Chapter 29:                                           Growing Conflicts

"How many?" Tabitha was staring out of the window without really seeing anything. Her thoughts were occupied with the news her commander had brought her.

"We weren't able to find out the correct number, yet. But it is only a matter of…"

"How is this possible?" The black-haired woman turned around, staring intently into the soldier's eyes. "We promised those people that they were safe in this valley. That my brother couldn't harm them, that he wouldn't find them. How did he find out about one of the safest places we were able offer to our people?"

The soldier gulped and lowered his head. "There must be a traitor in our lines. It could be … anybody…"

Tabitha slammed her fist and on the desk. "HOW is this POSSIBLE? WE are the WARRIOR CLAN! WE are supposed to PROTECT our PEOPLE and the ROYAL FAMILY! And we FAILED in both! OUR KING IS DEAD! OUR PEOPLE ARE SLAUGHTERED! BY OUR OWN MEN!" She breathed heavily and tried to calm down. "We have to face the truth. The clan has split up; we can't trust anybody. All we can do is find out whom we can still trust, and then I will hide with the rest of our loyal men. We will wait until the queen decides to come and fight him. That's the only option we have."

The commander looked up to her. "Do you really think the queen will fight him? It is against all of our laws..."

Tabitha clenched her fists. "I KNOW that! But he is breaking our laws as well! He has to be stopped!"
"The other clans will never agree to a war. You know them. Especially the Religious Clan. The Scholar Clan is also very difficult in such cases."

"But we will have the Worker Clan on our side. It's their people who are slaughtered. And it's the biggest of all five."

"But without the agreement of the queen they won't be able to do anything. And she will listen to her advisers, who are the clan leaders. And your position is too weak. The Warrior Clan isn't trustworthy enough, anymore. She won't listen to you. Priestess Galina is a Chosen One. The only Chosen One in our time. Her influence is much higher than yours is. And by our law we are not allowed to interfere in the other peoples affairs."

"This is our affair as well. He is one of us."

"But the people, the nobility and the actual king of this country have given him his actual position. They are supporting him. If we fight him, we fight the whole country, and that would be against our law. Even if we were supported by these people, even if they wanted to get rid of him, it's still their affair, their problem, and we are not allowed to do anything. Our laws are older then any others known by men. They have been in force for centuries. Only a new Impress could change them, and I really doubt that our actual queen will turn out to be the new Impress. There has only been one in the long history of our people. One in centuries. Do you really think a new Impress would be born in our time, to change the ways of our people? This is not likely. Have you ever met the queen? What kind of person is she?"

Tabitha shook her head. "I've never met her in my life. My brother used to see her, when he visited the king. He and Galina are the only people I know who know for sure how she looks. Galina didn't tell me where to find her. It would be too dangerous. The same goes for the keeper. She didn't even tell me if it's a man or a woman. I can't say how powerful our queen really is. Neither can I say something about the keeper. And you know the queen is only as strong as her keeper is. Only if she can trust the keeper completely does she has a chance. But she is still the only hope we have. Maybe we can influence the keeper to stand up for our position. Galina told me that his family has been killed by my brother, you know, during the revolution, about eight years ago."

"But if the queen and the keeper don't work hand in hand, the whole clan system could be in danger. We could blow up our own culture by trying to save it. You have to be very careful with your actions."

Tabitha lifted her chin in a proud gesture. "I won't let my daughter grow up in circumstances like that. If our culture is determined to go down, so mote it be. But I won't stand by and watch the murder of innocent people. If it is necessary I will fight the destiny, no matter what it takes."

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"I thought I would die during the first week. The training, the classes … I could hardly stay awake. Now we are three weeks at the palace, and I feel a bit better with it." Imo was smiling happily. She felt comfortable here at the palace. More comfortable than she thought she would be.

Deli giggled. "Oh, yeah! It's kinda great here. Bery is really nice. She told me things about Colin and Quentin … oh I will have my sweet time using them against my dear friends."

Lee frowned. "Are you related to those two?"

Deli shrugged. "Not really, we have some ancestors in common. But their fief is next to ours and so our families are in a very close contact. I grew up with them. I enjoy teasing them."

Imo grinned wide. "I know what you mean. I would really like to do the same with Aaron, but I have to face all three of them if I want to play a trick on him. They are very careful lately. And I think they have something planned. Something huge."

Lee smiled secretly. 'Yup. Huge is the right thing. If they get caught they are in trouble.'

Deli scratched her head. "I think you could be right. What do you think, Gor?"

The other first year page, Gordon of Ice River, who had been surprisingly sponsored by Mo, was walking with them, listening intently. He felt quite comfortable, being the only boy in this circle. He had soon found out that the girls and their friends were friendly and fair, opposite to most other people he had known.

Life was a bit difficult for him. His father was a lord of the northern region; his family wasn't that old but respected, until the day his father fell in love with a commoner. She was a dark haired and dark skinned beauty, a descendent of the Bazhir. She had been a member of a dancing group, which travelled around in the Eastern Lands. And out of all women available, Lord Gregorion of Ice River had to chose this one.

Gordon was proud of his mother and his heritage. He didn't mind that everybody could find out it by just looking at him. He had a darker skin than most of the other nobles, not as dark as his mother's, but dark enough for everybody to notice. His hair was also black, only his eyes had his father's ice blue colour, which intensified the darkness of his outer appearance even more.

And so everybody with prejudices was able to detect his heritage easily, and so he had a hard time finding real friends, who weren't either forbidden to be with by their parents or only pretended to be his friends to be able to make fun of him. But the fact that Mo had sponsored him immediately when she noticed the other pages hesitation and the openness of her friends had surprised him. And after a while he got used to the fact that he wasn't something that special in this circle. Each of the girls weren't an accepted part of the society; they were also looked down upon by conservatives. It had different reasons, but the results were the same.

Gordon grinned and thought about his friend's question. "If the triplets are planning something without letting slip a single word, it must be more than huge. But I wonder…"

"You wonder what?" Lee looked at him questioningly.

Gor shook his head. "I didn't get the impression that the triplets, especially Danny, would give up very easy. Not when they are the tricked. And I still remember how angry they had been because of the tricks played on them. But now … silence. The don't complain, they don't threaten the unknown guy who played these tricks to them, nothing. That irritates me a bit."

'I hope they don't get suspicious before time.' Lee watched the others carefully. "I think we don't have to wait very long. Sam told me that the triplets aren't very patient. When they do something they do it quick and immediately."

Imo nodded. "That's what I've also heard about them. I guess we will just have to wait and watch. By the way, how is she?"

"Huh?" Lee blinked confused. "Who?"

Imo rolled her eyes. "Sam of course. I heard that she…"

"… is a silly wench who has to be thrown back were she belong." Out of a shadow a boy with black hair and blue green eyes approached them. He had a sly grin on his face and was watching them like a hunter his caught prey.

The four first years found themselves encircled by three other boys, obviously squires like their speaker.

"I don't get the impression that they want to make friendly small talk." Deli whispered worriedly to her friends.

The others nodded in agreement.

The leader snorted and pointed towards Gor. "Boy. You can go. We have to talk to these … ladies about proper behaviour. This doesn't concern you."

Gor narrowed his eyes in fury. "They are my friends. Of course it concerns me! Who are you?"

The black haired boy chuckled evilly. "Oh, were are my manners. I'm Damian of Windshole."

The girls gasped at this name.

Damian seemed pleased by their reaction. "I see, you've heard about me. Fine. This make things easier … for me."

He fixed is eyes on Lee. "Are you Aileen of Silversea?"

The girl nodded gracefully, trying to appear braver than she really felt.

Damian smirked and stared into her eyes. "I have a little present for my dear friend Sam. Would you be so kind giving it to her." He lifted his arm to slap her. "Or better showing it to her." He was about to hit her when his arm was caught in mid-air. He heard somebody saying. "Why don't you give it directly to me?" Caught off guard he was pushed away from the girl forcefully, stumbling backwards. When he got his balance back he looked up again, now faced by another girl with moss green eyes. He looked around. Not only Sam had joined their little meeting; there were also Quentin, Mo and Aaron beside their first years. He turned back to Sam and their eyes locked. Oh how he hated those eye. They made him feel so stupid and weak.

One of the other boys looked angrily at the newcomers and hissed: "How did you know where to find us?"
"We got a tip, Ruben." Aaron glared back to the boy, daring him to start an attack. ~ Sisters! There is trouble. Fetch the others and come. ~

The other boy frowned. "By whom?"

"What do you think."

Damian heard a familiar male voice behind him, but he didn't move his eyes away from Sam's.

Ruben hissed in disgust. "Malven!"

The man was standing in the shadows, watching the scene in front of him. He stared intently at the blonde page with the moss green eyes and whispered: "Show me what you are capable of, little one."

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Kalle has offered me to correct my chapters. I want to thank her for the afford of correcting my work. I'm very thankful for it, and I want everybody to know that it's not owing to me that there are no grammar mistakes anymore, at least in those chapters she has corrected. I'm still not that good in English and I'm happy that, thanks to her, my fanfic is becoming better now.