Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (21 page)

“The king wants to see me? What for?” Flare asked.

Kara smiled at him, “He didn't take the time to explain himself to me. Why don't you mention that to him when you see in the morning?” Her tone had too much sarcasm for his taste. “Now, get out of bed and let me help you. First thing we are going to do is get you a bath.”

Flare smiled at Kara, “I'm kind of weak right now; I don't think I can bathe myself. Will you help?”

Kara's right eyebrow shot up and her smile turned a little devious. “I would love to.”

His hasty smile slid quickly away.

Flare strolled through the castle toward the king's meeting room. He felt better today than he had in days. The weight of the problems that had been bothering him had lessened now that he had a purpose. Kara had spent several hours last night getting him ready for this morning, although he had felt reborn after just eating one meal. Her help with his bath hadn't hurt either, although he was sure that he was the only one that had enjoyed it.

He walked through the main hall towards the meeting room where he had been ordered to appear. He was early, and therefore wasn't in any hurry. At this time of the morning, the castle was alive with activity and he was amused by the hustle and bustle of the servants.

His amusement was quickly wiped out by seeing Angaria entering the meeting room where Flare had been summoned. He stopped in his tracks and almost was run over by a page that hadn't noticed his stopping; he didn't even notice the page or hear his stuttered apology. 'Angaria is going to be present for my meeting with the king!' Flare thought, 'That's going to make things a little more difficult.' He stood there for another several moments looking at the doorway, and then an anger seemed to appear from nowhere and started welling up in him. Angaria had been nothing but a hindrance since Flare had arrived, and he was tired of running from the man's shadow and this was as good a time as any to change things.

Flare crossed the main hall and stopped outside of the door. The door was plain in its appearance and he realized that he had never been in this meeting room before. Two of the king's guards stood guarding the door; one on either side of the door.

He took a deep breath and said, “The king has summoned me.”

The guard on the right side of the door nodded his head, “Yes sir, we were told to allow you through.” With that, the guard opened the door. Steeling himself to face Angaria, he stepped through.

Flare stepped through the door and stopped in surprise. When he had first learned of this meeting, he had thought that it would be just the king and himself. He had been surprised, and angry, to see Angaria entering the room ahead of him, but even then he had thought that it would be just the three of them. He was not expecting the large number of people already in the room.

The room was rather plain and drab in its appearance, being a large rectangular room made of stone blocks. The ceiling was flat, and high above the ground. The sparseness of the room was a surprise to Flare, most of the meeting rooms where the king held meetings were ornately decorated. In this room, the walls were bare, except for a plain tapestry depicting a forest hunt that hung on the wall to his left. There were no windows, and the floors were bare.

Light illuminated from four globes sitting on posts placed in each of the four corners of the room. He hadn't seen anything like them before, but magic emanated from them. The magic oozing from the lamps was so strong, that he was sure every person in the room had to sense it, whether or not they knew any magic.

A long rectangular table sat in the middle of the room, with plain wooden chairs clustered around it. The surface of the table was a giant map that showed in detail from the western sea to the impassable
White Mountains
in the east. The map showed the frozen wastes of the far north to the three fingers jutting out into the ocean to the south. Flare wondered how accurate the map was, after all no one traveled to the wastes of the north.

The king sat at the head of the table, as was his due. The king's council sat arrayed around the table, and less prominent people stood. The king sat at the far end of the table in the only high backed chair in the room, Angaria sat to the king's left. Angaria was leaning over and talking quietly to the king.

A guard stationed to the right of the door stepped close to Flare and said, “My Lord. The king understands this is the first time you have attended a meeting here. Please stand with the others and he will attend to you soon.”

Flare merely nodded, and moved to stand behind the other attendees. Most of the people in the room were familiar to him. Seated at the table were generals and lords of Telur. Standing behind the table were lesser nobles and military men. Flare crossed his arms, wondering why a prince stood in the back of the crowd, although he was grateful that he was not the focus of attention.

“Let us start the meeting.” King Darion said, “Guards, please leave us.”

The guards bowed and left the room. Flare was thoroughly thrown off guard by the events so far. He had not expected to partake in a secret meeting with so many high ranking people. 'This doesn't bode well.'

All talking had ceased with the king's words, and the group waited patiently for the king to begin. The nobles and generals seemed anxious, and Flare found that anxiety to be contagious.

The king took a deep breath, “I have assembled you because we have received some bad news.” He paused momentarily, “Lord Maltin, please brief the assembly.”

A man stepped forward from where he had been standing behind the king's chair. Flare hadn't even noticed the man before, and it quickly became apparent as to why.

Lord Maltin was in every sense a 'plain' man. He was of average height and weight, with nondescript skin coloring. His facial features and clothing made it apparent that he would blend in just about anywhere in Telur.

Maltin scanned the room before he spoke. “For those of you who do not know me, I am Lord Maltin Dela Narra. I am in charge of gathering news on what our neighboring countries are doing. It is my duty to inform you that the kingdoms of Natesh and Molain have signed a peace treaty.”

Quiet was the only response to Maltin's words. Flare knew the kingdoms that Maltin spoke of. Millennia ago, Molindor had fought beside Telur against Golteranth in the dragon-lord wars. However, Molindor was a huge and diverse country that civil war had split into smaller kingdoms. Over time, smaller kingdoms had been absorbed into larger kingdoms, until now Natesh and Molain were the only two kingdoms left of any significance. Natesh was east of Telur, and Molain was south of Natesh, but it still bordered with Telur.

Lord Maltin paused to let the full affect of his words settle. For several moments, quiet was the rule, but that soon passed and a multitude of conversations broke out. Quite a few just looked around confused.

Lord Maltin raised his hands, and after a moment he was rewarded with quiet. “My informants tell me that the dismantling of the seven keeps on the border of the
Broken
Mountains
is a condition of the treaty.”

Looks of confusion were evident on the faces of many, and Flare was relieved that he wasn't the only one who had no idea what Maltin was speaking of.

Lord Maltin quickly realized his mistake and moved to correct it. He pointed to the map on the table, along the border of the two countries, as he spoke. “My apologies, I just assumed that you would be familiar with the conditions that exist between Natesh and Molain. The
Broken
Mountains
run between most of the two kingdoms and there are only seven passes that are large enough to move a significant number of troops through. There is a keep on either end of all those passes. One of the keeps is controlled by Natesh and the other is controlled by Molain. Right now these keeps are heavily fortified, as they are the only defense from the other side marching right through. With these garrisons removed, a huge number of troops will be freed up.”

An older man that was seated at the table, whom Flare didn't recognize, spoke up, “Those two have been fighting for centuries and they just all of a sudden agree to dismantle their forces?” His tone was rather incredulous. Although Flare didn't recognize the man, he wore the colors of House Morningstar which clearly marked him as the Morningstar representative.

Lord Maltin took a step toward the man as he spoke, “They have been negotiating for some time now but we didn't expect anything to come of it. We were completely surprised by their agreeing to peace, and even more surprised that they agreed to reduce the forces along the
Broken
Mountains
.” He clasped his hands behind his back and his voice took on a lecturing tone. “The keeps will not be abandoned, but the forces will be dramatically reduced. Apparently, both King Almarin and King Travis agreed because royal family members will be placed in the capitals of the other nation. Those royal family members are the guarantee that one kingdom will not attack the other.”

Flare smiled at Maltin's words and thought, 'I guess that a King can always find family members that he doesn't like.' The smile faded somewhat as he thought of Solistine and his distant family. 'That could have been me.'

“Good for them. What does that have to do with us?” Asked a young man with a round face, standing along the wall to Flare's right. He seemed rather disinterested.

Lord Maltin turned a disapproving frown in the young lord's direction. “You see, as long as the two kingdoms were fighting with each other, their attention and resources were not focused in our direction.”

The young lord with the round face seemed to reconsider his earlier rash statement when he thought of all those troops moving toward Telur.

“Not all of the troops are part of the standing army, some of them are sworn to various lords and nobles, and will no doubt return to their service. Those do not concern us, it's the soldiers that are part of the standing army that we are worried about,” Lord Maltin said.

“Do you know where they are to be sent?” Flare asked, before he thought better.

Lord Maltin sighed, “It seems that the troops are to be sent to the western borders of the two countries.” He said as he pointed along the map. “That will put them on the border with Telur.”

Once again a multitude of conversations broke out in the room. Some quickly concluded that war was descending on Telur from the east, while others seemed to still cling to hope that war would not come.

Flare noticed the young Lord with round face, who just a little bit earlier had seemed indifferent. He now seemed anxious and he had one finger in his mouth as he chewed his nail.

The Morningstar representative spoke again, “We can't allow this to happen. As it is, raiders cross the border in droves and attack our farms and villages. We must increase the number of Telurian soldiers patrolling the eastern border.”

“Lord Allis, If you can't defend your own lands, then why should we?” Asked a man that Flare knew to be Lord Colpin. Lord Colpin was sworn to Lord Justin of House Darkvale, who controlled the
northern territories
. Lord Colpin was a fat man who had little restraint when it came to eating, but the few times that Flare had met him, he had noticed the man's calculating eyes. He was a shrewd man and one to be watched.

Lord Allis, the Morningstar representative, puffed up at Lord Colpin's remarks. “How dare you question us, when you grow fat and powerful because we are fighting the intruders?”

“Like last spring? When we sent all those troops south and east, and the attack came from the west?” This comment came from Lord Marin, sworn to Lord Roderick of House Efflen, he was seated next to Lord Colpin.

“And what of it? The kingdoms to the east were marshaling their forces and it appeared an attack was imminent.” Lord Allis answered in a huffy tone.

“So they marshal their forces again and once again we send all these troops to the east?” Lord Colpin asked. “Maybe they are a decoy again, and the real attack comes from the west. Perhaps, Fort Mul-Dune is the target again.”

Lord Allis opened his mouth to speak, but it was King Darion that spoke first. “Fort Mul-Dune has been reinforced and never again will we allow the garrison there to be depleted.” The king motioned to a man sitting at the table, several seats from the king. “General Dunn feels this could be a prelude to war.”

General Dunn cleared his throat, “The information that Lord Maltin has provided us, indicates that the numbers of troops that are scheduled to move dwarf the number that moved last spring. They cannot keep that number of troops in the field for long without attacking us or sending them home. We feel the attack could be as early as mid to late spring.” The general spoke easily and seemed comfortable talking to this large group of nobles. Flare had met him several times and the man had seemed extremely competent, but gruff as only a life-long military man can be.

Lord Colpin crossed his arms, “Exactly what I would expect a man sworn to House Morningstar to say.”

The general's eyes narrowed and he rose to his feet glaring at Lord Colpin. “And what do you mean by that, you fat slob of a man.”

Lord Colpin's eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth to retort, but the king beat him to it.

The king slapped his hand down on the table, making a loud wham sound. “Colpin. Allister. Both of you will be civil. Is that understood?”