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I wrote:
When we return to Riaghalbane we will send men.
Under that, without really keeping a good format — I was disappointed in myself — I wrote:
We, the Princess Alexandria and her husband, Torin, support your fight against the English.
I put the pen down, then I pushed it forward. “This is yours..” Then I said, “This is it, right, that’s all?” I kept my eyes down on the table. Trying to ignore all the stuff around us.
Douglas and the king whispered, then Niall asked, “What is in the chest?”
The whole time I pulled it over, my mind was racing, how would I get out of this? I was about to introduce a drone to Robert the Bruce.
“Torin, is it okay if I show them?”
Niall said, “Perhaps Torin ought tae show us?”
He shook his head, “Nae, she can show ye.”
“If I do, you will let us go?”
Douglas said, “Ye haena convinced us yet.”
“Oh.” I looked down at my half-baked treaty. “This isn’t enough?”
The king said, “Tis a pledge, not a promise.”
Niall said, “We hae heard promises before, Princess, we hae stood at the edge of a battle waitin’ on armies that never arrived.”
Douglas said, “Aye.”
I said, “Well, um, my things are—”
Douglas said, “Our things. This all belongs tae us, as yer husband was treasonous, and these are his belongings. Ye seem tae believe ye are making a treaty with us, but we are inclined tae put ye both in the dungeon. Nae one would ken. Yer kingdom is a great distance away. Ye are here at the king’s permission, he may decide tae withdraw it. We could hae ye charged with conspiring tae overthrow our kingdom, working for a foreign prince. Twould be a lot less trouble.”
The king said, “But I am not certain that is the best way.”
Douglas said, “Tis the simplest way.”
I was so scared I was trembling and there was that familiar roar in my ears.
I gulped, and blinked tears.
Douglas was an ass.
Niall said, “Ye daena need tae frighten her, let us behave civilly tae the princess. Her offer of men and weapons in our war against the English is helpful. We could sign the treaty and we will hae the men we need tae secure the borderlands.”
I looked up at the king, “Please, Sire, I beg of you. Let us go. It will be better to make an ally. We do have family, they will come looking for us. The king will be furious if we are mistreated.”
Niall said, “Shew him what is in the chest.”
Dude was sitting on it, daintily licking a paw and washing his face.
“Fine.” I wiped my eyes, shooed the cat off, flicked the clasps, and opened the hard top. Inside was the drone, nestled in black foam. It didn’t have weapons, this one was for spying.
The men all looked shocked.
“This is called a drone. I’m not that good…” I placed the drone, which was about twelve inches square, on the table. It took me a second to get the controller to turn on, but finally the drone spluttered shakily up into the air, and hovered before crashing to the table. I glanced up from where I had been concentrating on the screen to see all three of them had backed away.
