Silver Mage (Book 2) (8 page)

As Bren finished his short speech, the gathered people remained silent for a few moments until they were sure he was finished. Slowly, the small sounds of whispers begun to spring up, and there were a few raised voices, but for the most part the crowd begun to disperse. As he watched everyone leave, he wished that he had been given more time to properly prepare for addressing them, but sometimes life didn’t give you what you wanted or needed. You just had to make do with what you had.

“Well said your majesty,” Rouma said, patting Bren on the back. “Let us hope that next time we will have a bit more time before the people become aware of such a situation. It is never good to address the public on short notice.”

“If you two would be so kind as to excuse me, there is much I have to get ready for,” Bren said apologetically. “I must admit that I am not prepared to host three visiting monarchs at the same time and might need to call on the aid of the tower.”

“Considering the situation, I am sure that it won’t be a problem,” Rouma said smiling. “As you said, now is the time to show that we can work together when needed.”

CHAPTER VIII

Everything began to happen so fast over the next few days. The tower council began to send over Karin daily to check on what was going on, even though he had not received any more information from the king as of yet. The magical races were not silent either. It seemed that they felt left out and created their own council.

Bren might have been taken aback by a small group of citizens requesting a meeting if Crusher and Lillian had not been among those within the council of magical races. It seemed that the council wasn’t just based in Torin either, but each council member took orders from those back in their homeland, giving the council much more weight, at least in an official capacity. Bren would have listened to them regardless, but it always helped give their views more credit when and if he needed to bring them up with the other monarchs.

It was in one such meeting with the council of magical races that Crusher brought up something that had been a sore spot for them for a great deal of time. “With the exception of Torin, Farlan, and Rane, our people still risk harm by locals. We would hope that his majesty Torin would ask the other countries to outlaw the killing of those belonging to the magical races without reason…and being demon spawn should not be considered a valid reason,” Crusher said, banging his hand down on the large table in Bren’s throne room where the council had come for an audience.

“Wouldn’t that be best coming from you?” Bren asked, not understating their point.

“We could ask as much as we wanted, but the other monarchs would most likely throw anything we send them straight into the refuse pile,” Crusher said hotly. “If a fellow monarch was to send them a request, it would at least open up the possibility for discussion.”

“I see,” Bren said thoughtfully. “I will send out letters at once, but that is all I can promise.”

“It is a start,” Crusher said without brooding on the point.

Like many other people, he had dealt with in a professional and personal manner, they were like two different people depending on why they were talking to you. Outside of the council of magical races, Crusher was always full of laughter, but once he sat in that chair, he didn’t care who was on the other side. If you didn’t hear his point, then he was likely to cut off your head with the axe that hung comfortably on his back. More than once Cass half drew his sword out of fear that the headstrong dwarf would attack.

It was nearly a fortnight before Bren got his response from King Killian telling him that the round table would be in a score of days. Most the time the hosting nation got to pick the date or at least had a say in it, but Bren didn’t mind. He knew that Killian had only taken the throne a score of years before. He acted like less of a monarch and more a Warmaster fit to lead the Katanaga. It didn’t leave Bren much time to ready appropriate places for the three monarchs and their staff, but he would have to make due.

Shortly after the letter from Killian, the other two monarch’s letters came in. For the most part, his mother’s was impersonal and only stated that she
would be attending and how many people she would have in attendance.

Queen Eloen’s on the other hand set Bren’s cheeks on fire. Bren had only met with Queen Eloen a few times and each time he remembered the meeting quite clearly. She would treat him as if he were a stuffed toy for her pleasure and often drug him about. On the last visit, she had brought her adopted daughter and instead of one person dragging him around, there had been two. From then on, whenever he learned that she was making a visit, he would make himself scarce for a few days, but this time he knew that it would be impossible to hide from her.

Five days before the start of the council, Phena showed up in his study carrying a large stack of papers. “What is that?” Bren asked, afraid of the answer.

“Sae-Thae sent over everything he has been able to learn about the veil. I know it’s not the best time, but they were starting to take up too much room on his desk,” Phena said, her words offering an apology, but her face showing that it was only part of the reason that she had come.

“Anything worthwhile?” Bren asked as he flipped through the large stack.

“Not really,” Phena admitted. “None of it is very reliable and most of them are conflicting about different issues. How is everything going with the round table preparations?”

“Too slow,” Bren said sighing heavily. “At best the first monarchs won’t arrive until the day before the meeting, but knowing my mother, she will be here two days before hand and there is no telling about the others. Farlan is fairly easily traveling so Abla might arrive before my mother or slightly after, for all I know they might end up traveling together.”

“Your mother and the king and queen of Abla are friends?” Phena asked slightly shocked.

“In the way that a viper and mouse are friends,” Bren said laughing. “I think they only talk to each other so they can see who can make the most insulting comment while appearing to be giving a compliment.”

“Do you need some help?” Phena asked, surprising Bren. “Master Sae-Thae thinks that having a few trusted people around during the round table would make things move along more smoothly.”

As he thought about Phena running around having to listen to his mother and Eloen’s crazy demands, Bren couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know if it would make things easier, but they would sure make them livelier.”

“Is there anything that you need me to do?” She asked, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“In all honestly, I can use all the hands I can get,” Bren admitted, trying to reign in his laughter. “If you could head over to the Silver Harp, and World’s End inn’s and make sure to rent them out completely until the end of the round table, I would appreciate it. I keep meaning to get over there, but there is just too much to do.”

“You need the two biggest inns in town?” Phena asked curiously. “Honestly, I could probably get by with one, but I don’t think having my mother and Eloen in the same building for an extended period of time will be a good idea, and we don’t know how long the round table will last so it’s best just to get two places.”

“What about king Killian?”

“He won’t stay in town,” Bren said, dismissing the question. “Even if he is a king now, whenever he visits foreign soil he and his men make camp outside of the capital cities, or at least that was what he did whenever he visited my mother.”

“Anything else?” Phena said, turning back toward the door.

“Yes, have one of the guards downstairs call for Jacob and Flynn, I am going to need both of their help to make sure everything runs smoothly over the next few days,” Bren said, turning his attention back to the large stack of papers that were piled up on his desk.

Aside from the problems with the monarchs, the round table was going to cost a great deal of coin and Bren had been forced to request more from the elven holdings. He had hoped not to have to rely on it too much and while he doubted that he would run short on coin, it wasn’t worth the risk.

Jacob and Flynn both arrived at the same time and instead of having to wait while he made time to go down to the throne room, Bren asked they both be admitted to his study. For most people, Cass would have denied the request and Bren would have had to abide by his decision, either that or find another person to head his guard, but thankfully Cass trusted Jacob, and Flynn was in Bren’s direct employ as the general of his armies.

Though Cass trusted the two men, he still didn’t neglect his duties and was present in the room with two other guards waiting outside. Bren thought it was ridiculous, but he let Cass do as he pleased for the most part.

“Do you need something majesty?” Jacob asked, bowing his head just enough to show respect for Bren’s station.

“Please don’t call me majesty, Weapons Master, it feels like an insult coming from you,” Bren said, hanging his head.

“Names aside, why did you call us here?” Flynn said in his normal annoyed voice.

“As you know, there will be a round table with the reigning monarchs of the surrounding countries held here shortly,” Bren said, sitting back in his chair. “It is customary for the hosting king or queen to offer protection to those who are visiting. I am sure that King Killian will deny this offer, but if possible, I would like to hire some of your more proficient students for this honor Weapons Master. For Queen Maria and Eloen, I would like you to pick out twenty of your best soldiers to guard them Flynn. We can’t let anything happen to them during their visit.”

“Very smart,” Jacob said smiling. “If you chose us to guard King Killian, there is less of a chance that he will decline since in a way, we are also a part of his own country. In fact, I don’t think he could decline, otherwise it will show that he doesn’t have faith in his own training schools and that would mean that there is a larger chance they would start to get a reduction in students and less countries would be a willing to allow them. Do you mind if I offer one bit of advice?”

“What would that be?” Bren asked slightly curious, knowing that Jacob hated dealing with anything political in nature.

“I would suggest that you also hire personal guards out of my trainees for each of the other royalty. While I am sure that Jacob’s men can get the job accomplished, it will make King Killian happy and he will look more kindly on you, should you ever request aid.”

“I didn’t think about that,” Bren admitted. “Let’s do that. My mother will always be a sore spot for me and Abla is too far away to offer help in a tight situation. Not to mention that King Killian has already started building ties with many of the other countries so having him on my side could be useful.”

“If that’s all, you could had simply sent me a note,” Flynn said irritably.

“Master Flynn, when it comes to guarding monarchs, it is always best to get your orders directly from your commander. As you are the highest official currently, it was best of his majesty to talk to you personally. Normally this would mean a large affair with you spending most of your time idly waiting before you go to see him. If I were you, I would stop complaining and bow your head to the person who continues to allow you to earn your bread considering your lack of grace,” Jacob said, with the glowing eyes that he had often used on Bren when he was one of his trainees.

“Thank you for your care majesty,” Flynn said while even making himself looking abashed.

As soon as the two were outside the door to his study, he could hear Jacob’s raised voice as he continued to lecture Flynn. Bren felt slightly sorry for his friend. They had settled on an uneasy set of rules about when and where Flynn would act according to rank, and when it was a meeting between the two, it wouldn’t be needed.

With the Guard details and quarters decided, all that was left was to make sure that there were enough suitable engagements to keep his guests busy. Bren didn’t have a large enough hall to throw a grand ball, but thankfully the tower had answered that problem for him. No king or queen would be able to say that their reception was lacking, that was
for sure. The tower had only given him a glimpse of their plans, but to say they were grand would have been an understatement.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best he could hope for on such a short time frame and with his limited resources. All that was left was paperwork and waiting. Bren hated not knowing when everyone would arrive, but he didn’t have anyone skilled enough in spying that he was willing to send the out when there was still chances of freak snow storms, no matter how low the risk.

The waiting was the worst, it made Bren’s stomach clench whenever he thought of anything that might go wrong. He decided it was best to spend the days leading up to the round table with his friends, and working when he had too. There was no reason that he should wear himself out before the other monarchs arrived.

That night as he drifted off to sleep, Bren’s mind was full of thoughts of his memories of the three different monarchs that would be coming to his land. He had met each of them many times and they were all different, but in a way they were all family or at least they had treated him as such on the other meetings.

********************

“What do you have planned now?” Thad asked, looking at the god carefully.

“The same thing I have had planned since the beginning, but I don’t think I will let you in this time. I think it will be much more fun for you to see it firsthand. No one likes it when the story is given away before it even starts,” Humanius answered mysteriously.

“I think I would rather know,” Thad replied anxiously. “I don’t like the idea of my son being in
danger and even less so if I don’t know if he’s making a mistake that could cost him his life.”

“What would you do if he was making a mistake?” Humanius asked with a large smile. “Yell at him at the top of your voice and pray that he hears you. That might be fun to watch, but I think I will keep my secrets close to my chest this time.”

“Whatever you’re planning, I am sure that it will end badly for what is left of your people,” Thad declared. “Don’t think that King Killian will let you simply march past his land to get to my son. He will see every one of the Brotherhood dead if they step a foot on his land.”