The War Begins

Chapter 2 - The Mystery of a Prince

Caine spent the next portion of his morning dressing for the formal introductions; he had to present himself in front of elven and magician royalty alike. Once he was properly dressed and mentally ready, he slid out the door and down the hall.

The stairs Caine took led him straight to the outer receiving room to the formal throne room. It was almost never used so he bypassed it and left the palace through a side door.

Outdoor paths and rooms that had magical shielding you could see through had been built to protect those walking but they were surrounded with foliage and functioned as greenhouses in the colder weather. He took the paths out toward the surrounding forest.

Almost every elven settlement, including the castle, was surrounded by dense woods but if you got up high enough in the parapets you could see the openings in the canopy. The castle's supporting town was only a short jaunt through the forest, but the elves seemed to like the separation and secrecy it afforded. He had been walking for several minutes before he came to a party of elves in one of the windowed offshoots of his path.

They stood conversing, singing, and drinking in high spirits. They surrounded a figure who controlled the attention and had a woman on his arm. Caine walked by the party and was surprised he hadn't seen more elves and humans about. He outdistanced the covered paths shortly after as he approached the council chambers.

After a few more twists and turns without the cover, he ended at a stone building that looked like an enormous human chapel. He pulled on his shirt tails and patted down the wrinkles he had acquired from walking in his court costume.

When he was lucky enough to work in the elven courts and wasn't spending all day in the council chambers he wore the more comfortable clothes preferred by the elves, thin artful layers in nature's colors. Today he stood in multiple layers of black that played off his dark hair and blue eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out a hand and knocked gently, knowing the elves hearing had already alerted them to his presence. The doors pushed open as he knocked and he walked forward.

The room was octagonal in shape with the King's throne on the wall opposite the door he entered. The floor was made in levels with a chair or bench for each elfin noble and guest emissaries. Three walls had a centered door and a path that led toward the King's throne which had larger levels than the other sides with only four wide tiers.

The King sat on the third step and had two thrones on the level below him for his two most prominent or favored sons or daughters, though elves moved in and out of grace rather quickly for such a long lived race. Caine entered through the tall arch that supported the elves sitting above him. They had thinner tiers with eight levels spaced so each noble had their own area to fill with their entourage.

As he walked out of the short tunnel, he quickly observed the rows of men and women. The elfin court was the only court to allow women to sit on a council and apply their opinion to any problem. Many courts allowed women magicians input on select matters, but most women didn't go into politics; it was a sport dominated by men.

He was surprised by the number of nobles who had been recalled to the capital. He had tried uselessly to scry the building to know what he was facing, but had known he would find only defeat. Long ago the Goddess had cast a strong protective spell around the building, one that still could not be breached.

"Rise, Caine," the King's quietly strong voice said after a tense silence. His voice was gentle, but steel gave it a backbone one would be stupid to ignore.

The elven King was a powerful man and it was not a request no matter how kindly or softly it may have been said. Caine had talked to the King enough to hear disapproval in the tone of his address.