Knife in the Dark

Haters gonna hate, hate, hate

We began the talks quite quickly, not leaving any more time of just simple chatting. Following the rules of such conduct, I was required to speak first.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the crowd, hello, I am Braedon Astor, son of King Soul and Queen Angel, ruler of the kingdom of Sloce, the plains of the south. I am of the blood of Strandine, uniter of the horse tribes and slayer of the fearsome monster Hardim. I am the commander of the fourteenth legion, the slayer of Dragor, the first and only son of King Soul. I am here to bring an end to the conflict that has seen families divided, seen innocents die, and has played a hand at the break down of two mighty empires. We must not let this continue to happen, my army has already been taken out of action, and is standing by to assist in the rebuilding process, should Gambrene choose to accept my offer. I would also like to offer an alliance between Gambrene and Sloce, with embassies being station in both  Graten and Sandros. My only ask is that there is to be no more blood spilt between us, and I hope that you all know that this fight was made by a usurper, who has since died. We are able to move forward from here, we do not have to dwell on the past, as it will only make our friends seem more distant, even if they surround us, thank you." I was given a standing ovation by the crowd, who obviously believed me, which they should have, as I was telling the truth. I seated myself and had both my advisor and Jackson clap me on the back for good work. We all turned when we heard Glaive, already ready with his speech, standing there, ready to deliver on his speech, which would break or make what I was trying to build.

"My people, as you know I am Canis Duke, from the royal line that was believed to have ended fourteen years ago. I am the the creator of Graten's rise in power, I am the reason we are not in rubble, please, do me the honour of listening to me. Braedon Astor is a close friend of mine, and I know that what he says is true, he means well for both our countries. He wishes to help us in any way he can, I believe him, he wants peace, we can grant him that. He is someone who deserves the highest applause, as he has not only shown this room that he is kind in responsible, but he has also sent me a small message, which says that he is here to help. We are all united here, and an embassy will most certainly be in order, however, his actions may prompt remarks from other countries that will question him. He may not find any enemies under this roof, but he must be careful where he puts his feet, as he is standing on very shaky ground, and if he were to fall, he would find himself without any of us to help him." His eyes turned to Diana, "I will not let this peace be broken, but Queen Diana Lazos of Carabin may wish to have her own input into such a conversation as this." He stood down and gestured for Raven to come and stand at the podium, positioning her in a way that only a few could have worked out was for Glaive's advisor to be able to watch Raven, no doubt for the reason of working out if she would be a suitable marriage partner for Glaive, which made me sick, as he should not have to ask an advisor on who he was allowed to love.

"Greetings to everyone in this assembly. I am Diana Lazos, the only daughter of Queen Freya and King Centurion. I wish to thank you all for letting me come here to talk to you. As you all will know, the three speakers of today make up what is commonly known as the Triad of the South, as together we are more powerful than the rest of such kingdoms north of here combined. My view on the matter is simple, if I would be allowed, I would like to join this peace and alliance that has been struck today, and then we will be able to contain the other nations. We are all here because of the quest for peace. We have reached the end, there is nothing that can stop us now, but we must first work out what to do," Her eyes darted to look at Glaive, who smiled reassuringly. "I for one believe that with Sloce's military strength, Gambrene's political strength and Carabin's knowledge, we will be unstoppable, there will be no one who is able to stop our needs, no one. Our power is already at a point where we no longer need other nations to help us, we must stand together however, for otherwise we will all fall, as we are like one being, we shall rise and we shall fall together, without each other, we shall not be nearly as powerful, without each other, the entire forces of our nations will be as good as dust. There is nothing that can be done to avoid that, our world's must become one, otherwise we shall never truly be allies. This does not mean we must combine our territories, it simply means we must have close relationships with each other. Thank you." The amount of force in Diana's words were like a sucker punch to the stomach. Many people sat there stunned, looking at the brown haired girl go and retake her position in the judge like podium. Finally they got over their shock and blew the roof off with their enthusiasm towards what Diana had said, there was no way that anyone could have not clapped at it. I glanced over and saw the advisor nod to Glaive, who rose and did the unthinkable. He proposed to Raven in front of over 200 people, who all just stared at him, mouths hanging open as he presented her with a golden ring with a large emerald on it, which was cut in such a way that it dazzled and sent out rays of green whenever it was held up to the light. Raven was surprised to say the least. She stared at the ring, then at Glaive, then back down at the ring, like she was having a hard time processing the information, which was very unlike her. She stared into his eyes for way too long to be healthy, but then again, that is what happens when you are in love. Not letting her eye contact leave Glaive, she grabbed hold of the box clasped it and Glaive's hands in her's, which her's did not quite fit properly around, but it was nice to imagine. I stared at them with a fascination, wondering if that was what love felt like, the thought of that being what made people do such strange things scared me, it was a very strange feeling to have come over me, like I wasn't whole. I had always thought that I would be single forever, and my brain had mostly agreed with that, but now everything was just mush, not sure what it's true purpose in life was anymore, floating around randomly, hoping to find something that would be helpful to what it needed to do, but it wasn't sure what to do, so no points there. They all just plopped to the base of my body, making me feel like I was going to topple, but I kept my balance just enough to stay completely free of falling and causing an even larger scene then the one being played out in front of me.

Raven slowly lifted Canis' head and kissed him on the lips, prompting 100 cameras to go off at once, all hoping to get the best shot for their magazine or newspaper. I sat there quietly until I thought no one was watching, and then I grabbed Jackson and my advisor, who I still didn't know his name, and quietly slipped out, asking a messenger to tell both Canis and Diana that we were fully supportive of the treaty and would sign it whenever they sent it round. We then slipped out and made our way to the car, where Sam was having a hard time with Diana's guards, who turned to us as we approached, cursing and insulting us until I flashed my knives with enough skill to make all of them back away. They tried to act like nothing had happened, but that is hard to do when there is a teenager looking at you with cold intent in his eyes, hoping that I would leave soon, which I did, after first giving them a look that almost killed them, and then turning and becoming seated in the car seat next to Jackson. My advisor pulled out after us in his own car, and we sped off towards Sandros, hoping to reach it before nightfall. Jackson and I talked politics on the way home, I explained the reason that they were thinking about marrying so young, as well as explaining the importance of the entire bit of work which we had done today, as he was not 100 percent sure on what had happened, so I went into all the gory details on how with an alliance like this we now wield a lot of power, perhaps more that we should, but that was a minor detail that could be etched over if needed, which made the boy laugh. Seeing him laugh was a great experience for me, as I was able to laugh along with him, and even Sam joined in. These people were my friends, people that would stay by me no matter what happened in the future, the people that I could count on time and time again for things that really mattered.

When we arrived home I left them with a lovely goodnight and went up stairs. I was tempted to ask Jackson if he wanted to sleep in my room tonight, but knowing the kid, he would probably die of embarrassment if I even brushed on such a topic, so I left it.  I plodded up the stairs to bed, but I diverted myself from my room before, as I knew that I would not be allowed to sleep, as my head would keep churning things over and over again until it became almost unbearable. So I went down into town and found the stable boy that I had talked to just the other day. He was bright and happy when he saw me, explaining that when the father had read the letter, he had thought that he was friends of the king, and so believed that by letting the boy date his daughter, he would be allowed to get on the king's good side, which was just too funny. The boy also explained that he had been given a promotion to that of tacker, so he was now in charge of the horse's tack as well as tacking the horses whenever they were required, which I guess is better than a job where you clean the stables day in and day out, so I congratulated him on it. He asked me to come and meet the father just to let the last piece of the puzzle fall into place. We went around to the girl's place, and I knocked five times on the door, which was answered almost instantly by the barking of an Irish wolfhound. A tall and strong man came and opened the door, and upon seeing me, fell backwards into his hallway, gob-smacked at such an odd appearance.

I was asked to stay for dinner, so the lovely girl by the name of Sally served us all a lovely roast, which tasted even better than the one that I made that long time ago, which was not all that long ago, but felt like a thousand years, which was most definitely a good thing, as it meant that I could pretend to myself that there was nothing better there than my roast, even though there was.

I took my leave after dinner, eager to return home before before the old man started to ask for money to pay for taxes, which were so lapse here that they barely even existed. I walked home the longest way I could find, which took me through the beautiful royal gardens. There was many angels that stood on pedestals, which made you feel like you were being watched. I hurried through there and reached the kitchens, which smelt great after the dinner. I went in and apologized for my absence at dinner to find the cooks stuffing their faces full of dinner, they looked at me with pleading eyes, asking me not to tell anyone, which I promised I wouldn't.

I made my way wearily up the stairs to my chambers to again find Jackson sitting out the front, before he could ask anything I was bundling him inside my room, lay him down on the couch and read him a story, which made him fall right to sleep. I stayed up a little longer just to make sure that everything was good for the night, before changing into my pajamas and slipping into my bed which had fresh sheets. I lay there briefly before my eyelids became too heavy to keep open and I drifted off wearily to sleep.