Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 13: Dreams and Politics - part 2

"Yes." Maiara said, without a shred of doubt.

An ice-cold silence fell, as the prince stared at her with a piercing gaze. Words like these were enough to get the average person hung for disrespecting royalty. When Adelmar finally spoke up, his words were little short of a threat. "The last one to speak to me in such a tone should still be locked away in the dungeon somewhere, unless they rats have eaten him alive by now."

Frode interfered. "Let's not get ourselves worked up now. We're all here for the same goals, aren't we? We all wish to end this rebellion, we all wish to stop the irregularities, and we all wish to flush out and stop this third party."

Adelmar nodded. "Fine. I'll forgive her grave insolence just this once. However..." He turned to Blue. "Blue, tell me, should I forgive them for the mess they made at the tent camp, and for running away into the forest without consulting us?"

The Lieutenant General was clearly put in a bad spot, as it was more than obvious that Adelmar hoped for him to say 'no' to the question. To the surprise of pretty much everyone present, he did the opposite. "Yes. They were careful and thorough, yet the involvement of the third party, to the extend at which they were present, was beyond what anyone could expect. If anything, I take personal blame in having had much of my army infiltrated. Even now, I am not sure who to trust among my own men. They must have been in a similar position, meaning that the failure was by none of their own faults, and that the decision to continue on their own was the correct one."

Adelmar gave him a furious glare, but seemed to calm down a bit after a moment of silence. "Very well. You've never failed me before, so I shall trust your words."

This was hopeful to Ambrose, as it showed the crown-prince wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Frode spoke up again, turning towards the Liberators. "The two of you are personal friends of the leader of your group, right? Tell me. What would it take for him to meet us and to lay down his weapons?"

They looked at each-other, until finally, one of them spoke up. "I'm afraid he won't do for anything less than the restoration of our nation."

Adelmar grinned. "That speaks for itself, doesn't it? We'll have to weed them out at the source. Otherwise they'll keep being a thorn in our sides."

Suddenly, the second one stood up, and spoke up in anger. "Or you give us back our nation!"

Frode was quick to interfere, before the situation could get out of hand. "I'm afraid that's not an option, but don't you Liberators think it is selfish to throw all of the Forest Elves into a chaotic future while only a minority truly supports your cause?"

The angry Liberator scoffed. "They're just weaklings that don't know what's best for them."

Upon sighing, Frode turned towards the Elder Council. "Would you be willing to work with us to officially disband the Liberators?"

The two elderly man looked at each-other, until the vice-chairman spoke up. "We would be willing to do so, but it will be difficult to persuade them."

Adelmar shook his head. "I'm not going to trust the Elder Council on that. They were the ones infiltrated and overthrown by them, so it speaks to reason that we cannot expect them to help us stop the Liberators now."

All of them turned around in surprise when Arethusa suddenly entered. She bowed towards the two princes, and upon a go-ahead signal from Frode, she spoke up. "I'm terribly sorry for being late, but I learned of an important lead through one of my men."

Frode replied. "Don't worry, you are still welcome here, as one of the people that solved the irregularity at the Heart of the Forest. Please take place behind Ambrose."