uttam5

Urja turned his attention away from the blank-faced Yogita and focused it on the royal couple, who already began to look drained from having been out of bed for the first time in months. "What Yogita is saying is this: for the next part of your cure, we will need a great many hearts of creatures that have been extinct on this island for centuries -- Trolls." At the mention of the word "troll," a sneer crossed the face of every person in the room -- except Yogita, who was somewhere else entirely. Trolls had once been great rivals of the people of Uttam, as the lizardmen still were. They killed without thought and without remorse: they were heartless.

"I shall go and compose the specifics for the preparation and preservation of the hearts for Vhiramol, and give them to you to pass along. Your weakness will return soon enough." Urja gave a worried glance to battle plans he did not comprehend, bowed slightly, and scurried out of the room. The remaining councilors took little time from the royal couple and hastily made their own departures.

With the advisors gone, the room seemed heavy with silence. Queen Premila Ajit glared at the sack sitting on the floor: a message from Rakesh. The bones of two lizardman adolescents, a boy and a girl - obviously licked clean and well-gnawed. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were brother and sister," the queen muttered. Sitting down at her writing desk, she drew forth quill and ink and prepared to write to her beloved daughter.

Hopan Tador watched the door carefully as he towelled out the beer mugs and ale tankards. He had an idea just how precious this message was, and had no intention of letting it gather any dust. The royal twins probably had little idea how closely he was following their mission.

It seemed like years since the young couple arrived, full of desperate energy and carrying a noble bearing infinitely more genteel than the typical ogre half-breeds who came through his door. Since then he'd watched them learn the lay of the land, grow in strength and power, and make many friends. He'd used his connections to ensure that the ice dragon scale they finally obtained got back to their homeland of Uttam in time to save their parents from the spell upon them.

He never let on, even to his barmaids, the concern he felt when the twins began acting confused and then disappeared for two years. He had no news of Uttam and thus no way of knowing whether the shipment of carefully prepared troll hearts did their job. For all he knew, they weren't enough and the island of half-ogres had fallen to the warlock Rakesh since then.

The bartender chuckled softly as he remembered his barmaids' faces as the twins stumbled in for the first time in ages. For a moment he thought their fussing over Dhiramol would drown out the tale of the mysterious spell that had clouded their minds. Anything that could make the unwavering princess and her guardian forget their purpose in Cosrin must be fearsome magic indeed. To then sink them into a years-long slumber... Rakesh must be a formidable warlock.

Finally the twins entered, shaking snow from their cloaks. Hopan breathed a sigh of relief and put on a nonchalant expression as the princess stepped up to the bar. "Do you have any messages for us this time, sir?" her clear voice filled the bar somehow despite her quiet tone.

Hopan winked broadly as he brought forth the sealed message. "Messenger brung it in jest a few ahrs ago, yer royalness. 'Spec it's what you's lookin' for, from the fancy seal." The princess' long fingers plucked the scroll from his hands deftly and discreetly deposited several gold in his palm. He nodded briskly and picked up a mop as she moved to the corner table her brother had taken.

The princess fiddled absently with the broken royal seal as she read the scroll to her guardian. The bartender's years of rough clientele came in handy as he made out much of the Ogrish. "Dearest Ones, We have recieved your life saving pastes in just enough time to spare us our very lives." Her brother's roar of victory threatened to shatter every window in the building. "While we waited, however, Rakesh sent out troops and slaughtered thousands of our most faithful. Thanks to the troll hearts you sent, however, your father recovered and lead the attack that pushed the enemy back to the swamp they came from. We worry for your safety daily. Please know that we miss you and know that you are together to bolster each others' courage and determination. We are in your hearts, you are in our thoughts and prayers."

Hopan moved off to clean another area of the bar and leave the twins some privacy. Glancing over a bit later to watch their celebration, he was surprised to see them engaged in some sort of ritual over a pile of bloody troll hearts. Soon, the princess headed upstairs to bed as her guardian approached him with a paste-filled jar. "I believe you know where to send this, sir, and the urgency that it be done with utmost haste and secrecy." Hopan nodded in silence and took the package. Apparently, for once the huge warrior would neither eat his weight in Hopan's famous Wyvern Wings nor distract his barmaids from their duties. The half-ogre drew his sword and stood at the entrance to the stairs, apparently intending to ensure a quiet night for his sister.

As good a time as any to warn him of the lizardman bounty hunters who had been asking about them. Hopan finished his mopping and prepared for an unpleasant discussion.