Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series (17 page)

Prince Saku, though not as intelligent or
serious as his older brother, could no doubt decide some of the
simpler cases, that is, if he could ever stop questioning his
citizens about their pastimes, adventures, and stories. It wouldn’t
be easy, but Saku would have to learn to put his interests aside
when he was to judge for the kingdom.

As for Princess Saeya, though she had a good
heart, she was indecisive and inexperienced, saying nothing of her
immaturity. If Captain Farille had come in today when she was
judging, it would’ve take her a lifetime to come up with an answer,
and that answer would’ve more than likely been premature and had
tragic consequences. This was to say nothing of the other cases
which he was sure would’ve ended in disaster had the princess
presided over them. No, Princess Saeya could definitely not rule
yet until she had some more experience and learned to control
herself. He’d have to rely on his two sons. They could definitely
rule, and with time might even be as good as him.

Still, the king hesitated. Giving up his
power felt wrong; no previous king of Amalon had ever relinquished
such control to his children. Yet, could anything be worse than the
day he’d had? could anything be more tiring and frustrating?
Surely, for the sake of rest he could give up some authority. He
had to, or he would go insane, just like Fariam.

Shuddering at the thought, his lips
tightening, King Kadeth’s thoughts turned back to his royal
herbalist Azadar Silverheart, a cold-hearted elf who continued to
cause him much distress.

Azadar, one of his three royal herbalists,
was not only entirely arrogant and savage, but also power-hungry.
He was well known for his poor judgment and aversion for humans,
qualities that made him very disliked in Amalon … and surely to the
rest of the world as well.

Despite these major defects, however, Azadar
had generally been trustworthy when it came to imprisoning pirates
and other suspicious characters who caused much havoc wherever they
went. Today, however, had been different. Speaking with his wife
earlier today, who’d visited the “pirate”, Kadeth quickly realized
that the young human Azadar had locked up was no crime lord, but
rather a well-respected noble from Verandur who’d just happened to
have been shipwrecked on the Kingdom of Amalon.

Once he’d found this out, he’d let the
Verandel noble go with much apology and a rich gift, and then
turned sharply on Azadar, intent on imprisoning the rash elf
himself, especially since he’d arrived earlier than usual to the
palace today, cutting his work short.

However, after a short consideration, he’d
decided against it, as Azadar was much too valuable. Still, Azadar
had wasted his time, and worse had actually been present for
several cases despite being repeatedly told to leave, an incident
that the king severely frowned upon.

Even though Azadar himself had never said a
single word during the cases, he’d made many facial expressions,
some of which were very unpleasant, and most of which were
frighteningly hostile. The last thing the king wanted was to
terrorize his subjects, and Azadar had done a great job making sure
his citizens left entirely agitated and dispirited, even if they’d
gotten what they’d hoped for.

The second to last case of the day was a
clear example of that. A young noble, named Belam, had petitioned
the king to give him enough money so he could purchase an expensive
flute, which he would use to compose songs about the Sapphire
Palace and its royal occupants.

Well-pleased with his request, and fully
trusting his honesty, as elves were a very truthful race, the king
had immediately given him the sufficient sum of money, his sons
smiling approvingly at the young elf, as the princes were generally
present for the last three cases of the day. However, even though
the noble had every reason to leave happy, Azadar’s scowling face
and glaring eyes cast a dark gloom about him, and he left with fear
in his eyes. Why Azadar was so disapproving of the young elf was
entirely out of his realm of thought. It made no sense
whatsoever.

However, as troublesome as all this had been,
things had only gotten far worse. His last case had made him by far
the angriest and most puzzled.

When at first his royal messenger Hasan
Seavale had informed him about a young human named Ian, who’d been
captured by Azadar, he’d thought he’d understood the situation, so
he’d ordered Hasan to take the human to the royal bathhouse to be
given rich apparel, a charitable gesture for human strangers
visiting his kingdom.

However, once he’d seen the human, who was
clearly not from Verandur, and only slightly resembled a Sarithian,
as his eyebrows were way thicker, his neck somewhat lengthier, and
his chin much less pronounced, he at once grew bewildered. This
man, who professed to have encountered the Elayans, was not at all
the bold, courageous type that typified younger males from Sarith,
the type who would tell lies simply to gain an audience with the
king so as to avoid being imprisoned. Nor was he the characteristic
spy for Tazik, a self-composed sycophant who flattered the king and
his family, offhandedly requesting information about the Kingdom of
Amalon, its military strength, and its resources.

Still, something about him didn’t feel right,
and if the young man weren’t a spy, than why was he even here? Why
did he look so suspicious?

Hoping to find the answers to these
questions, he, Prince Taishan, and Princess Saeya had questioned
Ian about his homeland, his agenda, and his plans. Yet, for all
their inquiries, this human had only given them vague ideas about
himself, while scattering out various lies throughout their
conversations to keep them distracted--from what, he didn’t know,
but he surely had a devious motive behind it, and it aggravated
Kadeth that with all his wisdom he couldn’t even guess at what this
human was plotting.

Just when he thought he understood the boy,
then the human said something else entirely bizarre to completely
throw him off the path, as when he claimed to have no knowledge of
Chardins, a title that everyone in the world of Vaiya knew, even
the dwarves of Tazik and the pirates of Verandur. Why he would
feign ignorance of such a common term made as much sense as why the
Sarithian ambassador was taking so long to arrive. All the king
could discern from his words was that the human was purposely
trying to confuse him at every turn of the ship. Why, he didn’t
know, but it was definitely rather obvious that, for whatever
clever reason, this human was pretending to look extremely
uneducated, uncivilized, and foolish.

Ian’s imaginative mind didn’t help things any
either. First, the human had claimed to have seen the Elayans and
had even invented a historically accurate account of them--likely
having sewn together pieces of information he’d gleaned from other
traitorous elves and humans--while sprinkling in colorfully
fabricated spells of his own creation. Then, he’d asserted that
he’d come from a faraway country called the United States, which
consisted of many states, one of them being Illinois, his supposed
home place.

If Ian had not looked so normal, the king
would have immediately called him a lunatic and ordered him out of
his presence, but something about the man struck him as sane and
even conniving. His best guess was that Odak had grown smarter and
had deviated from the stereotypical spy by hiring a devious
innocent-eyed human, one who went against all the conventional
standards. However, it was also possible that Ian had come from
Sarith just to stir up trouble in the capital city.

No matter his intentions, though, the human
had definitely not come here to be of service to him, and as such,
the king felt no sorrow for sending him to his likely death on the
morrow.

Smiling, his shamrock green eyes growing
strangely cheerful at this morbid thought, Kadeth drummed his
fingers against the table. This human was of no concern to him. All
would be taken care of in the morning.

Meditating on those thoughts, Kadeth barely
heard the door open as a young woman stepped inside and greeted him
cordially: “Blessings and strength, Your Majesty.”

Staring back at her, well pleased with the
elven expression, though her accent was far from perfect, King
Kadeth gazed upon the dark-skinned woman who wore a careful,
sensible look on her face. Her garments, a lightweight green dress
embroidered with palm trees, which reached to her kneecaps, a black
pair of pants, and brown silken shoes, showed her high ranking and
expensive taste.

He smiled. So this was the ambassador from
Vernandur.

As the woman smiled back, respectfully bowing
to him, and gave him her name, Kadeth got straight to the reason
she was here. “So you’ve come to make an alliance with the elves,
have you, Elyia?” he asked in a somewhat hostile tone, thinking it
wise to begin with a stricter approach.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she replied, her tone
both humble and polite.

“And why?”

Still standing, she shifted her weight to her
other leg, and looked slightly nervous as she cautiously phrased
her reply. “There is a reason why Sarith’s ambassador has not
arrived in your kingdom yet, Your Majesty.”

Kadeth’s eyes slowly widened. “What is it?”
he asked, his tone emotionless, showing none of his curiosity.
Personally, he could only think of a few reasons why the ambassador
would be so late and none of them were pleasant.

“Sarith is amassing an army against you, Your
Majesty.”

This was the worst possible news she could
have delivered; even his darkest dreams never foretold this. “How
do you know this is true?” he questioned.

“King Ralin has not kept his intentions
secret, Your Majesty,” the ambassador replied. “He has sent word to
his whole kingdom to prepare for this war, including the Southern
and Northern Isles.”

“And how come my kingdom was never told of
this development?” asked Kadeth, retaining all the calmness of an
eagle in flight, though inwardly his heart was flaming with
rage.
Elyia folded her hands politely and responded, “With all due
respect, Your Majesty, I suppose it’s because you were so busy with
your own affairs.”

This made the king even angrier, though he
was not about to show it to this human ambassador. How could Sarith
have the audacity to start a war with him under the guise of
starting an alliance? It was beyond wicked and called for
retribution of the most severe sort.

And how hadn’t he heard of Sarith’s blatant
intentions? His kingdom was never known for espionage, but this was
even two steps backwards. No, this could never happen again. As
much as he despised giving Azadar more power, he now had no choice
but to give him full permission to start his own league of
spies.

As Elyia began to show glimmers of impatience
over his slow response, the king directed his thoughts to bringing
back his race’s dignity in her eyes, something that he’d never
thought he’d have to do. With little effort, he soon found the
right question: “Do you know anything about a human named Ian
Hansen who came into our kingdom today, Elyia?”

“No, Your Majesty.” Her face showed both
doubt and intrigue, as she likely pondered over the strange name
that had caused him so much irritation today, a name that was
likely an alias. “Who is he?”

Kadeth stared at her confidently, relishing
in her confusion, as he showed her his kingdom’s competence to
uncover spies. “He’s a Sarithian spy for Odak Valduum.” He’d come
to this conclusion right when he’d first seen the young man, and
these thoughts had only grown stronger now. This led him into his
next question: “Are you aware of any alliance between Sarith and
Tazik?”

Her eyebrows lowered slightly. “Currently,
it’s nothing more than a weapon’s agreement,” she replied, her tone
mildly positive. “Though it might have progressed further since our
spies were there a week ago.”

This was enlightening if not entirely
frustrating. Azadar had long ago warned him about dark dealings
between Tazik and Sarith but he’d never given it much thought,
thinking his words the rantings of a human-hater. Now though, he
wished he’d considered them.

Brushing away a few strands of his long
russet-brown hair that had nearly gotten into his eyelashes, he
fixed his eyes on the Verandel ambassador, musing over the
situation. She wanted to make an alliance with his nation, a feat
that no human had ever boasted of accomplishing before.

Even though the ambassador for Sarith had
previously sought to form an alliance with him, to help his nation
in spying out the dwarves’ covert plans while readying themselves
to war against Tazik if it came to that, the king had been fully
intent on rejecting the alliance and refusing his help.

However, this desperate situation called for
unprecedented actions, and he was willing to sacrifice some pride
for the sake of a trusted ally, an ally who seemed to know all
about Sarith’s inner movements and strategies. To refuse her help
would be foolish and insensible. No matter that the alliance would
make elven history and would likely infuriate his four governors,
his many judges, and his supremacist subjects; it would,
nonetheless, be done.

Now in full agreement with his decision, he
turned to Elyia, who, in spite of his long delay, still had a
gentle composed look in her eyes. “Consider the alliance formed,
Elyia Jerasim.”

Her face remained nearly the same upon
hearing the news, except for a faint look of relief in her soft
blue eyes at having accomplished the mission given her by her
ruler, Queen Islah of Verandur. The desert queen was sure to be
pleased with her when she returned. “It is as you wish, Your
Majesty. May your kingdom be graced with dignity and light.”

At her words, his face grew surprisingly
cheerful, a fact he wasn’t ashamed to show. Now, he would get his
revenge on Sarith, and, with the naval power of Verandur on his
side, could even force the dwarves back to their caves. And as for
this human, who’d caused him so much grief today, he’d be dealt
with swiftly as well. When Master Thargon was through with the boy
in the morning, he’d be a mere whisper in the wind.