13 Day War (32 page)

“I did not come here today to be shouted at as if I were some young lad who stole something from the pantry,” yelled Tedi’s father. “We are supposed to be advising the King of Alcea, but it appears that the king has no need of our thoughts. I will take it no longer. I resign from the Council of Advisors effective immediately.”

Lord Markel’s face was bright red, and Alex knew that the man had reached the limits of his endurance. The noble bowed sharply to the king and strode angrily towards the door. As he passed by the king, Arik’s hand streaked out and grabbed Lord Markel by the tunic. The king lifted Tedi’s father off the floor, and shoved him into the wall. Books flew from the shelves as Lord Markel’s body hit the wall.

“He does not know his own strength,” Alex said to Prince Oscar with a sense of urgency. “He’ll kill Alan. I do not know what will happen to me, but do whatever you have to do to keep Arik inside the palace today.”

Prince Oscar opened his mouth to ask Alex what he was going to do, but the answer became immediately obvious. Alex ran towards the king. He leaped onto a table and dove across the room, wrapping his arms around the king and immobilizing him. Alex and Arik bounced off the wall and tumbled to the floor. Lord Markel fell on top of them and quickly rolled away. Alex lay on top of the king, and Arik’s hands were pinned underneath him. The king tried to buck the Knight of Alcea off his back, but he could not.

“Lie still, Arik,” grunted Alex. “I am not trying to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” spat the king. “As soon as I get up, you are going to wish you had stayed in Sordoa.”

The Council of Advisors collectively gasped as Alex tackled the king and held him to the floor. For a moment, no one moved or spoke. Eventually, Alan Markel rose to his feet, his hands trembling.

“Do not endanger yourself on my behalf, Alex,” the noble said shakily. “Alcea needs you right now. The dungeons do not.”

“Enough, Alex,” pleaded General Gregor. “Let the king up.”

Theos watched everyone with an uneasy feeling. While he had held a magical shield around the King of Alcea during his entire time in the library, it was clear that a simple physical attack had made his efforts worthless. He dropped the spell, as he wondered if he should intervene and remove Alex from his position on top of the king. The Knight of Alcea was not attacking King Arik. He was only holding him down, and he had not made a move towards a weapon. The Tyronian mage stood undecided.

The commotion had been loud, and the noise had not been contained in the library. The Red Swords that had been standing guard outside the library opened the door and charged into the room. They halted just inside the door as their eyes took in the scene. Alex saw the Red Swords enter, and he released the king and rose to his feet. King Arik pushed himself off the floor and leaped to his feet. His face was distorted with anger as he pulled the Sword of Heavens free from its sheath. Alex knew that he could not defend himself against the king without the Red Swords attacking, and he was not about to shed friendly blood to save himself. He immediately dropped to one knee before the king and bowed his head, putting his faith in King Arik. He could not have picked a worse time to have such faith in the Alcean king. King Arik raised the Sword of Heavens high over his head and brought it down with a vengeance.

Alex heard the shouted warnings and cries of protest. He looked up with confusion as he saw the king bringing down the Sword of Heavens. He closed his eyes and silently bid Jenneva farewell, but the blow never struck him. Instead he heard the clanging of a sword falling to the floor followed closely by the thud of a body. Alex opened his eyes and stared at the body of King Arik.

“Take Alex to the dungeons,” ordered General Gregor, “and get a healer in here immediately.”

The Red Swords stepped forward and seized Alex by his arms. The Knight of Alcea offered no resistance as they dragged him to his feet and marched him out of the room. Konic Clava raced out of the room to get a healer.

“This meeting is over,” announced Prince Oscar. “Everyone should leave the library now.”

The advisors filed out of the room until only Prince Oscar and Theos were left. The prince stared at the Tyronian mage as if to ask if he had heard the order given to clear the room. Theos did not notice. His eyes were focused on one of the library shelves searching for something.

“What is going on?” the mage asked suspiciously.

“You should leave now,” repeated Prince Oscar. “The king no longer needs any magical protection. If you are concerned about the king…”

“I am not concerned for the king’s well being,” Theos said calmly. “I have been a victim of that spell myself. Where is the fairy, and what is going on?”

Prince Oscar moved quickly to close the door and then returned to the king’s side. He looked Theos in the eye and sighed.

“The king was going to kill Alex,” explained Prince Oscar. “It would have been foolish not to stop it.”

“If you had not dropped your magical shield,” chirped Prince Midge as he moved from behind a book on one of the bookshelves, “a Knight of Alcea would have died here today. Why did you not put a physical shield around Alex to prevent his death? You saw what was happening.”

Theos frowned at the question. It was a valid one, and the Tyronian mage examined his own actions, or lack of action. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I thought about removing Alex from on top of the king, but I chose not to interfere as it appeared that no harm would come to the king. Perhaps I should have reevaluated things when the king became aggressive.”

“The king has been aggressive all day,” retorted Prince Midge. “There is something wrong with him. I am worried.”

“How do you mean?” asked Theos.

“Arik and Alex have always been quite close,” Prince Oscar replied. “It is unthinkable that either of them would hurt the other.”

“But Alex did attack the king,” frowned Theos. “Are they both mad?”

“Alex stopped the king from killing Tedi’s father,” stated Prince Oscar. “Arik may not have intended to hurt Alan, but he sometimes forgets how strong he is. That is all Alex tried to do.”

Theos nodded with understanding. “I have been impressed with both Alex and King Arik, but I guess that I don’t really know either one of them very well. I did not realize that the king was acting uncommonly strange.”

“Well, he is,” declared Prince Oscar. “I think for now it might be better for everyone if it was not discovered that Prince Midge put the king to sleep. In Arik’s current mood, that might cause a rift between him and the fairy people, and we have too many rifts as it is.”

“How will you explain the king’s fainting?” asked Theos.

“I will have him carried to his bed and let a healer examine him,” smiled Prince Oscar. “He will be declared healthy and then go about his business. Nothing could be simpler.”

“What about his address to the people?” asked the mage.

“That will not occur today,” answered Prince Oscar. “In fact, it must not. Until we can determine what is truly wrong with Arik, we must keep him from creating more disharmony.”

“I feel uncomfortable with this,” admitted Theos. “We are manipulating the King of Alcea, and it is not our place to do so. He may make mistakes, but it is his province to do so, not ours.”

“We are not trying to take authority away from the king,” stated Prince Oscar. “We are trying to save his life.”

“Are you saying that the king’s life is in danger?” asked Theos.

“Absolutely,” replied Prince Oscar. “I do not know the nature of his sudden irritability, but it is affecting many people in the city right now. Whatever it is, it is not natural.”

Theos raised an eyebrow and suddenly seemed lost in thought. Before more could be said, the door opened. Queen Tanya and Jenneva entered the library with Red Swords behind them. The queen ran to Arik’s side. Jenneva moved slowly to let the queen arrive first.

“What happened here?” asked the queen.

“Let the Red Swords carry the king to his chambers,” suggested Prince Oscar. “I will accompany you and explain what I can on the way there.”

Seeing that the king was alive with no visible wounds, the queen nodded and rose to her feet. Jenneva narrowed her eyes and looked around the room, pausing as her gaze fell on Prince Oscar, Prince Midge, and finally, Theos. Oscar realized that Jenneva suspected foul play, but she said nothing. The Red Swords hurried across the room and two of them lifted King Arik and carried him out of the library. The queen frowned as she bent down and picked up the Sword of Heavens.

“Start your telling, Prince Oscar,” demanded the queen.

Prince Oscar told Tanya what had happened, only leaving out the fact that Prince Midge had cast a sleep spell on the king to save Alex’s life.

“I don’t know what is wrong with him today,” sighed the queen. “He was fine when he woke up, but by the time we reached the library, he was looking for a fight. I have never seen him like this before.”

The queen followed the Red Swords into the king’s chambers, but Jenneva stopped short of entering. She reached out and placed her hand on Prince Oscar’s arm to stop him outside the door.

“I do not know what game the three of you are playing,” she said softly, “but I have been up all night tending to the sick, and I need to get back to it as soon as possible. In the meantime, I need sleep. Now, tell me honestly, are my healing skills needed inside the king’s chambers?”

Prince Oscar shook his head and nodded towards Prince Midge on his shoulder. Jenneva shook her head, her lips pressed firmly together in a show of displeasure.

“Why?” she asked.

“To save Alex,” Prince Midge frowned. “I would have thought you would have been pleased that I kept him alive.”

“Arik would never hurt Alex,” retorted Jenneva, “and you know that, Prince Midge.”

“Arik would have killed Alex,” Prince Oscar said seriously. “Prince Midge did indeed save Alex’s life.”

Jenneva’s face clouded with concern. “Where is Alex?”

“General Gregor had him taken to the dungeons,” answered Theos. “He had, after all, attacked the king.”

“Get him out,” demanded Jenneva.

“I cannot,” replied Prince Oscar. “No doubt General Gregor informed the dungeon guards of the offense committed. They will only release him on the king’s orders. That is the law for an attack on the king’s body.”

“Oh, bother,” scowled Jenneva. “Come with me, Midge.”

Jenneva turned abruptly and entered the king’s chambers. Prince Midge darted from Prince Oscar’s shoulder to Jenneva’s shoulder just before she slammed the door shut. The queen looked up with a shocked expression.

“General Gregor has imprisoned Alex for attacking the king,” scowled Jenneva. “I will have no harm come to my husband, Tanya. Do you understand me?”

“He is my father, Mother,” frowned the queen. “I would not let anything happen to him. I will have him released immediately.”

“Prince Oscar says that only the king can have him released,” retorted Jenneva, “and frankly, Tanya, I do not trust Arik to do that, at least not in his current state of mind.”

Queen Tanya frowned and she opened her mouth to respond, but Jenneva gave her no opportunity.

“And before you say that Arik would not harm Alex, I just learned that the king tried to kill Alex in the library.”

“Who said such a thing?”

“Prince Oscar,” answered Jenneva, “and Prince Midge and Theos agree with his assessment. If you still have doubts, there were plenty of other people in the library.”

“What is going on, Mother?”

“I don’t know,” answered Jenneva, “but I am dead on my feet. I need sleep desperately, but I will not sleep if there is even a chance that harm will come to Alex. I need a solemn promise from you, Tanya.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to let Prince Midge keep Arik asleep until I wake up,” answered Jenneva. “That is the only way that I can be sure that Alex will still be alive.”

“Keep Arik asleep?” frowned the queen. “What do you mean by that? Is he not ill?”

“Tell her, Midge.”

The fairy prince squirmed on Jenneva’s shoulder, but the queen’s demanding stare required him to answer.

“I put the Bringer to sleep to stop him from killing Alex,” confessed Prince Midge. “It was the only thing I could think of.”

Queen Tanya sighed deeply and shook her head. “All right,” she agreed. “I will let Prince Midge keep Arik asleep, but things are getting way out of control around here. Mother, you will come here as soon as you wake up and then we will all discuss this problem.”

* * * *

As the 21
^st
Corps of Spino marched northward along the Toulane River in Sordoa, a corporal rubbed his eyes and glanced once more at the ridge to his west. He thought he had seen the sun glint off of something metal, and he searched the ridge to find it again. When he did find it again, he gasped and his step faltered. The man behind the corporal bumped into him and the column began to unravel. Shouts and curses alerted the squad leader of a problem, and Sergeant Turang stepped out of the column.

“Chitor, out!” shouted the sergeant. “The rest of you close up the column.”

The corporal stepped out of the column and strode dutifully towards the sergeant.

“What is your problem, Chitor? Is walking too difficult for you? Should I ask General Ritka to let you use his horse?”

“I am sorry, Sergeant,” apologized the corporal, “but we have problems.”

“You have problems,” scowled Sergeant Turang. “Don’t try to make them mine.”

“Turn around slowly,” Corporal Chitor said softly. “Up on the ridge you will see a glint of light. Tell me what you see.”

The sergeant turned around casually and glanced up at the ridge. At first he saw nothing, and he was about to berate the corporal some more, but just as he was about to give up searching for whatever he was supposed to see, a glint of light struck his eye. The sergeant focused on the source of the glint.

“What is it?” the sergeant said softly.

“It’s a dwarf,” the corporal replied nervously.

“Be serious,” scowled the sergeant. “You wouldn’t know a dwarf if one bit your sister. What makes you think it is a dwarf?”