The Lonely Warrior Queen

{Chapter 84}

To that, almost everyone made some sort of response. Stepping a few feet away from the table, I made my ideas into words.

"He had one advantage until now, my lords," I smiled. "Is that not right?"

"He has many advantages over us, Your Grace," one of the men answered. His red hair was the most recognizable. Sunster.

"Crawling among us like snakes and refusing to fight us like a man," another said.

"All because he had one advantage," I repeated, my smile transforming into a serious expression. "He knows where we are,"

Everyone seemed to have been in their own thoughts at my words. I moved forward while holding my hands close.

"Luckily...we know where he is too,"

Heads snapped in my direction when I finished that sentence, making me startled. Xander once again held my hand and tugged me closer.

"What do you mean, My Queen?" he whispered frantically. "Are you about to tell us that you..."

"Indeed," I gave him a curt nod before turning behind, toward the door. "Mister Mildred, you may enter!"

Soon, a nervous man entered, carefully clasping all the things I asked him to. I could see that he was ever more nervous, but managed to keep his cool.

"Your Majesty..." he bowed. "My Lords,"

"Who is he?"

"He is a local cartographer who spent all his life improving his knowledge of the world," I spoke instead and gestured for the man to come forward. I was glad when he almost stumbled but didn't.

"For the last few days, I spent most of my time looking at what we found so far," I began speaking as I took the notebook from the pile that the man held. I opened it to the correct page and slammed it onto the desk. "The enemy is an excellent schemer. But the men who follow him are not,"

I didn't want to call out any names as I knew how it might make some anxious.

"Mister Mildred is a talented man. Because it was not for him and his knowledge, I might not have been able to figure out the location,"

"But...where is he, Your Grace?" Lord Sunster questioned, looking at me respectfully. "We assume that he is not far away. He might be taking refuge in a neighboring kingdom,"

I was pleased that they were sharing their thoughts with me. For a moment, I thought that they might not take me as seriously as I hoped they would.

"A man with his pride and arrogance would not dare to take shelter under others," I kept my voice composed.

I pushed the book forward and gestured toward Ravilf, who nodded energetically before moving forwards and spreading his maps across the table. Soon, they covered the entire surface.

"My lords, these are all the kingdoms that I was fortunate enough to visit," the man spoke, just as he rehearsed. "Most of the neighboring kingdoms and countries are here,"

My husband inched closer and observed all the vivid pictures, carefully etched onto the canvas cloth.

"All of these are on agreeable terms with Anthreal," he concluded, giving his council a nod. "Therefore, it is quite impossible for any of them to be in contact with my enemy. They would not dare to associate with a traitor," 

"You are right, My King," I told him with a faint smile and placed the book once again on the top. "These are the letters that were exchanged from the traitor. Are you all familiar with one tiny clue that the enemy provided which relates to his location?"