THE BLUE KING - CHAPTER SEVEN

Oho! It would appear I have switched gears on you! :D I'm a big fan of the elusive-enemy-random-chapter-appearance style, so here's my random chapter. Also, there's a lot of new cities and names and everything, so if you get confused, I'll post the map. Yes, a map. So. Let me know.

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Among the flourishing gardens of Talon’s capital, Tvaar, a council was being held; it was an unofficial council, between King Anull and Lords Bettin and Genor, and by no means to be interrupted. King Anull used these young lords as informants, though it would have surprised him to know that the supposedly empty-headed Lord Daeun of Genor was the fiery leader of the Resistance, and feeding him useless bits of information in order to gain information from the king himself.

Lord Bettin was truly the fool King Anull pegged him for, and willingly submitted all the information he could find on the Resistance, which wasn’t much—but, somehow, he had discovered a small nugget of information. Lord Genor could only guess how he had found it; most likely, someone had fed it to him.

But who? Agulin?

"It was as we feared, your majesty," Lord Bettin simpered, holding his fur hat weakly in his hands. "I have confirmed that it was the Resistance who turned away the border patrols these last three times."

Lord Genor clucked his tongue wearily. "Fools."

"This can go on no longer," King Anull said grandly, in his most patriotic voice—a voice Lord Genor knew to be as false as King Anull's "wish" for peace. "Thank you, lads. You may go."

As they left, the king called forth his favorite magician, an oily character named—amusingly enough—Oiden. Lord Genor watched with interest as Oiden leaned near, crooked and rotting teeth bared in a fierce grin. "Double them, yes, majesty, of course, I’ll send word immediately," Oiden said with a cackle as he flew away again, leaving Lord Genor with quite a predicament on his hands.

He left Lord Bettin, taking his horse from the groom impatiently, clearly agitated. Doubled patrols would mean an impossible strain on his thin ranks, and they were needed elsewhere, especially near Corvul and Serrno, where the king suspected Resistance involvement and was seeking to strangle the life out of the smaller lords.

He played with the idea of asking the J’engar for help, but he had seen them before—fierce, wild creatures, as vicious as they were frightening, and he knew they would not like the idea of a Talon sending for their help as if they were his servants. They would see it that way—he was certain of it.

He rode to an inn just outside of Tvaar, where he was still connected to the life of the capital but far enough removed that, at a moment’s notice, he could ride for Genor with little impediment. There was Bano and Senvar to pass, of course, but he had pockets of Resistance hidden away there, as well, and they would make sure their leader got safely across Talon to his own lands.

He dismounted, patting his stallion, Tsuunai, lightly on the neck; the horse snorted gently at him, nudging his elbow as he handed the leads to the waiting hands of the inn’s groom. Tsuunai had been with him since he was a child; he was most effective as a warhorse, and loyal to the death. Whenever he left Genor lands, he was sure to ride Tsuunai, for Tsuunai was as good a bodyguard as any.

"Greetings, y’lordship," Gavin, the innkeeper, said politely. He was part of the Resistance, and had been invaluable to them, securing them in Resistance-friendly inns whenever danger reared its ugly head. "Any luck today?"

"Doubled patrols, Gavin," Daeun muttered, shaking his head, dark hair highlighted with blue and yellow in the watery light. "Doubled!"

Gavin winced, wiping his hands with a damp towel. "Dammit."

"My sentiments exactly, Gavin." Daeun sighed, easing himself down onto a bar stool to rub at his eyes wearily. His eyes—ha! They were notorious for being women-slayers, for they were an intense, enthralling blue that was hard to ignore. It had taken him months to learn how to shade their light from the king, but it took much effort to keep it up for long periods of time. "Any letters?"

"A messenger just rode in," Gavin said, in his typically sedate and melancholy way. "Looked as if the J’engar themselves were runnin’ after him."

"Oh?" Interested, Daeun levered himself back up, watching as Gavin dug out a letter from behind the counter and placed it, grubby and dirtied, before him. He opened it, noting the Resistance insignia hidden beneath the Genor royal seal, and read the garbled lines quickly. What he read astonished him—such a thing had never been heard of before!

"What is it?" Gavin asked suspiciously, leaning forward so that his rotund belly touched the wood.

"A J’engar envoy," Daeun breathed, hardly believing it himself. "They’ve been spotted crossing the border—they’re heading straight for Agulin!"

"Forgive the presumption, y’lordship, but you should probably forget the night’s sleep and make all haste," Gavin advised. "If they get to Agulin before y’do—"

"I understand quite clearly, Gavin. Thank you!" And with that, he was gone, catching the groom before the poor man even had a chance to get Tsuunai unsaddled. One moment, he was opening the door, and the next, he was galloping away, so that the poor groom had no idea what had just happened, and stood confused in the yard for quite a while afterwards.