Silk & Dagger (Vascan Empire #1)

Prologue

The King sat on a throne of red crystals as he looked down at the empty hall flanked by royal guards in full armor. A man on his knees knelt at his feet, his head bowed. His body shook in silent uncontrollable fear.
"Quiet!" the king bellowed. The guards straightened in their position. The trembling man went deathly still.

"Bring the Mage." the king ordered. One of the guards stepped forward, bowed to the king, and took off. The king stood and kicked the man at his feet in his stomach. He went down, whimpering. He stomped his feet onto the man's neck and pressed. The man let out a strangled cry.

"Marcus?" the king called. The right hand of the king stepped forward and bowed. 

"Your highness, the royal family of Wescaris is dead. But the crown prince is missing. We believe he may have escaped into Ahnell." 

"Send our best men into Ahnell. Find the prince. I want his head on a platter." The Kind ordered. "We placed a bounty on the crown prince. Our warlords are dispatching their assassins into Ahnell. Although the Ahnell king has tightened the security at his borders. He is pushing for an alliance with Rheva Visa. He may join forces with the Wescaris prince."

"What about the Army general?"

"He won't concede until the crown prince lives. His men are marching towards our borders as we speak." the right hand replied."If he wants a war, then we shall give him one." The king declared. The guards thumped their staffs on the stone floor in unity, the sound echoing off the cold walls of the stone palace. The doors opened and a tall man in spectacles wearing a white coat walked in followed by the guard who resumed immediately his position. The man covered the length of the hall in quick strides and stopped before the stairs leading to the throne. He bowed stiffly before the king.

"Mage, what do you have for me?" the king asked. 

The Mage nodded to the king's right hand, Marcus and his eyes went to the man asphyxiating under the king's foot. He straightened in his place. "I need more time, your majesty" he took off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. "I'm close to a breakthrough but I need to get the dosage right."

There were muffled screams from the man on the floor, his face a deathly shade of blue. He gripped the king's ankle tightly with both his hands but the king didn't let go of his hold on the man's neck.

"You have a month, Mage." The King said displeased. "You will not find me a patient man past that."

"Of course, your majesty" he put his glasses in his coat pocket and hesitated. "But I need more....volunteers." There was utter silence in the hall for a few seconds save for the man choking on the throne floor.

The king guffawed. "A month, Mage" he warned again."Clean this up and bring me the pirate." he pointed to the guards when the choking stopped.

Blank soulless eyes stared back at the Mage. The guards rushed in to pick the dead man's body. He suppressed a shiver but said nothing. There would be no volunteers, but the Mage would get his men.

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The Pirate Lord lounged on a plush settee in his shipwreck mansion by the Vascan coast. Laid out in front of him were bowls of fresh-cut tropical fruits, platters of infamous Mondovian blue cheese, milk chocolates, and coffee. His crew had raided an official Modovian ship en route to the kingdom of Rheva Visa. He blew a shrill whistle and his man at the door rushed in.

"Ye, Capt'n?" he eyed the Pirate Lord. He had once been a captain of a pirate ship before he had slaughtered the late Pirate Lord and his family to take his place. But his men still addressed him the old way. The Pirate Lord was a well-built man in his fifties who had fought his fair share of battles in the unforgiving Vascan ocean. He had earned the fear and respect of his men. The gruesome scars covering his entire body attested to his position as the Pirate Lord. One horrifying scar ran along his entire face, from his left chin to his right eye, but he wore no eye patch.

"Get the ambassador and her women." the Pirate Lord ordered. The man nodded and left. His crew had slaughtered the men on board the Modovian ship they had raided and captured the women. 

Soon his guards dragged in several handcuffed women, all in various states of despair. Their faces and eyes were blotched red with all the endless crying. But the Mondovian Ambassador stood out walking in with barely restrained anger and stared at the Pirate Lord without flinching. Her face wrinkled in disgust and she spat on his feet.

The Pirate Lord smiled slowly, showing his rotten teeth but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He would have a beautiful time breaking the Mondovian ambassador.

"Leave the lady. Feed the rest to the sharks" he ordered his men. His men grinned. They would have their fill before the sharks were fed. They were simply waiting for their Lord's command; they knew the Lord would want his picking first. 

The women screamed when they heard their fate. The ambassador glared at the pirate but showed no fear. She wouldn't go down without a fight. But that seemed to amuse him even more. He liked a good fight too.

"Leave us." the Lord said. "I'm hungry."