"I hope for your sake you're going to tell me you found him?" Maleine raised her eyebrow at the Pilot, who shifted uncomfortably and suddenly became very interested in the parquet floor.

"N...no, Your Highnesssss....perhapsss the foot patrol had better luck?" the Pilot's tongue flicked nervously, tasting the Queen's displeasure. Maleine regarded him coolly through narrowed eyes, her hawklike features suddenly seeming much sharper and more threatening. She turned to the Ranger.

"And you? Have you found him yet?"

The Ranger swallowed and tried to look far more confident than he felt. "No, Your Highness - we did find a cave with signs of a recent fire, but the rains are making it hard to track him."

Maleine wheeled around to face the Ranger directly, and stood mere inches away from his face. "And when exactly do you think you will be able to catch him? I want him brought to me. Personally." she spat.

"We think he is headed to the deep woods to take advantage of the cover there, but we are searching in every direction. We are increasing the patrols and putting every available Ranger and Pilot on the job, Your Highness - it should only be a matter of days."

Maleine fixed the Ranger with her steely glare. "I hope so for your sake, Captain..." she paused.

"Tareth, Your Highness. Captain Tareth." Maleine looked as though she had tasted his name and wanted to spit it out because she found it disgusting.

"Well, I hope so for your sake, Captain Tareth. Your life depends on it." Tareth and the Pilot both shifted nervously at this. Maleine waved her bony hand. "DISMISSED!" The two soldiers spun on their heels and scrambled out of the room like they were escaping from a venomous snake. Maleine turned to the large desk behind her and addressed the small, rotund and elderly Secretary. The Secretary tapped his quill on the desk and Maleine raised her eyebrow at him. "I trust you recorded all of this accurately?" The Secretary nervously adjusted his spectacles and nodded, not daring to speak.

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Maleine strode across the room to the tall arched window, and looked out at the courtyard. She coolly surveyed the perfectly manicured gardens with their white paths, and far beyond them, the high wall that surrounded the citadel. The pale sunlight glanced off her flaxen hair, almost as if it was afraid to touch her. "Good. At least somebody is doing their damned job." The Secretary shuddered as he thought to himself, damned was right. Damned indeed.

The tension was shattered by a tap on the door. Maleine rolled her eyes and turned abruptly from the window, heavy silk brocade skirts rustling. The Secretary thought they sounded like something deadly in the undergrowth that was just waiting to bite you as you passed, and felt fear and disgust slither through him.

"ENTER!" The huge wooden door swung open and a tall, birdlike figure slipped into the room and bowed low, waiting for permission to speak. "What is it, Danieri?" the Queen snapped.

"News from the Council, Your Highness." Maleine's moss-coloured eyes flickered with interest as Danieri offered the scroll he was carrying. She reached out a thin, pale hand and snatched it from him, shooing him away. Danieri skittered backwards out the door, almost tripping over his own feet and his long coat-tails. The heavy door swung closed with a dull thud, and Maleine opened the scroll and began to read. A smirk spread across her face as she scanned the parchment, reading the numbers and list of names of Elves who had been rounded up and either killed or imprisoned, and the names of the villages that had been torched. She skimmed the list, looking for one particular name and village....aha, there it was. She laughed, a cold, hissing sound with no joy in it whatsoever, as she read the account of the raids.

The Secretary shivered again, and suddenly felt a chill. He brushed his fuzzy white hair out of his eyes, then reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the small talisman he kept there, grasping it tightly for comfort.

In front of the mirror, Eona shook with white-hot fury.