The Masquerade Ball (A tale of Eswor Book 1)

Alas another meeting

"I was worried sick about you!" Kinnley slammed his fist on his desk making me flinch slightly. I stood up at attention in front of his desk in his office. He wasn't happy that I spent almost the entire night "fooling around".

It was the evening after I went into the city. I had basically slept until this afternoon, as I didn't get up because of the massive headache I had. So here I was in Kinnley's office at the castle, listening to him yell at me. He glared at me. "You're lucky that you didn't miss the Investigation meeting yet. Now go get changed back at the house. It's going to start in two hours."

I nodded. "Yes sir."

"Dismissed." Kinnley went back to his papers.

Just as I finished with one worrywart, I had to deal with another. I saw Cole standing in the middle of the corridor looking at the door I just closed. I glared at him. "Well go on. Yell at me for worrying you. I'm sure you have something to yell at me about." He still didn't move. He was just looking at me without emotion. "So nothing? You're just going to stand there watching me and not say any-" Cole grabbed my shoulders and pressed his lips against mine.

He rested his forehead against mine and placed his hand against my cheek. "You had me so worried I was about to loose my mind. We sent guards everywhere and I even went with a squad."

"Why is everyone so worried about me? I can handle myself." I mumbled.

Cole breathed a laugh. "Yes, but your still the Captain of the guards daughter wether you are adopted or not. A lot of slave traders would sure be happy to have you."

"So slave traders are around again huh? First pirates and now slave traders. This is just great." I moved away from Cole. I started walking away from Kinnley's office and to the barracks.

"So what was your punishment?" Cole asked, following me.

"He didn't give me one." I said numbly.

"Is that a good thing?"

I stopped walking and turned to look up at Cole. "It means he's going to think of one, and when he does, it's not going to be pretty." Cole's gaze didn't waver from mine.

He stepped closer to me and took my hand. "So why did you go out last night anyway?"

I shrugged. "I needed to see some old friends of mine. I haven't seen them in a few years, so I decided to pay them a visit."

"You made friends in a tavern?" Cole asked, sceptically.

I nodded. "When I was around twelve I used to go there a lot and I made some friends with a bunch of brutes. There was also this one kid named Harvey. I saw him last night and he really changed." I chuckled thinking of last night. "The other men thought it would be funny to push him into me and we both fell over." I smirked. "Then I gave him one of my 'special' hugs."

Cole winced. "I hate your special hugs."

I giggled. "So does Harvey."

~

Two hours went by and it was time for the Investigation meeting. It was time for a moment of truth in who I would be working with. I sighed deeply and entered the room.

My eyes widened when I saw a lot of boys around my age or older. Most were new recruits that Kinnley had trained. A couple of the lord's sons were here, but not all of them. The room was full of men yelling at each other and well, being boys. Some were even sparring. Derrick wasn't here yet, and I spotted Cole laughing at something another man said. I saw something green which meant that Alder was here.

I put two fingers to my lips and whistled. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I put my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, so this is who I'm in charge of is it?" I walked around the room. "Well in all honesty I'm a bit appalled at how some of you were acting. Mostly because I know that Kinnley wouldn't appreciate how you were acting." I slammed my hands on the table making them all jump. "This is a very important meeting so sit your asses down and wait for His Royal Highness."

Everyone rushed to their seats, and I sat in mine at the head of the table. This was going to be a very stressful meeting.

Shortly, Derrick joined us. He sat next to me at the head of the table and looked around. "Well this is a lovely crew isn't it?" Derrick looked at me with a tight smile.

I nodded. "Sure is. But I'm pretty sure we can put them to use."

"Good. So as you know, we are here to discuss pirates." Derrick leaned back in his chair and looked at me. "Kav, if you'll discuss the plan?"

I nodded my head and pulled out a map of our kingdom. "As most of you know, we've had some scouts search around the ports but not the seas." I pointed to the coast and where some uncharted land was. "No one has been over there so we don't know what's over there. I have a feeling that its our best shot at finding the Pirate King. And if he's not over there, then we can keep looking. I'll be sending some of you on a ship called The Rose. I know the Captain personally and he is more than glad to help us out." I looked at Derrick. He was looking at the map with some interest.

"Erm, if I may speak?" I looked up. Alder was standing. I sat down and nodded.

"Go on."

"It sounds like a good idea searching the sea, but what about the land? I mean the sea is a good idea, but what about our own kingdom? If I were a pirate, I'd want to have a hideout that's in the place I was attacking, so I could learn the area better."

Derrick and I looked at each other. "That actually doesn't sound too bad."

I nodded. "No it doesn't." Suddenly I recalled that Kinnley and I were going to be setting up squads to go all over the kingdom to the mansions. "I have an idea. Kinnley and I still need to set up squadrons to go and check up on the mansions and their security. We could look for the pirate's hideout on land while another group is on the water."

Derrick's face lit up. "That's a perfect idea. When are you going?"

"Like I said we still have to set things up, but it would be within a fortnight. Which is two weeks that we loose. I can talk to Kinnley about it tonight and we can discuss it later."

Derrick nodded. "Well this was a successful meeting in my book. Thanks for coming. Meeting adjourned."