The Elf King (23 page)

The Head of the Red Knights
left his room of solitude and walked through the castle halls. Talk
of war was gossiped and whispered by almost everyone. He knew the
captains and commanders had men in waiting outside the city wall,
and soon they would be told to march across the Shyl to the Lyyn
Forest.

But should
they?

The question burned in his
mind until he greeted the night watch at the Queen’s door. After a
few minutes of questions and answers, two more Red Knights arrived
to relieve them and Kloe told them that he was going in to speak
with the Queen. He told them that Oan had escaped, and that he had
helped him. They could be trusted, he knew. They had to know the
truth.

“
One
other thing,” Kloe Datris was reaching for the door, when he turned
back to the four Red Knights, “there’s a sorcerer coming. I want to
speak to him before anyone else.
Anyone
else.” He looked at each of
them to make certain they fully understood the seriousness of his
request. They each nodded. He opened Queen Sienna’s door and
entered.

Kloe Datris stepped into
the Queen’s sleeping chamber and nearly choked from the smell. He
shut the door behind him and called out for Sienna. With the drapes
shutting out the morning light, the room was dark, but not dark
enough for him to see that the bed was empty.

“
My Queen?”

He shivered with a sense
that something was dreadfully wrong. He sped to the curtains,
releasing the ties and drawing the long shades open. He heard an
angry hiss behind him and turned quickly. Queen Sienna stood next
to an opened closet with her hands next to her face blocking the
sun’s rays.

“
My Queen, I apologize for
my rudeness. I thought maybe—”

“
What do you
want?”

Kloe Datris immediately
recognized something wrong with the Queen. Her voice was raspy,
rough. Her eyes were cold and empty. She looked terribly ill. He
looked to the floor. “My Queen, are you in bad health?”

“
Leave me.”

“
I’m sorry. I’ve only come
to tell you that Wilt Oan—”

“
Leave me!” The Queen
hissed, moving back into the shadows of the closet.

Kloe Datris left the room
quickly. From the hall, he reached back to swing her door closed,
noticing the Queen slumping to the closet floor. He shut the door
softly.

“
Captain?” the Red Knights
questioned. None of them were used to seeing their captain visibly
scared.

Kloe Datris tried to mask
his concern, but it was too late. He drew them in close to him and
began to whisper. “No one is to enter that room alone. Keep
everyone away from her. She is not herself. She could be harmful to
herself as well as everyone else.” His face was a twist on anger
and fear. He paused as he considered telling them what he saw, but
thought better of it. “Stay alert.”

Kloe Datris left them to
watch the door as he made his way into the secret tunnel that the
Queen preferred for the past few weeks. His thoughts staying on how
she had looked and spoke, the smell of the room clinging to him
even in the passage. It was very unlike the Queen; something was
wrong with her.

Resting his head against
the cool stone wall, Kloe Datris began to wonder how far Wilt Oan
had made it.

“
T
hey
have magic!” Ern Dwull cursed. He stood at the front of a
circular table that seated the highest ranking members of the army
and reminded them of how lopsided the war may be.

“
Repeating it will not make
it any easier. We are fully aware of the Elves creating magic for
the war. Though what they have made and what they can do have yet
to be seen.” Lon Ruell sat next to Ern Dwull, tired of hearing the
same discussions, his own commanders and lieutenants looking over
the maps centered on the table. “War is never fair. Men will die.
We need to make certain that it is our men that do not.”

Heads nodded in unison
around the table. Their meeting had continued for an hour already,
with much of that time spent listening to Ern Dwull cast his
loathing for the Elves. They had their plans of attack molded in
mind already; they just felt the need to re-emphasize certain
aspects of it each day. There was a lot of planning involved for
going to war, and none of them wanted to be killed due to the lack
of it. Mainly though, they held their briefings to see if anyone
was coming to their aid. Even in the back of Ern Dwull’s mind, the
war was going to be terribly scary for Men. They knew they had
nothing to counter the Elves magic.

“
Archers are ready.
Swordsmen, too. By nightfall, catapults and the war wagons will be
in place. We march at dawn.” Ern Dwull stroked his black beard with
an angry look in his beady eyes.

“
We wait for the Queen’s
command,” Lon Ruell stated flatly.

“
It will be at dawn,”
growled Ern back. “I will see her this afternoon for a short
briefing. She will hear what I have to say. There is no point in
delaying further.”

Lon Ruell smiled, still
sitting. “We’ve gone over this, Dwull. We are waiting for a
sorcerer the King had sent for. His aid will be
invaluable.”

Heads around the table
nodded in agreement. Ern Dwull stopped stroking his black beard and
slammed his fist into the table. “It will take us days to reach the
outskirts of the Lyyn. If the sorcerer cannot join us in that time,
then he probably has found reason to stay home. And don’t forget he
is an ally to the Elves and therefore cannot be trusted to aid us
as we see fit!”

“
Settle down, Ern. Or do
you wish to fight us as well?” Lon mused. “If the Queen sees fit to
march at dawn, we will be ready. Tonight we sleep with our men at
the wall. We’ll have a short briefing at dawn
nonetheless.”

He turned to Ern Dwull with
a smile. “And unless you wish to continue with something
irrelevant, then I think we can dismiss this meeting.”

Ern Dwull shook his head.
He was still mad and didn’t care for the other’s jokes. “I am an
impatient man when it comes to the justice of my King’s murder. The
Queen will be as well.”

And just as the last few
meetings have ended, Ern Dwull rolled up his maps and stormed out
of the castle’s chamber without further word to anyone. His loyal
lieutenants followed hastily, each of them scowling as
well.

“
Despite what he believes,
the sorcerer would be our greatest ally.” Lon spoke to the
remaining members, who muttered their agreement. “He may be the
only one to withstand their magic.”

“
And if Ern is right, and
he does not show up?” a commander asked quietly, scared of the
answer.

“
We fight.” Lon sighed and
continued somberly. “With all of their power, what have they to
gain in killing the King and his son? It does not make any sense to
me. I will not lie to you, I am very hesitant about going to war
with the Elves. They have been our allies in the past. All of this
has come about with no real reason. Lord Estrial still claims they
are innocent.”

“
It was the will of the
King. We will respect that.” Another said.

Lon nodded. “Still, it does
not sit well with me. I think that maybe I’ll be with Ern Dwull
when he speaks to the Queen.”

They rose from the table,
said brief words in parting, then moved out of the meeting chamber
to split their ways. As Lon Ruell walked into the hallway, a
messenger sprinting its length barreled into him, sending them both
to the floor.

“
I’m sorry, so sorry.” The
messenger spewed his apologies continuously as Lon helped him to
his feet. His face was sweaty, his eyes wide with
anticipation.

“
What is the
hurry?”

“
I need to find the Red
Knights. There’s someone here to see the Queen.” His words were
spoke quickly, and he barely stood around long enough for Lon to
respond.

“
Whom?”

“
A sorcerer. His name is
Ankar Rie. I must go now. Sorry again.”

And with that, the
messenger sprinted away. Lon Ruell smiled inwardly and felt a great
weight shift from him. The sorcerer had arrived. The might of the
Elves did not seem so inescapable.

Lon turned to his set of
commanders. “Hope has arrived.”

A
nkar
Rie sat in an eating
area
with a plate of breakfast foods and
fresh fruits and thought how nice it was to sit down and eat
something good again. Not since Illken Dor had a meal like this
been prepared for him, and he was grateful. He sat alone eating,
watching the people stare back at him as they walked the halls
going to wherever they had to be. In the midst of all the chaos, he
found serenity.

It had been almost half an
hour before Kloe Datris showed up to greet him. The Head of the Red
Knights smiled broadly, introduced himself with a firm handshake,
and then sat down across from Ankar Rie.

“
I’ve come from Illken Dor
to bring you aid. My name is Ankar Rie. I am a friend of Shadox,
and so your king, and so you.”

“
We must hurry, as you can
see. The Queen will send out the army soon, and I wished to speak
with you privately before she does so.” He watched the other nod,
then lowered his voice and continued. “What do you know of the
events as of recent?”

“
Cillitran is heading for
war with the Forest Elves. I hear the Queen is enforcing a “no elf”
rule in the city. This is all stemming from the death of the King,
as I understand. Which is the reason for war. Which is the reason
for my presence. I shall stall her—”

“
Stall?” Kloe Datris was
confused. He leaned in closer. “You are not here to aid us in the
war? What help do you intend to bring us then?”

“
Shadox has instructed me
to reason with the Queen until he arrives. The goal is to have no
war. At least not between the Races.”

Kloe Datris sat back away
from the table. “You are too late.”

Ankar sighed. He had
figured as much already. “I need to speak with her
nonetheless.”

“
I must warn you. She is
not herself.” Kloe Datris thought for a second, then leaned in
close and sternly began to whisper. “Something is happening to her,
and I’m not sure what. Her demands and justifications are not of
her manner. What if I tell you that she was the last one I saw with
the King before he was murdered? And now we are off to war with an
Elven nation that would surely decimate us? With no real
evidence?”

Ankar nodded, thinking it
through. “If what you claim is true, then things are far worse than
we’ve anticipated. I expect that she is under a watch at all hours?
With no council from any advisors?”

He paused as Kloe nodded,
responding that it was the Queen’s wish to not see anyone. Ankar
thought for a second, then spoke his request. “I need to speak with
the Queen. Right now, Red Knight.”

“
I will take you to her,
sorcerer. Do what you must.”

Ankar Rie rose from the
table after the Head of the Red Knights and began to wonder how it
would be so for a man of Kloe Datris’ stature to be so afraid of
his Queen.