Allegiance

Chapter 34

The council room was quiet as the Eraliths entered and began to make their way to their seats, with their two Lances closely behind them. The Greysunders sat in their seats with their arms crossed, looking grumpy as usual, with their Lances standing behind them. Blaine sat alone in the human representative's seats with his Lances standing behind him as Pricilla was absent.

"I would apologize for our tardiness," Alduin began as he pulled his chair out and took his seat. He motioned to the empty seat beside Blaine, "But it seems we are still missing one."

Blaine's eyes flicked to the empty seat and grumbled, silently cursing at Pricilla for not being there and making him look bad.

"Will your wife not be joining us today, Blaine?" Glaudera asked flatly.

Blaine's eyes flicked to Glaudera, forcing a fake smile, "I'm not sure."

Merial gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes, staring Blaine down, assuming her absence was due to last night's events, "Oh no, is she okay?"

Blaine looked at Merial with annoyance at her prying, "She's fine. Not feeling good, I imagine."

"You imagine?" Virion said, faking a curious expression, also well aware of what happened between Blaine and Pricilla last night. "Did you not see her this morning?"

"Why are you so concerned?" Blaine snapped, his eyes narrowing on the Eraliths, growing irritated by the questions about Pricilla.

"Damn, no need to get your panties in a bunch," Dawsid said flatly. "We were merely asking where and how she was."

Blaine's eyes darted to Dawsid, growing angry at the phrasing he used. "Why don't you mind your own business," Blaid said discourteously.

Dawsid glared at Blaine, blood boiling at his tone and lack of respect, and was about to say something.

"Enough," Virion said just loud enough to get everyone's attention, and all eyes were now on him. He could tell things were beginning to escalate, and he didn't need the council to get into a pissing match first thing in the morning. He looked at Blaine and faked a sincere smile, "We were just being courteous, Blaine, and meant no disrespect." Virion pulled out a stack of paperwork from his dimensional ring and placed it on the table, "Now, shall we begin with today's meeting."

Blaine grumbled, sat back in his chair, and grumbled, "Very well. What do we have to talk about today?"

"Well," Virion began, shuffling through the piles of paperwork. "One thing is we still have to discuss the situation on the border of the Beast Glades." Virion pulled a piece of paper out of the pile, placed it on the table in front of him, and put the pile of paperwork to the side. Virion leaned forward to read off the paper, "Several caravans and adventurer groups have reported increased bandit activity. Several people have already been injured or killed." Virion looked up from the paper and eyed the rest of the council, "The council's inaction on the situation is beginning to be noticed. They're requesting we intervene."

"Why doesn't the adventurers' guild handle it?" Blaine exhaled with annoyance. "Why do we have to stoop so low as to deal with simple bandits." He leaned forward and rested his arms on the table, "Let the adventurers deal with it. We have our own things to hash out."

"Like what?" Merial scoffed, looking at Blaine with disdain, wondering how a king could just ignore the needs of the people, especially when they were being hurt. "What is more important than stopping needless killings and criminals?"

Blaine beamed with a proud smile, "We didn't finish our conversation last time about the inauguration for my new Lance." He gestured to the Eraliths and Greysunders, "We still did need to discuss your financial contributions."