The Return pt.04
In the days after leaving the estate of Duke Castellen in Salver, Count Draeken arrived at the palace of the King of Reval in the capital of Eeclear. Without so much as a minor harassment from the guards the count walked through the palace gates after exiting his carriage. Once inside the palace even the servants ignored him as he walked through it towards where he knew the king was.
Arriving at the set of double doors leading to the meeting room the king was in; Count Draeken ignored the guards at either side and pushed against the doors opening them without so much as a knock or self-introduction.
Instantly as he stepped inside one of the nobles inside stands up shouting “Count Draeken, just because you are King Richard’s right hand does not mean you can just barge in on every meeting you were not invited to.” This noble then calmed himself as he continued “This meeting is reserved for the Dukes and Margraves of Reval, not for counts, even one of you standing and reputation.”
Ignoring the rightfully upset duke, Count Draeken walked straight up to King Richard IV, who was uncharacteristically allowing his head to hang low as he sat in his chair. The king’s brow was heavy with the crown and his long brown hair was slick with sweat. His face was worn with the stress brought by the crown and the many wars fought in his youth. The king’s hands holding onto the arms of his wooden chair, however, remained strong despite the premature advanced age shown. But those brown eyes of his still shown great with pride and the strength and wisdom that comes with the middle years of a man in them.
Offering a small polite bow to his friend and king, Count Draeken then begins “I bring news from Salver your majesty.”
All eyes quickly fall to Draken as the king’s neck straightens up and holds his head up high above the rest “What is it my friend?”
Draeken straightens himself up alongside every other noble and guard in the room at the sight of the proud and mighty king of men before telling their great king “Castellen’s feast is to celebrate his new slave and her being a slave is likely to bring death and destruction to Reval like nothing seen before since The Great Terror.”
In disbelief a margrave stood and spoke up asking “What do you mean Count Draeken? How can one slave girl bring death and destruction to us on such a scale?”
Count Draeken ignored the margrave and instead continued to look to King Richard IV, who nodded his head as he ordered in his gruff and proud bellow “Explain this to me Draeken.”
With just a quick nod of his head Draeken answered “She belongs to the monster of the wastes. She is his servant.”
The silence that filled the room was all encompassing and spoke volumes to everyone’s instant thoughts on the matter. The deafening silence lasted for such a time that the margrave that had spoken up swallowed hard before asking in fear “How do you know she serves him?”
Cutting his eyes to the margrave, Count Draeken answers “Aside from the mark above her left breast, she spoke of him to me as she hung, crucified, from the duke’s wall.”
King Richard steeled his terror filled face before he asked, “What did she say?”
Swallowing hard himself, Count Draeken answered “That her lord would be forgiving to those that aided in her rescue.”
King Richard’s gaze drifted out over the table to the visiting nobles sat in their chairs. Not one of their faces showed confidence or pride as worry and terror began to fill their very souls. All of the faces he knew well and not once had he ever seen them such as this. Not even the looming threat of civil war between the noble factions caused them such fright and worry as this. These twenty loyal and dedicated nobles, to not only him but to the crown and the kingdom, were now contemplating throwing themselves at the feet of a monster few remembered or believed existed.
A heavy sigh escaped from Richard’s lips before he looked back to Draeken. “Draeken my friend, I give you Captain Marcus and his loyal company to take with you to the capital of the wastes. We will aid that monster in hopes that he will spare those not involved with this affront.”
Not another word was spoken between any of them on the matter as Count Draeken quickly turned and left the room in silence. He now had work to do.
Every noble left in the room knew of and understood the seriousness of the matter but they were surprised that King Richard was quick in decision to send out not only his most loyal servant and warrior in Draeken but the captain of his personal guard as well. Clearly, he was taking this as the gravest threat to the kingdom in its long history and as such wanted it to be handled appropriately. Mentally every one of them made a note to ready their own forces, their family and the people they ruled over for the potential disaster now approaching.
Upon leaving the king’s side Count Draeken went straight to the training grounds that resided on palace grounds. There he found numerous guards expertly training under the watchful eye of a single man.
This man held himself in his shining armor proudly and with obvious great skill despite his young age. His somewhat short silver-blonde hair was combed back but stood on its own as his strong hands rested on the pommel of his sheathed sword, holding it balanced on its tip against the stone beneath him.
Without needing to look over to Draeken this man named Marcus asked in his proud and strong voice “What can I do for you Count Draeken?”
Stopping next to him and inspecting the men training before them, Draeken answers “The king wishes for you and your company to accompany me to the wastes. We have business with the master of those lands.”
A cold sweat came across the young captain’s brow as he looked to his right “What do you mean?”
As The Captain of the King’s Royal Guard, Marcus was well informed of such matters despite being from a noble family he brought forth from near peasantry by his sheer skill in warfare. Despite his reaction he knew not if the stories were true and cared very little for them if they were, but if his king feared something, Marcus would certainly make that his worst fear as well.
“That damned Duke Castellen took one of that monster’s servants as a slave. He had her crucified in a failed attempt to break her and is trying to break her with aphrodisiacs at the feast he is hosting. Richard wants us to inform that monster of the matter in hopes that he will spare the kingdom from his wrath and direct it entirely at Castellen.”
Looking back to his training men, Marcus thought for a moment before saying “I’ll bring two companies unless you’re willing to bring your vaunted wolves along with us.”
“They will certainly be with us. I would not dare step foot somewhere so dangerous without them.”
Nodding his head the young man then asked, “When do we leave?”
Turning and walking away, Count Draeken answered “As soon as I’ve finished preparations. You have three days. We then move with great haste.”
With that Marcus uses two fingers on his left hand to summon his second over to him. “Prepare the first company for travel. We’ve been ordered by King Richard to accompany Count Draeken and his wolves to the east on a diplomatic mission. We leave in three days and will travel with great haste.”
The second quickly nods his head before disappearing from Marcus’s sight to gather the five hundred men of the first company of royal guards.
Marcus, meanwhile, continued to watch the men training before him but his thoughts began to fill with the mission now assigned to him. He just hoped he could survive this unknown terror that his king and Count Draeken seemed so fearful of.
