Chapter 5
"There's a Nadrak girl here to see you, your Majesties."
King Kheva of Drasnia and Queen Mother Porenn looked up at the servant who stood in the door of the chamber, identical frowns on their faces. "A Nadrak girl, you said?" the seventeen-year-old king asked.
"Yes, your Majesty. "She's...ah...not very polite."
"How old is she? And is she alone?" inquired Porenn, tilting her head questioningly.
"She only seems about sixteen, your Majesty. Yes, she's alone. She says she has a message from Drosta."
"Let her in, then," Kheva waved a hand.
The servant bowed. A minute later, a young Nadrak girl with luxurious blue-black hair sauntered in. She wore the tight black leather clothes of the Nadrak women, and though she was not quite mature, she was definitely not a child anymore. Kheva frowned slightly. Who did she remind him of?
The girl cocked her head. "So you're the king of Drasnia. Aren't you a little young?"
Kheva looked affronted. "You're one to talk."
The girl tossed her head. "I'm just a messenger."
"Speaking of..." Porenn put in.
"Oh, yes. Drosta says to tell you that the Morindim have started burning the Forest of Nadrak to the west and are marching west over the mountains into eastern Drasnia."
"So? That's Drosta's problem," Kheva answered.
"It's your problem if they block the North Caravan Route or start to take control of the Moors."
"The Moors are useless."
"But the North Caravan Route isn't. And once they take the Moors, they'll start to slowly crowd in from all sides."
"She's right, Kheva." Porenn looked at the girl consideringly. "How does a sixteen-year-old girl know so much about tactics?"
"Fourteen."
"You're fourteen years old!" exclaimed Kheva. "And Drosta made you his messenger!"
The girl ignored him. "After my father got mauled by a bear and my mother disappeared, I grew up in the palace. When I was thirteen, I became Drosta's property."
"What was your father's name?" asked Porenn curiously.
"Tekk," the girl shrugged. "My mother thought I died when the Morindim captured me as an infant. Some trapper found me and brought me to Yar Nadrak."
"You're Vella's daughter!" exclaimed Porenn, several things clicking together at once.
"You knew my mother?"
"I knew her very well. What's your name?"
"Ayan. When --"
"Do you suppose we could get back to business?" asked Kheva sarcastically. "Whatever possessed Drosta to send a girl as his messenger?"
"I'm the most responsible one he had," Ayan answered coolly.
"I'm sure there were other more mature ones."
"Men, you mean?" Ayan smiled sweetly. "They're too easily distracted by beer or pretty girls. I am a pretty girl, so I don't have that problem. Don't you think I'm pretty, King Kheva?"
"I don't have to answer that," Kheva scowled.
"Of course. You're a nice boy, your Majesty, but you don't realize how fast girls mature."
"I'm not stupid, Ayan."
"Maybe a little unobservant."
"Unobservant!" Kheva exploded. "I'm the king of Drasnia. I could have my spies tell me what Zakath had for breakfast this morning!"
"But your spies do the work, your Majesty. Not you."
"All Drasnians are observant."
"Maybe the trait skipped over you."
Kheva jumped up. "Look, girl, you're a messenger. You didn't come to insult me."
"I didn't want to waste such an opportunity."
Porenn, looking at the two of them, laughed suddenly. They turned to look at her.
"What is it?" asked Kheva suspiciously.
"Nothing, dear," replied the tiny blond queen. "Nothing at all."
A horn call rang out in the rocky walls of the narrow pass. A figure in a dark cloak turned on his horse to gaze out over the sea of marching humanity, the iron tread of many feet resounding on the rocky path. Iron-gray smoke rose in the distance from the Nadrak city of Yar Gurak, burning in the wake of the marching Morindim. And towering among the mass of flesh were the demons, shimmering in iridescent colors, long arms and necks weaving.
Their leader rode alongside the figure, also cloaked in black. He turned to the figure, questioning in his burning yellow eyes. His whisper was hissing and low. "Where now do we go?"
The figure looked at the mountains towering above to either side of the pass, and the descending path. Ice-blue eyes bored into the mist that had risen. "We travel along the North Caravan Route almost to Boktor, then cut southwest." He brushed a lock of dark, lank hair out of his eyes. "On the Great Northern Road, we march southwards. We'll walk over any resistance, doing what needs to be done to get past. And then..."
"Sendaria," hissed the demon leader.
A thin smile, cold as a Cherek winter, curved the figure's lips. "Sendaria."
Feedback? I got the idea of Vella's daughter when I read Enchanter's End Game again. It said that the wedding of a Nadrak man and woman takes place after the birth of their first child, and in Guardians of the West it states that Vella and Tekk were married.