Rainus gave the miniature soldier game piece a critical eye. He turned that eye to the game board two levels above the one he was currently on, and calculated his move and the four more after that. Satisfied with his choice, Rainus picked up the jade game piece and moved it with confident grace. He then sat back and gave his opponent a sly smile.
The other player gave Rainus’s recently moved solider a long stare. He then looked to Rainus with a questioning look like he didn’t quite believe Rainus had made such a bad move. The other player shrugged, grasped his blue prince piece and swiped Rainus’s soldier right off the board. It was the last of Ranius’s eight soldiers. He now only had the royal family and their Protectors scattered about the level. After his seeming victory, Rainus’s opponent sat back in his chair with a gloating grin.
“I’ve got you now, pavi. I’ve taken all your soldiers and we’ve barely begun the game!” the young man couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Rainus only response was a casual nod. “Yes, it does seem that way, doesn’t it.”
The youth across from the six level board practically bounced in his seat. “I don’t get it. You never let me win before. Maybe I’m finally getting good at this.”
The King gave his youngest son a tight grin. “Perhaps.”
Rainus ignored the game board entirely as he took a moment to witness the joy in his offspring’s face. He always did like to see his children happy. It wasn’t something he got to witness often enough in his opinion, but then how much is enough? Too bad he’d have to wipe that gleeful look right off his son’s face, but then the lesson was more important than happiness.
The lesson was always more important. That was the duty of a king to his family and those within his kingdom. But he paused in moving his next piece longer than normal to give Callus a few more moments of that wonderful feeling of victory. It was important to know how to feel good too. That was a lesson as well.
When Callus had settled back down in his chair, Rainus leaned forward and began the first in a series of moves that he knew would quickly end the game. Rainus had sacrificed all his soldiers on purpose. He knew his son loved going in for the quick kill, so while Rainus had been setting up obvious moves for Callus, he’d also been lining his four Protectors up to not only take out the two princes but also capture his son’s king and queen. And sure enough, five moves later, the joy was gone on Callus’s face as it was replaced with the gloom of defeat.
He sat back in a huff as Rainus swiped Callus’s king piece from the board. The boy smacked his forehead as if he’d done something foolish. The twelve year old always had a flare for the dramatic.
“I really thought I had you there, pavi, and I was going to crown my king as emperor. Then you just came out of nowhere. How do you do that? And will you ever let me win?”
Rainus gave his son an admonishing smile. “Let you win? Why would I do that? If you can’t win on your own, then why should I allow it?”
Callus blew out a frustrated air. “But it always sucks to loose. I’d like to win at least one time. Freta lets me win sometimes.”
Rainus raised an eyebrow. “I am not Freta, and she should know better than to enable you like that. I will speak with her.”
The boy sat up straight ask exclaimed. “No! Don’t speak to her. She will never let me hear the end of it if you go at her about that.”
Rainus paused a moment. He didn’t much like that River Palace’s staff seemed to indulge his youngest mercilessly. He had even tried to quell it many times with not much luck. They knew Callus would be the last of his children, so since birth, every person in the palace had taken to spoiling him something dreadful. They were ruining his son, but at least Rainus wasn’t relying on Callus to be his heir. That had been decided several years ago.
“I cannot make any promises, son. But let our game be a lesson to you. Never take anything for granted. Always assume you are being lured into a trap, especially if it seems to good to be true.”
Callus hung his head. “Yeah, I guess.” The boy was sullen for a time before he finally spoke up. “I really don’t like this game anyways. I much prefer Foxes and Hounds.”
Rainus snorted. “That game won’t teach you anything about strategy or dimensional thinking.”
“No, but it’s fun!” Callus’s face lit up with a smile.
Despite of the ludicrousness of it, Rainus found himself chuckling. “Yes, I suppose it is. Maybe we can play a round later.”
Callus stabbed a fist in the air. “Yes! And I will beat you on that one. I promise!”
The King shook his head. It was a child’s game and the possibility of winning was sheer chance. Anyone who sat down to the game had equal possibilities of winning. “Perhaps, now I have some business to attend to. Make sure you get with your tutor to do you studies for today.”
Callus jumped up from his seat and came over to wrap an arm around Rainus. It only lasted a moment before he released the King and dashed out of the room. Rainus couldn’t help but chuckle. Callus may never rule Avi-da, but he certainly knew how to rule the hearts and minds in River Palace, including Rainus himself.
“He reminds me of me when I was that age,” a tall dark haired man that had similar facial features to the twelve year old and to Rainus himself, including a wide forehead and sharp nose, not to mention the disarmingly deep gray eyes.
“Really? I don’t recall,” Rainus gave as stoic reply as he could.
The younger man shook his head as he came to sit in the chair his younger brother had vacated. “Don’t think you can fool me, old man. I know when you are messing with me.”
It was only then that Rain cracked a smile. “I’m assuming you have something to report if you are here, Tantis.”
The man nodded his head in sudden seriousness. “Yes, it’s all like you wanted. Every bit of it. Those of Raga Nine aren’t happy to be loosing their homes, but I made sure the plantary evacuation was mandatory.”
“It’s only precautionary. There might still be homes to go back to when it’s all said and done.”
Tanitus scoffed. “You really believe that? Trevor assures me the menthanol in the planets core will explode. It will leave Raga Nine and everything on it space dust.”
Rainus began setting the pieces back on the game board, making sure to touch the bottoms of the colored pieces to turn them back to stark white so the next players could choose their colors. “Then you have done your duty to your people to remove them from a harmful situation.”
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“Yeah, but they still aren’t happy about it or grateful either,” Tantis muttered barely loud enough for Rainus to hear, but he did indeed hear.
He eyed his son with a sudden seriousness that made the young man pause. “My son, we are not here to make friends or even to make our people happy. We are here to protect them, provide for them, and even guide them when necessary. They don’t need to appreciate what we do, but they will understand eventually that what we have done was in their best interest.
“When Rage Nine is indeed destroyed as I have been lead to believe it to be a certainty by our top scientist, they will see it. Some might even appreciate what we have done. But that is not why we do what we do, so you should remember that.”
“Yes, father.” Tantis replied, using the more former title when Rainus was speaking as a king and with all seriousness.
The older man nodded as he sat back from the game board and waved for a waiting servant to move the whole table and game back to the corner of the room where it normally waited to be played. “Good, and about the other thing?”
This time Tantis rolled his eyes. “Nathias just sent a message. Markus is at the College.”
Rainus nodded and rubbed his chin in thought. “Good. That is good.”
An exasperated sound came from his son. “I don’t understand it, pavi. Why do you indulge him so much? He’s made his choice clear. He’s made it obvious to the entire Empire he wants nothing to do with us? Why do you keep trying?”
Rainus was silent for a good long moment as he tried to order his thoughts. There were a lot of them. He had tried many times over the years to bridge the gap that had only seemed to widen more deeply over the years. He had tried so hard to get Markus to understand, but the boy never did. He was too stubborn and full of anger. Though, Rainus supposed he didn’t blame Markus. If only Rainus could have found a way to deal with the Adar situation better and the death of Markus’s mother––then maybe…
“That is between me and your brother, Tantis.”
The young man looked like he wanted to argue the point, but he snapped his mouth closed and wisely choose not to say anything. Not that he shouldn’t be happy about the situation. What had once been Markus’s that he had so careless thrown away, had indeed been Tantis’s gain. Tantis had been the official Crown Prince of Avi-da for nearly five years now.
Rainus had hopes that his eldest son would come around and take his duties to the Kingdom seriously, but that ship had sailed long ago and he couldn’t keep putting off something that had needed to happen to secure the future of his Kingdom. Tantis had been acting as Crown Prince for many years before it had become official. He had done his duty, while Markus had continuously shirked it, so Rainus had rewarded the lad. Tantis was certainly doing his duty, but his middle son did not have the brilliant mind of his eldest. It really was a shame. Avi-da would have done very well under Markus’s leadership. And perhaps it will still do well under Tantis. Only time would tell.
“Do you have word on the other matter I wanted you to attend to?” Rainus asked his son with a pointed look.
Tantis face grew grim. “I’ve attempted using several agents to try and infiltrated Zorren’s little network. They all end up with their throats slit. Say what you want about the man, but he’s yavit good at sniffing out those who don’t belong.”
Rainus blew out an air of frustration. He was well aware of how ruthless the once Ascendant was at keeping his inner circle clear of spies. He had learned from the best after all. Ghar Zahn had one of the most tight and pervasive spy networks in the Empire, and had quite a singular talent for rebuffing attempts to spy on him.
Rainus only had the recorded event between Zorren and Hame just before Zorren left the White Palace because of sheer luck, or maybe because Zorren had been too upset about his circumstance to run a serex scanner that day to destroyed listening devices Rainus’s spy managed to place. This was why it was important to be diligent, even on tactics that rarely worked, because all it took was one small slip. Such as the slip Zorren had shown that last day in the palace, which had provided exactly what Rainus needed to spur the Chief Commander of the College in the direction Rainus had wanted.
Markus was at the College now. Rainus had done his part. He only hoped it was enough. Enough to bridge that cavernous gap between them, or at least a good start. And enough to protect Adar from whatever Zorren and Hame had going on. But he had a doubt.
He did not doubt Markus. His eldest might have turned out to be a disaster as a prince, but the man was yavit good at a lot of other things such as ferreting out the truth and being quite adept in the art of combat. If there was fight to be had, he would wager his entire Kingdom on Markus. That boy never did find a fight he could loose, even against odds that were against him, especially if the odds were against him. Rainus knew, he might not have talked to Markus in far too many years, but he certainly had his spies keep a close eye on the lad. They might be at odds, but Markus was still his son.
No, Markus would win if it came to an all out brawl, but Zorren didn’t play that kind of game. The ex-Ascendant was like a spider on a wall. He watched. He waited. He might spin a small web here or there. In a corner where no one could see, or maybe the web would be more obvious, but everyone would be too busy looking somewhere else to really notice it.
All his movements were carefully calculated and silent. And if Zorren couldn’t make the right movements himself, he’d coerce someone else into making the move for him, or often was the case, many someones. Most of his prey never saw him coming until they were tangled helplessly in one of his webs, and by then, there was no getting out.
Rainus often wondered that Zorren never presented with the Perception Dome-ni. Many times he acted as if he had the talent, but Rainus also knew that skills could be honed with enough determination, and Zorren Zahn was a very determined man. It was no secret how much the ex-Ascendant chaffed from the Emperor’s decision to renounce his title and how Zorren was single-minded in getting what he thought was his back.
And that in itself was enough to suspect Zorren of acting against Adar, even if Rainu hadn’t gotten the information he already had. Zorren was not an enemy to face alone. That was a true folly that many had tried and paid the price, usually in a permanent fashion. Markus would need help. Rainus just didn’t know what help to give, or what help he’d actually accept.
His eldest was a stubborn as they came. He would automatically turn up a nose at any assistance Rainus might send. Rainus doubted very much that Markus would even let the Chief Commander know he was at the College, even though the Commander had called him back. It was too bad Rainus had never been able to get Markus to understand the benefits of being a team player. His lone wolf act might very get him killed one day.
“Maybe we should send Nathias down to the College just in case,” Rainus muttered more to himself than Tantis, but his son had heard.
The other scoffed. “You really think that would work? Markus isn’t a fool. He knows you’ve been using Nathias to get to him for awhile now. He’ll just tell Nathias to go away. Besides, you promised him a break for getting Markus to the College.”
Rainus nodded. Yes, he had given the Captain a much needed leave. He’d been running that young man ragged of late. But he was good at what he did, and Rainus did not trust many with the kind of missions he sent Nathias on. “Perhaps. I suppose we should wait and see. But keep close tabs on our spies on Sora. If there is any problems, I want to know it right away.”
“Of course.”
Rainus glanced across the room to the board game a little hopefully, realizing he’d put it up too soon. Perhaps he did have other matters that need his attention, but he certainly wouldn’t mind another round of Sovereign. But it was becoming increasingly more difficult of find those willing to play him these days.
“Would you like to play a quick round? I can get the game moved back over?”
Tantis took that moment to shake his head and stand. “No, I know better than to play against you, pavi. Callus hasn’t learned it yet, but he will.”
Rainus frowned at his son’s reluctance to play him. Tantis had been doing that more and more of late, especially since he’d take the title of Crown Prince. He suspected Tantis thought that maybe he had what he wanted and didn’t need to please Rainus with these games anymore. What a shame. Certainly for Rainus, but especially for Tantis. It was wise to keep ones mental reflexes strong.
“You’ll never learn the proper strategy to win a game against me if you don’t actually play.”
“I have magistrates and lords to go wrangle. That’s enough strategy for me today.” The young man threw back as he hurried from the room like he had forgotten he had something more important to do.
Rainus shook his head as he muttered to himself. “Pity. I missed playing with you, and you nearly beat me a couple times too.”
He gave a heavy sigh for things that no longer were and dreams that had never come true. Rainus sat for a few moments in deep contemplation before he shook off the sadness of lost opportunities. No use dwelling in the past. Too many pitfalls lay there.
Rainus stood up and made his way across his office to his large desk to being his work for the day. He sat down at his terminal and looked up as the door slid open to reveal a harried looking Tantis.
The old King felt himself clinch at the panicked look on his son’s face.“What it is?”