Turak woke from his slumber in a cold sweat, nearly jumping out of his bed. It was usually this way for him. The demons of his past came to visit while he slept; this was a common occurrence for many who have seen battle. Most of these nightmares he would shrug off as nothing of great importance, but lately, he had been plagued by visions of guilt, having thrown an innocent creature into the Pits of Mar. Several weeks had passed since the ceremony, but time had done little to quell the guilt he felt.

Turak stood from his bed, trying not to wake the two female companions he’d had for the night, who stirred peacefully, still in a deep sleep. He made his way into his chamber’s bathroom and looked at himself in a massive reflective stone. With a flick of his wrist, water began to flow from several tubes that protruded from the wall. As he washed his face, he heard a distinct and loud knock on his large door. Grumbling, he opened it to see Demessa standing there, wearing her bone plate mail and her grey cloak.

“Good morning, my Lord,” she said with a salute, pounding her fist against her chest. “His Highness, King Alektor, wishes to speak with you. We have received riders from Torre’, emissaries of the High King, supposedly.” She leaned slightly to her right, then she saw the forms of two naked Dae women, sitting up from his bed and stretching. Her eyes widened, and she looked at him.

“Don’t mind them. I will be there shortly, you are dismissed.” Before she could finish her salute, he closed the large door on her.

Turak finished bathing, which took longer than usual as it would have been terribly rude not to invite his guests to join him. He made his way to the palace of his friend and the King of Rexun, Alektor.

~

“Lord Turak of House Skotos!” called the announcer as he entered the throne room. There were hundreds of nobles and officials present already. Turak did love the sight. It never got old seeing all of Thule’s nobility standing awkwardly, waiting patiently for their commoner King to begin.

“Very nice to see you this morning, Lord Turak. You are looking well,” said a noblewoman, wearing fine, fashionable clothing.

“Lady Daiees, it is good to see you as well,” he said, trying to make his way past the crowd toward the throne. Before the king were four Dae warriors, all with fine and deep purple cloaks that seemed to outshine all who stood around them, even the king, who sat upon his throne contemplating the discussion that was taking place. Besides the warriors were Espi-Arl and his entourage of Espi-Dae.

“Your Highness, it is a great honor to see you this morning,” Turak said, bowing in respect. The warriors turned to face him as the king nodded in recognition of his arrival.

“Turak, this is Lord Bosmun from Torre’. They are emissaries to the High King, and have come all this way unannounced, to speak with us.”

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Bosmun bowed to Turak. “Lord Turak, you must be very important indeed for your king to postpone our message until your arrival.”

Turak bowed in return and looked around him at the crowd of nobles. “Your Highness, may I ask whose idea it was to ensure that the entire court was here to see this?”

Alektor sighed and gestured to Lord Bosmun.

“It was the High King’s wish that we address this matter with all the lords and ladies of note in Thule. I am sure that your majesty will enlighten the rest of your court?”

Alektor nodded.

Bosmun opened a satchel at his side and pulled out a golden scroll that bore a large royal seal. “His majesty, High King Phobos, ruler of all the clans in Eleutheros, thanks you, here and now, formally, for clan Rexunii’s cooperation in dispatching the demon that you had in your custody… However, it has been brought to our attention within the court of the Torre’ that violence was committed against distinguished warriors and a High Lord of Lokkadonia in order to obtain it. This has been reviewed by the high council, and has been deemed a war crime, in violation of the Belous decree of non-action against a rival state without explicit permission from the High King himself.”

The nobles around began to shout in protest.

Betrayal. Why am I not surprised? Turak thought. Feeling hatred build in his heart, his eyes darted to Espi-Arl, who stood with a grossly smug look on his face.

“Silence!” Alektor roared, bringing order to the throne room.

Bosmun continued. “Because action was taken before any true agreement could be made, our High King orders that you compensate the Lokkadonian crown for your trespasses against them, in whatever form they deem appropriate.”

~

Turak sat in one of Alektor’s many fine chairs in his chamber. His high council had been present earlier, but he sent them away. None of them truly understood the King, not like Turak did. They had known each other since they were children, brought together in a twist of fate when Alektor’s father freed a Doulos camp in the southern region of Lokkadonia.

“Why do you say nothing?” Alektor said, pacing back and forth. “Go ahead! Say it, say I was wrong for trusting these noble fools.”

Turak sipped his bowl of wine and said nothing.

“They made a fool of me in front of my own court. The bastards, I will see them all dead.” Alektor closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “I should have listened to you at the start. Used the human as leverage against the Lokkadonians; instead, I handed it over to the damned Espi-Dae.” He looked to Turak, still sitting there. “Turak, for the love of the great spirits, if I have to stand here and look at your passive-aggressive face for another moment, I will kill you.”

“What would you do after that? Ask Lord Reddun for council? Or perhaps Lord Mullo?”

Alektor fumed silently for several moments.

“Listen, I am not going to say anything like that to you. I only hope that you now have the sense to take my advice every now and then,” Turak said.

Alektor looked daggers at him.

“I’m sorry, your Majesty,” he added, giving his friend a mocking smile.

Alektor grinned. “So, what do we do now? We have lost any edge we once had.”

Turak inhaled to speak but was cut off by a loud banging on the door to the King’s chambers.

“Enter!” Alektor shouted.

A young palace guard entered the room and bowed his head. “I am sorry for the intrusion, your highness, but we have a disturbance at the Temple of Mar!”

“Wait…” Alektor said, looking at Turak. “What kind of disturbance?”

“Demons! Creatures are pouring out of the pit! They are attacking everyone inside!”