“Hmm…” Henok said, musing. “Sinto does have a valid point. Right, Lord Taboon?”
“Yes. He most absolutely does.” Lord Taboon replied with just the slightest sour note in his voice. “However, I have to give my king the assurance that these orcs will keep to the agreement we have.”
Henok nodded.
“I do not know what the incentive in your agreement with the orcs is, and I do not care to know. However, you must answer a question, and answer this truthfully.”
“Anything, my king,” Lord Taboon said, bowing courteously.
“What Sinto said about the nature of the orcs, their tendency to renege on an agreement if the job offers them a better deal than the employer, is that true?”
Lord Taboon was uncomfortably silent for a moment.
Good strike, Sinto, he thought. Very excellent strike.
Sino’s insides palpitated with exciting energy. Finally, he had succeeded in making Lord Taboon fall short of the king’s accolade. He laughed raucously inside him. It was all he could do to keep himself from laughing out loud.
“Lord Taboon?” Henok asked. “Is there a problem?”
Lord Taboon startled as if he had just come out of a trance.
“No, my king,” Lord Taboon replied. “There is none. Absolutely none.”
“Then why can you not answer my question?”
“Yes, my king.”
“Well then, which is it? Can the orcs be trusted?”
“I mean, yes, my king. What Sinto said about the orcs’ frail, and distrustful allegiance to their employers is true.”
“Hmmm,” Henok said and pressed his lips into a hard line. “We cannot risk using them. This is of the utmost importance. What do you suggest we do?” Henok gazed at Sinto.
Yes! Sinto thought in a flush of pride. “I suggest, my king, that you send a squad or two of the warriors of the kingdom. The elite among them. Those you can trust to do what is needful, and to return with the girl, safe, and alive to finalise the ritual.”
All of a sudden, a tinkling sound grew out of the silence. Lord Taboon cast his gaze upwards, to the source of the sound, and noticed that the palace chandelier was trembling. Henok turned to the sound of scraping beside him and found his crown jittering on its marbled armrest. He looked up to where Sinto and Lord Taboon stared, and they exchanged confused glares.
Within two heartbeats, they felt the vibration in the ground. It started like little tickling movements, and then began to grow, and increase, becoming violent, until the ground itself heaved and jumped. Sinto and Lord Taboon were flung to the ground, while Henok steadied himself, by gripping the armrests of his throne till his knuckles turned white. Veins bulged out of his neck, he clamped his teeth together till they were bared; all from the effort.
“Earthquake!” Sinto yelled.
The doors of the palace flew open, as the palace guards ran in, skipping skilfully, the cracks that were spreading through the ground.
All Lord Taboon heard was a metallic chink from above, and he rolled out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by the chandelier. There was a loud crash as the chandelier burst into a million particles of glass.
“Get the King to safety!” Sinto roared immediately.
The guards had barely scaled the pedestal to where the king sat on his throne when everywhere quietened abruptly. It was almost like it had been snuffed out, in one moment.
Henok’s eyes were wide with horror. “It has come. The end of days is finally upon us.” The King was saying. “Sinto, by my order, you have the elite warriors of the Middle Kingdom. Capture the girl and return her. I do not need to remind you how crucial this is.”
Sinto nodded, as Henok faced Lord Taboon.
“You know what to do.” He told him.
Lord Taboon smiled and nodded.
“Of course, my king.” He said.
As Henok left the throne room accompanied by the palace guards, the enormity of the potential the quake held, brought his mind into the full glare of what he had to do. Not even his wrongfully developed affection for Eldana was going to stop him this time. Not sacrificing Eldana, meant, without a doubt, that the world would end. And that was something he could not stand for. Never.
“Nice game,” Lord Taboon said when the king had been successfully escorted to safety.
They were just outside the palace doors, at the platform before the stairs that was now riddled with cracks.
“I had no idea we were playing a game,” Sinto said, giving Lord Taboon an innocent look.
Lord Taboon laughed, looked at Sinto like he was weighing him up, then laughed again. Sinto simply smiled and stared into the distance.
“True, true.” He said finally. “There was no game at all. I am finally glad that you were able to see beyond your affections for the girl.”
Sinto grunted and said, “I told you duty always comes first for me.”
“Until now, I always doubted you when you said that,” Lord Taboon said.
“Do you not think that there is a reason why I have remained the master teacher of the being of Balance and Chaos throughout time?”
Lord Taboon nodded his understanding. “I guess I was too bothered on seeing you take immediate action, I did not view things retrospectively.”
“Well, while we stand there trying to get along, Eldana is speeding towards the unknown.” Sinto pointed out.
“You do know that we have to work together for this to end quickly, right? Things have grown too contumacious for one person to handle.”
“I thought that was what the whole point of this minute get-to-know-each-other was about?”
Lord Taboon laughed, “Well, off I go to go do my thing as the king mandated.”
Sinto nodded his assent.
“I guess we will meet soon, then,” Lord Taboon said.
“Soon.” Sinto agreed, and leaped off the stairs, landing on a crouch at
