Chapter Eleven: Show of Strength | Part 5
Purple light and smoke swirled inside the orb. The sigils faded, replaced by a white glow that grew larger and brighter before morphing into an inverted trapezoid that reached nearly to the ceiling. Colored wisps danced inside the field until a scene took shape—a podium atop a marble dais, surrounded by a medley of flowers and reddish shrubs.
He’s doing this from the Peace Garden?! Benn mentally spluttered. Rhea, did you know about this?
No clue. He probably knew we’d try to stop him.
Maybe he’s showing that he isn’t afraid, Thirtyx mused. It makes a pretty powerful statement, don’t you think?
As if in response to Thirtyx’s thoughts, the stately monarch stepped into view, adorned in a formal garb nearly identical to Benn’s. Thirtyx’s breath caught. He tried to stifle his abject shock. His friends didn’t need his reaction to the obvious limp Professor C had noted last night, or how sure he was that Grimmary’s beard had turned significantly greyer since Thirtyx last saw him. They didn’t deserve the burden of hearing how the king’s kind, trollish eyes looked abnormally severe beset by the dark bags under them. They seemed to have lost their luster, much like the blue draconic scales scattered across his cheeks and nose. His sleek silver hair, tied into a traditional Selkie knot, looked thinner than usual. His onyx devil horns should have stood out in comparison, but they looked ashen and unoiled, like they were the least of the monarch’s problems.
But Grimmary’s stature was perhaps more concerning than his appearance. Even the best palace finery couldn’t disguise the way his long, Verith ears tucked against his head or his massive, feathered wings—independent of any known Lamiakk creature—folded anxiously against his back. His limp made his similarly inexplicable hooves clop against the stone with a clatter audible even through the projection. It was incredibly disheartening.
And Rhea and Benn felt it too.
King Grimmary was flanked by two Legionnaires in green uniforms. One took the dais and offered her hand to help Grimmary up, then she and her partner positioned themselves on either side of the podium and cast a shield that stretched between them, in front of the king. It shimmered in a way that made Thirtyx dizzy, but the shimmering soon subsided.
Oh, that’s really impressive, Benn said. I’m going to have them teach me that next time we’re home.
“Good afternoon, citizens of Lamiakk.” The king’s baritone voice echoed through the dining hall. “By now, you’ve surely heard that yesterday, at this very podium, an attempt was made on my life. I escaped, miraculously unharmed, but a beloved member of my guard paid the ultimate price for my safety. I ask now that we take a moment of silence and raise a communal prayer to the Twins in honor of Cordin Relson, a devoted father, husband, Sigraexil master, and guardsman who served the palace for over twenty years. He will be sorely missed.”
The silence ate at Thirtyx. If a war broke out, far more casualties would follow in defense of Grimmary—of his children, if it came to that. Could they bear that? Could he bear that?
“Thank you. And thank you all for listening, whether here or at one of the many broadcast points my team has arranged throughout the world. I’d like to give a special acknowledgement to Wydewood Academy, where my children—the heirs to my throne, and your future rulers—are watching this briefing now.”
Strategic reminder that his reign doesn’t die with him, Benn noted.
“Last night, a young man and woman I have raised since infancy—who have served this world their entire lives, using their immeasurable talents to strengthen your government—grappled with the attempted murder of their father. They had scarcely one night to mourn a member of our family guard before immediately returning to school to study for their Magic Competency exam, which they take in two weeks’ time. Teenagers, on the sacred precipice of adulthood, should not have to confront the possibility of ruling a kingdom before they have even graduated. They should be enjoying this precious time in their lives, not staring down the sort of crisis that could completely dismantle the political integrity of Lamiakk.”
I spent five bars putting on this stupid getup to look intimidating, and he’s painting us as scared kids, Rhea huffed. Where in the twin hells is he going with this?
Calley Jones 