Sitting on his throne, looking down on the rebels of Vandalor, was King Durran. These traitors were the last ones to be sentenced. The few thousand other rebels were already doing their time. Durran’s crown was tight on his head. His golden-red shirt glittered and his light brown hair itched under the crown.

“I’ve told you all I can,” a rebel called Dandarin said.

“Nonsense!” Durran boomed, gripping the armrests of his throne tightly. The leaders of these rebels all said the same thing. “You know the names of who is behind this and who started this madness. Now tell me, or your punishment will be more severe!”

Dandarin looked anguished, sweat dripping down his face. The rebel fell to his knees as he clutched his chest. This was another common thing among these leaders. Why did they all sweat and clutch their chests when he demanded answers? All of them hid something and refused to elaborate.

“I swear, your grace, I can’t tell you anything else!”

“Liar! If you refuse to tell me what I want to know you will be questioned, again!” Durran roared.

Dandarin flinched at the threat. His face was cut up, and his clothes hid signs of the ill treatment he had received. “I swear, I want to tell you, but I can’t.”

“Then back to the dungeons for you!”

“No! Please, put me to work!” Dandarin went on all fours and pleaded, crying as he spoke. “I can’t say anymore. Put me to work like the others, I beg you!”

“Not until you give me answers. Since you won’t, you’ll be put to the question. Guards!” Durran said, ignoring the crying from this pathetic excuse for a man. The nerve! All Dandarin had to do was tell him what he wanted to know and he would be put to work as he asked.

The guards grabbed the rebel by his arms and hauled him away. Dandarin’s cries for mercy could be heard until he was out of earshot. What a fool. Durran shook his head and looked at the last three rebels. None of them were leaders, nor were they privy to the information Dandarin had.

“The rest of you will go to the mines and be put to work. Dismissed!” Durran got up as the guards took the rest of the rebels. Thankfully there were no more rebels. He turned to look for his mage advisor, Poran, and forgot he wasn’t here today.

A few days ago, Talon’s mage advisor, Qidan, had portaled in wanting to visit with Poran. Durran had been positive this was a ruse to talk him into signing a treaty. When he asked his advisor, Poran told him that Qidan was a mage and hadn’t come here to help Talon and in fact hadn’t mentioned Talon at all. Supposedly the mages had been friends in their academy days. Durran didn’t think mages had friends. He wanted to ask his advisor about the rebel leaders. It was odd behavior and he wondered if the power was being used to keep the leaders from talking.

News had come in about an attack in Eshil Domain carried out by the same forces who had attacked Arindall and other coastal cities a couple of years ago. From what he had heard, the invaders had been repelled without using Eshil Domain’s military. Why was Talon worried if the invaders couldn’t defeat a bunch of peasants?

Perhaps Talon should be replaced as king. The thought floated in Durran’s mind and he quickly shook it away. He wouldn’t resort to assassination. Talon wasn’t doing anything that required such an action and the boy’s last message had been over two months ago. Perhaps the fool finally realized the folly of a useless alliance.

Still, something did bother him about the boy. Young as he was, there was something off about Talon. Durran recalled his conversation with him. He remembered telling the boy he would be a dangerous individual and that feeling never went away. His mage advisor said he was being paranoid.

Durran had debated a few times about reaching out to King Harold. Perhaps they could reach an agreement if Talon decided to invade Vandalor or Eshil Domain. The boy was going to do something rash since none of the other kings would agree to an alliance. Whatever Azzellia was up to, he wanted no part of it.

Durran walked around the castle for some time, a habit he had started recently. It was a good way to think about problems, and more arrived every day. Before long, night came and he stifled a yawn. Two of his guards were behind him.

“Where is Queen Lalinda?” Durran asked one of them. He didn’t know their names and had no desire to learn them.

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“She is with some of her friends who came to visit, your grace.”

“Ah.” Durran missed her greatly for some reason. He had married her twenty years ago and they had three children. With how busy he was, he hadn’t seen them very much these past couple of months. Perhaps it was time to change that. Tomorrow, his wife would be back and he would spend some time with his family.

Another yawn came. It was time to go to bed. He headed to his chambers. The guards stopped outside the doors and he went in, closing the doors behind him. He couldn’t wait to lie down.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d show up,” a voice said to his right.

Durran turned to see someone hiding in the dark. Rage boiled inside of him. Who would dare come into his chambers unannounced?

“Who are—”

The figure emerged into the light and he saw the face clearly.

“Talon? How did you get in here? It was your filthy mage, wasn’t it?” He was polite to the mages to their face, but he hated them as much as any other king.

“No,” Talon said. He seemed hesitant and sad about something. “It’s funny that I’ve been pushed to an extreme action like this.”

“What are you talking about?” Durran looked over at his door. He could yell for the guards. Not yet; let’s hear what this madman has to say. Somehow, Talon had gotten his advisor to send him here.

“I wish it didn’t have to come to this. Why couldn’t you believe me?” Talon looked at the floor as he spoke and frustration crept into his voice. “If only you’d all listened. I-I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.”

Durran had had enough. “Guards!” he yelled. Talon didn’t flinch at the shouts. The doors remained closed. “Guards! Get in here! I have an intruder!”

Laughter erupted from Talon. “Oh, you fool,” Talon began and stopped before laughing again. He wiped a tear from his eye. “There’s a ward around this room. Nobody can hear what goes on in here.”

How did he get Qidan to do this? Durran wondered, considering what to do. He noticed that Talon didn’t have his sword on him. He could kill him or run and have the guards do it. Yes, let’s do this the safe way. He ran to the door. Once he opened the door, the guards would be able to take care of Talon.

Something seized him and Durran found himself lifted into the air. He was slowly floated down to rest in front of Talon. Then it dawned on him. “Wait… You can use the power?” Durran said, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

“Yes, I can,” Talon said bitterly. “And it’s forced me to do things I don’t want to do.”

Durran was slammed into a wall and the pressure holding him tightened. It was difficult to breathe. Was Talon going to kill him? “What are you… doing?” he gasped and the pressure lessened slightly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to put on so much force,” Talon said and sat on Durran’s bed. “I’m not accustomed to using the power on other people, not yet.”

Durran struggled uselessly against the invisible force pinning him against the wall. “Mortham Tower will discover this and you’ll be taken down,” Durran said.

Talon looked at Durran thoughtfully and stood up. “Yes, that is a problem I’ll have to deal with. One of many, I’m afraid. I’m grateful that your wife had some friends come in. It’s made this easier. I’m not sure I could…” he stopped as he choked up.

“What are you babbling about?” Durran demanded. There had to be a way out of this mess. Was Talon going to kill him? No, the fool wasn’t going to do that. He would threaten him and Durran would act like he would agree, then he would tell his advisor, who would tell the other mages. “If you want an alliance that badly, I’ll agree.”

“You stupid fool.” Talon shook his head and stood inches away from Durran. “I couldn’t trust you not to tell your mage. Qidan did well to keep him far enough away from here.”

“So, your advisor does as you command!”

“He does.”

This all made sense. Durran gulped as he realized what was going to happen. Talon was here to kill him. What else would he be here for? If it wasn’t to blackmail or threaten him into an alliance… There had to be a way to convince him not to kill him.

“I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice.” The sword snapped off Durran’s hip and floated into Talon’s right hand. “I have to unite all of Aidris, and this is the first step. I’m sorry you had to be the first to die.”

“No, please, you don’t have to do this! We can work this—”

Talon plunged the sword into Durran’s chest. Shock rang through his body, then the power holding him disappeared and he collapsed to the floor, shaking as blood poured out of his chest. I… can’t believe…my family is in danger… have to protect…

Talon yanked the sword out of Durran’s chest and let the power go. Blood was dripping down the blade, and some landed on his hand. He refused to look away as the last breaths left the King of Vandalor. He hated himself for doing this. His uncle had been right: he had to be ruthless to do what must be done. Had he done this from the start, would Besurlde have sided with him? Would he have someone to confide in still?

The plan worked perfectly. Using a mind-sharing technique, Qidan was able to send an image of Durran’s chambers and used that to portal in. He had sat in this room for well over two hours, using the power to keep himself invisible, avoiding detection by any servants who came in.

Talon dropped the sword to the ground and ignored the pounding in his chest. He wanted to cry and rage at the same time for what he had done. Sadly, he didn’t think this would be the only time he had to do something like this.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. On it was a picture of a dark sword plunged into the ground with a hand gripping the handle. The insignia of the invaders.

Talon placed the paper on Durran’s body and turned away. This should be enough to get Vandalor under his control. He hoped this would be enough to get the other nations to form an alliance, though he was planning on this not being the case.

“The dirty things I do to unite the kingdoms against a threat,” he said with regret and opened a portal back to his chambers.