One of the vampire party stood once more. "We do not know," Daerick said solemnly. He hung his head. "I am not sure we will ever know, but as things are, it seems unlikely for this matter to be resolved in the efficient manner we are all accustomed to."
His friend nodded. "We need to know more," Cillean said.
"Yes. To find the leaders of this, and get some information out of all the people we can," Richard said.
Murmurs of assent spread through the room.
Aeron stood up. I see none of you know what to do, which is understandable. I feel from my similar experience with unease," he stared pointedly at his younger brother, "that I may be the most qualified to address this, besides my honorable father." He gave a bow to the royal question and was graciously granted leave to continue. "As such, we're going to need to get cracking," he said. Aeron turned to the woman seated by his side. "Jane, my friend and witch extraordinaire," he said. "Can you research into the workings of the barrier spell, and figure out how to fix things if it gets too out of hand?" The woman nodded both of her heads in agreement. "Can I get the rest of you on sniffing out our spies and getting information out of them," he asked the rest of the table. All nodded their heads, fierce determination blazing in their eyes.
Richard shrugged. "I think we've done the most we can do today," he said to his father. Richard turned to the troll. "I'd say meeting adjourned then," he said. "Find, capture. You have royal permission to do any method of interrogation which will grant us a result. Whatever it takes to get the job done. We need to know more, and quickly, before we all die in their plans."
The king shook his head. "I don't think that's quite enough," Vovin said. "I don't want to hear that my delegates plan to do something. I will not allow the rest of you to leave until there is an actual solid plan in place. Just learning the movements of the rebels will not provide us a solution for when they act, especially as we mostly already have an idea of how they plan to act. We are staying, we are working this out, and we are going to get this done. In fact, no one will leave until this is actually done," he said. He looked at his son. "Aeron, you may have asked for this meeting, but now that this has started, we are going to do this the right way." He looked at the other delegates. "Now, I want to hear from each of you what your people plan to do to support our kingdom in these trying times. Feel free to speak up," he said.
The delegates groaned as quietly as they could and settled in for a meeting that looked like it would last for days.
CHAPTER TEN
Battle Plans
Priscilla and Jackie were sent by a footman to the public portal in the palace and dumped out at Layel's Hall as ordered. Jackie's orders greeted them on their arrival with the hidden second set of orders glowing brightly at them where they had once been altogether invisible.
Jackie,
Go with the vamps. Bring the wiz kid along while you're at it, might as well.
Be sure you guys don't dawdle or I'll cut everyone's pay.
-Boss Guy
She rolled her eyes. Of course Aeron would have chosen to sign off that way. Besides, she couldn't help but think that she wasn't actually being paid for this particular job and just had a house in her name she couldn't get to until she came of adult age and a savings fund with the same problem, along with all the costs of doing the job covered. But she had no wage and she complained about his reminder of the fact. The rest of the party wasn't particularly affected by her grumpiness, though, and they set off for the start of their journey.
When they were a scant league closer to their destination, the vampire stopped abruptly. "I feel so lucky," Cillean theatrically gushed. "There are so many friends eagerly awaiting us just so they can say hello." He wiped away an invisible tear. Layel carefully laid Priscilla down on a clump of pillowy ferns and grabbed his weaponry. The girl smiled up at him and obediently stayed where she was placed.
Jackie, however, refused to be put out of the way and moved to stand in front of her sister and act as a guard. She bared her fangs like a daemon whenever someone else came near, so the men felt it was best to continue at some distance from the two of them.
"I do not think they intended to greet us. It is surely atypical to hide a greeting party," the majordomo retorted to his king, brusquely laying his own burden down.
"Ah, don't be a party pooper!" Cillean exclaimed, slinging his arm around the other`s shoulder. "See those tablecloths they're holding and their bright smiles? You can tell they're all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about seeing us," Cillean continued with a goofy grin.
"You never remember the difference between smiles and shock," the friend said, shaking his head morosely. "You have no sense of, how you say, realistic," he continued.
"Reality," the other corrected. "Anyways, what brings you out here?" he asked, coldly turning his attention to the other party.
They shrugged. "We are here because we were commanded to be. When our prince tells us to come, we come." Daerick relaxed his guard but Cillean stood firm. "And why should we trust random strangers on the road to tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Come forward now and show us that you bear his seal, and then I will trust you."
The leader of the other group smiled at him. "You are wise to reserve your trust. I have tricked many people with false papers, however just asking for
