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Lord Balrus questioned the Prophet on his motives. At first who sent him, why was he there and what would he gain from condemning the dragons and the King. He refused and said he would rather die than snitch the person who hired him to keep the city safe, and in that matter he said the gods themselves sent him.

“The gods sent you?” Lord Balrus was stunned, then he suddenly busted out laughing. “I can’t believe I’ve been keeping a mad man captive; you are mad”

“I’m not mad, dragons cannot be allowed to exist. They are an abomination and -”

Lord Balrus didn’t give the Prophet a chance to continue speaking, his curses and screams made him uncomfortable. The next thing he did was to cut his throat and silence him once and for all. When he met with Artemis later on he explained why he had to do it “Dead men can’t talk or spread gossips, it’s better he’s gone”

“And his followers? What if they riot?”

“They won’t Your Grace, they’ll move on and learn to live with it. The dragons haven’t harm anyone so far, perhaps you may need to convince them that. Fly Artodo and land him on the market square, show them dragons are not there to harm the people”

Artemis said he will think about it, then he turned to Lord Balrus and handed him a folded letter which he took from his pocket. “What is it?” asked Lord Balrus.

.....

“Read it” said Artemis locking eyes with Lord Balrus. At first Balrus was terrified of what could be inside that letter, did he do something wrong and now the King was trying to provoke him, or was the realm at war. But after few lines he realized the letter came from Princess Thelma Taelin from a small island of Loni. His eyes widened with amazement “She knows about the dragons!”

“Yes she does, hundreds of miles from here. This could only mean one thing, the news of our dragons have spread all across the realm and overseas. I must double the guards in Aurora’s Hill, five thousand men must be placed at the back and front of the castle, inside the castle and I want five hundred knights guarding the dragons cave”

“It will be done Your Grace”

“I don’t expect you to take such tasks my lord, my Lord Commander Sir Dante Lucan will oversee this. I want you to write to the princess in Loni and tell her that I am willing to help her” Artemis knew Lord Balrus will be shocked, which he was.

“Your Grace, pardon me but why... I thought you once said you will never associate yourself with Prophisians”

Suddenly Artemis lost it, he screamed at Lord Balrus “Yet they sent men to take my city, Old City for which they failed. Gandalf is trying me; he takes me for a fool which I’m not. I have dragons now; I have power I will never let anyone take me for a fool. Write to the princess and let her know I will help her take back her home and Lord Balrus... if you tell this to the Queen I will know about it”

Lord Balrus grew silent and he seemed to be unaware of how to react or what to say, he simply settled with “She will see it in you, I don’t have to say anything” and then Artemis left while looking back at him.

For the next minute Lord Balrus stood there in the gardens unaware of what to do. This was a secret the King trusted him with and he knew he can’t tell anyone in the high table, neither Long Angun nor Lord Akirbus. He feared Artemis’s wroth which seemed to grow ever since he took the skies a month ago, it’s as if the dragon’s fire was consuming him.

That night Lord Balrus smuggled Visenya inside his manse, he didn’t say it directly as to what Artemis asked of him but he wanted to know a few things;

Visenya herself was stunned to be invited to the Lord’s house “This must be serious if you invite me to your home” she said looking around at the furniture, servants, decorations and the tall white walls which made up the manse. “I wonder my lord, do the walls of the Master of Spies also talk?” she asked with a smirk.

“This is where the whispers end I’m afraid. Some wine perhaps?” asked Lord Balrus.

“Yes, thank you”

Visenya took a sit and servants came with jars full of honeyed wine and big glasses. Balrus sat with her and they locked eyes as both of them took a sip of the wine. “It’s good, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Is it from Whitebridge?”

“Mmmh, you know your wines I’m impressed my lady”

“Why am I here Balrus?” Visenya went straight to questioning, she wasn’t a person to hit around the bush. “If you had a cock I would say you want us to fuck, but poor you...”

“Poor me, believe me I do find you attractive and with every drop of beauty just like your daughter – Huyan of House Guyana. But I’m afraid I can’t fuck you”

“Then if you can’t fuck me, what am I doing here?”

That was the question Lord Balrus was looking for, he smirked first and handed Visenya the letter from Princess Thelma. He gave her a moment to read, re-read again and evaluate it. Then he continued “Tell me what Aurora saw in her dreams”

“She saw flames, kingdoms burning, screams of innocent people... it’s a war to end all wars. What does that have to do with this letter from Thelma Taelin?”

“She is asking the King for an army to dethrone the Squires in Prophis”

“I have read that part” Visenya made it clear “But Artemis won’t engage with her, he didn’t send an army to his uncle during the Battle of Stonedance, a man he shared blood with. He would never support the Taelins” she sounded so sure.

That was until Lord Balrus told her “I’m afraid he’s considering it. He told me this morning to write back to the princess, and I wonder if all this is part of Auroroa’s dream. Is this the future we can’t contain?” he seemed so concerned yet Visenya was shocked.

“He wants to go to war?” asked Visenya.

“Yes, and he’s taking the dragons with him”

“Good gods!” Visenya sighed and drunk her wine again, this time she drunk it all and asked some more from Lord Balrus. The servants came in and poured her more, she instructed them to leave the jars right there. “The dragons are not his, they belong to my granddaughter and they are not meant to wage wars on mankind unnecessarily. This is what doomed our house, the Morrows grew arrogant and they were taken down because of it, we must tell the Queen”

“I’m afraid we can’t. He said if I tell her, he’ll know about it”

Visenya disagreed “She must be made aware of what’s going on, it’s her dragons”

“One of those dragon now belongs to the King; she gave Artodo away the day she let him fly. I fear the dragons have corrupted his mind, and I won’t lose my head for it. Let us be silent and see how this will turn out to be” he insisted.

Visenya reluctantly agreed to Lord Balrus, but she knew that was the wise choice, leave it so it may sort itself out. Besides, Aurora was way occupied with her dragons and Jahery, she didn’t want to burden her with Artemis’s extracurricular activities.

The next day Lord Balrus wrote a well worded letter to Princess Thelma who was in Loni. Before she sent it, she had the King read it first so he may approve of it and when he did, a rider was sent to take it to the harbor. From there another rider who was Lord Balrus’s rodent took the liberty of delivering it to Loni. Balrus could have sent ravens but he feared if the letter were to get caught somehow, the kingdoms will rise to war before he knew it.

During that time, Gandalf had no clue that Princess Thelma and the rest of Taelins were seeking out allies in order to throw him out. He was rather distracted with his son, and comforting his wife after cruel labors.