The Assassin and the King - SOTUS

The Night of the Dinner

Em POV

"Did you ever hear of the Moss Trail?" I ask Deer as I unroll a map on the table in my office.

"Not that I recall." He answers looking.

"It was an old contraband route." I point on the map. "Through the marshes, under the mountains to the shoreline, they used old caves to move everything."

"I did hear about that as a child, but it was called the Lynx road. Old stories to tell children." He looks closer. "The pirates used it, but after it was discovered the caves were collapsed. That was generations ago and no one found out the full route they used. The caves were a maze."

"I had my people check any routes, old paths, even rumors of old paths that could be used." I tell Deer. "They found nothing, until they checked here. It's being kept quiet, but my sources say there is movement in the area and according to the locals there has been for a few months."

"You think someone has opened the old route?"

"How else could things to and from the islands pass without notice?" I tell him pointing to a spot on the map. "Gold. People. Didn't the boy, Ple's brother say they were heading in this direction when they took him?"

Deer curses as he looks closer to the map, he takes the compass and starts measuring direction and distances from invisible points in the water. I leave him to it, turning to the door as Arthit walk in looking serious.

"You both need to warn your people." Arthit places a small pouch on the table that clunks, sounding like it's full of gold. "Someone wants to hire an assassin, to kill the new Head of the Sea Clan."

Deer lets loose enough curses to make a pirate blush before running out of the room. Arthit turns to me.

"Tell your people to watch their back; the assassins are not the only ones they went to." Arthit tells me. "They hired mercenaries. The Whitewolves."

I groan grabbing my head, mercenaries were bad enough why this clan? They were accurate, dedicated and one of the most dangerous families out there. Did the heavens have something against me spending time with my wife?

~~~~~~~~

Tum POV

"Tell him the truth." I ask the man sitting opposite me.

"Even if it is ours?"

"Even then." I reply.

The Maker smiles sadly but nods, his grandson sitting next to him, watching silently. They were one of the oldest families in the Mountain Clan, the keepers of the old knowledge of stirring rock. A technic passed from father to son, used to mold granite and metal into a substance that could outlive us.

They made the crown and sword for the first King, the one Kong used even to this day. Time, wind, sand did not weaken or diminish what they created and only they had the knowledge to destroy it.

They were forced to make the union rings. They forged swords to protect their soil, and having made something that helped exile them they had refused to use their art again. They no longer stirred rock, but forged ordinary weapons now.

I turn when the doors open, Kong, Em, and Deer walk in still talking to Pridi, who nods and leaves a moment later. He was still following trails, finding that woman was harder then they realised, she was used to this city and had too many people under her thumb.

The Maker and his grandson bow seeing the King, it's in their eyes. The happiness and fear, what if this was just a passing dream. I understood, as I walked through the halls, as I sat with the king, as I watched my wife and daughter laugh knowing they would be free, I prayed it wasn't a dream too.