Tales of the Five Nations 1-Scarblade

Chapter 4-At the Ice Castle

The king sat at his throne at the front of the table made of ice, staring at the people around him with a deathly stare. The table, along with the chairs, even the entire castle, was made of cold, light-blue ice.

"Callidus, my most loyal servant," King Xerxes started with his low, but somehow calming, dangerous, but kind voice, "do you have any more information to share with me? You do know Alban and Feris the best out of all of us."

"I am Feris' cousin, after all, King Xerxes," Callidus responded. He used to play with him and Alban in his childhood, but that was the past. Now he was helping to capture them.

"Has anyone come through the portal to our world recently?" King Xerxes asked. His voice was slow, and he dragged out every word like it pained him to speak.

A man sitting next to Xerxes in a dark brown cloak replied, "Yes, King Xerxes, there was a footprint in the dirt near the portal, along with...blood—fresh from someone—only about a day old."

King Xerxes smiled at the man beside him. "Rishon, you never cease to amaze me. You shall be rewarded with a higher wage for your participation."

"Thank you deeply, my King. I greatly appreciate your generosity."

"Don't worry about it. Now, we must discuss what we are to do with the girl when we capture them. My son, do you have any suggestions?"

Regulus, King Xerxes son, looked up from staring at the floor. His father was eagerly staring at his pale face, ready for an answer to be given to him.

"Father, considering that there is no real proof that we have found blood from the last Fire Mage, I say we wait until we know that they are really here."

"You have made a smart answer, boy. Yes, I do think we should wait until further notice to decide any punishment."

Regulus hated being in these meetings with his father; especially the meetings about the capturing of the Fire Nation, or anything to do with them. Regulus thought that the Fire Nation should be protected, but for now, he couldn't do anything about it, because he was still thirteen, unable to leave his home permanently until he was sixteen. Not legally, of course. He wanted to help Alban and Feris, not hurt them. Unlike his father, who only wanted to kill Alban to end the Thousand-Year war.

But he could never tell his father this. Telling King Xerxes what he really wanted for the Fire people would just set himself to a lifetime in prison. Sentenced by his own dad. Callidus began to speak with a complacent smile, saying, "Prince Regulus, that is an excellent decision, but what if it was them? What shall we do then?"

"Well, Callidus, you seem so eager to speak, so I suggest you do so. You should speak your opinion to my father about the punishment to come upon Alban and Feris."

He grinned. Regulus and Callidus had never liked each other in the slightest. They had always tried to one-up each other, but it never ended well for Callidus, even though he was a few years older than Regulus, and the King's best spy.

"I, um, I would suggest that we have court hearing after we capture the rebels, as we had planned since they made their narrow escape," Callidus said, not wanting to anger the king—something that no one had ever done, after hearing what had happened to some of the prisoners in the castle.

"Then it is decided," King Xerxes said. "We will do just as we had planned before. We do know for certain that Alban and Feris will want to check up on the Fire Nation before they come here. But we will try to spy on them as much as we can. And Prometheus, please inform the Nation's official Searcher to test the blood on the ground. She can take one of the dragons if he feels like it. And make sure we get the information the day after tomorrow or sooner. We need to know so that we can capture them as quickly as possible."

Callidus nodded. "I'll use my Morphing skills as best as I can." Callidus could morph himself to look like anyone he wanted—someone he knew or not, he could change himself into an elf with pointy ears, he could make himself shorter or taller, to a limit.

"Porter, make sure you keep a good eye on the gate, we have to be sure that if anyone comes into our Nation, known to us or not, we check their license," King Xerxes informed him. "Any chance of finding Alban we must take—no matter what the cost."