"My lord, we have found the fugitives."

Vylen Highest leaned forward upon the Coral Throne, eyes narrowing in a cold smile. "Have you? Or are you here to report another failure?"

"N-no, not another failure, we found them, we know their location..." The injured mer flapped his arm in rapid denial, but nothing in his bloodied condition inspired confidence.

Vylen shook his head. "If you have a report to make, then speak it. You waste my time."

"Y-yes, my lord. They are by the Polirex Rift, as of two hours ago they were heading west."

"West from Polirex..." Vylen mused, fingers tapping sequentially along the golden trident he held in one gloved hand. "Then they have finally abandoned their quest to call for aid, and decided to flee to the wilds instead. Interesting. Have we finally expended their seven-cursed regim stores? I'd begun to think it was as infinite as their stupidity."

The messenger, wisely, did not interrupt this seemingly unrelated rambling, and only continued to wait for instruction. "Should I alert the western outposts?" he finally ventured, once Vylen's words had faded.

"No. The time for such measures has ended. They are done trying to fight. Now they are fleeing like the weaklings they are, finally accepting their lot."

"... and?"

"You are dismissed. No messages need to be sent."

"Yes, my lord." The messenger turned and swam away with a haste that showed his relief at escaping the throne chamber as clearly as his voice.

Within the pillared chamber, one not unlike the sacred sanctuary that happened to be located a direct line behind where the fugitives had been seen, Vylen slowly gripped the trident's hilt more firmly and pulled it behind him as he dove upward.

He'd wasted enough time playing games. As fun as it had been to watch the desperate prince rush from sanctuary to sanctuary in futile hopes of finding someone to save him, as gratifying as it had been to cut down his foreign allies one by one, the game was over. Time to end things, swiftly, decisively, and personally.

After all, Vylen had killed the father, the mother, and the brothers. Why let someone else claim the last one in the set?