Dark Armor: Preparations

"Father said we were to meet with House Edrias?" Pallian asked as he followed Ravaj down the corridor. 

Ravaj glanced back, and for a moment Pallian thought his brother wouldn't answer. Ravaj could certainly be cruel enough for that, but after a moment he said, "I suppose I owe you for letting Rebka die."

I didn't-- Pallian forced himself not to protest the unfairness. This was his father's court, and if the wizard-king said the Pallian had let Rebka die, then Pallian had let Rebka die. If the wizard-king said that Pallian could have had two new initiations if he'd been more respectful, then that too was true even if Pallian knew full well that his father had never intended anything of the sort.

"An Emissary has emerged from the First Palace," continued Ravaj. "We make alliance with Edrias so that we can stop it before it learns enough to awaken one of the Second. Faindrun has offered assistance also, though it's likely to be minimal unless they become convinced that their own lands are threatened."

"Ah, said Pallian. "And with Rebka dead and you the heir, I've been spared from execution to show that the dynasty remains stable." They had other siblings, of course, but none yet old enough to be out of the nurseries and teaching-rooms. None who'd reached their first initiations. That made more sense.

Ravaj was half a head taller than Pallian, almost as tall as their their father but more strongly built. He was dark of hair and eye, pale of skin, and dressed neatly in black with just a touch of red here and there: cuffs, collar, and a bloodstone brooch pinned over his heart. The blade he wore was shorter than Pallian's, single-edged and curved, meant for fighting indoors. "You didn't think it was sentiment, did you?"

Pallian sniffed, amused. He no longer knew Ravaj as well as he had; three years of living in the crypt and serving as the Black Knight had left him unfamiliar with most of the living court. The Heir might have been trying to hurt him with those words, or he might simply have been making an ironic comment about their father's disposition. "Never."

"A king cannot afford such luxuries," Ravaj said, and Pallian heard the tight pride in his voice. Ravaj expected to have no trouble casting aside any such weaknesses.

Before he could think of a reply, Ravaj stopped at a doorway. There was no masonry, merely a shaped hole in the polished obsidian wall, lights and voices on the other side. He heard his father's voice among them, and drew a breath to calm himself. 

"Father," said Ravaj, and then gestured to Pallian. "He's arrived."