A Drink Before Battle [MxM] ✅

39: You Alchemists Love Your Rules

Kyrzhan's strongest horses were the drafts for his carriage, but Sevei didn't want to leave him without those just now. He instead chose a beautiful, silky-maned bay palfrey that seemed sturdy enough to handle Sevei's weight for a short trip.

Sturdy though it looked, after a mad dash across town to the municipal house, where the surrounding gardens overflowed with soldiers and city guard, the poor horse was sweating and trembling and beginning to resist Sevei's direction. He pulled up to the municipal house's stable in the back, and a Brinnish troop Captain came over to take the reins as he dismounted.

"You're alright," he crooned, patting the palfrey's foam-flecked neck, "you did good."

The horse rolled its eyes at him and snorted.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Sevei groused. "It's not as if I'm a knight... you want to hear about some heavy armor..."

A junior soldier came over to take the reins from the Captain.

"Get her watered and brushed down," Sevei told him. "And keep her safe. I have to return her to her owner in one piece or I'll owe him a new one."

Sevei looked around at the throng of soldiers parked on the formerly green, flower-edged lawns, now trampled into mud and littered with felled trees.

"How are things here?" he asked the Captain.

"Quiet for now," the Captain answered. "We had a skirmish half an hour ago, but they were just taking a few pot shots at us. They're demanding the Crown Prince meet with them."

"What meeting?" Sevei sneered. "With these actions, they've as good as declared war on Brinland. Think they're looking to take him hostage... or worse?"

The Captain nodded gravely. "That's the assumption."

Sevei followed his line of sight across the yard, where Prince Rendrick stood near the house talking animatedly with a group of Captains. Behind him, Gendaran Urskatha lurked in a side door, putting on an air of bravado to thinly veil his plain terror.

"Why is he still here?" Sevei mused.

"His Highness will stand with his people," the Captain said proudly.

"I mean Lord Urskatha. He should have gone back to Valesk already."

"I... that's not for me to say." The Brinnish man's tone implied that he had plenty to say about that, none of it generous. Sevei chuckled.

"Where is General Urskatha? Around front?"

The Captain nodded at the house. "Inside, I believe. He was lent an office."

"Thanks, Captain."

The Captain gave a salute as Sevei turned toward the building and crossed the yard to another back door. He really should greet the Prince, but he couldn't stomach speaking to Gendaran just now. After some asking around, he found the office in question.

It was a large room off the side of the great hall they'd dined in the night before. In a sitting area near the windows, Meira lay on a long, velvet cushioned bench with the cloak of her uniform pulled over her shoulders. Thelan sat in a chair beside the bench, eyes closed and hands lightly resting on her knees.

The far end of the room had a raised floor with a large desk positioned up on the platform. Four marble steps the full width of the space ascended to it, and Yeresym was sitting on the top step with his back against the desk. Like Thelan, he sat with closed eyes, breathing slowly and deeply. As he neared, Sevei could see the subtle blue light he emitted reflecting on his pale hair. He could also see an abrasion on Yeresym's cheek, and a singed tear in the corner of his cloak.