower just inside the palace wall.

"Take her to the small guest residence." He looked into the carriage and smiled smugly before motioning with his hand for the carriage to leave. As the carriage started to roll away, he turned and headed into the stone tower.

The road from the main gate to the inner residences passed through a small town and then out into an open training ground used by the palace guard and the royal knights. The young lady found herself gazing out at an odd site, three young men in brown suits with tall brown top hats were working a strange contraption that looked a bit like a solid metal carriage without horses. Twin pipes pointed up about twenty feet in the air billowing out black coal smoke. The strange metal carriage started to move slowly forward before a loud bang sounded and then a cloud of white smoke shot into the air with a loud whistling sound the men in brown coats looked incredibly stressed. The captain of the palace guard started to laugh loudly while two other top royal knights merely shook their heads and walked away.

The young lady slid open the small window to the carriage driver and said, "Stop the carriage." She quickly hopped out of the carriage even before it fully stopped and walked over to the group of men and the strange metal carriage.

The two knights immediately dropped to a knee and the captain of the palace guard placed a closed fist over his heart while standing straight at attention as the three military men said loudly, "Your Highness." The three men in brown coats looked as if they were going to be sick. Almost visibly shaking before they too dropped down to a knee.

She walked a circle around the vehicle and then asked, "What do you call it?"

One of the young men in a brown suit stammered out, "W-well, we call it the Rhinoceros. It's meant to charge through men and horses on the battlefield."

They couldn't see her face behind the black veil so they couldn't decide what she was thinking as she reached her hand out near the white smoke leaking from a split in the side of a metal cylinder, "You use steam to power it?"

One of the other men in brown replied swiftly, "Uh, yes, that's right... your highness?"

She tilted her head before saying, "You need too much pressure to move such a heavy thing, the metal failed to hold it, yet it barely moved. This is a design failure. Are you here to impress the military with an untested design or are you here because you have no more money to construct a prototype?"

The three men stared at her unwilling to answer. One of the knights spoke up, "Your highness, these men are here today to sell us this... Thing. They claimed it would be able to move at the speed of a charging horse for as much time as it could carry coal and water."

One of the men cried out, "It can! We just didn't account for the soft ground. Our testing was done on metal rails!"

The young lady walked around it once more, "How much?"

The knight shook his head and laughed, "They were asking for one hundred thousand Sprite." He waved his hand at it and said, "Looking at the material cost here, we judged it's value if working at to be no more than ten thousand Sprite."

The young lady turned to the men in brown and asked, "The rail system you mentioned, how much would it cost to lay enough to cover a city the size of the palace? Say, in four directions from the center of the city as well as around the edges?"

The men turned to each other and started to mumble to each other with a voice growing loud every so often. Finally one of the young men, spoke out, "If the labor were provided by the purchaser, we could build such a line for five hundred thousand Sprite."

"Interesting. As you know, my Mother and Father have just passed. My uncle will now assume the throne and I am to renounce my royal title and in exchange receive a large sum of money and a small city of my own to run as I see fit. I am interested in your Rhinoceros. In three days' time when I am... Granted... My own city, I would like to see you again." She turned to the Captain of the Palace guard, "Will you make the arrangements for us?"

The Captain gave a stiff fist over heart salute and then nodded, "As you command your highness."

The young lady turned and climbed back on to the carriage. A few moments later the carriage had resumed its steady pace over the palace road out to the small guest residence.

*****

"Old Buttersworth, I hope you are here with good news. The coronation is set for five days from now and I had the expectation that she would be dealt with yesterday." A tall blond man wearing a dark purple cape off the shoulder of his dark purple suit was holding a glass of red wine. He stood facing an ornate fireplace in a large room with books lining the shelves on the wall, a large oak desk off to his right while to his left stood a large sand table.

Buttersworth walked up to a place some twelve feet away and then dropped to one knee, "Your majesty, as you have instructed I have counseled the Princess to accept the offer. While she does wish to claim the throne for her parents, she has never truly cared for politics or the courts. Her mind is only on that science the old tutor convinced her would be the future. Her heart and mind belong to that city of inventors, Connaissance."

The tall blond man slowly turned to Buttersworth and stated in an emotionless tone, "You are certain that news of the actions I took to deal with Connaissance has not yet reached the girl's ears?"

With his eyes focused on the floor, Buttersworth replied calmly, "Your majesty, as you have instructed, I have kept the Princess isolated from all but myself and a few trusted maids. To her knowledge, the city of Connaissance should be the center for learning this... Science, untouched in its isolated valley."

The tall blond man gave a nod and then slowly turned and walked up to his sand table, "This, science, is interesting but impractical. The use of boiled water to create machines that replace human and animal labor will never catch on. The church has even considered calling it heresy and allowing the inquisition to terminate it. The costs far outweigh the benefits. I allowed that girl to be taught this science to keep her distracted while I pulled the important strings. I should just have her killed at once to avoid this headache, but I made that promise to my sister to keep her safe." He sighed softly and then took a long drink from his glass of wine, "Giving her that city and enough money to live a wealthy life is fulfilling my promise to her mother."

Buttersworth added, "Your majesty, the Princess only bade me inform you that she would be responding to your offer."

The tall blond man turned and glared at the old man, "You don't know if she will accept?"

Buttersworth swallowed and then replied calmly, "I believe she will accept."

"You believe. You believe she will accept. So you don't truly know?" The prince turned and threw his wine glass into the fireplace causing it to shatter loudly, "Old Buttersworth if you have failed, your family will follow you in death. Bring that brat to my residence this evening, we will complete this business after dinner."

"Yes, your majesty." Buttersworth rose to his feet and then swiftly made his exit.

The tall blond man watched as the old man swiftly left the room. Once he was gone a dark and raspy voice spoke out, "Andrew, you must make sure the girl signs that document. Without that renouncement, you can't become king."

"Yes father, your child understands."

The dark raspy voice spoke out once more, "It is stupid to keep that promise with your sister, you must eliminate the girl before she has children. Even if she herself has no desire for the throne, you can't be certain that a gifted son won't come along looking for your head."

"My promise to my sister was only for her daughter. It doesn't extend to her family."

A hollow cackle filled the room before the dark and raspy voice continued, "You are ignorant Andrew, you may have smashed that city of science but that doesn't mean you aren't giving that girl exactly what she needs to rise from the ashes of her father's legacy. Kill her now and be done with it."

"Father, have some faith in your son, I know what I am doing. William's legacy ended with his death and the death of my sister. My niece will live quietly in her mountain city spending her days chasing after the impossible dream of science."

The dark raspy voice sounded out, "Fool, my son is an ignorant fool."

"A fool? You call me a fool, but did you ever take the throne? Were you the kingdom's champion? Did you ever accomplish even a tenth of what I have? Father, I understand your concerns, but my honor as a knight comes before your petty schemes. I swore to keep that girl safe and safe she shall be, even if I have to cut loose ends here in my own castle."

"You dare threaten your own father?" The dark raspy voice hissed.

"My own beloved sister lost her life to my sword, do you think that slicing the neck of my father is too hard for me?"