Suddenly the Queen giggled in a very unqueen like manner. Jace blanched and stared at the woman in confusion. She smiled at him, “I meant you are enticing to have as a subject my dear knight. You are a tad too young to be romantically interesting.”

Jace coughed and blushed slightly, the queen smiled at him and continued on towards the tower. “Tell me Jace, what do you think of the dravu retreat?”

Jace blinked, “Fighting them in the tunnels will make it more difficult for us, fire magic will weaken if we are forced to fight them underground. Without the possibility to easily hit the back ranks and the advantage the wall gives us and are also forced to fight them on their terrain, the losses will be substantial, even with the support of the other kingdoms.”

The queen smiled and turned to the Marshal, “It seems your new knight is competent Ruminar, my dear.”

The marshal laughed and looked over at Jace, “I wouldn’t have accepted him into the family otherwise.”

Jace scratched his head, “In the end I’m just a soldier who understands war somewhat.”

They both smiled at him, “So how’d you like being one of my daughter’s guards?”

Jace blinked, “In all honesty my queen, I did little guarding. I was thinking offence would be the best defense.”

She laughed, “I suppose that is true, would you like such a position more permanently?”

Jace frowned and thought it over for a second. “If the choice were to be mine, I would prefer a job with a little more freedom. Being assigned as a guard in a situation such as this is suitable. But following someone around when it is peaceful is… undesirable.”

The marshal grinned at him. “What he means to say is that the young man would be bored following someone else around. Put him on the front-lines where he belongs.”

Jace grinned, but kept his mouth shut. The queen eyed him and smiled, “Yes I do suppose you would be more effective in the thick of the battle. Alas, you would make a good son-in-law.”

Jace froze for a split second before he started moving again. “I’m afraid I already have a wife my queen.”

She blinked, “Do you now, I would like to meet her. I wonder what kind of woman a man as you would be attracted to.”

Jace blanched, “Well should you wish to meet her, she stays in the Vin To Shurka mansion.”

The queen looked over to Ruminar, “She does?”

The marshal nodded, “A little over a week ago, his wife and child were attacked. His daughter was kidnapped, the slavers have been dealt with. But Sarai, his wife, had her spine injured. She is paralyzed, we are still analyzing the damage. The doctor is unsure if he can restore her ability to walk.”

Jace frowned and his shoulders sagged slightly, the queen tapped her chin in thought. “I have heard about the slaver incident, it seems they even had the gall to kidnap a Xor. It is strange for slavers to be so daring, the captain in charge told me that the individual in charge of the kidnapping did not know who he was kidnapping. Yet he mentioned that it was odd that they did not notice they had taken a young Xor. The captain thought there might have

been mental magic at stake.”

Jace frowned, “Is it the empire that’s behind it all?”

The queen looked over at him and gracefully shook her head, “I doubt that, the empire has always been civil in their war efforts. They would even warn their opponents that they would invade in a year’s time. They invite their enemies to a field of battle, they dislike civilian casualties. They are extremely odd in their way of war.”

The marshal nodded, “The emperor is coming to visit, you will see for yourself then. As much as the man is our enemy, he is respectable.”

Jace frowned, “I hear as many good things about this emperor as I do bad things. If he is such a good leader why do so many people resist his rule?”

The queen laughed, “Pride, my dear knight. Most of us rulers would like to stay rulers. Our people are our own and we would like to stick to our ways.”

Jace’s eyebrows furrowed but he kept his silence. The queen noticed yet kept her silence.

They walked towards the tower where the officers and other important military men waited for their allies to arrive. A half and hour later the first of their guests arrived. A dwarven man walked in wearing beautifully crafted scale and mail armour. His beard jiggled as he headed towards the queen.

“By my beard Lilianna is it good to see you, I simply wish it was under better circumstances.” The dwarf stretched out a surprisingly large hand which the queen grabbed with a smile.

“Still as informal as ever I see, Krum” She said with a smile.

The dwarf grinned, “I’ve known you since we were both wee lil runts. I think we are well past the level of formality.”

The queen chuckled, a rich sound. “I suppose we are.”

Krum grinned and looked around the war room. “Is little stick not here yet, I thought she’d be here before me with those long legs of her.”

A chuckled resembling crystal bells resonated through the room. “Of course you would be talking about my legs again. You seem quite fascinated with them, stumpy.”

The dwarf roared in laughter, as he turned to the beautiful elf who had spoken. “Of course I am fascinated, I’d love to bury my bushy beard in between em!”

The elf smiled, “Perhaps there will be some time before we leave.”

Jace stared at the two of them in surprise, Ruminar leaned over and whispered in his ear. “The two of them are married so don’t be too surprised from their blatant flirting.”

Jace blinked, he had to admit it came as a surprise to him to hear the elven queen and dwarven king were married to each other. He did remember that the elves and dwarves had outstanding relations with each over for multiple millenia. So perhaps some romance between their races shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

The elven queen looked over at Lilianna and smiled, “Good to see you again Lily, who else are we waiting on?”

The queen returned the smiled, “We are waiting for the Sandrunners, the Republic, The Alliance of States and the Empire.”

The elf tapped her chin, “It surprises me that the emperor himself is going to show up. Is he not afraid to be assassinated by the alliance created to stand against him?”

Krum grunted, “As if we would do anything that dishonourable. The lad is comin here to kill our enemies. Would be mighty wrong of us to put a knife to his neck, when he’s stickin it out to help us!”

A deep laughter resounded from the doorway, Jace turned around and froze. A man with a well cut beard and salt and pepper hair stepped forward with the confident swagger of a military man. “It is good to hear that none here conspire to put a blade to my neck, especially after how much I rushed to get over here.”

Jace swallowed as he stared at the man, it was impossible. But the likeness was uncanny, the gray in his hair was new but the voice, the bearing, the face… It all fit, his eyes stayed on the man, but due to being in the back of the room he had not yet been spotted.

While the others in the room gave the man a luke-warm welcome, the emperor strode around the room. Letting his gaze wander over the room his eyes widened when they landed on Jace. His jaw dropped, “That’s bloody impossible!”

The queen looked over at Jace and frowned when she saw the same wide-eyed shock on his face reflected on the emperor. “Jace, my knight. Would you care to elaborate.”

Jace turned slowly towards the queen and paused. “My queen I would like to introduce you to, Collin Mclavery. My good friend and former captain.”

He turned to emperor, “A man who I thought was dead!”