Another short chapter unfortunately!
It's all edited; thanks sis.
Please enjoy and give any criticism or any spelling/grammatical errors in the comments!
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The room was shining, beautiful, yet cold. The chamber which Dannet had been ushered into was too nice for his comfort, gold and silver trimmings on the hand crafted mantle and candles lighting the room. There was no fireplace which would have helped the coldness in the room but he suspected it was a bit more than that. He prefered a wooden room with a nice fire. Or the outdoors. Dannet was a noble but his true love was the outdoors.
The man who ushered him in here annoyed Dannet. He was the scholar who had suggested it was a dragon. The egg had only helped confirm his theory but nothing was certain. He was to report to General Tebald as soon as he got back but the scholar and several nobles had ambushed him and forced him into following them and telling him their findings.
“We found the source of the destruction, it seemed there was very likely a wave of energy which pointed outwards from the crack of an egg. We have a detailed sketch of the egg from various points. There was no damage behind or beside it, it was simply by chance that whatever left the egg cracked it from this point.” Dannet told them.
“How big is the egg?” Asked a noble.
“Quite small, in fact the inside was about the size of one of your mastiffs in length Baron Pierce. The egg had a shell the thickness of three fingers, the crack was from the top to the bottom. I have no idea how long it was there, one of my men said at least three hundred years but likely upwards of it. There was Yarrow Moss on it in full bloom, he said that takes from three hundred to five hundred years of growth, we took some along with us as well.” He replied.
“This is a concerning situation, it all points to the dragon theory though. We have no idea what creature it may have been but only dragons would have that kind of power. Perhaps it's some side effect of their birth that causes such a powerful shockwave against us. It only makes sense that the birth of a powerful creature makes a wave of power extending from it,” said the scholar.
There was a general agreement from the group as they continued to ask Dannet questions. He thought about telling them about the woman who they had met on their way and had showed them the egg. Lady is what she prefered to be called until she found her own name. How ridiculous was she?
Listening to what Jourdain told him and what she was saying when he was around was enlightening. It was as if she lived in the forest her entire life. But it just didn’t make sense. Her skin was like she hadn’t seen the light of day once, her knowledge of things varied in many different ways.
She was very much like a commoner. She didn’t ask what certain items did unless they were magical in nature. Most commoners wouldn’t know the first thing about magic if they didn’t have the capability of it themselves. She was so curious about magic but indifferent to many other things like clothing and food. She didn’t even care to ask for food until they realized she hadn’t eaten for an entire day. She was sitting by the roasted boar for hours and didn’t even ask for a bite, for the God's sake!
She was too strange, yes, but he wouldn’t inform the nobles about her. She was too beautiful and he had known about some of the nobles less honorable desires. He could tell the scholar, his tastes went in a different, and younger direction, but no. He wasn’t any better than them. He’d likely sell her off as for trade as anyone else. He would only inform the General and the King about her. There was something she was holding back from them he knew it, but he would only tell them about it, not the nobles.
Men with no military accomplishments that had little honor, living off the sweat of their fathers and grandfathers.
After spending too much time there he excused himself saying that the General was expecting him and wouldn’t appreciate the wait. They let him go as they continued to discuss amongst themselves.
A brisk ride later he was at the General's quarters.
“Captain, good you’re here. We weren’t sure how long it would take for you to find the source, you did find it I assume?” Asked General Tebald.
“Yes General, there’s many things which I found, I apologize for the late hour of my arrival.” He replied.
“Don’t trouble yourself over it, let’s get down to the information so we can present it to the King. After we discuss it we’ll tell him together I think. Do you think it would be worth having any of your unit along as well?” The General asked as he started to look over the reports.
“There’s one man, Jourdain.” Dannet said.
“Ahh I remember him, the nature mage. He’s strange, stronger than many recruits who get out of training. Anyways continue, why do we want him along?”
“Well sir, let me tell you how we found the egg first. I didn’t mention it in the official report but instead I have my personal journal of the story here. Everyone in my unit has been ordered to keep quiet about the trip unless I allowed them to speak about it.” Dannet said with some reluctance.
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Dannet then told General Tebald about the trip, starting from the beginning of the trip all the way to their return, and focused on Lady, the woman that they met in the forest. At first General Tebald laughed at the image of her naked visage standing in the forest but grew serious when he realized the evasive nature of the woman. He too had Dannet’s thought of being wary for all things, it was what made him best general in their kingdom.
“I’ve left her with some money and a command to stay in the city. I gave her enough money for a week at the Wyrm’s Fall. I received notice that she arrived there and got a room by Elyse who I ordered to keep an eye on her should anything happen. I’m expecting another report in an hour by courier.”
General Tebald thought for a moment then made his decision, “Interesting, let’s report our findings to the King in private. We shouldn’t wait a moment. Since your men have seen her have more of them keep an eye on her. Once we’re done with telling the king he can make a decision, though I assume it’ll be the same as mine. We’ll bring her into questioning and release her should she satisfy our questions. We’ll have the scholar along as well, he’s an accomplished alchemist and will be able to ensure she won’t be able to skirt no lie.”
With finishing the briefing they went towards the King's chambers. They were halted by the guards outside of the door but the King must had heard them from inside and ordered the guards to let them in.
“General Tebald, I wasn’t expecting you today, what have you come for?” asked King Emeric.
“My lord, my soldiers who were sent to find the source of the earthshake have returned. This is Captain Dannet, the leader of the expedition. He’s found some interesting things which you should hear, and some other things which we found to be for your ears only.” Replied General Tebald.
The king just nodded towards the General and then had Dannet explain the entire travel along with information about the Lady in the forest.
After four hours of briefing the king and giving him all of the pertinent information the King made his decision, “I should like to meet this ‘Lady’ and have her give her thoughts to me, General and Dannet you two should be there, and I think having the Scholar along as well would be very useful.”
“Perhaps one from the mages school, your majesty.” Suggested General Tebald, “I think having one of them there would help assess her magic potential. Since she had no weapons or stealth she must have had a magical way to defend herself.”
The king nodded once again, “Very well, send out those orders General. Captain, could you please retrieve the lady from the inn today? I would very much like for us to speak to her before tomorrow. Once we have our meeting with her we can announce our findings to the court to alleviate any problems. Since there were no creatures that you found on your way there or back we can assume the threat has passed. Since it’s three weeks of travel to the egg we can assume it’s far enough from our Kingdom to ignore any threat at least.”
Dannet and General Tebald nodded and bowed to the King taking their leave. Once they got to the General’s quarters they were ambushed by Reignolde. “Captain I have urgent news, Lady has been taken by Lord Saer.” He panted.
“What? Wasn’t Elyse supposed to keep an eye on her? Why did Lord Saer take her?” Dannet shouted.
“Elyse sent me a message that she followed them, they’re at the church.” H replied.
“Lord Saer is a devout follower of the church but why would they want her? She’s just come to the city. What did Elyse say about what she did?” Asked Dannet.
“Nothing captain, she just sent word as fast as she could that Lord Saer had taken her, Jourdain is ready to be used Captain, he can use his magic to find Elyse, he has some of her belongings to follow.”
Dannet looked towards the general who just looked back and nodded. “You know what to do Captain, get her back as quick as you can. We don’t know why they took her but you’ve got to get her back. I can’t send out men without the king's orders but I’ll go back and ask him. The church has always been an ally to the monarchy so we don’t want to upset them so I can’t send men without the king’s orders but at least I can’t stop your old ones, especially since they come from the King.”
Dannet Reignolde handed Dannet his belongings and the two of them rushed towards the castle gate where they were to meet Jourdain who would lead them to Elyse, and then to Death.
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So here we are, another cliff hanger and a chapter that doesn't really resolve anything. I'm sorry for doing this to you but it's just too much fun being on the other end.
I promise you the next chapter will resolve it, we'll get Death's name, and that's all the spoilers I'll give.