General Gaxaras walked briskly into the dining room while Jend was just sitting down to breakfast to tell him the news.
“Eight elite Vatharian assassins attacked an after-party at the Temple of Fashion last night. Wyndy, Myla, Helnae and Scarlett were there.”
“My gods! Is there anything left of the assassins?” asked Jend.
“The women spared them. Sionia performed the music for the Elven Dance of Order, and had them dance in a conga line to the barracks prison. A couple of them have injuries from the high-kicking and hip shaking, but generally I understand a good time was had by all,” Garaxas reported.
“Conga-dancing, no!!! I expressly forbid that dance after the incident last year. The Vatharians will think us monsters!” Jend tried to suppress the memories of the conga-line at the previous year’s Equinox festival that had ended up with over eighty percent of the inhabitants of Lagar’s Haven dancing in a line that weaved through much of the town. He had ached for days.
“The high priestess felt that having to deal with eight assassins was an extenuating circumstance, so she and your daughters danced them to captivity, sire.” Garaxas understood Jend’s aversion to the Elven Dance of Order. Garaxas had hardly been able to walk for a week after his involuntary participation.
“Did this have something to do with all the howling last night?”
“Yes sir. The canines claim that there was a Kat’sheth with the assassins. Shadow led the search, but they report that the Kat’sheth escaped into the forest. Some of the wolves are still searching for it as we speak.”
Jend held his head in his palm. “I probably should have listened to the canines’ warnings. I fear they may be correct. If they are, it might explain some of the behavior we’ve seen recently from the Vatharians.”
“Indeed, sire.”
“Still, if Wyndy and Myla managed to capture the assassins alive, then the girls again showed great restraint and wisdom. We may yet avoid serious bloodshed with Vathary, despite the plots of the Kat’sheth. A war would destroy so much of what we have built. Maybe everything we’ve built,” said Jend.
“It is true. I don’t like to admit it, but sometimes the strongest thing you can do is continue to offer peace, despite their attacks,” Garaxas said.
Jend continued, “They girls came out alright, didn’t they. They are fair and thoughtful leaders. The kingdom will be in good hands with my daughter in power.”
Upon the mention of “daughter,” Wyndy suddenly appeared in the doorway, followed by Sir Hargest.
Jend raised his voice and began to interrogate his daughter. “Do I understand that you and your sister went somewhere after the Equinox Party last night? An unauthorized ‘After-Party,’ in which you left yourself vulnerable to attack by assassins and evil felines? Is my understanding correct?”
“Father, really,” Wyndy replied. “We were fine. We had lots of friends with us. And we stopped the Vatharian plot and discovered that the old circle in the Temple of Fashion still works. Well, it did until we disabled it this morning.”
“Well, I guess it could have been worse. You did not kill the assassins, but imprisoned them, correct?”
“Yes father. We knew you’d prefer that. And many of the women at the party thought the humans were a gift from the Great Mother and would have been angry with me if I’d incinerated them…. The problem now is that we are running short of space to store the prisoners.”
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“But we just freed the others. Aren't they heading back to Vathary today? Also,” Jend said, switching to speaking in Vatharian and pointing at Hargest as he entered, “weren’t you one of the prisoners? Why are you here?”
Wyndy answered for him. “Well, you saw that he met Sionia, right... So he's on our side now.”
“Right. Brilliant. Thank you for letting me know.” Jend let out a long groan, and shook his hands at the earth. “The Equinox is always such a weird time of year. It is very difficult to govern in the spring. The citizens are just not serious.”
Hargest reported. “Four of the soldiers and I would like to stay in Pelsa, Your Highness.”
“Four. Just what we needed….. Humans, hmm, how to make them leave? Have any of our academics written anything on getting humans to go the hells home?”
General Garaxas thought for a moment. “Not that I know of, although if we provided them a grant to study it, I'm sure that they...”
“No. Oh gods, no more grants for the academics.” Jend turned back to Hargest. “Look, I really feel it would be better for everyone involved if you Vatharians would head back to Vathary, perhaps later today. We could provide a wagon and...”
“Father, please. He helped capture the assassins last night, and Sionia would be devastated if he left. She'd spend months singing sad songs about her lost boyfriend and the scarf she gave him and it would be a disaster of epic proportions!” explained Wyndy.
Jend was an experienced king and understood the danger. “Wow, yes, you are right, my wise daughter. We really can't have that. None of the psychés of the creatures of this kingdom could take that. Hargest can stay. The other freed humans too, if they want to. I delegate this to you, Wyndyn. Find the humans some sort of work here. You are of age now, so you can pick up more duties.”
Jend paused, and thought for a moment. He remembered, somewhere from the back of his mind, that someone, he couldn’t remember who, had suggested giving daughters more work, so that they had less time for parties. Then he smiled “You can be the kingdom’s new Minister for Human Affairs. You can decide when to free batches of human prisoners.”
“I don't think we can free the assassins anytime soon. We need to first figure out why Vathary keeps sending soldiers, and what their ultimate intentions are,” Wyndy said
“But by freeing the assassins, we may reduce their need to send more. They were trying to rescue the others, so if we could get them all out of the kingdom, that may solve the problem,” Garaxas said.
Wyndy shook her head. “No, not yet. The assassins now know about our Strategic Dance Capabilities, and we can't have them reporting that back to Vathary, not until we know this is over!”
“Right, fine, clear out the last batch of prisoners and send them on their way, and then make sure the new batch is comfortable,” said Jend, with a wave of his hands as if to dismiss the issue and pass it on to his daughter.
“One other thing, though. One of the assassins, Garold, is asking if he can stay. He was dancing with Zelma, who is this cute goblin woman, and they really hit it off. She brought him a care package this morning and, well, she is a school teacher for the first-year students and everybody likes her and we don't have the heart to tell her that she can't keep her Vatharian assassin.”
“No! Now this has gone too far. And, I mean, they just met! That’s it! I’m going to ban spring.”
“Well, are you going to tell her?” asked Wyndy.
“No. I’m not. Fine. You win. You are the Minister for Human Affairs. Do as you think right. But, if he stays, no more assassinations! He has to get a proper job.” ordered Jend.
Wyndy and Hargest sensed that this was probably the best time to leave, so Wyndy grabbed a pancake, and then grabbed Hargest and led him out of the room as she ate it.
- - - -
Not long after that meeting, Princess Wyndyn supervised as Lord Glasco loaded the freed Vatharian soldiers into his coach for the trip back to their homes. The ones who wanted to go home, at least. To Sir Bowen she personally presented the reins of his own horse, along with his sword and the medal he won for second place in the “Invited Guests” category of the previous night’s Limbo Competition.
The group crossed the border late that night. They were tired from the trip, and some still had headaches from lingering hangovers, but they were otherwise in good spirits.
As they rode into Keley the next morning, Counselor Dravon was there to meet them and have a chat.
It took Boalgaroz three days of hiding and running from the pack hunting him, but he eventually made it to one of the other teleport foci that the Kat’sheth had hidden throughout the North. He was thankful for Lothar’s foresight in having expanded the network.