Joseph Keller rarely left the Red Tower. In fact, in the last 5 years, he had only left the Tower a handful of times. If Darien was the King of the Tower and its figurehead, then Joseph was the Tower's brain. He managed most of the day-to-day affairs and did most of the paperwork. He rarely, if ever, left the Tower, and whenever he did leave, it was significant.

Joseph was now sitting in front of the King in his study with a small group of people, including Darien. Joseph read a letter that was passed around the group from one of Elion's scouts. He could be shocked by what he read, "My God." Everyone in the room had similar expressions. James spoke, "One month ago Argon's entire naval fleet was frozen at their Port in Valenciamo. It was then dragged into the ocean and destroyed. Argon hasn't moved their Navy in this war fearing retribution from the Blue Tower Master, but she finally made her move. Argon no longer has a navy. That we know of, at least."

Joseph responded loudly, "That's great and all, but what the hell happened in Ayes? What's going on there right now!?" James sighed, "I was getting to that. A few days ago, Argon found a tunnel under a normal civilian home. They found the Prince and Princess living underneath the Capital, Alicia. An earth mage had found the tunnel when scanning the city inch by inch." Duke Mayweather tapped his cane on the ground a few times softly until everyone looked at him, "The Prince sacrificed himself. He used himself as bait so that the Princess could escape. Her current whereabouts are unknown to Argon." Duke Mayweather coughed into his fist before continuing, "The situation in Ayes will change rapidly. The Nobles and hidden forces lying in wait now have a martyr. If the Princess makes it to any of these powers alive, Ayes will gather around her, and chaos will break loose."

James asked, "Mayweather, what of our forces in Ayes? Have we any leads on her whereabouts?" Duke Mayweather smiled, "We have had very little progress over the last year, Your Majesty. But we have a pretty good idea of where she is right now." The King rose from his chair and yelled, "Truly?!" "Yes, our spies in Ayes, caught wind of her movements. A few of our spies managed to help her escape. They were in the area around her when she was fleeing." Darien grumpily stated, "Please, Mayweather, no storytime today. Just tell us what's going on, and move on with it."

Duke Mayweather frowned at Darien before saying, "It involves one of yours." Darien scowled in response. "One of your knights is partnered with one of my mages in Alicia. They were eating when chaos broke out in the city. The citizens rose up and tried to fight for the Prince. The knight Caspian and my mage Ann immediately moved. They managed to spot the Princess fleeing pursuit into the forest before chasing after her. Caspian held off the group of pursuers while Ann created a diversion and took the Princess to the nearest Lord." The knight Sir George grew impatient and yelled, "Which Lord!?" "I'll get to it in just a second. My mage is pretty smart. She decided to make fake tracks to the nearest Lord's doorstep before moving to the next Lord with the Princess in tow. She bought us some time. They are currently in Lord Faircone's castle."

Darien, Joseph, the King, and everyone else in the room leaned in with interest. "She is with Faircone now, Argon is gathering forces to raid the Noble to the South of Faircone, Lord Windbrent. When they don't find her they will probably start an all-out war. Darien asked, "What happened to Caspian? Is he alive?" The Duke could only shake his head, "I don't know. Ann separated from him when he delayed the pursuers. Ann was unaware of his current condition."

Darien nodded and said, "I'm going." Lord Winchester responded loudly, "No! If you go the situation will blow up even further. This may be the best time to act, but if we act now with no preparations the civilian casualties in Ayes will be enormous!"

Mayweather replied with cold eyes, "We have to do what's best for Elion, not Ayes. Ayes is not our responsibility. We don't have to lead Ayes to ruin, but this is the opportunity we have been waiting for! I vote in favor of not only Darien moving, but all of the forces we can muster by the day's end!" Sir George tried to intervene, "I may only be a simpleton knight Duke Mayweather, but doesn't that seem to be a rather extreme plan?" "If we don't take this opportunity I think that will be the extreme!"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The King grabbed the map off his table and brought it over to the arguing group of men. As he pointed, he indicated the land of the noble where the Princess was currently being held. "How quickly can you get there, Darien?" The top of Darien's forehead creased as he thought for a few seconds, "I can probably make it there in 10 hours if I go at my maximum speed. If I were to go while being combat-ready it would take me one day." "How long would it take if you went with a small group of knights?" "Two days if I brought the Elite Knights from the Tower." The King looked at Mayweather and asked, "If we want to save the Princess how long do you think we have?"

Duke Mayweather started tapping his cane as he thought, "All-out war could break out anywhere from a day from now to a week. It's hard to say how aggressive Argon's going to be in the current situation." A look of determination came over the King's face as he said, "What if we wanted to support Ayes in fighting with Argon? Is it possible with our support right now we can overcome their hold on Ayes?" "It's bold your majesty, but no. The idea might work in principle but things in principle rarely work in person. If Ayes came together as one under the Princess we should be able to expel Argon from Ayes, but even though it's possible to do so it would take too much time. We can't change the situation overnight."

The King nodded, "Alright, I understand, Mayweather. Darien, take a small team of knights with you. Save the princess and return with her. We can always come up with further plans after she's out of Argon's reach." Darien responded, "I'd like to look for my knight as well when I get there. I don't leave my men behind." "Of course, Darien, do what you must." The King looked at Joseph and said, "Joseph, I must ask you a favor." "Yes, Your Majesty?" "We haven't gotten to the other subjects of discussion, but there is one I'd like to leave in your care." Joseph was curious and replied, "If I can be of service, Your Majesty then I will be." "Jamie Vallas has been reaching out to multiple powers. Lome still stands solely because of his support. I've heard that he was last seen in the Merchants Republic. He will either do something in Ayes or we will see him here soon." "Yes?" "Joseph, it takes a fox to deal with a fox." "I'm sorry. I'm not sure I understand?" "Joseph you are Elion's fox when the negotiations begin with Jamie, I'd very much appreciate your participation."

Joseph's frown turned into a smile as he said, "I'll be happy to help, James." The group of men deciding the future of Elion talked for a few more minutes while finalizing plans. Most of the men including the King and Darien were very decisive. They would carry through with their plans regardless of the consequences. The meeting soon ended, and Darien rushed home. He needed to talk to his wife before leaving, and he wanted to see his son.

Darius was at home sweating bullets as he sparred with his mother. Elaine was proud of how creative Darius was with the spells he had been learning. He tried as many spells as he could trying to interrupt her flow in combat. He tried to dig a ditch underneath her while they were fighting and tried to create a vacuum of air around her head so she couldn't breathe. Nothing seemed to work for him, not even close combat. He always charged at his mother and met her fist to fist. This forced his mother to take hand-to-hand combat seriously. She sensed that if she didn't take it seriously her son would overcome her through force alone one day. "Mom! It's not fair. Huff Huff. You don't use magic at the same level I do so I never have a chance!" "I don't use magic at your level because my magic isn't at your level. I'm training you to overcome a disadvantage, not overcome a small difference." Darius sighed before casting another spell at his mom and trying again. They continued sparring for over an hour.

Very few people in Elion would believe the level of combat this three-year-old was capable of. It didn't matter if Darien and Elaine were his parents their sparring was at a level that most grown knights weren't capable of.

If the spies from Argon were able to see the sparring matches between Elaine and Darius, they would have forsaken their mission and returned to Argon. They would have asked for an audience with the Emperor, and they would have suggested an immediate kill order be placed on him and his mother. Darius was unaware of the level of magic he was operating with while sparring with his mother. His mother has grown used to Darius and was unaware of what an outside view of their sparring matches would look like.

In fact slowly through training together Elaine was losing the mental walls she had put in place around her magic, and was beginning to practice magic more and more naturally while training her son. "Wind Blade!" Month by month their magic grew more natural, and Elaine was growing closer and closer to overcoming the 5th Circle wall. While Ayes was in trouble Elion continued to grow.