Resonance

Chapter 7 - Emperor Grant Wilmes

"What?" I pounded the table. "Say that again. Slowly."

The soldier before me trembled. "Er, estimates of the Flaxian army are about 40,000 including those in the city, your Highness." He didn't meet my furious gaze, and instead looked down at the ground in fear.

"You may leave." Clenching my fist, I stood up and began pacing before my two senior advisers, who sat expressionless at the table in front of me. After the messenger left, I looked over them. "Any ideas? We must keep them from taking control of Peimonu!"

The fat one, Dieter, thought for a moment and pointed at the map on the table before us. "The Flaxian camp is directly south of Peimonu. If we wish to drive them out of our territory, we should ideally do two attacks. A first 'skirmish' of sorts, where our elite troops attempt to draw as much attention as possible and make them think we are actually trying. Then, once the rest of our forces arrive here from Argus, we strike their camp with all our forces when they think the danger is over."

He placed his palms on the table looking strangely satisfied with his plan. However, Taras Hodik, my intelligence chief didn't look so happy. I'd known him for almost 20 years now, since that one time I failed to be prudent and wound up deep in Flaxian territory. He'd found me dying from my wounds in a burnt out farm, and we'd been close friends since. Recently, though, he'd been acting a lot... stranger.

"What's wrong?"

"We've received reports that they know of our weakness right now, and are planning something. If I were them, I would send my elite troops and try to either destroy this area or assassinate you. The fact that they haven't is, well, suspicious."

Yeah, well duh. "So what do you recommend I do?"

Silence.

I hated silence. Silence is what follows when a father asks for news of his deceased son. Silence is what follows when the land is struck with plague. Silence is what follows after a family is murdered. I hated it. I hated it so much.

Suddenly, the tent flap opened again, and the messenger reappeared. "Your highness! Kalis Blackthorn was just spotted in the city, heading towards the ruins of the old city with his three robots."

I frowned. Just what was that mad scientist doing here? Kalis was a madman - it was said that he had such a large aversion to humans that 8 entire years of his life were spent 'designing the perfect human'. Little was known of his past, but there had been rumors that those creations weren't the work of 'electricity' or 'gears' but resurrected corpses brought to life with the dark magic.

He was last seen in Witsen a little over a week ago, when there was a massive fire that took down over half of the city.

It was said that the warehouse of a wealthy Flaxian art collector suddenly exploded in the middle of the night, killing all nearby guards and the rich man himself, who was visiting to check on a recent transaction. The wind was really relentless that night, and the inferno spread to nearby buildings almost instantly. The tiny firefighting force was no match for the blaze, and it only died down after burning for two entire days. Several thousands died, and over 40 buildings were completely destroyed.

King Torrest IX, the ruler of the northern nation of Navidia, had sent out a request for his capture and Kalis had been wanted for questioning ever since. What the heck was he doing in Peimonu? Did he plan on destroying half the city again? I can't let that happen!

"Find him and bring him to me. We can't afford to have such a dangerous man wandering the streets!" The soldiers saluted and left. Taras frowned at me and opened his mouth to say something, but thought the better of it and closed it again. "What is it?"

He paused, then took a deep breath, meeting my eyes slowly. "I have something to say to you. Alone."

I motioned for Dieter to leave, and he nodded in my direction, standing. "Your Highness. I'll be waiting at the bar, Taras. Let's have a drink afterwards." The tent flaps closed after him, and I sat back down in my seat. Taras sighed and turned around with a very serious expression on his face.

"Yesterday, I was investigating a disturbance in one of the baracks, when I heard two people talking. About you."

I leaned in as he nervously began his tale. "You see, apparently one was a representative from Flaxus and the other was a captain of one of our units. They knew we stood no chance as we are, and so they worked to convince or persuade our leaders to defect. One even came to me."

"What? What did he say?"

Taras looked at me with a sad smile. "He said that you were way too obsessed with the people. That you would not make a good leader unless you had a personal stake. He said that there was something hidden underneath your innocent person. And -" He stopped. "Wait."

Outside, one of the guards shouted. "I told you already! His Majesty is discussing something already! Hey! Stop!"

A young girl with long silver hair burst in, her face panic-stricken. I could tell she had been running long and hard; her eyes had shadows from lack of sleep, and she trembled with every step.

The young soldier whom I had set on guard duty outside came in a few seconds later and grabbed her, bowing to me in embarrassment. "My apologies, your Highness. Come on, I said, slave! Whatever issue you have, it can't be that important. Come!"

She struggled as he tried to remove her from the room, and her terrified brown eyes met mine. "...said...to......murder......to.....help.....you....."

Besides me, Taras' eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed into slits. "Wait. Let her stay. We were almost finished, anyways. "

The soldier frowned. "Murder? What? Are you sure, your Highness?"

I had no idea why Taras wanted her to stay, but I didn't really care. "Yeah, go ahead. But keep anyone else though, no matter what." He bowed and, casting a distrustful glance at the slave, left.

She limped over to a corner of the tent and collapsed onto the ground, her exhaustion overtaking her at last. "Thank...you...." she whispered, catching her breath. 

Turning back to Taras, I clapped my hands and smiled. "So, what was it that he wanted?" The fidgeting grew stronger, then stopped abrubtly. He reached crossed his arms, tucking them into his long robes. His fingers wrapped around something inside, and I felt a chill run down my back. Something felt wrong.

But then he pulled out a water flask, taking a sip from it, and I chuckled to myself. What was I suspecting him of anyways? Did I think he was going to kill me? He was my friend, after all.

"He asked me to kill you."

I stood up immediately, and reached for my sword. But Taras bent over with laughter, tears flowing from his eyes. I sighed. "You were kidding, weren't you?"

He turned and looked at me.