Chapter 16
One Step Ahead

“I hate nature!” Helda grumbled as she swatted away the insects flying in front of her face, “Why does my Lord always insist that we have to chase after these trouble makers?” It seems like he’s always sending me away. I didn’t do anything to upset him or make him mad did I? I hope not. My Lord is probably sending me out because he feels that I’m the most capable person for the job.

“To give you something to do to keep you out of trouble,” Blair antagonized Helda as she directed her horse around a fallen log in their path. Blair, Helda and Randle moved through the forest along with their comrades in search of Mircox where the orb of Laurel was hidden.

“Why you little…” Helda started to yell.

“Girls! For once can we have an assignment without you two going at each other’s throats like wild animals all the time? I would love to enjoy the beautiful scenery that is surrounding us, but I can’t for all of you two bickering continuously. It’s ruining my experience and getting our minions to loss moral. We want them pumped up for battle.” Randle butted into the conversation before it could become a full fledge fight.

“Fine, but this isn’t over yet Blair,” Helda said threateningly while adamantly shaking her finger at Blair. Randle and Blair just rolled their eyes at each other before beginning on their trek through the woods.

o0o0o

“I have another contact we can try…” Lee started to say.

“NO MORE CONTACTS!” Henry adamantly denied the pirates.

“Oh, but I liked this last one, she was a very good looker,” Owen said teasingly elbowing William in the side while he laughed.

“Well, I don’t know I think I liked the burly fellow that chased Crow and Blackbird across town,” Zakary grind mischievously.

“Oh, yes Tucker was my favorite. NOT,” Bob Crow said sarcastically.

“Enough, all of you,” Henry commanded, “From now on we are going to stick to the pubs and inns to find a merchant that will give us passage back to Faih. You two pirates will behave and not draw attention to yourselves or I will be locking you up. The same goes for you, Owen and William. I will have no more miss behaving. Understand?”

“Yes sir,” everyone answered.

o0o0o

“Now that everyone is here the meeting can being,” King Alyen stated as he looked around the large oak table with his advisors and Lords gathered around it waiting to hear how the kingdom was fairing with all of the attacks as of late. “Now what is the first order of business Marlin?”

“Our outposts on the border have been taken over by the Cemron. Currently the surrounding towns are trying to ban together to hold them off while the women and children retreat further into the Faih. We need to send more bands knights down to help our citizens out. Though the outposts have been taken over the knights that were at those stations retreated back to help organize the people of the different towns to keep the enemy from coming further inland. On the coast lines we are still being hit but not as hard now, because a lot of our trade ships have been destroyed in battle with Cemron’s ships. It seems to me like they know our every move and are always ready for a counter attack. The question now is what are we going to do about these new attacks and where can we spare knights from to help strengthen our borders.” Marlin finished giving his report on their current state in the war.

“We face another problem. We cannot spare any more knights without weakening defense where they are and most of our knights are already on the battle front,” Sir Humphrey inputted his knowledge.

“Some good news though. Most of our people have been pulled within the city walls. The last of them will arrive within the week,” announced Lord Patrick who was in charge of gathering the kingdom’s people and fortifying the walls of the city.

“Have we heard any news from your son sir?” Lord Gregory inquired.

“No, we have no way of getting in contact with them besides messenger birds. The last of the birds I sent with my son reached us a while ago saying that his group was getting ready to cross the sea of storms. That was several weeks ago. I just hope he’s okay and he returns swiftly with the orb to protect us all,” King Alyen said sadly.

“If I may recommend my liege,” Barron Edward spoke up to break the silence after King Alyen spoke, “I say we pull all the knights back to the city walls once the rest of the people arrive.”

“It is a good idea,” Sir Humphrey said, “It’s only a matter of time before they have taken over all of the outposts. This way we will lose fewer men.”

“If we do that I would recommend destroying them before leaving so the enemy cannot use them. We do not need to give them more than they already have,” Marlin added his own input.

“Agreed,” King Alyen said after a moment of contemplation, “That will be all for today men. Dismissed.”

They all started to walk out of the room before the king called out to Sir Humphrey to stay for a moment. Sir Humphrey turned around to face King Alyen and Marlin who was still with the king.

“Do you need something my king?” Sir Humphrey questioned.

“Yes I want you to get started on moving your knights back to the walls now,” King Alyen commanded.

“Now my lord, but what about the last of the people?”

“They will be here the day after tomorrow,” Sir Humphrey looked confusedly at his king, “There is a spy somewhere among us. Lord Patrick did not report his information correctly because I asked him too. I need you to start moving our knights back now and not in a week. Can you do it?”

“Yes. I will send a message right away,” Sir Humphrey bowed to the king before leaving to send his message.

o0o0o

Lord Gregory returned to his chambers after dinner and waited for the appointed time to set up contact with his lord. He went about his room getting the mirror and other supplies he needed to make contact and made sure no one was about. After the set up was complete he sat down in the chair and conjured up his master’s image. “Good evening master.”

“Report,” said a voice from the mirror.

“The last of the people of the Faih kingdom will arrive within the week,” Gregory paused to take a breath.

“I see, so he is trying to save his people, how very noble of him.”

“Yes, my liege. He also plans to bring his knights back to the castle once all the people have arrived.”

“Hmm, I didn’t expect him to start retreating so quickly. This may be easier than I thought. Carry on.”

“In further news the last the king heard of his son was right before he left across the sea of storms, but that was several weeks ago.”

“That means they might not have made it across. Keep up the good report and I expect a full report next week. I will be unavailable until then so do not try to contact me.”

o0o0o

End Notes: We are still alive. You can thank our friend Elaes Mada for bugging us continually for an update. It does work so the more you bug us the sooner we will update. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review to let us know what you think.