Gold as the Crown

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

(/Archeon: Whitefire Palace/)

Samson had decided that he should have killed Mare Barrow and Tiberias Calore when they had been in his grasp. He had planned everything down to perfection where it concerned them, but he hadn't planned for how big of a pain in his side they would be. No wonder his nephew had eventually gone up the walls insane concerning them. Those two would drive anyone insane with the amount of chaos they caused.

"Are there any reports on where they have gone?" Samson asked coolly as he massaged his temples. There was more grey in his hair there now, and it infuriated him that it was because of the two little star crossed lovers that were running around making his life harder than it had to be. Across from him, Ptolemus Samos who was supposed to be in charge of hunting the two of them down, squirmed in his chair. Standing on either side of him, the two guards also shifted, uneasy with their King's tone of voice. Ptolemus seemed to refuse to really let his unease show though, something Samson admired in him. The young man apparently could keep his head under pressure, then again, Maven hadn't put any form of pressure on the man. It was time to remedy that.

Rising slowly from his chair, Samson held his hand up to prevent Ptolemus from standing as well, and then glancing at the guards, he asked, "How did they manage to slip by you?"

"They crossed the border with the help of insurgents from the Lakelands." The guard on Ptolemus' right replied. Samson's eyes narrowed on him, and the man dropped to the floor a second later. Ptolemus jumped to his feet, scrambling away from the man. Samson sighed as he stepped around his desk and glanced down at the man. A trail of blood ran from his nose, and dripped onto the thick carpet. His eyes were still open wide in surprise, and his lips were still open in what would have been a gasp of surprise, had he had time to actually make that sound. Samson stepped over his body, refusing to so much as bother with it.

Ptolemus looked down at the man in horror and then looked up at Samson before dropping his eyes quickly. Samson turned his burning gaze on the next guard, who tried to back away and run. He only had the chance to turn though, before he dropped to the floor. Ptolemus turned away from that body as well, his eyes squeezing shut as Samson slowly advanced on him. His boots silent on the carpet, like a cat approaching its prey. He stopped before Ptolemus, and then delivering a frosty smile he asked, "How did they get away Lord Samos?"

Ptolemus swallowed and then whispered, "A band of rebels crossed the border and rescued them. But we would have had them... if the Lakelander soldiers hadn't gotten there first."

Samson paused, his ability dancing on the edge of Ptolemus's thoughts, reading through the very same report Ptolemus had been given by one of the two surviving members of the party that had followed the little rag tag group all the way from Harbor Bay. His lips drew into a tight line, and with a sneer he hissed a curse word and then turned and returned to his desk. He should have known that leaving the front line less guarded would only give an excuse for the Lakelanders to cross, and now they had. Furious with himself for letting that slip by him, he drummed his fingers on his desk and tried to think through his many threads to figure out how to fix this. He had so many plots in motion right now, but there wasn't much that connected him to the Lakelands. He had had much difficulty getting into that court simply because they did not let Whisperers within ten feet of the main government building without an escort. He had some weak ties there though, some of them with strings he could pull.

Across from him Ptolemus seemed to finally be allowing himself to breathe, but he stilled when Samson's fingers froze on the table. He had an idea of what to do, and based off of recent events, it would work, it had to work. Samson smiled wickedly as he slowly drew it out in his head, drawing perfect connects as he went. Of course, it was so simple. He turned his attention back to Ptolemus and asked, "How much do you know about the Lakelander Queen?"