“Do I need to knock when I return to my own room?” Jenneva asked as she entered the room and closed the door.
“Sorry,” Alex apologized as he rose to his feet and put the knife back on the table. “I wasn’t quite sure what had woken me. You were not here when I arrived last night. Is anything wrong?”
“Everything is wrong,” frowned Jenneva, “but I am too tired to explain it all to you. Arik is holding a meeting right now in the library. Why don’t you get dressed and attend the meeting?”
“Give me a hint,” replied Alex as he started getting dressed.
“The plague has spread throughout the city,” Jenneva said wearily, “and there are not enough healing mages to handle it all. Zalaharic seems to be missing, so I sent a fairy to Glendor. Galdan and some of his elves came to offer assistance, but I am not hopeful for a speedy solution to this problem. The short version of it is, the Targa army is too sick to fight. How did you make out in Sordoa?”
“Fairies and unicorns are not affected by the fear spell,” answered Alex. “I also think that knowing about the spell in advance can help a human to conquer it, but I would not suggest we use such a technique. It is a powerful spell. Was Arik angry that I flew off without telling him?”
“I have no idea,” answered Jenneva. “I have not seen Arik since before you left. I have been working day and night to heal those afflicted with the plague. And that is all I can say for now, Alex. I would not be here if I could still function decently. I need sleep desperately.”
“I understand,” Alex replied with a smile as he pulled back the covers for his wife. “I will check in on you later.”
Jenneva nodded and kissed Alex before sliding under the covers. Alex covered her up and quietly left the room. As he made his way through the corridors of the Royal Palace towards the library, he heard distant voices. The closer he got to the library, the louder the voices became, until he realized that there was shouting going on inside the library. Two Red Swords stood guard outside the library door, and Alex nodded to them in greeting.
“I would normally tell you that it is not a good time to enter the library,” quipped one of the guards, “but King Arik has been looking for you since yesterday. He is not in a good mood.”
“So I can hear,” frowned the Knight of Alcea. “Has this been going on long?”
“The meeting started promptly at dawn,” answered the guard, “so it has been going on for an hour now.”
Alex nodded to the guard and opened the door. The shouting immediately stopped and everyone in the room turned to see who was entering.
“And where have you been?” scowled the king. “I have been looking everywhere for you.”
Alex narrowed his eyes as he looked at the king. Arik was red in the face with anger, and harsh lines etched his face. Alex sighed deeply and closed the door. He turned and bowed to the Warrior King.
“I was in Sordoa, King Arik,” Alex replied formally. “I eliminated the black-cloaks from Team Gortha.”
“You what?” growled King Arik. “I gave specific orders that no one was to attempt sneaking into the tents of the black-cloaks. I will not be defied by anyone, Alexander Tork, not even you.”
“I did not sneak into the tent,” Alex replied calmly. “I posed as a colonel in the Federation army and had General Ritka’s permission to enter the tent. What is this all about? The shouting in this room can be heard through half of the palace. What is wrong?”
“The city is badly plagued,” answered Queen Tanya, “and that includes the army. There will be no reinforcements when the Rangers and Red Swords go up against General Bledsoe and General Kozinski.”
“And they are arriving at this very moment,” snapped the king.
“What about the elves of Elderal?” asked General Gregor. “Perhaps we should divert them from Team Mya and use them against Team Miram.”
King Arik spun around to face the general and started shouting at him. Alex did not quite hear the exchange despite its loud volume because Prince Oscar caught his eye. The prince was standing with his back against one of the bookshelves that lined the walls of the library, and he was signaling for Alex to join him. Alex nodded and casually made his way around the room to where the prince was standing. Alex was vaguely aware of more shouting in the room, but he wanted no part in such a meeting. Such decisions as the placement of armies should not be made at an emotional level, and that is what the meeting had devolved into. He stood next to Prince Oscar and pressed his back against the shelves.
“What is going on here?” Alex whispered.
“I fear for the king, Alex,” Prince Oscar whispered back. “This is not my son talking. Arik would never belittle people as he has been doing. I have already spoken to Lord Clava about it, and he agrees. Something is very wrong here.”
“Yet he is the king,” Alex said softly. “We cannot simply send him to his room until he is feeling better. What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know what to do,” admitted Prince Oscar as he watched Queen Tanya slip out of the room. “My only hope is that he might listen to you.”
“That might work when Arik is merely having a bad day,” frowned Alex, “but this is something different altogether. Nothing I can say will get through to him in the state he is in. With his current mood, I would be thrown in the dungeon before I finished the first sentence. I have never seen him like this. When did this mood start?”
“It started this morning,” answered Prince Oscar. “It came right out of the blue. He was surly and irritable from the moment he walked into this room. It hasn’t gotten any better since.”
Alex did not respond. He stood quietly at the edge of the room watching the king interact with the others. It was clear to Alex that the other advisors were growing weary of the constant bickering. Everyone looked as if they would rather be on a battlefield than in this meeting with the king. No matter what suggestion was offered, the king tore it apart, and his arguments were not gentle. Alex knew that nothing good was going to come out of the meeting. While he was observing the king, he noticed that Arik was wearing the new pair of boots that had been donated to him by a shoemaker. He frowned at the significance of the boots. It meant that the king was going to make a public appearance, but that would be disastrous given the king’s current mood.
“He is wearing the boots,” whispered Alex. “Why?”
“He is planning to address the citizens today,” answered Prince Oscar. “He thinks it is important to let the people know that the king is aware of their plight and doing everything in his power to find a solution. He really has to do it. The citizens will expect it.”
“You can’t let him do that, Oscar. He will end up shouting at someone, and the citizens will think the king has lost his mind. It will do more harm than good. Without the people and the army behind him, Alcea will be lost. Keep him inside.”
“I cannot control him,” frowned the prince. “He is of no mind to listen to me.”
The shouting was louder than before and a loud slap reverberated through the room. Alex looked up in time to see Lord Markel take his hand off the book he had just slammed onto one of the tables.
“I did not come here today to be shouted at as if I were some young lad who stole something from the pantry,” yelled Tedi’s father. “We are supposed to be advising the King of Alcea, but it appears that the king has no need of our thoughts. I will take it no longer. I resign from the Council of Advisors effective immediately.”
Lord Markel’s face was bright red, and Alex knew that the man had reached the limits of his endurance. The noble bowed sharply to the king and strode angrily towards the door. As he passed by the king, Arik’s hand streaked out and grabbed Lord Markel by the tunic. The king lifted Tedi’s father off the floor, and shoved him into the wall. Books flew from the shelves as Lord Markel’s body hit the wall.
“He does not know his own strength,” Alex said to Prince Oscar with a sense of urgency. “He’ll kill Alan. I do not know what will happe
n to me, but do whatever you have to do to keep Arik inside the palace today.”
Prince Oscar opened his mouth to ask Alex what he was going to do, but the answer became immediately obvious. Alex ran towards the king. He leaped onto a table and dove across the room, wrapping his arms around the king and immobilizing him. Alex and Arik bounced off the wall and tumbled to the floor. Lord Markel fell on top of them and quickly rolled away. Alex lay on top of the king, and Arik’s hands were pinned underneath him. The king tried to buck the Knight of Alcea off his back, but he could not.
“Lie still, Arik,” grunted Alex. “I am not trying to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” spat the king. “As soon as I get up, you are going to wish you had stayed in Sordoa.”
Chapter 20
The Angry King
The Council of Advisors collectively gasped as Alex tackled the king and held him to the floor. For a moment, no one moved or spoke. Eventually, Alan Markel rose to his feet, his hands trembling.
“Do not endanger yourself on my behalf, Alex,” the noble said shakily. “Alcea needs you right now. The dungeons do not.”
“Enough, Alex,” pleaded General Gregor. “Let the king up.”
Theos watched everyone with an uneasy feeling. While he had held a magical shield around the King of Alcea during his entire time in the library, it was clear that a simple physical attack had made his efforts worthless. He dropped the spell, as he wondered if he should intervene and remove Alex from his position on top of the king. The Knight of Alcea was not attacking King Arik. He was only holding him down, and he had not made a move towards a weapon. The Tyronian mage stood undecided.
The commotion had been loud, and the noise had not been contained in the library. The Red Swords that had been standing guard outside the library opened the door and charged into the room. They halted just inside the door as their eyes took in the scene. Alex saw the Red Swords enter, and he released the king and rose to his feet. King Arik pushed himself off the floor and leaped to his feet. His face was distorted with anger as he pulled the Sword of Heavens free from its sheath. Alex knew that he could not defend himself against the king without the Red Swords attacking, and he was not about to shed friendly blood to save himself. He immediately dropped to one knee before the king and bowed his head, putting his faith in King Arik. He could not have picked a worse time to have such faith in the Alcean king. King Arik raised the Sword of Heavens high over his head and brought it down with a vengeance.
Alex heard the shouted warnings and cries of protest. He looked up with confusion as he saw the king bringing down the Sword of Heavens. He closed his eyes and silently bid Jenneva farewell, but the blow never struck him. Instead he heard the clanging of a sword falling to the floor followed closely by the thud of a body. Alex opened his eyes and stared at the body of King Arik.
“Take Alex to the dungeons,” ordered General Gregor, “and get a healer in here immediately.”
The Red Swords stepped forward and seized Alex by his arms. The Knight of Alcea offered no resistance as they dragged him to his feet and marched him out of the room. Konic Clava raced out of the room to get a healer.
“This meeting is over,” announced Prince Oscar. “Everyone should leave the library now.”
The advisors filed out of the room until only Prince Oscar and Theos were left. The prince stared at the Tyronian mage as if to ask if he had heard the order given to clear the room. Theos did not notice. His eyes were focused on one of the library shelves searching for something.
“What is going on?” the mage asked suspiciously.
“You should leave now,” repeated Prince Oscar. “The king no longer needs any magical protection. If you are concerned about the king…”
“I am not concerned for the king’s well being,” Theos said calmly. “I have been a victim of that spell myself. Where is the fairy, and what is going on?”
Prince Oscar moved quickly to close the door and then returned to the king’s side. He looked Theos in the eye and sighed.
“The king was going to kill Alex,” explained Prince Oscar. “It would have been foolish not to stop it.”
“If you had not dropped your magical shield,” chirped Prince Midge as he moved from behind a book on one of the bookshelves, “a Knight of Alcea would have died here today. Why did you not put a physical shield around Alex to prevent his death? You saw what was happening.”
Theos frowned at the question. It was a valid one, and the Tyronian mage examined his own actions, or lack of action. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I thought about removing Alex from on top of the king, but I chose not to interfere as it appeared that no harm would come to the king. Perhaps I should have reevaluated things when the king became aggressive.”
“The king has been aggressive all day,” retorted Prince Midge. “There is something wrong with him. I am worried.”
“How do you mean?” asked Theos.
“Arik and Alex have always been quite close,” Prince Oscar replied. “It is unthinkable that either of them would hurt the other.”
“But Alex did attack the king,” frowned Theos. “Are they both mad?”
“Alex stopped the king from killing Tedi’s father,” stated Prince Oscar. “Arik may not have intended to hurt Alan, but he sometimes forgets how strong he is. That is all Alex tried to do.”
Theos nodded with understanding. “I have been impressed with both Alex and King Arik, but I guess that I don’t really know either one of them very well. I did not realize that the king was acting uncommonly strange.”
“Well, he is,” declared Prince Oscar. “I think for now it might be better for everyone if it was not discovered that Prince Midge put the king to sleep. In Arik’s current mood, that might cause a rift between him and the fairy people, and we have too many rifts as it is.”
“How will you explain the king’s fainting?” asked Theos.
“I will have him carried to his bed and let a healer examine him,” smiled Prince Oscar. “He will be declared healthy and then go about his business. Nothing could be simpler.”
“What about his address to the people?” asked the mage.
“That will not occur today,” answered Prince Oscar. “In fact, it must not. Until we can determine what is truly wrong with Arik, we must keep him from creating more disharmony.”
“I feel uncomfortable with this,” admitted Theos. “We are manipulating the King of Alcea, and it is not our place to do so. He may make mistakes, but it is his province to do so, not ours.”
“We are not trying to take authority away from the king,” stated Prince Oscar. “We are trying to save his life.”
“Are you saying that the king’s life is in danger?” asked Theos.
“Absolutely,” replied Prince Oscar. “I do not know the nature of his sudden irritability, but it is affecting many people in the city right now. Whatever it is, it is not natural.”
Theos raised an eyebrow and suddenly seemed lost in thought. Before more could be said, the door opened. Queen Tanya and Jenneva entered the library with Red Swords behind them. The queen ran to Arik’s side. Jenneva moved slowly to let the queen arrive first.
“What happened here?” asked the queen.
“Let the Red Swords carry the king to his chambers,” suggested Prince Oscar. “I will accompany you and explain what I can on the way there.”
Seeing that the king was alive with no visible wounds, the queen nodded and rose to her feet. Jenneva narrowed her eyes and looked around the room, pausing as her gaze fell on Prince Oscar, Prince Midge, and finally, Theos. Oscar realized that Jenneva suspected foul play, but she said nothing. The Red Swords hurried across the room and two of them lifted King Arik and carried him out of the library. The queen frowned as she bent down and picked up the Sword of Heavens.
“Start your telling, Prince Oscar,” demanded the queen.
Prince Oscar told Tanya what had happened, only leaving out the fact that Prince Midge had cast a sleep spell on the king
to save Alex’s life.
“I don’t know what is wrong with him today,” sighed the queen. “He was fine when he woke up, but by the time we reached the library, he was looking for a fight. I have never seen him like this before.”
The queen followed the Red Swords into the king’s chambers, but Jenneva stopped short of entering. She reached out and placed her hand on Prince Oscar’s arm to stop him outside the door.
“I do not know what game the three of you are playing,” she said softly, “but I have been up all night tending to the sick, and I need to get back to it as soon as possible. In the meantime, I need sleep. Now, tell me honestly, are my healing skills needed inside the king’s chambers?”
Prince Oscar shook his head and nodded towards Prince Midge on his shoulder. Jenneva shook her head, her lips pressed firmly together in a show of displeasure.
“Why?” she asked.
“To save Alex,” Prince Midge frowned. “I would have thought you would have been pleased that I kept him alive.”
“Arik would never hurt Alex,” retorted Jenneva, “and you know that, Prince Midge.”
“Arik would have killed Alex,” Prince Oscar said seriously. “Prince Midge did indeed save Alex’s life.”
Jenneva’s face clouded with concern. “Where is Alex?”
“General Gregor had him taken to the dungeons,” answered Theos. “He had, after all, attacked the king.”
“Get him out,” demanded Jenneva.
“I cannot,” replied Prince Oscar. “No doubt General Gregor informed the dungeon guards of the offense committed. They will only release him on the king’s orders. That is the law for an attack on the king’s body.”
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