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Chapter 1.8

Nero

Nero’s bodyguards weren’t royal guards. No, for this purpose, he needed mercenaries, and though Nero hated the thought of paying someone an exuberant one-time fee to protect him while an army was willing to do it for a small wage bothered him, it was necessary.

There were two bodyguards who were dressed in normal clothing except for the sword and sheathe tied around their backs. Nero carried a small knife, but never used it in his knife, and doubted that if it became violent he would fight before escaping or negotiating for release. Nero was also in normal clothing but couldn’t help himself and looked at everyone’s faces as we walked the streets to see if they noticed who he was or the dragonvine on his face.

It had been a week since talking to Maximus, and in the meantime, he was able to procure a meeting with members of the People’s Lord. It was set up in a busy tavern only a kilometer from the palace. When he entered the tavern, he tried to find the table where the People’s Lord members were, but before he could go from table to table and look for the man with the scar across his jawline, the man walked up to him and sat him down at a corner table. Though it was midday, the tavern was almost pitch black, with the only light being two or three candle lights at each table.

They sat across from each other, with Nero’s bodyguards standing behind them and the man with the scar and a Borzor woman behind him leaning against the wall. “I never knew dragons could write letters,” the scarred man said.

“They can’t,” Nero corrected. “The messenger wrote down the message.”

“Is that so? Interesting, I suppose I have to deliver a couple of messages from Iyo the Ice Sire on my own. I think we’ll have an educated talk.”

Nero didn’t respond and awkwardly looked at the man, not knowing how to continue the conversation. The scarred man leaned in. “How did you get Iyo to write a letter for you?”

“He’s…a friend,” Nero responded. He felt strange about calling Iyo a friend. They talked at events and enjoyed each other’s company, but Nero never went out of his way to speak to him unless necessary.

The small talk went on for a little while longer as the scarred man moved his hands about and seemed cozy. The Borzor woman stared at Nero the entire exchange, and along with the high tension of the meeting itself, made Nero as stiff as a stick. All his motor functions seemed to shut down and didn’t keep eye contact or look in the scarred man’s general direction.

After about five minutes the scarred man took the hint that Nero wasn’t comfortable with the situation. “So, let’s get down to business,” the scarred man said.

“I would like to see her before we discuss terms. Make sure she’s okay and everything.”

Stolen novel; please report.

The scarred man looked back at the Borzor woman and nodded. “Of course, a man should be able to see his mother.” He looked across the tavern and motioned someone over. Slowly, three people approached, two of them holding the other. The one being held—presumably Claudia—had a bag over her face. When they got close enough that Nero could see but not try anything stupid, they lifted the bag off her head.

Claudia adjusted her eyes and looked around the room to see where she was, but it only took a couple of seconds to notice Nero sitting in front of her. She called out for him and begged him to get her out of this. Nero tried to calm her down, but eventually, the two people holding her covered her mouth with their hands. They then dragged Claudia away where Nero couldn’t see her. Nero demanded the scarred man bring her back, but he said that wasn’t their agreement.

Nero, pissed, could only do one thing to quell his anger: move on with negotiations. “Here are my terms,” Nero said. “Amnesty for the People’s Lord top officials, and you will be given homes in the Lake Republic. You must give us your real names, you shall never leave Kato Kanali without permission, and under no circumstances you shall return to Leozan. In exchange, you will return Claudia.”

The scarred man leaned in, but before he could say anything, the Borzor woman threw a necklace onto the table and walked toward Nero. Her eyes, or rather her lack of eyes as she had some sort of thin eye cover, glared at Nero in more frustration than naked eyes could ever do. She leaned in and spoke to Nero with a brutish Borzor accent. “You see that necklace there? Those were my parents. All they wanted was freedom, but your father killed them, and here you are. Afraid to look people in the eye. It's disgusting how you sleep at night knowing these terrible things but do nothing. When I was your age, I was smuggling swords and shields over the border.” She grabbed Nero’s chin. The bodyguards drew their swords out, but the scarred man told them to relax. She continued. “We speak on our terms, not yours. We haven’t yet hurt Claudia, but if you come here again and propose this kind of insult again, then I rip the tongue out of your mouth and feed it to your dear queen.”

Maybe it was the accent or the tone of her voice, but Nero had no doubt that she would follow through on that promise. She walked back to the scarred man and picked up a small knapsack before walking off. The scarred man also got up before giving a smug shrug. “I guess the negotiations are over. Next time I see you, I’ll have my sword to your throat,” he said before smiling and leaving.

Nero left the tavern and nodded toward a couple of men standing by a fruit stand. They signaled that one of them was already following a group of people who loaded a woman into a carriage. The men by the fruit stand then split off. One went around the building, while the other went inside to see if Claudia was still there. Nero gave the strict instruction not to try getting her back unless she was unguarded. He didn’t want to be responsible for any harm that may come to Claudia.

Nero walked as fast as he could back to the palace and along the way, realized that the situation could have gone south if the People’s Lord wanted it so. They could have killed him or taken him captive. The scarred man and Borzor woman would have died, of course, because of the two bodyguards inside and the other mercenaries outside, but Nero realized, based on the interactions with the two, that they would have no problem with that. Nero then started regretting not just getting Claudia as soon as they saw her with some mercenaries already planted inside the bar, but Nero didn’t consider the option before he got there and would have probably been captured or dead himself.

When he got back to his chambers, he didn’t know how he was going to break the news to Gala. He didn’t bring her because of safety risk but began to regret it as she might have made a difference in the negotiation. Regardless the only option now was to wait for the mercenaries to come back and let them know where she was held up.