Chapter Twenty Two - Red Ravens

General Binks entered the temporary throne room in Minelido. He bowed before Orlando DiCaprio, and then went right to business. Now that Hayden Potter was out of the way, he had more work to do than before.

“General Binks, I have a job I need you to do for me,” said DiCaprio quickly.
“Yes, lord King Orlando?” asked Binks, inwardly sighing at the selfishness of DiCaprio. Could he not do anything for himself?
“I need you to return to Ge’irdae . . .”
“Return there? My liege, I just came from Ge’irdae. Surely whatever it is has already been taken care of, or word could be sent for them to take care of it, or some other such arrangement.”
“No, General Binks. Now listen, before you find yourself joining the unfortunate Mister Potter. This job I can entrust to no one except yourself.”
“Yes, my lord King Orlando. What job is it that you wish me to do?”
“There will be coming to Ge’irdae a boy, a boy by the name of Edmund. You are to take him prisoner, but I do not want any harm to come to him whatsoever. You are to take him prisoner, and bring him to me, directly at the battlefield. He will be carrying a stone. You are to take it from him, but if any harm befalls him, or the stone, you will pay for it personally. Bring him to me immediately, do not waste any time. It is imperative that you capture him. I have reason to believe that he will come to you of his own free will.”
“Will Draziw be accompanying me?” asked General Binks.
“No.”
“No? Why not?”
“I need him here, for he will be needed in the battle. That is enough. You are dismissed, General Binks.”
“Yes, my lord King Orlando.”
“So let it be written, so let it be done.
“To hear is to obey.”

With another bow, General Binks backed out of the room, and prepared to ride directly too Ge’irdae. Within the hour he was on his way. It seemed so stupid to him, to have faith in a corny belief, probably fuelled by Draziw and the Varnhyme’s hokey religion. Ah well, he would find out soon enough whether or not Draziw was to be believed.

“I am about to give up on this whole bally quest thing altogether,” muttered Toulos.
“Agreed,” said Claude glumly. “I swear, she has disappeared off the face of the earth. There is nothing we can do.”
“Yeah, and face an angry king?” snapped Garnath. “Are you kidding me? No way am I going back there empty handed. We have got to find that girl if it is the last thing we do. Yo, Maiz, what do you think of all of this? Any thoughts, opinions?”
“I am not Maiz,” Maizer said pessimistically. “I am just a codfish, Jolly Roger by name. I can’t do anything that is not attributed to a codfish. Why ask my opinion? I am just a lowly codfish.”
“Okay, that is enough,” Garnath cut off Maizer. “I have heard enough from your codfish self to last a lifetime. Let’s get going folks, we have got a girl to catch. Remember, she is only a girl, and we are men who went to the barracks school in Merisna.”
“Hey, Maizer the codfish is just a big clod, Gar,” said Claude. “Ha ha! Get it! Claude said the cod was a clod! Isn’t that just great?”
“Shut up with your pointless jokes,” snarled Toulos. “I have heard enough of them to last me a million lifetimes, if even that little.”
“Both of you, cut it out. That is enough. If you two can’t stop, I am going to send you back to King Orlando empty handed, and let him deal with you two. So why don’t you two just shut up and chill for a little while? Let’s get moving. Now, scoot,” ordered Garnath.

With mumbled apologies, and ferocious glares from Toulos to Claude, the four of them set off. They trudged through the day, oblivious to the blinding beauty of the surrounding countryside, intent on only one thing, to find Jocelyn. For the gnawing thought that they would not find her, and face the ire and wrath of King Orlando ever preyed on their minds. In the end, Toulos, Claude, and Garnath each decided they would rather die trying to find her, than die by the hands of their angry king. As for Maizer, he stumbled along, continually muttering that he was only a codfish named Jolly Roger and that he could not be expected to do anything that a codfish did not do. It began to get on the nerves of the others, even Garnath.

“Dratted hills,” Toulous said with a glare at the small dimpled hills that stood about him.
“They are not hills,” Garnath snapped back.
“Just mounds of earth,” explained Claude. “Mounds of earth where men are buried, and where we will too. It’s a graveyard where the hopes of those loyal to Eldor are buried.”
“Oh buck off, Claude,” said Toulos. “I am sick and tired of hearing your sad version of poetry and your sick sense of humour. Why don’t you just go, and get a life?”
“I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have right now,” Claude said quickly. “If you have a problem, bring it up with the Maker.”
Toulos scoffed in disgust. “Surely you don’t believe in some great maker, Claude?”
“It is about as plausible as not believing in one,” Claude shrugged. “It explains where the power of the Varnhyme comes from, in a way.”
“Sure, a twisted and demented sort of way.”
“That is enough out of you two!” Garnath roared. “Are we going to bicker amongst ourselves, or are we going to find that dratted Jocelyn? While you two have been talking, I have noticed that we are about to come upon a camp. And we do not know whether it is of the enemies or not.”
“Why ask me?” whined Maizer. “I am but a simple codfish named Jolly Roger. I can’t know who’s camp it is. I would not have even known it was a camp.”
“Shut up, you,” said Garnath. “Everyone, swords in hand, we do not know what we will find here.”

Cynthia stood on the balcony of the palace, her arms raised to the sky, as she slowly lifted her head towards the heavens. Her eyes turned from their normal hazel and shone the brilliant emerald green.

“They look like eyes that belong to a cat,” muttered Queen Raelle to her husband.
“Shush,” Eldor said. “Though if that is the case, they might look better on you.”
“I thought you said to be quiet, Eldor.”
“Stop getting all catty on me.”
“Show them to me, show them to me by the power vested in me! Show me where they are, let me see them with my own eyes,” continued Cynthia.
“I am sorry you do not like what I say. But you had said to be quiet.”
“I did not say that.”
“Fine, you said shush. It means the same thing.”
“Let me follow the footsteps, let me look upon them, let their cloaks of darkness which shroud them from others fall to the ground.”
“Well you are the one who will not stop talking.”
“You keep talking too, Eldor. So maybe if you would be quiet, others might listen.”
“Let them be displayed before me, a beacon of light compared to the others who wander the streets and halls of Aiulindale.”

All three lapsed into silence. Cynthia looked at the miniature map of Aiulindale that floated before her. She spun it around with her mind, looking for signs of spies. Suddenly two people glowed with a green light. She moved her mind outside of the building and magnified the sign to her mind. Then she slowly lowered her arms and lowered her head. Her eyes turned back from the glowing green to her usual soft hazel.

“There are two spies sitting in a corner table in the Red Raven Tavern,” Cynthia said, turning towards King Eldor and Queen Raelle. “They are wearing long brown woollen cloaks. They are the only spies in Aiulindale, at least at the moment.”

Eldor nodded to the guards and they immediately headed off in the direction of the Red Raven Tavern. Then he turned back towards Cynthia, and together with Queen Raelle he expressed his most heartfelt thanks. Perhaps now Princess Cynthyana would be safe. Perhaps now they would have some sort of hope against Orlando DiCaprio and the army of the Seventeens.