To War 108.

Summer. The Province Of Calinar.

Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy slips in through a side door, then makes his way upstairs.
The spy originally from the elven principality of Alínlae heads down a hallway.
And stops at a closed door, he listens for a moment then he opens the door, and enters the room.
"A little help wouldn't of gone a miss" dryly says Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy.
"We did send a little help" says Mira Reinholt the mage, who after a brief pause, adds "Well, the royal thief did".
"Is that a crack at me?" demands a small female voice off to one side.
"Yes" is the deadpan reply from the once powerful mage who doesn't even look in the direction of where the invisible ground pixie, Narladene is.
They hear the naturally magical creature mutter something in a language they don't understand.
Then the tiny winged creature flies out the open window that the mage Reinholt has been looking out of.
Dalinvardèl Tanith or Dalin as he's more commonly called by the others in the group, joins the mage from the city-state of Vexil at the window.
"How many got out of the one you were in?" asks the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster.
"Just me and another" replies the elven spy who previously served in one of the more prominent noble houses of his homeland, Alínlae.
The mage who is in exile from his homeland Vexil, winces when he hears that, then he says "Sounds like you were the worst ones hit".
Dalin nods his hooded head, then asks "The other two safehouses that were attacked?".
"They feared a little bit better" replies the swordmaster Reinholt, who continues with "Though they lost a few as well".
The spy Tanith who roamed throughout the city for most of the day after the safehouse in the northern quarter of the city was attacked earlier in the day.
Grimaces when he hears that from the spellcaster, who is also a member of the personal council to lord Farque.
The elven spy who is a company commander in the scouts and rangers division of the armies of Farque, then says "They were a city lord's men" followed by "A lord Tulbart".
"We know" says the spellcaster, who was once the most powerful mage of his generation to be found anywhere in the Southlands.
Until he was stripped of most of his powers when he went offworld through a rift/void spell he accidentally cast a number of years ago.
"Conveniently he's away from the city at the moment" adds councilor Reinholt, who continues with "He went south along the coast with the dowager queen".
"Damn" mutters Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy.
The exiled Vexilian mage can only nod his hooded head in agreement with the elven spy.
As they look out the window at the nearby Palace of the King, in the late afternoon sun on what's been a sunny, summer's day.
Here in the city of Calinar, the capital of the kingdom of Melaurn.
"Helbe over there?" asks the spy Tanith with a nod of his hooded head at the nearby palace grounds.
"He is" says Mira Reinholt the mage, who follows that with "Trying to find out anything else that he can".
Dalin then asks "Beldane" followed by "And the prisoner?". As he didn't see or hear them as he made his way up to the third storey of the building.
That's one of the remaining safehouses used by the Farqian spies, here in the port city of Calinar.
"The cleric and the general are getting us something to eat" is the reply of the Vexilian mage in exile, who follows that with "They should be back soon".
The once powerful mage, pauses for a moment or two, before he adds "The royal thief should be back soon as well".
The elven spy originally from the principality of Alínlae, nods his hooded head as the two of them watch the nearby palace.
While waiting for the others to return, as the sun starts to drop down towards the ocean to the west.
A short time later, and Beldane the cleric, and the prisoner, general Sumic. Return to the safehouse from a nearby tavern. Carrying a couple of baskets full of food and drink.
The room next to the one they observe the palace from. Is somewhat of a dining room.
And the fighting cleric from the kingdom of Nastell, and the enemy prisoner, who is in the guise of an attractive woman, thanks to a spell cast upon him by Helbe the elven thief.
Set up dinner in that room as the sun sets in the west over the Kuyriers Straits.
As Mira Reinholt and Dalinvardèl Tanith join them in the next room along.
Helbe the elven thief along with Narladene the ground pixie returns to the safehouse, that's just a couple streets from the east side of the Palace of the King.
Sitting at the table in the room, buttering a small round loaf of bread, while Beldane the cleric pours chilled white wine in their goblets.
Helbe the elven thief says "Lost a total of ten of our agents in the city".
Dalin winces as half of them were in the safehouse he was visiting this morning, in the north of the city.
"They knew where to look" says the young elven noble from the island principality of Laerel.
Which lies across the Kuyriers Straits from the coast of the kingdom of Melaurn.
"Been following our spies?" asks the mage Reinholt.
"Some" is the reply of the elven magic user, who like his fellow spellcaster, Mira Reinholt. Is a member of the personal council to lord Farque.
"Though they just figured it out more than anything else" says the elven masterthief, who looks at Dalinvardèl Tanith, then the prisoner, general Sumic.
"From when you busted the general out of the palace dungeons" says the grandson of the ruling prince of Laerel, as he looks at the spy Tanith.
Nodding his hooded head, Dalin says "One of the spies in the safehouse in the north of the city mentioned they snooped around there for a little while after i got the general here out of the palace dungeons".
The elf who hails from the principality of Alínlae, continues with "After that, it was mainly the city watch they saw around there".
The elven princeling from Laerel nods his hooded head, then says "They got lucky following some of our agents, and were able to find two more of our safehouses".
The elven master assassin, who is the envoy for the armies of Farque, when dealing with those who have hired them, continues with "And they coordinated their attack today with the dowager queen out of the city".
"And lord Tulbart, whose men attacked us" says Dalinvardèl Tanith.
Helbe the elven thief nods his hooded head, then the elven master archer says "That sir Jurshwin admitted as much".
"You talked to him?" asks general Sumic, the prisoner.
"Well" says the highly talented elven magic user, who continues on with "I didn't really talk to him" he briefly pauses before adding "More like he spoke to me".
"That lackey" mutters the enemy general with a shake of his head.
"You'd be pleased to know he's no longer amongst the living" says the elven masterthief who is a member of the royal family that rules the island principality of Laerel.
"He came down with a bad case of the deads" dryly adds the master assassin.
General Sumic wryly smiles, and nods in understanding as he continues his dinner, while outside it's now clearly dusk, almost evening.
"Accident?" asks Mira Reinholt as he looks across the table at his fellow councilor.
"Something he ate" replies the grandson of Prince Raendril of Laerel, who then adds "Looks more natural".
Then looking over at the prisoner, the elven masterthief says "I doubt he'll be missed" followed by "He wasn't that popular even amongst the faction loyal to the old queen".
The enemy general, who though a prisoner, isn't treated as such, nods his head, then says "He was a court functionary loyal to lord Tulbart more than anything else".
Sumic, who is the highest commoner at the court of the king of Melaurn, continues with "He'll be missed because of all that he facilities between those loyal to the king's mother".
The general, who grew up with, and is friends with king Harmard the Third, then adds "They might not of liked the lackey, but he was important to that side of the crown for sure".
The others nod as they continue to eat their meals as out the window, afternoon sunshine has given away to the gloom of early evening, here in the city of Calinar, the capital of the kingdom of Melaurn.
After downing half of his goblet, Mira Reinholt asks Helbe the elven thief "The old queen coming back tonight?".
"It's a possibility" is the reply of the young elven noble, whose homeland the island principality of Laerel, lies across the Kuyriers Straits from the kingdom of Melaurn.
"Though, those in the palace are expecting her back sometime tomorrow" adds the highly talented elven magic user.
Prince Helbenthril Raendril looks at the two other spellcasters at the table, and says to them "Expect anything after I've dealt to her".
Both the once powerful mage and the fighting cleric nod in understanding.
"They'll definitely be a reaction from those in the palace" explains the elven master assassin, who continues with "And not just those in the crown loyal to her".
The elven master archer follows that with "Even some of those loyal to the king, will no doubt mourn her loss".
With a shrug of his shoulders, the elven envoy adds "So who knows what will happen".
In the silence that follows, general Sumic speaks up with "One thing i will know, is that with her death, enthusiasm for the war down south will disappear pretty quickly amongst those loyal to his majesty".
"And the crown?" asks Mira Reinholt referring to those at court who are in the faction led by the old queen.
"Who knows there" says the enemy general who grew up in the Palace of the King, as his parents were servants there.
"Some will loose enthusiasm for it, I'm sure" continues Sumic, the general in the King's Own then adds "But others, like the city lord, Tulbart will want vengeance for her death".
Nodding his hooded head, Helbe the elven thief says "That's why I'll make it look like she died of natural causes".
The highly talented elven magic user then adds "Bit difficult to take vengeance for someone's heart giving up on them".
They all nod in agreement to that, then Beldane the cleric who hasn't spoken that much while they've eaten their dinner, says "Will the king end the war with lord Gormica straight away once the old queen is out of the way?".
Those at the table in the group who travel with lord Farque, look at the general in the King's Own.
The prisoner looks out the window, where in the falling darkness, the Palace of the King can still be seen.
Then general Sumic looks at his captors, and he says to them "Maybe".
The enemy general pauses for a moment or two, before he continues on with "Hopefully he does".
As Sumic wants this war over as soon as possible. Not just because he was forced into leading others he wasn't in command of to begin with.
But also because he was against this war from the beginning. As he saw it as a border dispute between lords in southern Melaurn. Who could sort this out by themselves.
Which tends to happen elsewhere throughout the kingdom of Melaurn.
But he knows the reason why the dowager queen pushed the court into the war against lord Gormica of Karricaw.
It's because the king's wife, the current queen. Was a fairly unknown noblewoman from the province of Karricaw.
Who years earlier, the then royal prince Harmard, married against his parents wishes.
And though the king's father would eventually approve of the marriage before he died. Rumour has it the dowager queen had her husband killed.
The old queen has never liked the new one, and the fact that a nobody from the southern province of Karricaw married her son.
"Whatever happens with her death" says general Sumic, who then adds "It will put to end a lot of what's happened at court over the last decade".
"That's something at least" says Dalinvardèl Tanith the elven spy who finishes off the wine in his goblet, then turns his head and looks through the open window at the nearby palace.
As they wait for the dowager queen, and her traveling party, to return to the capital city from her travels down the coast of the province of Calinar . . . . . .