Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (22 page)

Both men nodded and grumbled something, but Lord Colpin continued to glare at the man in a way that said the slight would not be forgotten.

The king also glared at the two men for several moments, before shaking his head and then continuing, “Lord Colpin, you will tell Lord Justin that he is to send the troops to the east. General Dunn will give you the particulars. Is that clear?”

Lord Colpin nodded his head to the king. “Of course, sir. My liege will be honored to do as you command.” The words were the right thing to say, but the tone implied disapproval.

The king paused a moment and then turned his head, “Lord Marin, you will inform Lord Roderick that he is to send troops to the south, and this time I expect him to send them,” the king paused in mid-sentence, “promptly.” His tone was quiet, but he put special inference on the word 'promptly'.

Lord Marin paled, but he covered it by bowing his head, “As you command, my King.”

Finally, King Darion spoke to General Dunn, “Allister. See to the particulars of the troop deployment.”

The general bowed his head but said nothing.

The king nodded to Duke Angaria, who had apparently been waiting. He seemed to vault from his chair at the king's nod. “Besides the marshaling of the standing army, the king is issuing a further call to arms for each of the great houses and minor houses. Each house will be expected to send their knights, bond-men, and mercenaries to support the army.” He paused and looked around at the Lords.

No one met the Duke's gaze and it was clear that the king's commands were not pleasing the crowd. Whether it was because of what the king had ordered, or because it was Duke Angaria that was relaying the commands, Flare didn't know.

Duke Angaria scanned the faces for several moments, “Only the standing army is being called at this moment. The knights and assorted bond-men are to be ready to depart for the border immediately upon receiving the king's call. Have them sharpen their swords and ready their horses. The king will not look favorably on those that delay in coming.” Still no one met the Duke's gaze, but several had gone red around the ears. “Any questions?” He asked, but no one responded. “Fine. You're dismissed.”

He turned to leave with the rest of the crowd, but Duke Angaria's voice stopped him. “Prince Flarantlas, please wait a moment. The king wishes to speak with you.”

Flare turned back away from the door, trying to hide his surprise as he did so. Angaria had almost seemed cordial, and normally not even the king's presence made him so.

At first the wave of Lords and military men seemed like it would rush over him, but Flare stood his ground and glared at those nearest to him. The glare worked, and they parted to pass around him. Those in the back, that were heading out, followed the lead of those in front, so Flare stood in a bubble in the midst of the wave of departing men.

Several moments later, the room was clear except for Flare and three other men. Those men caused a knot of fear to form in his stomach, but he swallowed hard and strode forward to the table. The king still sat at the head of the table, but he smiled as Flare walked up. It was the other two men that made little beads of sweat break out on his forehead. The other two men were Duke Angaria and Lord Maltin.

Steeling himself for the worst, he half-bowed before the king. 'What do they want with me?' He asked himself. Surely they didn't know about his magic and sorcery lessons. If they had, several squads of the King's guard and the Guardians would have come for him. They wouldn't send members of the nobility, but that fact did little to quiet the weakness that swirled in his stomach.

“You wished to speak with me, Sir.” Flare directed at the king.

“Yes. Tell me what did you think of the meeting?”

Flare shrugged, “Lord Maltin gave a good report on the threat, although I think it was understated.” He paused, not sure if he should proceed.

The king apparently sensed Flare's reluctance, “Is that all?”

“Well, I was rather dismayed by the noble's reaction to the news. They didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Or worse, perhaps they did realize the danger, but since it didn't affect them they didn't care. Either way, Telur is in for a long hard battle if those troops come across the border.”

The king nodded, “Very astute.” He sighed, “Yes, some of them are too stupid to know what this means, but it's not them that bothers me. It's the ones that do understand what this means, and yet they see only their own gain in this mess.”

Flare spoke before he thought better of it, “Do you think that House Efflen will send their fighters?”

“Yes, but do you want to know why?” The king leaned forward in his chair, “It's not that they feel threatened by me. No, I think that they had a deal last spring to delay their troops being sent to the east. I think that they expected the east to be overrun and for me to be overthrown.” He stopped and watched Flare.

'What does that mean?' Flare wondered. 'They held back their troops so that the east could be overrun. But what deal?' The answer came to him in a flash. “You think that Lord Roderick was to rule what was left of Telur?”

The king's smile deepened, “You see, Angaria. The boy is quick.” Duke Angaria said nothing; he merely kept watching Flare and the king. “That's exactly what I think. I believe Roderick was offered the throne in my place.”

Flare nodded, “And you can't go after him, because that would start a civil war just as Telur is being attacked from the east.”

“Roderick always was ambitious. His family once ruled as kings before the four provinces became one kingdom. I think he dreams of being King Roderick and restoring his throne.”

Flare glanced at Duke Angaria and Lord Maltin. Was it safe for the king to be saying these things in front of the two men? The king seemed to read Flare's mind.

“Don't worry Flare. No one trusts Angaria, except me that is. And Lord Maltin has proven himself loyal to me over the many years. Maltin has been my spy master for almost fifteen years.” Seeing the confused look on Flare's face, he added, “Maltin is in charge of gathering information on what my loyal followers and our neighboring kingdoms are doing. He's quite good at it, I might add.”

Flare snorted and looked over at Lord Maltin. “I take it that last spring wasn't your greatest moment.”

Lord Maltin flushed red. “Uh, no. It was a brilliant plan, and whoever it was knew what they were doing. If not for your little bit of heroics at Fort Mul-Dune, Telur would have fallen and it would have been my fault.”

The king waved his hand, “Never mind that just now. That's not why we're here.” He reached for a glass of water, took a sip, and replaced it on the table. “Flare, what did you mean when you said, you thought the threat was understated?”

Flare paused, trying to put his thoughts into the right words. “Well, what I meant is that you told us enough that any of these nobles that are reasonably intelligent should be scared to death. If you told us that much, then the threat must be far worse than what we heard.”

“Why?” The king asked. “Why must things be worse than what we said?”

Flare smiled a rueful smile, “Things are always worse than they seem.”

The king matched Flare's rueful smile with one of his own, “See Angaria. I told you he was a smart one.”

Angaria rolled his eyes, but only when the king was not looking at him. “As you say, my Lord.”

“Can you guess the rest of the bad news?” Lord Maltin asked, his piercing eyes seeming to bore into Flare.

“Has to be the south.” Flare said, without a moment's hesitation.

All three men seemed a little taken aback. “Why?” The king asked.

“Well, you're sending reinforcements to the south. Which I don't think you would be doing if the only threat was from the east.” He frowned as his own words sank in, “How bad is it?”

The king dropped his gaze to the table, and it was Lord Maltin that answered. “Worse than you could imagine.” He pointed to the map on the table, “Not only does it look like troops will be along our southern and eastern borders by summer, but it looks like there is coordination going on between the different kingdoms.”

The words hit Flare hard. It was bad enough if the southern and eastern kingdoms were massing individually, but if they were coordinating, then they could overwhelm Telur. He swallowed hard, “We'll be overrun. I don't see how we can stop them, seeing as how much we will be outnumbered.”

Lord Maltin nodded, looking grim. “We don't have any reports of troops moving yet, but we have heard of craftsmen being sent to the borders.”

“Craftsmen?” Flare asked puzzled, not realizing that he was interrupting.

Lord Maltin didn't seem to notice the interruption. “Yes. We think they are preparing for the arrival of the troops. It takes a lot to provide for that many men. They are working on the roads and building storehouses and the like.” He paused, “It's fall now so it's too late for that many troops to be moved. Our best guess is that the armies won't be ready to invade until late next summer.”

Flare's forehead wrinkled in confusion. “That's awful daring. If they start the invasion that late in the summer, then they face getting caught in winter.”

Lord Maltin shook his head. “It's not daring. With that many troops we don't stand a chance, and they know it.”

Flare looked from Lord Maltin to the king. “So what do we do?” He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

The king took a deep breath, but he didn't meet Flare's gaze. Flare glanced at Lord Maltin, and he too was staring at the floor. The only one that would look at him was Angaria, and that wasn't much of a comfort.

Finally, the king spoke. “We have to do something drastic.”

Flare nodded, “Obviously.”

The king paused. “We have been trying to come up with a plan, but we don't have many options left to us. We have spent the better part of a week discussing different ways to handle this. Many ideas have been proposed, but each in turn has been discarded. Finally, only one suggestion was left, and I must admit that I am not overly fond of the idea.”

Flare looked around at the men; they were all now watching him like a caged animal. A sinking feeling started to settle in on him. “I have a feeling I'm not going to like this idea either.”

This time it was Duke Angaria that spoke, “You were right. He is quick.”

Flare ignored the Duke. “What is it you've planned?”

King Darion cleared his throat. “The only suggestion that appears to have a chance of succeeding was presented by Duke Angaria.” He nodded at the Duke.

Duke Angaria stood up from his chair. “One by one we considered and dismissed various ideas. Until finally I suggested that perhaps what we needed was something a little more inspiring.” He walked to the end of the table opposite where King Darion was sitting. “I suggested that perhaps we needed a hero out in front of the troops to lead them.”

Flare knew why that sinking feeling had descended on him earlier and it made perfect sense why Duke Angaria would suggest this idea. If Flare was out in front of the troops, then he would be the first one to die.

“But that alone wasn't enough.” This time is was the king that was speaking. “Putting you in the front of the army would just get you killed first.”

“Really?” Flare asked sarcastically. “You think so?”

The king smiled. “There's more to it, Flare. We're not just putting a hero in charge of leading the troops; we're putting a hero in charge of the troops with a powerful talisman.”

Flare was really confused now, “What talisman?”

Angaria quietly answered him, “The sword of Osturlius.”

“A cold chill swept over Flare at Angaria's words. 'It couldn't be! This didn't make any sense!' He realized that his mouth was hanging open, and he closed it with a snap. Was this a trap? “That doesn't make any sense.” Flare turned to the king. “Whoever possesses that sword is supposed to restore the Dragon Order! Any man that has it will be hunted down by the church. What you're suggesting isn't possible!”

King Darion motioned with his hands, “Calm down, Flare. I wouldn't let this move forward if it was just going to result in the church denouncing you. I have spoken with the High Priest himself, and he has assured me that the church does not believe that you are the one prophesied about in the Kelcer prophecy.”

“You're not. Are you?” Duke Angaria asked in a calm voice.

“Of course not!” Flare spat. “That's absurd!”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” Angaria continued in that infuriatingly calm voice. “Many parts of the Kelcer prophecy are vague, but a few parts are quite clear, and they obviously do not point to you.”

“But the sword...” Flare started to say, but Angaria interrupted him.

“The prophecy does not say whoever possesses the sword will restore the Dragon Order. What the prophecy says is that the person who restores the Dragon Order will possess the sword.” Angaria smiled, “Just possessing the sword is not enough."

Flare looked from King Darion to Duke Angaria. No arguments came to mind, but everything still seemed wrong with this plan. And why was Duke Angaria pushing this, it just didn't make sense.

King Darion leaned forward in his chair, “Flare, I did not agree to this lightly. This may be the only chance for the survival of Telur. If you succeed, you will rally the armies of Telur and at the same time demoralize our enemies.”