Secret Wings

Chapter 21

Hi!

The media for this chapter is a beautiful cover made by @moocowkel, to whom this chapter is dedicated!

If you're interested, you can check out the interview (of me) by @is_it_madness_is_it.

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Recap: Hailey is talking to Anselm, the king's advisor, in the library when someone throws open the doors and tells them Anselm is needed in the throne room with the king.

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Chapter 21

"Anselm, thanks for coming so fast. Hello, Hailey." The king said.

He was sitting straight-backed on an intimidatingly large throne which made the other more delicate throne next to it seem even more acutely empty. The throne room was big, though not nearly as big as the room where the banquet was held, and looked made to hold important meetings rather than merry, loud meals. Ancient-looking tapestries depicting a variety of scenes hung on the wall.

The king nodded to a boy barely older than me wearing heavy red robes who was standing to the side solemnly. "Esmond has come with alarming prospects," he told Anselm, "I wanted you to be here to hear everything".

Esmond bowed his shaven head in greeting, tilting his red wings forward, and Anselm mimicked him. I followed along, figuring it was the respectful thing to do.

"I'll go directly to the point. A short-eared owl flew thrice around Sperodyfis this morning, narrowly escaped two vultures that popped out of nowhere, and came to land on the second tallest standing stone. It was still there when I left," The boy recited.

Grandpa and Anselm must have been birdwatching fanatics, because Esmond's few words seemed to have left an impression on them. The three men huddled together and started talking animatedly. At one point, Esmond produced a few feathers which Anselm examined carefully. I felt pretty confused, but I caught the word 'omen' several times, and, judging from their facial expressions, the birds hadn't predicted anything good.

Finally, Anselm stroked his beard thoughtfully and straightened up. "The signs all point to it, war is the only course of action, or else we must perish."

Grandpa nodded gravely. "So I feared."

"If we act quickly, the gods will be on our side." The boy said calmly. "So the High Priest has seen."

I raised an eyebrow. I might not know much about battle strategies, but to be perfectly honest I thought that spotting a few birds flying around was a rather harsh excuse for rushing into battle. Judging by the three men's grave faces, I was the only one who thought that.

The king opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the large throne rooms flying open, letting in Aiden followed by a panting man. A feeling of deja-vu went through me. These people should really learn to knock and open doors properly.

The man saluted hurriedly, almost tripping over the lush red carpet that led up to the throne.

"Your Majesty! I've come to report an attack, Sir!"

The king leaned forward with a pained look on his face and motioned with his hand, and a lady came out of nowhere carrying a glass of water which the man gulped down greedily.

"The whole area up to the artisanal town three hours from Lyara has been destroyed by a large group of attackers. The guards didn't expect more than the previous frontier skirmishes, and so weren't ready for such a forceful attack. I'm afraid there were few survivors." He said when he had caught his breath.

The king stood up in alarm, "They've already reached Lyara?"

"Almost, Sir. They haven't attacked it yet. They're most likely gathering all the stragglers and resting before they do. My captain expects the first round of attacks by tonight or tomorrow."

The king fell back in his seat, deflated.

"We have, however, gathered more information on our attackers," the messenger continued.

"Good," the king said, "So what did you learn?"

"They are indeed, a group of Outlanders, like we thought. They are more organized than we expected, though, and stronger in number. We estimated about a third of our full forces, which is still way more than Lyara houses. This is more than the usual frontier skirmish. They call their leader The Fearsome One or The Destined, whatever that means. They say he has a wing red like blood, and another black like the night. Other than that we haven't been able to learn anymore details."

With those words, a chill fell over the room. I faintly remembered Chase saying, when he was also telling me that pure white wings meant a royal descent, that entirely white or black wings were unheard of, yet I didn't think it would have such a grave impression should it actually happen. Also, I hadn't seen anyone yet with the right and left wings of different colors.

Aiden scoffed, interrupting the silence, "The Fearsome One? Vain much? I bet his real name is something not scary at all, like Bob or Steve."

A giggle escaped my lips, and Anselm shook his head, amused. The atmosphere relaxed visibly. As if they were just waiting for Aiden to crack his joke, Chase and Bree strode into the room, this time, thankfully, without having to throw the doors open like the castle was on fire.

"We heard there was an attack?" Bree jumped staight to the point.

The king nodded. "They're almost to Lyara."

Chase's eyebrows rose. "Didn't think they'd get there so quickly."

Bree nodded to Esmond, who bowed his head in reply, then to the messenger and Anselm. She turned to me, seemingly having just noticed my presence.

"What are you doing here?" Without pausing to listen for an answer, she continued, "I'll have a message sent to Alistair immediately. Seems like he'll have less time to regroup the troops than he thought."

I remembered from the banquet that Alistair was the captain of the military. It was funny, it felt like that banquet had happen much longer ago than it actually did.

The king nodded. "Good initiative." He then turned to Esmond. "I'm sure you have plenty to do, so I won't keep you any longer. You," he then said to the messenger, "I'm sure you're needed elsewhere as well. If you need, someone in the kitchens can fix a quick meal for you, though. I wish to speak with Anselm some more, but I want you two, Bree and Chase, back here afterwards."

"What about Carson, Sir?" Chase questioned, referring to the boy with the camouflage green wings who had come to lead me to the banquet before Chase replaced him. Bree threw Chase a quick glare, and I remembered Chase mentioning Carson throwing a pie at Bree, which caused her to dislike him. It was a stupid thing to do, if you asked me. There was no reason in wanting to irritate that girl any more than she already was. Not that she didn't deserve getting a pie thrown at her face.

"Yes, bring Carson, too. Bree, you can tell him on the way to sending Alistair a message."

Bree saluted and left briskly.

"Alrighty then people," Aiden spoke up, "the exit is located right behind you, in fact if you haven't seen it I strongly suggest getting glasses because these doors are pretty huge, and now our king needs to have a super secret conversation with his Royal Advisor, so off we go."

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Aiden would really appreciate someone as amazing as you voting. Just putting it out there.