Deceived!

The snide goblin messenger snickered and clawed his long, thin fingers at the air hungrily.

"Empress," he addressed Lauthal, and bobbed forward enthusiastically in recognition of her superiority, "Tokius sends these gifts, in congratulations of your recent success." He looked at her hopefully over the chests of gold coins and extravagant jewelry. Lauthal merely sneered at the display.

"I don't need any of this," she told the assassin in loathing. The messenger's eyes widened.

"Ah, but I come bearing a message also," he told her excitedly, dancing along behind the Empress as she swept over the chests, inspecting their contents, "your sister, and her friends, Tokius is bringing them into the castle." Lauthal immediately stopped what she was doing and moved to look out the window.

"Really," she mused, a smile rising on her face, "tell Tokius I am most grateful." She did not turn to the messenger. With a bob of acknowledgement, the messenger reached greedily across to take a chest, but was quickly interrupted.

"You can leave those behind," Lauthal ordered him, still not turning from the window. The goblin hesitated for a moment, then bobbed again and hurriedly exited Lauthal's chambers, an intense look of sadness on his face at losing the opportunity to pinch more gold.