Song of the Broken Blade

Chapter One

King Rokun of the Black Kingdom tapped his feet impatiently. His guest was late. Punctuality was of the utmost importance to the king, and lateness bothered him greatly.

He glanced at his pocket watch. Six minutes and nineteen seconds late. Twenty seconds, twenty-one...

Suddenly, he heard a commotion outside the entrance of the hall. The door burst open, and a man stumbled in, followed closely by guards. 

"Get your hands of of me, thank you very much, I know full well where to go... filthy--" The man looked up. "Oh, ah, King Rokun! I, ah, well, how are you?" He dusted himself off. He always felt nervous in the presence of great authority. 

"You are late."

"Oh, am I? Ah, yes it would appear I am," the man said. "Well, you see, there was a terrible mixup at the Blighted Woods. You see, my carriage was driven into a ditch by wolves-- filthy little bastards, they are, tried to chew my coat off--but I managed fight them off, and..." The man saw the look in the King's eyes. He did not look pleased.

"Well, Sir, I guess what I meant to say is: I'm dreadfully sorry for my late arrival, King, and I will make sure that it won't happen again."

The King's harsh feature softened ever so slightly. "I see. Well, we have wasted even more time now with this discussion, so we had best begun."

The man nodded.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"I was simply informed that there was an urgent matter in the Black Kingdom that required my attention."

The King nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that is what you were told, wasn't it? My messenger could not, of course, disclose such precious information to you, considering were you were hailed."

"I thought so, sir."

"Well, I see no reason to keep the information from you any longer," he said after a moment. "You may want to sit down."