“Your Majesty,” Sheillene said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t yet,” King Allaind said. “I can’t say I’m pleased with you at the moment.”
Sheillene glanced back towards the guards on the floor. “My apologies, Your Majesty. I have an important missive for Prince Reginald from his father. It cannot wait.”
The king gestured for her to approach the prince. Prince Reginald stood and reached out across the table. Sheillene set the missive in the Prince’s hand. The Prince then broke the seal and sat down to read the letter.
“Perhaps if you would spend a couple days a year taking your spot on the royal guard, the other guards would have a better chance of recognizing you.” The King said.
“I will endeavor to do so at some point, Majesty” Sheillene said.
“Now’s as good a time as any,” The king pointed to a spot behind and left of his chair. A man wielding a long-bladed spear stood behind and right of the King. Sheillene stepped up and walked around the table. She strung her bow before taking a watchful stance behind the King.
Pantros and the others took their seats at the long dining table.
“I must leave,” Reginald said then stood and bowed to the King. “My father has died. I must return to Relarch.”
The King stood as well. “I am sorry to hear of your father’s passing. I knew him for many years as a friend.”
The man between the King and the Prince also stood and offered sympathy.
The prince then walked off the stage and out of the dining hall. A large group of men who had been sitting near Pantros got up and followed the Prince.
“His knights?” Pantros asked.
“Yes,” David replied. “I should go with them.” He excused himself and followed the others into the hall.
CHAPTER 25: KEHET
Try as he might, Kehet couldn’t feel comfortable as a guest in the King’s Palace. Beldithe had convinced him that it would only be polite if he introduced himself to the local king. The king had insisted not only that Kehet stay, but that he stay in a suite next to the royal family’s suites. For four days he’d had to sneak out into the city to avoid the constant attention of the princess. She wasn’t trying to seduce him; she was just trying to convince him to show her his Unicorn form. He obliged her several times over the days.
The meals, due to his presence as well as the presence of another foreign prince, were all elaborate feasts. Kehet didn’t miss the meals. Since the King went through all the effort to produce a feast, it was only polite for him to attend.
When, on Kehet’s fourth night eating with the King, the Prince of Relarch excused himself from the high table, the dinner essentially ended. Within minutes the hall was empty aside from the royal family and the King’s Guard. A small group stood just inside the dining hall. Two of the men in the group were among the largest people Kehet had ever seen.
“Does this mean Prince Reginald is the King of Relarch now?” Kehet asked. “Is he now Reginald the Second?”
The king nodded. “He’s Prince Regent until the coronation, and then he will be Reginald the Second.”
Kehet took a moment to think about the fact that he’d been sitting between two kings. Then he had the realization that both kings were probably just as awed to be sitting next to a god.
The king then said, “I only hope that he can make it out of the city safely.”
“I was told this gathering of Vulak is unheard of,” Kehet said.
“And they’re closing on Melnith.” The king’s archer stepped into the conversation. “The Prince may not be able to make it to Relarch today or anytime in the near future.”
“I knew their numbers were growing, Sheillene, but I hadn’t heard they were moving this way,” The king said. “I assume your Hunter’s Guild is passing news along.”
“Yes,” Sheillene, the archer, said. “We use an enchanted quill system to keep our bounty postings current between our guild halls. Occasionally they can be used for spreading news. We don’t really want that to become their primary use, however.”
“Yes,” the king replied, “but, don’t you think this is the kind of information you should tell your king as soon as possible?”
“I’m here,” Sheillene said. “This is as soon as possible.”
“I see,” the king said. “I should summon my generals.” He called over a servant and told him to get his generals to the palace. He then looked over at the motley group by the door. “Your friends, will they be helpful or are they just tagging along to get a chance to visit my palace?”
Sheillene took a moment of staring at her friends before answering, “I think they’ll be helpful. Thomas is always a good source of knowledge, and the smaller of the two large men is a Novarran General. The man in black is probably the cause of the Vulak invasion. The woman is his sister and the giant is, well a giant, and he can handle himself pretty well in a fight.”
The queen stood and excused herself. The Abvi prince, Aven, moved closer to the king’s conversation as did the king’s daughter, Princess Adria.
“You don’t need to stay,” The king said to his children. “This is likely going to be a boring conversation.”
“I will be King someday,” Aven said. “We don’t often have a reason to plan for war, I should learn at every opportunity.”
“I’m staying with Sheillene,” Adria said. “I’ve been Archery Champion too, that qualifies me to be here as much as her.”
“You just want to be here with Kehet,” Aven said. “He’s not going to change for you in the dining hall.”
“No,” Adria said, “I’m here to learn from Sheillene just as you are here to learn from father.”
“Kehet?” Sheillene asked. She looked straight at Kehet. “You’re the Unicorn god?”
Kehet nodded. “So it seems.”
“He doesn’t have all his memories,” King Allaind said. “He’s still as sharp as I remember.”
Sheillene chuckled, as did Adria. Aven didn’t even crack a smile. Kehet had no doubt the prince got the joke. The man seemed to have very little sense of humor.
Sheillene then asked, “Where has he been?”
“Even I don’t know,” Kehet said. “Beldithe is telling me what I should know, but she can be mischievous and I don’t really know how far to trust her.”
“You always trusted her completely, if the tales are true,” Sheillene said. “Of the gods, she is your closest ally. The two of you are the gods who interact most with the people. She can always be found at her temples and you have a long history of meddling.”
Kehet didn’t know what she meant by meddling, so he asked her to be more specific.
She replied, “There is a fight coming with the Vulak. The other gods may aid their followers, give them courage and possibly even heal their wounds after the battle, but you will probably be out on the field, killing Vulak with the mortals.”
“My love lives in this city,” Kehet said. “If it comes to defending it, I would see no other honorable choice but to fight.”
“And you have a mortal love?” Sheillene said. “Gods take mortal lovers, not loves. Again, you have a reputation for being different than the other gods.”
King Allaind waved his hand towards Sheillene’s friends. “We have all been trying to help Kehet remember his past, but we have more pressing matters. You said your dark clothed friend over there could be the cause of all this. I think that is a far more important topic of discussion.” He gestured to Sheillene’s friends to join them by the high table.
Once they approached and finished with their bows of respect, the King asked, “Sheillene, could you introduce your friends?”
She walked to the man in the black shirt, “This is Pantros Phyreshade, the one you’ve heard of. The woman is his sister Tara. The man in the blue hat is Thomas, but you knew that too. He is Tara’s husband. The largest man is Marc Williams, a swordsman who sometimes plays a bass guitar. The last is Bryan Aaronson, also the one you’ve heard of, who has since earned the rank of General in Novarra. He’s also pretty handy with a damned big sword.”