A Crowned King (Complete)

Chapter 24

Drianna stood in the middle of the council room with her stand-in brother and her hands crossed behind her back. She was staring at the large council room with eyes empty of all emotion. The council room was rarely used, but when it was, it was used for important matters only. The room was large and circular in shape. The middle of the room was for the ruling monarch and any adviser that he chose to be at his side. In front of that was a small four foot wall and eight seats carved of marble. Each one was meant to be the seat of one of the Lords of Star.

Despite the fact that they'd called an emergency meeting, only five of the eight had actually answered. There was Alexander Steel, Lord of Furia. Next to him was Perrin Gold, Lord of Hawk. Then there was Marcus Orphan, Lord of Seaside. Edgar Vale, Lord of Razor. And last but certainly not least was Malcolm Douglas, Lord of Temple. The three missing were Adam Tall Lord of Arrow, Xavier Merlin the Lord of Magnus, and Baron Dagon the Lord of Dragonpoint.

The three missing Lords was a bit worrisome, but such a thing wasn't unheard of. One didn't need all nine Lords -- with the King included of course -- to be in presence during a council. They only needed to be summoned and they all had. The Mages had created their portals and only three had returned without their charges. There was nothing they could do about that now and they all knew it.

It was time for the meeting to begin.

"My Lords of Star, welcome to this meeting. While I know it was called suddenly, I can assure you all that it is for the utmost importance that we meet immediately." Dane began, gesticulating his hands and arms while his voice boomed in the council chamber. He truly did seem to be a true orator.

"Forgive me my Prince, but what is this about?" asked Perrin Gold, Lord of Hawk, in a low and concerned voice. He was tall and reed thin with short cut crimson hair. His blue eyes shined with intelligence and his violet silks clung to his body quite attractively.

"Yes I think we would all like to know that." Adam Tall added, his voice a deeper timber as he ran a hand through his slightly longer curly black hair. His violet colored eyes were shrewd and narrowed in on the two of them.

"Where exactly do I begin?" Dane asked more to himself than the Lords. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "This conversation is going to be a difficult one for everyone my Lords I assure you."

"Will it have to do with the soldiers you had me send to Three Towers to reinforce it?" Alexander Steel asked as he sat back in his chair with his long legs crossed. He had the short Legion cut of blonde hair and sharp steel grey eyes, but he had ever been a stalwart friend of the crown and those who sat the throne.

There were murmurs from the other Lords at this. Many hadn't known about that and were upset they hadn't been told. One in particular stood out though. The Lord of Seaside stood up and asked a direct question. "Should I be doing the same? Should I be readying the longships and my marines?" he asked in a stern voice. Marcus was a simple man with plain brown hair and brown eyes. He was small and rather non-descript, but as powerful as any man in the room.

"Enough!" Dane called out, his voice snapping like a whip with his anger. It had the effect he'd been looking for though: the Star Lords quieted down. Drianna secretly smiled at that, glad that he'd finally put them in their places. They were there to serve at his will, not the other way around. "I know you are all wondering why you are here and I'm trying to get to it." He paused as he looked over at Drianna and them back to the men of the council. "It has been discovered that the Gaals are massing armies in their cities in preparation for an attack. It has also been discovered that they were the ones responsible in some way for our King's assassination."

The chamber burst out into angry muttering. Most of the Lords were ready to call the Legions of their cities and go to war that moment. It would seem that they were bolstered by the fact that the King had been assassinated by a foreign power. That was something they could never abide. It would be a strike to their nationalistic pride. However, one of the Lords spoke up out of the angry ranting with a logical question and not the question that had been expected.

"How exactly do we know this is true?" asked the Lord of Temple, Malcolm Douglas. He was seated without emotion in his face and his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed skeptical of what he'd heard so far. "From what I understand we aren't at war with Galtea. So how do we know that these reports are true? How do we know someone isn't picking a scapegoat for our future King?"

The council quieted, obviously none if the men had thought of such a thing. Of course they wouldn't know of the covert operations that were going on inside and out of the country at the time. They had no way of knowing of what they had searched so far. Hell other than the Furia Lord no one had even known that Three Towers had been reinforced with new soldiers.

The Princess realized that this had stepped out of Dane's limited exoerience. This would be up to her and she needed to step into the conversation as smoothly as she possibly could without undermining the man that was supposed to be her brother.

The Princess reached into her best and produced the letter that Darius had sent them. "Would you dispute the words of the Lord General?" she asked and held the parchment up so all of them could see. "On this paper lays out the truth of the matter: Galtea is readying for war against us."

Alexander Steel was the one to stand up with a firm backbone. "As usual, I will stand behind the Lord General. He has long been a friend to me as well as Furia and I won't turn them away now. He is a friend and my Legions are at his disposal." he told the rest of the council.

It was then that the Lord of Razor spoke in a deep booming voice. "I will commit my men to the cause as well. I will marshal my forces and have them sent to the border." he said, and as soon as he was done, the other Lords clammored to agree. The only one who said nothing was Douglas himself. Instead, he sat there with his eyes closed as if praying to himself.

Drianna stared at the man, wondering what he was praying for. In any case, they had won a great victory here with the council. She hadn't thought to win this victory so easily. Normally the council could argue for days about simple matters. She'd expected to be here for a while arguing the merits of enforcing their borders. Thankfully that hadn't been needed however.

As the Princess watched, the different Lords milled from the room followed by their Mages who would create portals back to their cities and they would begin their own preparations. The only one that she noted was still sitting and staring right at her was the Lors of Temple himself. He looked cool and calm, but he had nothing to be concerned about. It wasn't as if he'd had anything to do with this after all.

"You are a woman of great influence, Princess." Malcolm said slowly as he rose to his feet. He walked close to the two of them, looking both of them over. His eyes landed on the stand-in Prince. "You are very lucky to have such a sister, your grace. Without her you might not have pulled this off." With that the Lord turned and left the council room, his words burning behind him.

As the door closed, the Knight looked at her. She wasn't exactly sure what he expected of her. She wasn't sure if that was meant as a compliment or a threat. One could never be too sure about these things. She shrugged her shoulders.

"My brother has the help that he needs. We can be happy for that." Drianna told him and he nodded his head.

"Hopefully this will be over soon." Dane told her with a heavy sigh. It was obvious that the deception was taking a lot out of him. He had to be on top of his game and not slip up among so many people. If he did and they figured it out, it could mean repercussions that none of them wanted to see happen.

"Come. We have preparations to make." Drianna told him as she headed towards the door. He followed after her and she prayed to the Gods that they would favor them in their plans.