Darkness Falls, Light Rises #Wattys2015

Ch.1

Ch.1

Glancing at the men before me, I knew immediately that there was a problem. They were the most skilled fighters we had and never requested an audience with me, the queen. The thing that troubled me the most was that there were only twelve of them, when there were usually twenty, and they never left each other's side. They were bounded by dark blood magic, which made them inseparable unless the bond was severed through death.

"My Queen, we hope that our request hasn't interupted you from your duties, but I'm quite certain that you'll be intrigued by what we have learned on our journey into Sedent territory." One of the men I knew to be named Angelo said, stepping forward respectively.

Nodding, I gestured for him to approach. "I have noticed that many of your men are not present. What occured while you were on your task?" I inquired, leaning forward in my throne, my hand gripping my staff tightly.

"While we were staying in their territory, some of the men were found out and they were sent to the Sedent King, and executed. They refused to tell them whether there were other spies in the kingdom." He replied, his voice tight as though he were reliving the moment when his brothers were murdered saving him.

Letting silence fall, I ran the facts over in my head, contemplating the questions that I would ask him next. I hated speaking without thinking; I guess it was a pet peeve of mine.

"How did the king know of your whereabouts? One of you must've leaking information to someone. It probably didn't have to be someone close to the crown; the king has put a reward out for whoever can give him the most valuable information on us." I said, slowly getting up. Letting my eyes wander, I watched all of the men's behaviors, ensuring that I didn't have anyone had flipped to the other side. Once I was confident that none of them were the culprits, I turned my attention back on Angelo who was patiently waiting. "Proceed."

"Well, while I attended the execution of my brothers, I was able to witness a conversation between the king and one of his advisors." He gestured to the floor, flicking his wrist, making an image. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay during the entire conversation."

Ignoring his last comment, I stared intently at the images that were unfolding in front of me. As the pictures came to life, I was sucked into the memory, my body dissovled and reappearing in the memory. Standing laterally to the man I believed to be the king, I tuned my ears in to the conversation.

It was nothing I imagined an angry Sedent to be.

"Darrel, I'm not cofortable with you sending out a summons to all the villages without my approval. I am your king and I demand that you show me the respect that I deserve." The king growled, his stance and voice radiating power that even I could feel through the memory. "You will not do as you want without asking me, or else you will be punished."

Scoffing, I leaned against a wall, watching the rest of it unfold.

"Your Majesty, I did not do this to defy you. I did this for us, your kingdom." The man called Darrel pleaded, not sounding quite sincere enough for my tastes.

"You cannot call for soldiers when we are not in need of any. Our soldiers are doing very well against the Riders and I believe that it'll remain this way. I do not intend to make this war worse than it already is. The queen of the Riders and I may not have been able to write up a peace agreement, but we are better than them-" He snapped, finality in his voice, that shut other man up. He opened his mouth to say more, but the memory disappeared, dropping me back to reality, my mind buzzing from the information that I had just received.

"Thank you Angelo. This information was most useful." Gesturing to my servants, I ordered them to prepare a feast for the skilled men.

As they filled out, my mind kept whirling with possibilities that could come from the information that had just come to light. sure I had been expecting them to attack, but they had never been so straightforward. It was hard to believe that they would allow collarteral damage to occur. They were all about light magic, but all of that light could go dark if they were to kill with their magic.