Talon took a seat and read another letter from King Durran telling him he wouldn’t meet. Irritably, he threw the letter into the fire. A message from King Harold said the same, only Harold was more direct in explaining why: he didn’t trust Azzellia.
“Arrogant fools,” Talon muttered as he tossed the second letter into the fire. He was running out of ideas on how to get the other kings to listen to him. A part of him was beginning to think his uncle was right. Sending aid to the other nations had been costly, with nothing to gain from it. There were only two letters left.
“Judging by these responses, none of the kings will meet,” Besurlde said, handing another letter to Talon. “The king of Skahad won’t go unless Vandalor does. Vandalor won’t go no matter what, and Malvarian won’t meet unless Skahad does. Eshil Domain thinks we’re trying to increase our power.”
“I see that,” Talon said. He didn’t bother reading the last letter and tossed it straight into the fire. He looked at the map of Aidris on the table in front of him. There was another group of people that nobody liked talking about: the forest dwellers. They were on the other side of the nation and despite not being an official nation, they had tens of thousands of people where they lived. They kept to themselves and nobody knew much about them.
The forest dwellers lived in a giant forest called Emberglade. They had complete control of the area. Nations had tried invading in the past but nobody had ever come close to defeating the forest dwellers in combat due to their skilled warriors. Skahad and Malvarian had tried once and were easily defeated.
Talon remembered reading about a war over two hundred years ago, when the king of Malvarian had disrespected the forest dwellers by taking one of their chiefs captive and refused to hand him back because he drank holy water meant for the followers of Tarmella. The forest dwellers invaded and defeated Malvarian in what was known as the Four-Month War. The cost had been high and the king of Malvarian had been publicly executed in his castle.
Would his father have reached out to them? Would Talon need to include the other nations if he could reach an agreement with the forest dwellers? The idea appealed to him but would be unpopular among his people as all the nations thought of them as savages. For now, he would keep the idea to himself. He didn’t need to ask his uncle to know his opinion.
“I don’t get it. How can we send help to all these nations and not even be able to get a meeting?”
“Do you want me to answer or let you rant?” Besurlde asked.
Talon glared at him. He knew what his uncle would say: ‘I told you, the other nations will take the aid and give nothing back.’ Besurlde would tell him that every day if given the opportunity.
“I did warn you,” Besurlde continued, ignoring Talon’s glare.
“It’s true,” Qidan said. “I know a lot about the current kings and this outcome was expected. Most of these nations don’t trust one another, for numerous reasons.”
“I know,” Talon sighed, rubbing his eyes. He needed to sleep more. “My father knew and tried anyway. I had hoped to succeed where he failed.”
“What will you do?” Qidan asked.
“I’ll think of something,” Talon said. Plans, more plans, that was all he could do. He was running out of ideas on how to convince the other nations to meet, let alone sign an alliance. The knock on his door was a welcome distraction. “Enter.”
A questioner came in, Saheed Venamo. He was a strange fellow with a patch over his left eye from when he’d been curious about what it felt like to stab himself with a hot knife. He knew he would be blind in that eye and did it anyway. His long dirty blond hair grew past his shoulders and he had a beard growing in.
“Your grace,” Saheed said with a bow. “I need to speak with you alone.”
“We’ll leave you then,” Besurlde said and left the room. Qidan followed.
Once the doors were closed, Talon silently counted to ten. “All right, speak.”
“Lord Daermod has confessed to his crimes and wants to speak with you alone. He was most insistent on the alone part.”
Interesting. Does he have more to say? Talon had no problems speaking with Daermod. This room was irritating him anyway. “Lead the way.”
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He left the room and the four royal guards defending the door watched Talon walk past. It was a new requirement to have four royal guards in any room he was going to be in. Rickard had insisted on the change, with good reasons that Talon couldn’t argue against—not without disclosing that he could use the power.
Talon hoped the extra guards would be enough to stop another assassin. The royal guards were some of the best fighters in all of Azzellia and one assassin had killed two of them. Would he have been able to take out four at once? Perhaps.
Daermod would be the first person Talon had sentenced to death. There was no way around it. He couldn’t allow Daermod to live and the lord had to know that. He expected to learn the names of other nobles wanting him dead, something he would take care of immediately. Once Daermod’s co-conspirators heard he was in the dungeons, they would likely run, assuming they hadn’t left already.
Talon walked down the stairs, with Saheed in front. Saheed grabbed a torch as they walked. Talon had always hated the dungeons. He understood the necessity of them but that didn’t quell his disgust. They headed toward the mostly empty cells. The only ones in this dungeon were high-status prisoners such as Daermod.
Saheed stopped in front of a door, took out a key, and unlocked it. He opened it and motioned for Talon to enter.
“Leave us,” Talon said.
“Should I get the guards?” Saheed asked.
“No,” Talon said and walked inside. He heard the questioner mutter to himself and scuttle off. Inside, with both hands chained to the wall, was Lord Daermod. Cuts were spread across his face and body. The shirt he was wearing was torn and dry blood painted the floor and walls. This was a disgusting thing to do to another human, yet Talon had had no choice. He had to tell himself that or he would go insane.
“You wanted to speak with me?” His voice echoed in the cell.
Daermod looked up fearfully, cowed, as if expecting to be beaten again. “Yes… I’m ready,” he said weakly.
“Why did you want to speak with me privately?”
With a grim expression, Daermod tried to look behind Talon, then shook his head. “I was unhappy with your father’s leadership, it’s true. I had agreed with his decisions until the raid on Arindall. He had become so focused on this so-called invasion that he neglected important duties in Azzellia.”
Talon fought the urge not to use the power to throttle the life out of this man. He had killed his father and made him become king far before he was ready. It was an effort to keep himself from lashing out.
“However, I didn’t want to kill your father. I was forced to.” Daermod stopped as he slumped against his restraints. “When you refused to change your mind about Lerin’s plans… I was forced to hire an assassin since you wouldn’t take any drinks from servants or lords.”
Talon stepped forward and looked Daermod in the eyes. “You know that you’re a dead man either way, right? Forced or not, your life is forfeit.”
Daermod nodded slowly and forced himself upright again. “I know the laws. You wanted answers and I am giving them to you.”
“Then who? Who forced you to kill my father?” Talon shouted.
“Listen, please!” Daermod pleaded, shaking his head violently as he spoke. “I’m not worried about my life but about my family!”
That wasn’t what Talon expected. “What does that have to do with this?”
The prisoner whimpered and murmured to himself so quietly that Talon couldn’t understand what he was saying. “Daermod, tell me what you mean, now!”
“S-sorry,” Daermod gathered himself. “I was having dinner with my family. Out of nowhere, a strange man in a cloak came in. He told me to do as he said or my entire family would be killed.”
“What did he look like?”
“I don’t know! You have to believe me!” Daermod said and struggled against his restraints as if expecting to be beaten. “I swear, his cloak was black and it covered his whole body. There were no features I could see!”
“Calm yourself,” Talon said. He grabbed the key that Saheed left behind and unlocked the cuffs. Daermod flinched as they were removed and he rubbed his chafed wrists. “I’m not going to hurt you unless you force me to. Do you understand?”
Daermod nodded vigorously. “Yes, I do.”
“Was there anything else about this man that you can tell me? An accent? Anything?”
“There is one thing,” Daermod began slowly. “This person could use the power and he disguised his voice with it. I’m sure of it. He told me if I told a mage or asked for help, my family would be brutally killed and I would have to watch it before being killed myself.”
That shook Talon to his core. “He used the power?” he asked. Why would someone using the power want to kill his father and himself? Why not do it himself? It must be my advisor. This power user can’t risk detection or Qidan would sense him.
“I’m positive. He caused my table to spontaneously explode as a demonstration,” Daermod said. “I swear it. If he wasn’t using the power then Tarmella herself destroyed my table.”
This made things far more complicated. Talon had expected to leave the dungeons with the answers he needed. Instead, he was going to have far more questions and fewer answers. He turned to leave.
“Please, your grace,” Daermod said, stopping Talon. “Keep my family safe. That’s all I ask.”
Talon didn’t respond and walked away, ignoring Daermod’s begging. He closed the dungeon door and locked it. The execution would happen, though he wouldn’t do it yet. He wanted to keep Daermod alive for the moment, in case he had further questions.
Opening the bond, Talon sensed the general area where Qidan was. He needed to speak with the mage. Who knew how skilled this power user was? Talon wasn’t sure how confident he was in fighting another power user. He’d never trained or fought with someone who could use the power. Yes, he took out Qidan, but that was with the element of surprise.
What kind of power user would want me dead? What would they gain by it if they weren’t going to attempt the assassination themselves? Talon hoped to find the answers out soon or else his reign as king might be short. He went to find Rickard, to tell him to secure Daermod’s family. He wouldn’t allow innocents to die because of someone else’s mistakes.