ULTRAMagic Interlude

Chapter 11

To say that Englehart's court was a bit worked up that day was an understatement. The citizenry did not fully realize it, but Dunja still had some authority despite being stripped of her honors. Specifically, declarations of repentance had to be taken seriously. The council had expected Englehart to dismiss Dunja, not accepting her word. What he had done threw everything into disarray for them. It was safe to say that that meeting was very hectic. The only thing that rivaled it was the day that Dunja betrayed the kingdom.

"Your majesty!" Octavius exclaimed. "This has to be a mistake!"

"His majesty did not stutter yesterday, councilor," Radovan pointed out.

"Aye. My word was and is final" Englehart stated calmly.

A slender man amongst the councilors cleared his throat. "Very true, your majesty. The only issue is that this contradicts your word from before. Both of you for that matter. You and your former queen declared that one day you two would duel to the death for honor..."

"I'm fully aware of this, Councilor Caius. Trust me when I say that it weighs heavily on my mind and complicates things greatly."

"Your majesty... you're not planning on throwing the duel, are you?" Theobold cut in. "That would go against honor and tradition!" He froze when he saw the king shoot him a glare that made clear what his intentions were. Theobold sighed. "You know what? Fine. It's your throne, not mine... but what about Dunja's past crimes?"

Regnault nodded in agreement. "He has a point. Need I bring up the fact that Dunja has slept with Milosh? Or how they nearly collapsed the Market District not too long ago?"

"Missing the elephant in the room, gentlemen..." a manly, yet raspy voice pointed out.

"Thank you, Drazhan" Barna replied. "Thebold, Regnault, do I have to remind both of you that Milosh is a manipulative, rat bastard... and an outsider?" he eagerly made clear. "If anything, the onus is purely on him. In fact, once things settle down a bit, I'm heading right over to Shadowland to ring his neck until he stops moving... assuming Sten hasn't cleaved him in half already."

Englehart looked over at his brother. "Barna, is this an official declaration on your part?"

"Indeed it is, brother. And if you say no, I'm going to do it anyway!"

Drazhan laughed in solidarity. "Haha! There you go, gentlemen! Barna takes a leisurely stroll over to ye old Shadowland, has a real shindig with a pint or two, and fixes the whole damn issue. And no matter how that slime dies, I'd argue that it clears Dunja's name, no two ways about it. It's about time someone cut that dame some slack" The burly councilor elaborated as he lit a cigar.

Octavius groaned. "I suppose you're right, Drazhan, but I must point out the OTHER elephant in the room: Can we actually trust Dunja?"

"She seemed incredibly distraught and exhausted yesterday," Caius answered. "If that was acting, she has truly mastered it"

"No, she was being honest" Englehart asserted. "I've known her long enough to be able to tell when she's lying. She always has a tell and I didn't see any. She made those declarations from a place of desperation, not deception."

"It lines up with recent intel and events that have transpired as of late" Radovan stated as he pointed to a board with documents tacked to it. Noted on one of them was an outbreak of plague amongst Milosh's ranks and a certain flyby of two noteworthy dragons on another. "Perhaps I should bring my son into this, given that the council is unsure about what to do."

"Wait, what would that accomplish?" Theobold questioned. "And isn't he an outsider too? Not comparing him to Milosh, I'm just saying..."

"Debatably, but he was born outside The Iron City and taken in by my dear Dragoslava" Rose replied.