Dragon Kin 2

21

Vlad

After breakfast the next day, I meant to catch up and walk with Carmen, but Victor called for me so I turned to face him, as he came up on my right side.

"I send you out and in a single day..." he sighed, and shook his head sagely. "These are times, are they not?"

Glancing over to me he added, "Had I known what fate waited for you over there, I would have sent you three weeks ago or took you with me. About time something hindered you."

"Hindered me?" I asked.

"Oh, so you got this whole marked thing down already? Should have known. Would you mind letting your king cheat off your notes?"

I offered an awkward grin. I couldn't claim any such mastery. I was baffled to the point I didn't understand; naked but for the awkward grin.

"Keeping to the skies, my lord. Just like when we were boys. High and in the sun."

"That works for you?"

"With her?" I asked, then narrowed my eyes, and shook my head. "Not even a little. She just looks up, and I'm not sure she's aware I'm hiding."

"Yes," he murmured. "I've similar experiences."

"What baffles me is that I'm not quite sure why?"

"Why?" I stopped, and he turned to face me, "Why I'm hiding or exactly what I'm hiding from."

I put myself in step with him when he turned and moved to circle the throne room again.

"You're still thinking far too much," he said.

"Am I? Makes sense I suppose," I said.

"Does it?" This conversation may have sounded like nonsense to anyone nearby, or just sound like comfortable conversation between two men who had known and worked together all their lives. Not every detail required showcasing to be understood, like how he maneuvered us into the center of the room. Our pace was an unhurried saunter. We were now as far from everyone else as we could get.

"Taerct has left their central city with ten-thousand men, this morning," he said to me through the breath of a light whisper.

"Your birthday?" I asked, while letting the news settle. It was the unvarnished news of coming war.

"Also, though unconfirmed, his father, Narath, also died last night," he went on.

"Taerct's father dies and he marches south," I summed. "Ten thousand. That's a serious number. Not enough but a serious number."

"Not enough for what?" Victor asked.

"Overthrow," I said, narrowing my eyes. "What else?"

Victor shook his head, and glanced around. Twice his eyes lingered on the chair Ocean made use of.

"Taerct doesn't want my throne, he wants me. We can keep everything else."

"You get his sister pregnant or something? No judgment, she was a starling among swans."

"He's had it in his head ever since I can recall, that he needs to be a warrior king. So he's coming down here to punch me in the nose."

"In front of ten-thousand friends?"

"Exactly."

"Well I say that beaker of your regalness could survive a bop. What do you say leader? Willing to save a few thousand lives for a minor mis-comfort? Hell, no one will be able to tell with the dower-dark-lordship thing you have going on. I mean, It works for you. Just saying."