Duty

Chapter 69 Birds in flight

Vara looked up in surprise when lord Riccardo Prias rode through the now restored gate of Boncini. "My lord," she said, "to what do we owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit? Allow me to congratulate you with the birth of your son."

Riccardo smiled as he and his escort dismounted. "My thanks, my lady. I feel very fortunate."

"I hope your wife and son are both in good health?"

He nodded. "They are. Thank you for your concern."

"Please come inside," Vara invited, "I'll have food prepared. Iason is in the stables. I will send for him."

Riccardo inclined his head and followed her inside. He motioned one of his men to flank him. Both took the seat Vara offered them.

"Please tell me what I can do for you," Vara said.

Ricardo had a serious look on his face. "Perhaps we should wait for lord Iason," he said solemnly, "Then we won't need to share the story twice."

Vara's face fell into concern. "Is all well?" she asked, "has Genvi been attacked? Has something happened?"

"Genvi is well," Riccardo assured her, "this concerns the matter you urged me to look into."

Vara sighed and lowered herself on a recliner. "You found the traitor?" she asked.

"Not exactly," Riccardo said. He rose when Iason entered the room. The two greeted each other like brothers.

"Be welcome, my lord," Iason said.

"Lord Prias has news regarding the traitor," Vara said anxiously.

Carefully, Iason seated himself next to his wife. His face was grim. "What did you find out?"

Riccardo motioned towards the soldier and the man handed him a small scroll. "I rode out with a hunting party yesterday," he said, "when we saw a messenger bird passing overhead. Normally we wouldn't think anything of it, as it came from the direction of the border. It might well be a report from our troops."

"What made you reconsider?" Iason asked.

Riccardo nodded in understanding. "One of my scouts rode with us. He recognized the bird as being native to Balor." He looked at Vara seriously. "We took it down." He handed her the piece of paper. "This was attached."

Vara took it reluctantly, afraid of what it might say.

'Offer accepted. Send the horses'

Her blood ran cold. "Where?" she managed to get out. "Where did you shoot the bird?" The message was written in broken dialect, but the words were clear. Someone had formed an alliance with Balor.

"At the edge of our lands," Riccardo said grimly, "where it touches Vertalis."

Iason sighed and pressed Vara's hand. "So it is as we feared. Still... we can't be sure of the end destination of that message."

Riccardo nodded seriously. "Yes, we considered that, but did not want to take the risk of losing sight of the bird. We decided to intercept the message instead."

"I most likely would have done the same," Iason assured him, "the message could have held the identity of the traitor. If this message had reached its destination, there is no telling what might have happened."

"We need to inform the king," Vara said, "he can investigate."

Riccardo nodded. "We would be happy to ride onto Auros and relay any message you wish to pass on."