Tower Gardelle

15: ON LOSING YOUR SIDE

After making them wait for another half hour, the king of Partrall finally went in. He was a medium sized man, with broad shoulders and a pronounced jawline and nose. On his shoulders was a magnificent red cape, with fluffy orange shoulder pieces and an puffy cream colored shirt. His belt was large and held his large sword, though instead of pants he wore black tights with white ruffles on both ends. His mustache had been trimmed perfectly, sitting upon his lip as a symbol of pride, and the first thing Acelound did when he saw it was subconsciously touch his thick beard.

"Well, hello there," he said. He stood next to the royal chair, sticking his leg up on it and leaning into it. "What a pleasure to get to see you again, Rohesia. You're looking...fit to battle, I see."

Indeed she was, as she had exchanged her dresses for war clothes-an armor chest plate was her protection, engraved with the Estarii symbol and the metal bent to accommodate her chest. Her hair had been pulled up into three buns, two on the sides of her head and one on top, and she had sharpened metal sticks wound into them. "And you," she responded, "Arnold, look fit for a princess's ball."

He laughed, indignant and cold. Arnold leaned over the table towards them, then spat in her face. She sat there and didn't say a word, only tensing up and gripping onto her husband's arm to keep him from doing anything he'd regret. "Don't," she said, voice hard.

"What's wrong, Rohesia?" Arnold asked, grinning. He sat down in the chair, swinging up his legs onto the table and crossing them. "You look like a sore loser."

"And you, Arnold, look like a man who cannot handle winning. Is it just the fact that you think yourself above the world, or maybe because thine are insecure and do not truly know how to be a ruler?"

Again, he laughed. "I am above the world. Mine family hath ruled for generations of generations, while thy family only began to rule a century ago," he told her, a sigh in his voice. "Ah, it will be sad to see you be the one to disgrace your family line. That must be an awful failure, don't you think? But don't worry, I won't kill your kingdom and your people. Not if you do exactly as I say, that is."

Rohesia breathed in and out, calm despite the fact that she had yet to wipe the spit from her face. To even acknowledge it would be a sign of weakness, and she was not weak. Her husband was seething in the chair next to her, but he held his tongue out of respect for his wife. You swine... "And what might thou have to say? What offer doth you lie upon this table that I cannot refuse?"

"Hmm....your life, perhaps?"

"Mine life hath nothing to do with this kingdom."

"Thy children's life."

It was her turn to laugh, cunning and short. Rohesia gave him a sly smile, "Oh? And just how might thou be expecting to receive mine children? They shall not submit to you. Thou cannot find them, either, as they are well hidden and safe. If I am to die, this kingdom shall belong to them, and no title, deed, or mark of land shall ever change that. The magic that winds within their bones is of the purest breed, kept clean with blood from Bevual and Webby. Thy cannot surely believe any true Gardelle citizen would ever accept you as their King?"

"Thou art lucky that I do not cut off your head this second!" he shouted. Then he took a deep breath, hands balled up into fists. His voice was laced with acid as he spoke, "Rohesia, your games have gone on long enough. Thou shall sign over Gardelle to me if you do not wish for me to burn it to the ground this very second."

"Sign over Gardelle to you?"

"This shall be my kingdom now, Rohesia. It has always been meant to be mine, and you cannot keep me from it any longer. Give me the thing for which I hath asked, or else I shall kill every citizen of Gardelle, just as I did to Odmen."