Arthur's Point of View

Capital of Vithari - Dwardew

“You can’t just make your own private forces, Arthur.” Kheri told me.

“Well, I’m going to. So, I guess I can.” I replied, uninterested.

The four of us were following a few Dwarven escorts. Captain Allen was put in charge while I was away. I wanted to make Kheri stay behind, but she was adamant about staying with Elincia. Annoying, yes, but it made sense. She knew we didn’t have the best relationship, and both women were upset I was having Ty attend. This was probably a form of payback. A weird fucked up version of it, at least.

We came to an archway that led to a private room. It had a round table that was carved out and connected to the floor. The table could easily fit a few dozen people around it but only held a few people at the moment. A Druid, the Dwarven Prince, and General along with another Dwarf who I didn’t recognize. I only knew the previous two because they were present when we landed.

Ventari stood off to the side and turned to us when she heard us enter. “Arthur.” She greeted. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Good to be here.” I told her. “For what it’s worth, Ventari, I am sorry about your husband.”

“There’s no need. Until I see his body with my own eyes, or we have some other form of confirmation, he has been listed as missing.” The Queen informed me, and I nodded in return.

That was probably the smart move anyway. If Thana was killing off royalty, that’d surprise me. She was more of the type to utilize them in some manner. Manipulation was one of her favorite pastimes.

The Prince eventually spoke up. “Forgive me, but our last meeting was overshadowed by my mother’s return. I am Prince Vitar.” He introduced himself. “I know the Priestess and even am aware of Kheri Naset, the Zugal General of the Lestrania forces, but I don’t know you.”

“Call me ‘Priestess-Two-Point-O’ because I’m doing her job for her.” I said with a simple wave toward Elincia, who looked insulted. “Although I was given the title of Lestranian General, I mostly use it when people are annoying me.”

Ventari shook her head. “His name is Arthur Pendragon. He’s the new Guardian Knight of Lestrania.”

“Another title I use when people annoy me.”

“A title he holds for the moment.” Elincia added as she gave me a sideways glare.

Not one to be one-upped, I quickly shot back. “I keep telling her to take it back, but she and her sister are scared.” That got her mouth to shut promptly.

Not sure why I was being such a dick to Elincia all of a sudden, though. The stress of the situation was getting to me. Maybe that was why… Flashes of her on that mountain top kept appearing so vividly that I was trying to push her away. Regardless, it wasn’t fair to her.

“All kidding aside, we are here to help. I’m a little annoyed about the situation and the similarities the Demons went through to create, but I’ll get over it.” Moving to sit down, many looked at me confused as I pulled out the chairs for both women in my faction. “What do we know?”

“Should we not introduce the rest of ourselves?” The Druid inquired.

Typhon and I sat down. “By all means. I have little interactions with the Druids. One has been rather helpful to me, and I can tell your people have likely been a blessing to the Dwarves.”

The Druid took an interest in that. “You know of us?”

I shrugged. “I know of one of you. She lives in the Hollow Forest near Lestrania. Helped me protect two of the three next to me. All mystical and shit.”

“Her name is Camoa.” Typhon said. “She saved my life when I was a baby.”

“The magic of the Druids was the only thing effective enough.” Elincia added. “We were scared our magic would be too much for him, so we sought out Camoa. We owe her a great deal.”

The female Druid looked surprised at this. “I’ve never heard of one of our kind migrating across the Middle Sea to the West.” She leaned in curiously. “What’s she like?”

Typhon smiled. “Very kind!”

Elincia giggled at that. “Yes, she is. However, she is also very insightful.”

“What do you think of her?” She asked me.

I paused. “Camoa has a very ‘Do no harm but take no shit’ kind of attitude.” Was my honest reply.