Voyage of War

Chapter 14

The room they first met King Casimir in was now even more packed with people and Drakar felt even more out of place than the day he had to perform at Princess Sybil's birthday ball. These people were different not just from him but also the people from Aevan,which made it worse.

Drakar strolls through the crowd, blue flames flickering on the Palm of his hand making the people rush to get out of his way. He had learned early on that trying to push through the tightly knitted grows was useless, causing him to become a bit creative. As he passed he caught snips and snaps of the people's conversation.
"...looked like assassins."
"...noticed that scary one in the corner..."
"Prince Cedric in love..."
"...growled at me..."
"It is true they have no shadow!"

Drakar did not bother with their fruitless gossip. His eyes were locked on a couple moving purpously through the crowd of people. He noticed that the woman leading did not have the typical light hair that adorned the heads of the rest of the people of Casima, it was dark almost black and although she shared the green eyes of the rest Drakar could tell by the way she held herself amongst the people that she was not of Casima. This sense of people came from being amongst the Strolling Folk, being a performer.

Drakar followed them to the outskirts of the party. A guard stopped them at the spiral staircase leading to the more perminant rooms. Without so much as a word he let them pass. Drakar assumed that this was not an irregular thing to happen and turned to walk back. But apon seeing the throng of people Drakar felt his heart sink and the flame in his palm died away. It was not because of curiosity that Drakar followed them, but more out of a sense release from the people crowded within the and around the throne room.

Drakar made his way to the foot of the spiral staircase, only to be stopped by a guard.
"You do not have permission to go this way." The guard said not mechanically.
"What if I say I do."
"It is unethical to leave the party and therefore King Casimir would not have granted you access." The guard drones on.
Drakar could feel his frustration rising.
"Unethical?"
"Yes, unacceptable, disgraceful. Parties hosted by our King are of the highest quality and must be appreciated."
Drakar clenched his fists at his sides and a spontaneous trail of flames flickered to live on a nearby guest's dress. The lady gave a high pitched scream and trotted from side to side, not knowing what to do. The guard gave a grunt but stood his ground. He started to act when the flames spread and a nearby tablecloth was alight with the licking flames. He moved lazily and reluctantly removed his eyes from Drakar, whom took the chance and slicked up the stairs.

At the top there was only one windowless hallway, with blue doors on either side. There were two red doors at the end, which Drakar assumed led to King Casimir's chambers. It seemed impossible that Drakar would find the door behind which the couple dissapeared, when he heard a muffled thud from the third door on his left. He walked up to the door and layed down on his stomach to listen from the gap between the door and the floor. Drakar did not know what he hoped or thought he would hear, but what he heard was beyond what he could fathom. The lady was talking to a fimiliar voice, although Drakar knew he had never seen the man she left with he recognized the voice, but could not place it. The conversation was muffled but he could hear most of it.
"The Princess has arrived and reinforcements will be sent soon. I hope you are prepared."
"We are the troops should reach Pantano swamp in about three days and I did not send all of my men."
"Both cities must be at their knees before the reinforcements arrive, understood. I don't want them running back as soon as Casimir calls for help."
"I'll have no problem with Secor and the plot against Aevan is running smoothly."
"And you're sure your kin will follow my every command when the time comes?"

Drakar shuffled to his feet in a state of shock. Maybe he had imagined it. Without thinking he leant against the door, it made a horrible screaching sound and Drakar jolts upright as if woken from a deep sleep. Silence fell on the inside of the room. Drakar contemplated wether to run or just stay still and silent, when he heard footsteps from inside. The person would reach the door before Drakar could dissapear down the stairs. He ran to the opposite wall and attempted something he had never before even thought of doing. He tried to simultaneously put out the flames in the dozens of lamps lining the walls of the corridor.

The flame nearest to him began to flicker ominously, yet have no indication of dying. Drakar's heart hitched in his throat as a scratching from the room reached his ears. He felt panic rise and saw the flickering become more vigorous. His heart beat rappid, the door knob turned and as he felt his heart stop all the flames died simultaneously. Drakar feared even of letting out a breath, in case it revealed his presence, pressed up agains the wall in the pitch black corridor. Drakar could not see his own hands, yet felt terrified that the strange woman might see through the veil of darkness.

The door klicked closed and Drakar began to inch his way along the wall in the direction he thought the stairs should be. Still not daring to even let out a breath, in case the lamps flickered to live again. Drakar knew wielding the flames to his will had a lot to do with his emotions, but never realy realized how intertwined they realy were until now. On the Clouthea he had tried to stop the flames.from growing during the Hex attack but to no avail, they just would not obey. Yet now that the entire Plegrima would benefit from him not being caught eavesdropping they had obeyed.

Drakar stumbled down the stairs in the darkness and only once he was at the bottom released the breath he was holding, giving in to his lungs screaming with a need for oxygen. The party was still in full swing and Drakar knew he had to find Princess Sybil or even Ced. Glancing over the huge expanse of the crowd Drakar realized what a monumental task he would have, there were thousands apon thousends of people in the room and beyond in seperate flanking entertainment halls.

Drakar saw her walking past the buffettable his heart leapt she was like an angel with no wings. Drakar reached her in no time and he cringed apon seeing her. She wasn an angel with a disastrous style. Princess Sybil adorn off pink gown with pouvy sleeve that gut off at her elbows. The corcet too tight and the skirt too wide. After Drakar had overcome the initial shock, he launched into the story and told her what he had heard. He saw surprise, shock, anger and pain flash across her features while he reapeted the conversation he overheard and when he had finished her face was set in a determined calmness.

After a moment of silence Drakar spoke again,"Shouldn't we inform King Casimir?"
"He's drunk himself too far into stupor to care."
"What about Ced or Cayman?"
"Ced fled before the party started I haven't seen him since and Cayman is to much of an idiot to know what to do," there was a sharp intake of breath at Princess Sybil's words,"Don't look so horrified, we all have noticed that he has always and will always lean on daddy for decisions."
"What do you suppose we do?"
"Nothing a t the moment. We can't abridge into the room, we don't know what security she might have put up and we only have your word that I doubt the guards will believe. These people regard us as animals, primitive in our ways."

Drakar hated the feeling of doing nothing and he knew Princess Sybil felt his frustrations. He stuck with her the rest of the party that went on into the early hours of the morning and still didn't seem to slow down. He was amazed at how the people could waste so much time on something so fruitless.

His mind kept wandering to Aevan, The Inn between borders, Catherine. Did she think of him?Did she miss him as much as he did her and most of all was she save?