"Humh?"� K'tai blinked a couple of times.� Thoron stood about two feet away, looking at her curiously.
"You'd said you wanted to see the King?"
"Well, yeah...but shouldn't I be making an appointment or something?"
Thoron shrugged, but his voice was lowered when he spoke next.�
"To be honest, with everything that's been going on, we haven't had time
to really get organized.
But I went and told him you were here, and he's got a few minutes right
now, if you want to talk to him."
K'tai stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds.� "O...kay..."
"What?"
She sighed.� "Nothing.� Let's go."� She waved him away,
and followed him down the narrow halls.
***
"Hey, sweetie."� McFadden's voice was slightly hoarse, but his
temper warm as ever as K'tai gave him a hug.
"What brings you here?"
"Well, I did want to say thanks again for putting me back in my right
mind.� The Healers' Guild has finally trusted me with a baldric again,
so I'm back in action.
Rusty, but back."
"That's good.� I've got a feeling we're gonna need you.� I
can't believe all the crap that's started up ever since I took the throne.�
In fact, if you've got a couple Protect
spells to spare, I wouldn't mind 'em.� We're riding out again
to try and track down some more of these damned rebels."
"You're going with them?" K'tai was aghast.
"You've got a problem with this?"
"Yes!� You're putting way too much of your personal effort into
this manhunt.� You've got to worry about your populace, McFadden.�
R'al's mother, it's the dead of
winter!� Do you know how much food is in the storehouses?�
If rats break into IronCloud's grain silos and start eating and shitting
in it, would we be able to keep
everyone fed till spring?"
"That's what Martello is for.� You should know that."
"Martello's power is limited.� About half the domestic problems that are likely to surface, he can't do anything about.� *You* should know *that*!"
K'tai took a deep breath and recovered her temper.� "You've got
the entire military force of the Emerald Hills at your disposal.�
These would-be rebels haven't got a
prayer in the face of some of your generals.� But you've got to
let *them* take care of it, so you can deal with the problems that only
you can deal with.� You need to
stop acting like a Warrior and start acting like a King.� Otherwise,
we're going to fall apart from the inside out, and the rebels might end
up winning after all."
McFadden just stared at K'tai, his face as inscrutable as marble.� She held his gaze for a moment, then tilted her head slightly.
"Did it never occur to you that these little rebels were trying to keep
you chasing after them, precisely *so* you would neglect your duties and
lose the people's
confidence as a ruler?"
Her words got no reaction.� She spied a small wooden bowl of apples
on a nearby table, moved to pick one up, and intoned a few odd syllables.�
She set the apple
down near the King's left hand with a sigh.
"There's your damned Protect spells.� All four I've got.� If I'm not going to change your mind, I can at least keep you alive."
Slowly, McFadden closed his hand around the apple and bit into it.�
A small flash of light signaled the magic jumping from the fruit to him.�
He munched on the apple
a little more, then tossed it to his squire to finish.
"I appreciate your concern, K'tai.� But this little rebellion is
a major thorn in my foot right now, and I'm going to see it squashed myself.�
We're leaving in a few
minutes, actually.� If you would ride with us, we could sure use
you."
K'tai forced herself to smile.� "I said you had the entire Emerald
Hills militia at your command, Your Majesty.� And that does include
me."� The smile turned to a wry
grin.� "If you trust me."
"And who spent two hours examining and fixing your brain?� You're
weird - DEFINITELY weird - but you're not crazy.� And you're not a
traitor.� Come on.� We're
burning hours."
K'tai dropped to an exaggerated curtsey.� "After you, Your Majesty."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you going to let that Prodigal talk to you like that, cousin?"
I have to shake my head on that. D has always thought the people of this world were nuts.
"Forgive her, she's just in a bad mood."
"What ever you say Change, but she could have said please."
"Yes, she should have."
I gather what stuff I have at Sean compound plus a few other things I didn't know I needed.
"First I need to return to my towerroom. I have stuff to check on."
I return to my normal form. Look around, do a 360 and then jump.
Landing back in my towerroom.
My pet cabbit greets me. "Meow?"
"Oh hi Jester."
"Meow."
"What's up?"
Jester leads me to my Crystal Chamber, The Room I use for Scrying. One of the crystals floats up showing me the King and a small army.
"What's this?"
"You don't know cousin?" My pixie cousin D shows back up. "There seems
to be bandits in the woods and they seem to have stolen some tax money
from the Royal
Accountant."
"That explains Macfadden's army."
"That isn't an army check out this other crystal."
I walk over to another crystal to see a large gathering of forest creatures, and fae.
"What in the... Was this your doing?"
"Mine and Prince DeLeon's idea"
"Prince? Leonardo has taken a title? Figures."
"Were just making sure that uppity human king doesn't think we did the robbery and invade Tow'land."
"Well a small amount of security is good but thatfs just paranoid?"
"It was Leonardo's idea."
"What's he up to?"
"Probably the biggest practial joke ever. Remember he is a pooka."
I shake my head again. I walk from the Crystal Chamber to my study. I sit down at my desk and write a letter.
"D, you and Jester take this to Squire Sean and make sure only he sees it. I'll be visiting Kenta. This had better be good."
I hear the Jester's shriek as he hurries D to Sean.
********
"CHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"WHAT THE HELL!!" The kings army stands at guard. "WHAT IS THAT?"
Tanara and Sean are both startled by the sound.
"What is that?" they both ask.
"Hey do you two have a carrot?"
"What?" Both look around to see who say that and both get surprised
by the two and a half-foot pixie with a strange half cat/ half rabbit creature
sitting on the pixie's
head.
"How did you get in here?" Sean asks.
"This little guy," D say pointing to Jester, "Makes great distraction."
"That little thing?" Tanara speaks up "How can that little thing make that much noise."
"I thought the same thing about you Mistress Tanara. I have a letter here from Squire Sean's Eyes only. Could you please leave him to read it."
Tanara blinks, "I'll just be outside."
Sean opens the note. It reads:
Sean
The new Prince of the Forest that I live in has gotten wind of the Kings
actions. He wants to make it perfectly clear that the Fae have NOTHING
to do with the
robbery. Just between you and me, the royalty of the Emerald Hills
being manipulated, again. My last advice to you: Keep your guard up and
trust your instincts. You
might not see me for a while I have... other duties to attend to.
Changeling.
"Good. You read the letter. Now I can leave." D prepares to leave when
an evil grin crosses his face. "But first..." D raises his hands to his
mouth, turns invisible and
in a perfect imitation of Sean's voice yells "Guards!!"
�