THE BLUE KING - CHAPTER EIGHT

Yay! The explanation chapter!!

This is the problem with doing this in small increments; if you'd had them all at once, you'd have been confused and kept reading and then gotten it. As it was, you were just confused. D: I *did* have a plan, whatever you thought--by making the J'engar envoy go to a new country, whose entire way of life was strange, and thus requiring an explanation, I was giving YOU and explanation! :D Yaaaay! lol --- enjoy!

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Tsuunai, sensing his master’s need, ran faster than he ever had before. Daeun was counting on Tsuunai's uncanny abilities; if the J’engar had been spotted just as the messenger left, he had time to reach them.

If he ran Tsuunai to death—if he did not spare a moment to stop.

The distance between Tvaar and Agulin was vast, too far to make in a single night, no matter how fast the steed. Daeun’s expectation that they would make it, however, resided in Tsuunai’s speed—but Tsuunai, contrary to popular belief, was not simply a horse. He was much, much more, a valuable asset in any walk of life, and absolutely invaluable to a rebel leader.

Tsuunai possessed magicks.

"Get us to the J’engar envoy, Tsuunai," Daeun begged, hands pressed to Tsuunai’s shoulders. "I know you can do it. Please, Tsuunai!"

Half of his "please" had been uttered in Tvaar lands; the other half was uttered in Agulin lands, only a few hundred paces from where a J’engar envoy walked solemnly forward. Daeun uttered something like a breathless laugh, except too high-pitched a little hysterical, and drew Tsuunai to a halt before them, bringing them to a halt.

At their front stood a woman, tall and breathtakingly beautiful, every inch a noble—that much was obvious, from her bearing to the king’s ransom she bore casually about her neck. Her dark eyes blazed up at him, and behind her, her men tensed, enormous and imposing, hands on swords and daggers. One man reached for nothing, but simply spread his fingers in a move Daeun well recognized as a sorcerer’s wielding position.

"I am glad I found you," Daeun said breathlessly, Tsuunai’s sweat-slicked hide shivering in the cool night air. "Go no further!"

Abruptly the woman’s eyes went from black to amber, so quickly he wasn’t quite sure how it had happened, and his stomach gave an odd squirm. He realized his mistake, and balked. "I do not wish for you to turn back—but I beg of you, do not continue in this direction. You are on a straight line for Lord Agulin’s lands, and if you fall into his hands, you will die, I promise you."

The amber of her eyes faded to a light brown. "We are not so easy to kill," she said, her voice ringing through the air with the same commanding air King Anull possessed—except thrice as powerful, and with none of his slimy facades.

"No, I think not," Daeun said, with a note of laughter in his voice. "But you are—what—ten? And he possesses many hundred soldiers."

"Are you not Talon?" she demanded, spitting out the words as if they were poison. "Why not allow us to walk on?"

Daeun looked down at her, frowning, then swiftly dismounted, chagrined to find she stood nearly as tall as himself, though beside her men she was small. "M’lady," he said softly, for indeed their could be no other title for her, "I am not—how might you say—a typical Talon. I will say no more, but trust this; while you are under my protection, no harm shall come to you. Beyond my reach, however—that is a very different matter. Agulin in particular has a deep hatred for J’engar. Perhaps you know of him—it is he who has been conducting the secret raids of J’engar lands."

The amber color, slowly fading, flared up again with vicious hatred. "Murderer!" she hissed, with such venom it was a struggle for Daeun to not take a step back.

"I have sought to end these raids, but, I’m afraid, my power is not such that it can accomplish this quite yet." Daeun gave a flourishing bow. "I am Lord Daeun of Genor, m’lady, and it is a pleasure to finally meet a woman of J’engar."

A wry smile twisted her lips. "I am Queen Ianna J’engar-ai, the High King’s Head Thief, and advisor to His Majesty High King Aedaan."

An impish smile overtook Daeun’s manners. "Quite a mouthful, I must say. Please, Your Majesty, follow me; I will escort you to neutral grounds. I assume you are heading for Tvaar?"

"None other," Ianna agreed, and Daeun nodded sharply.

"Right, then," he said brusquely, starting off on foot. "We have a ways to go before we reach a safe inn."

"Inn," Ianna repeated, and her men exchanged dark looks.

"Yes, an inn," Daeun replied, stopping. "It is a place to eat, and to sleep—a place for travelers."

"You must have a great many people unable to care for themselves," Ianna said, managing quite admirably to keep the contempt in her voice minimal. "We will make camp when we can no longer walk."

Daeun bowed his head. "Very well." He started off again, Tsuunai following at his heels, Ianna to his right.

"Why do you not ride your beast, nor keep it tied to you?" Ianna questioned, looking at Tsuunai as if she had never seen such a thing before.

"Tsuunai? He’s a great big brute, but he’s loyal as they come—it’d take a whole legion of Agulin’s dark men to take him away from my side." Daeun gave his horse a pleased pat, and Tsuunai cocked a merry ear at him in response. "And I’m not riding him because—besides the fact that it would be horribly rude to you—he has taken me a great, great distance, and he’s tired. He won’t let you know that, of course, but I daresay he’s ready to keel over."

"Does he require rest?" Ianna murmured, brows furrowed.

"Yes," Daeun said truthfully. "But he can yet move. He will simply stop walking when he decides he can go on no farther."

"I was not aware that the Talons bred such strength in their beasts," Ianna said, voice reserved, and Daeun laughed, a loud merry sound that made their surroundings appear, somehow, lighter.

"We don’t. You seem determined to judge them all by me, and I must say, you’re making a horrible mistake. Tsuunai is not a typical horse, and I am not a typical lord."

"Lord," Ianna repeated. "I have much to learn of your ways."

"I rule the city of Genor—my family’s city, hence my name, Daeun Genor. We are—hum—an unorthodox city to say the least." He shrugged amiably. "We make do. What about you? Whom do you rule?"

Ianna exchanged a slight look with the man at her shoulder, a thick, scowling man with black eyes and lips that, despite their downward angle, were made for smiling. "I am J’engar-ai."

"I’m sorry?" Daeun said, baffled. "Is that—an off-shoot of the J’engar bloodline?"

"In a manner of speaking," Ianna said frankly. "I am cousin to His Majesty. Well—if you wish to be very technical, we’re all cousins."

"All?"

"There are nine holds all together," Ianna said, then amended her statement at his clear confusion. "Holds are—cities. They are ruled by one of royal blood, and each follow their own migrations throughout the year."

"They move around," Daeun realized, and shook his head. "How—tiring. I have enough trouble with miscreants without having to add moving them all about to the mix."

"I have no trouble at all," Ianna said inscrutably.

"Because your people worship you," the man at her shoulder said impishly, and she sent him a sharp, but not ill-willed, look.

"Hush, Caelun," Ianna snapped.

"I speak the truth," Caelun said boldly, for her eyes were not amber, but an amused deep brown. "You are too honorable to notice, is all. We would walk into the heart of Talon itself for you—well. I am, I suppose."

Ianna gave a disbelieving snort. "Do not believe his words. He is only a guard."

"Your guard," Caelun complained. "If you would only let me do my job—"

"I’m quite capable of doing it myself," Ianna said darkly. "Now hush."

This last was clearly an order, and Caelun shut his mouth instantly. Daeun found this increasingly interesting; though this was an envoy, and the men in the back were obviously court officials, they all deferred to her without question. Her orders were absolute, and he doubted it was simply because she possessed noble blood. He had sensed it in her when he had first arrived—she was truly a queen, of that there was no doubt.

They walked nearly until first light before Tsuunai’s legs gave out; he actually collapsed, falling with a small, thundering thump to the ground, his dark eyes looking wearily up at Daeun, as if to say, I went as far as I could—and Daeun, struck by this, knelt sadly by his friend’s massive head. "Poor Tsuunai," he murmured, stroking the horse’s black coat. "You love pretty faces too much. I would have gladly stopped in Agulin lands if you had asked, my friend." He sighed as Tsuunai gave a ragged groan. "And now you cannot even stand, you foolish, love-struck horse."

"Love-struck," Ianna said from his shoulder, watching him converse with his horse with great amusement.

Daeun nodded. "You are very beautiful, Your Majesty, and Tsuunai never could resist being noble when a lady such as yourself walks by. He once got himself hit full in the shoulder with an arrow in an attempt to save a pretty young girl from injury—didn’t you, Tsuunai? Don’t roll your eyes at me, you know I’m right. You don’t simply walk in front of an arrow."

Tsuunai gave another heaving sigh, and Daeun looked up at Ianna, brow creased with worry despite his light words. "He needs water, and soon. It took much out of him, the journey here—and neither he nor I like to be anywhere near Agulin lands."

"He will have all the water he wishes," Ianna replied, and at her words, two of the men soundlessly kneeled at Tsuunai’s head, water bladders in hand.

"Thank you," Daeun said sincerely.