Knightegel: Born of Conflict

Chapter 6: Intervention

About twenty minutes after he left Sorez's shop, Danail pulled up to a small house and hitched his horse to a post on the side. He approached the door, glancing right and left, and then double-knocked three times before waiting to be answered. While looking around, he saw two men walking and talking as they passed by. One of them casually glanced at Danail in mid-sentence and looked forward again. Danail eyed them with a wary gaze, watching them carry on down the street. A moment later, an older man with rotund features, wearing a maroon outfit, similar to a colonial design, opened the door. "Danail! Good to see you," said the man, shaking his hand.

"Likewise, Dr. Sherman," Danail replied, stepping inside.

As Dr. Sherman closed the door, he said, "The others are all here and ready to get started."

"Good, so am I."

"May I take your coat, sir?" asked the doctor.

"Oh yes, thank you," Danail replied, handing Dr. Sherman his coat.

The doctor hung it on a rack in a closet where everyone else's outer attire was kept.

Danail and the doctor walked down a short hallway to a door, and downstairs into the basement. They came to a sizeable room with warm lighting from a ceiling lamp and wall lanterns, and a gallery of fifteen men from parliament conversing with one another at a wooden oval-shaped table. Some of the men had documents laid out in front of them with feather pens and ink wells handy. Beverages housed in ornate brass pitchers had been placed across the table, with filled glasses in front of every man.

"Danail!" many of them gleefully remarked when they saw him come down the steps.

"Gentlemen!" said Danail, "I'm so glad all of you could make it. Thank you for coming. I hope our meeting here will prove useful in the troubling days ahead."

One man in particular, got up to greet Danail personally with a tight-gripped hand shake and a half hug, exchanging a leather-bound case of documents. This man was in his early fifties, with brown and grey hair. He wore a deep grey suit, similar to Sorez's, but with the symbol of Hilithany on a bronze badge over a red sash, which lined the right side of his jacket. His face was edgy, with mutton chop sideburns that decorated his jawline, meeting at the chin with a small rough-cut beard. He seemed a man of experience.

"High Chief Abel Hoffsen," said Danail with calm delight as they greeted one another.

"My wife sends her respects, and with them the memoirs of Salun Streif. She has been eager to learn what motivated this man she never fully understood. She believes that to study the minds of Hilithany's most influential figures will help us to better grasp what has driven our people to persistently entertain the madness of war."

Danail smiled coolly and said, "It's a shame that women like her are so few and far between."

Hoffsen humbly smiled and then sat back down. Danail went around and took a seat at the far end of the table, while Dr. Sherman sat at the end nearest to the stairs.

Danail took a couple of sips from his glass, savoring the taste, but then, he let it down with grace, as though out of respect. He made eye-contact with every man at the table, setting a reverent tone, before saying, "Gentlemen, our nation as we know it, is being turned on its head. The newly declared High Master has taken control of nearly everything; all national affairs are now decided by him, as he as firmly demonstrated by relieving us of our duties. He personally oversees the militia, and he has given free rein to the Maniverst. What we feared, and ultimately what we've tried our best to avoid, has finally happened...Theiander is a monarch – one we are in no way prepared to challenge at all. I've received word from my anonymous source that his power and influence reach further than Hilithany. I'm told that he has taken hold of every nation in the Boldlands except Simerta, and that he killed the king of Archengruer to replace him with one of his own men. As for Gandrich and Vernwol, they've pledged their allegiance to him – even signed a document that the High Master prepared himself."