Anna sipped at her drink to be polite. It was a little early for wine. Or maybe it wasn’t. What time was it? “Does that mean you have an army?”
“No longer does Aker have one. But a force of others will drive the dark elves back. They await word from me and have recently begun more serious preparations now that I am king. I intend to invade.”
Ryan asked, “What do these other powers get in return? What is to stop them from assuming control?”
King Sondin sighed. “I have conceded power. Kingdom Aker will no longer be an absolute monarchy, but a constitutional one with a Prime Minister as head of state. This is believed to give more governance to the people. I must admit that they have earned it after what they have been through.”
“Why do these other powers want this?” Ryan asked before biting into a cream-filled treat.
Anna wasn’t sure if they should munch on things to be polite or avoid it, since their hosts weren’t eating, but once Ryan had done this, the princess nibbled on something. Were they waiting? She really wanted to understand protocol to avoid mistakes. Did Ryan know, or was he just clueless?
“Thiat has such a government. Nearby lands are similar or a democracy. We have been the remaining absolute monarchy, aside from Kiarven. Call it political vision. They would like to share one with us. Absolute monarchies are a dying breed in this region of Eridos.”
The knight asked, “Are you waiting for us to do something before your invasion?”
King Sondin nodded. “I would prefer you to succeed first, but the assault happens regardless. When Kiarven conquered our lands, they put to death many of our royal family. Others fled here, but the rest were captured and remain prisoners. We are not sure of their whereabouts. I believe this to be on purpose. The dark elves use them to keep us from acting. We have long suspected this and recent events have proven it true.”
“What do you mean?”
“A previous attempt at summoning you from the Quest Ring, that time in Aker, failed. We received the head of the Duke of Surros, my uncle, shortly thereafter.”
Anna’s heart had been sinking on hearing all of this because it sounded like they could be here for weeks, if not months. How do you restore an exiled king quickly? You didn’t. She leaned forward. “You will risk the lives of the royal family?”
“No more than necessary. That is why you are here.”
Eric asked, “What exactly is it you want us to do?”
“The quest is to restore us to power. How you achieve this is your decision. But my desire is for you to destroy the dark elf leadership so that they are more easily defeated. This would be one of two things, preferably both. Prince Kammer of the dark elves must be removed from power in Aker. He is the eldest son of King Erods and a ruthless tyrant like his father, who we would also like removed from power in Kiarven.”
Trying to find a middle ground between being disapproving—of a king!—and polite, Anna asked, “Do you mean killing them?”
King Sondin pursed his lips. “As a king, I would not lightly condone the assassination of another sovereign.”
“And we are not assassins,” Eric observed coolly, and Anna tried not to look too approvingly at him. She would thank him for that later. Eric as Andier was the one who could get away with saying things like that to a king. Oddly, it was Eric’s personality to do that very thing.
“Of course. But you have a long history of, well, stopping hateful regimes from continuing to inflict harm on a large scale. And from my understanding, this is often done by removing the leadership responsible. You need not kill King Erods or the prince. We would settle for capturing them, and a trial in either Akers or Thiat, where they can be made to answer for their war crimes. If the penalty is death, then so be it, but we do not seek their death.”
“Speak for yourself,” interrupted Miara.
“Sister…”
“No! They must hear this.” Impassioned, she leaned toward Anna, appealing to the only other woman present. “My Gian was the one who tried to summon you. He did it for me. For us. We were to be… He went to Aker, to the Quest Ring. He was a wizard, a skilled one, and brave. We don’t know what happened. All we know…” She turned angry eyes on her brother. “All we know is that it was not only our uncle’s head that was returned to us!”
A moment of tense silence followed, Anna watching the princess with genuine sympathy. The girl’s accusing glare at her brother hardly softened when looking elsewhere around the room. She clearly wanted a reaction from someone else, so Anna gave her one meant to calm her as her brother hid behind his goblet.
“I’m so sorry. That was very brave of him.”
The Prime Minister spoke with some compassion as he observed, “Gian was a wizard of Thiat. He did not have the blessing of either king to reach the other Quest Ring and summon you. His action took place days after King Sondin was crowned. Discussions about the invasion and the need to somehow recover the royal family were underway when Gian took matters into his own hands. We assume for love. That can account for his… foolishness.”
“Speak no evil of the dead!” Princess Miara demanded, eyes ablaze.
“I meant no disrespect.”
Hoping to change the subject away from ones that upset the princess, Anna asked, “Why does Kiarven claim a right to Aker? Simply because they now occupy it?”
King Sondin lowered his
