Sons of Ironstorm - Book 3: New Alliance

Dangerous Proposals

The powerful war king was as good as his word. As soon as the two young royals left the Citadel, he made his way to his office where he first sent a runner with a message to the Old City where the embassies for Mamra, Keva and Talemon were located, to advise Gorik of Lawrence's plans. Then a second messenger was sent down out of the Citadel, through the Old City and the New City to the great havens of Thandis Gore. Anchored here was the most powerful navy in the human kingdoms, massive ships of the line bobbing side by side with sleek cutters and destroyers, strength enough to take on the combined Hernak-Caliphra-Xanchaldan fleet not once, but several times.

The king's wishes, scribed onto a parchment scroll in hand, the messenger swiftly passed through the bustling and crowded commercial docks where fishers and merchants offloaded their goods, to the venerable Office of the Navy, founded over 800 cycles ago. Here the admirals and captains of the powerful fleet wielded the navy's power in the name of their king and country.

Hand delivered to Master Admiral Dalin Corvel, High Lord Admiral over the entire fleet, the missive swiftly saw a small corvette selected from the pool of battle-ready vessels and reassigned to escort duty. It was then moved into the shipyard and fitted for a long distance journey. As the fitting began, Corvel then found a captain and crew experienced in dealing with long distance journeys and briefed them on what little they knew about Muraan naval tactics and assigned them to the vessel. Then a scroll was sent back up the hill to the Citadel to inform the king that his wishes had been carried out.

In the two days it took for the highly efficient and effective Office of the Navy to prepare a vessel for Lawrence's journey to the west, Morgan's daughter made the most of her opportunity. Janis dominated Lawrence's time, accompanying him in his visits to the Citadel's infirmary, where Will was recuperating, joining him for his daily meals and generally monopolizing his time, much to Aine's chagrin. Reminded of her growing feelings for the dark prince by his absence, the slender Mamran found her efforts to begin becoming a part of Lawrence's life stymied at every turn, Janis discovering new ways to occupy Lawrence seemingly for all turns of the big glass.

All in Janis' effort to rebuild the relationship the two royals had developed over a cycle ago, when Lawrence was last in Galental City. While the big prince focused on his Ascension following his return to Tal Morun last summer, Janis hadn't forgotten the emotional bond she had developed with Lawrence. When her father had told her the Ironstorm prince was back in the city, she immediately asked for the opportunity to see him. For Janis was in love with Lawrence and she hoped to make him fall in love with her too.

To Janis' efforts, and Aine's newly forged interest in him as more than a casual guardian through the Gyren, Lawrence remained steadfastly noncommittal. There was so much more to concern the big prince than two princesses engaged in attempting to win his affection. Still, both were persistent in their efforts and it was a relief to finally get a message from Morgan, telling him the ship preparing to take him into the west was finally ready.

Lawrence looked up from the note brought to him by a liveried page and over at Will, asleep in the infirmary bed beside him. The young lord had received several deep wounds at the hands of the wraiths in the archives and still had a long way to go before he was fully recovered. Time the Ironstorm prince couldn't spend waiting for him.

On the other hand, he was also reluctant to use the healing runes given to him by the Tree Staff. The ancient magic knit body and soul together but drew on the body's resources in the process. He would be healing Will and depleting his energy reserves at the same time. If the trip westward turned out to be as difficult as he thought it might, the young lord would need every iota of energy he could muster to withstand it. Every natural iota, that is; an energy gathering rune could restore his strength but Lawrence's own experience with that proved it still left the body without reserves from which to draw on. And reserves would be vital for Will, Lawrence and every other person involved in this next leg of the quest for the Staff.