- Chapter 3 -

Varmo was irritated at the sudden demand for an audience, but when he was told it was a representative of the Guardiana army, he knew it could not be put off.

"My first experience in foreign relations," he muttered to Halron, who nodded gravely.

It would best be held in the Great Hall, he decided, given the weight of the matter. He took an elegant chair, set it three meters or so in front of the vacant throne, and sat down. A number of the castle's occupants had gathered to watch, he noticed. He was grateful that - unlike humans and dwarves - his kind do not sweat.

"Send him in."

"Presenting Sir Shriek of Guardiana," Vyra announced.

The creature who walked in was a birdman in unusually colorful attire for his kind. While he looked about his new surroundings, Varmo commented, "So, I see that you people have finally arrived."

"What?" Shriek said. "Oh no, the Guardiana army isn't here yet. They sent me ahead as a scout, to announce their coming."

Ugh. How slow are these Guardianans? "That is disappointing. How far from here are they?"

"Two days' march, at most. Excuse me sir, but I expected to speak with His Royal Highness, or at least one of his generals."

"No doubt you did. But I'm afraid you're a little late."

"What! Nick's left for Iom already?"

"If you're referring to our King, then yes."

"What about his generals?"

"They all went with him."

Shriek cocked his head. "He didn't leave any one of them to watch over the castle?"

Ah. A good opportunity. "There was no need. Feel free to take a look around, Sir Shriek," Varmo said, sweeping his hand about in an inviting gesture. "For over a month now, Castle Cypress has been occupied solely by youths, those adults unfit for battle, and a handful of nobles. Yet we have not been ravaged by enemy attacks, nor has the functioning of our society been... obstructed." He spat the last word out just in time to avoid a noticeable pause. Please, please don't let him have noticed the traces of our repairs on the two holes the Iom army made... "The heart and spirit of Cypress is all we need to hold firm through any assault. In fact, we're holding a ball in a couple weeks - just something to lighten the troops' spirits."

"A ball? For all the troops?" Shriek echoed, eyes widening. "Don't you realize this castle can be attacked at any moment?"

"A few have volunteered to act as sentries. And don't think that those attending the event won't be ready for battle at a moment's notice."

"Well, that's very good for you people, but King Nicholas was told to wait for us. Why did he ignore our instructions?"

"Cypressians do not sit and wait while the enemy grows fat. Had His Royal Highness waited for you, by now the Iomites would have laid siege and starved us out."

"This is an insult!" Shriek exclaimed, his feathers bristling. "All he had to do was wait for our arrival. We weren't even informed of this decision! When Queen Anri hears of this -"

"We are your allies, Guardianan," Varmo interrupted, rising from his chair. "...not your lapdogs. We do not sit and heel at your command."

The birdman recoiled slightly, then said in a milder tone, "I'm sorry. But your king has endangered himself by his haste."

"If that's what you think, then you don't know our king at all."

Shriek fumed. "I've know him for longer than you have, you pup!"

"We will not be insulted in our own home." Varmo pointed to the door. "You are dismissed. If your fellow soldiers are better mannered than you, we will be happy to offer them our hospitality. If they want to catch up with King Nicholas, however, I suggest they head directly to Iom."

"Fine! We're not interested in dealing with you, anyway. It's Nick who we're going to have words with!"

He strutted away from the Great Hall.

Once he was gone, the Cypressians present broke into a chorus of applause, punctuated by cries of "Hail Cypress!"

A wave of relief fell over Varmo. Halron stepped forward and murmured to him, "Well played."

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"Poorly played," Eruminshus remarked after Theo finished recounting the story to him and Jane. "King Gadrios would've found a way to keep our respect without insulting the Guardianans. So would King Nicholas, by the way of my thinking. Can't be sure, though. Never seen him deal with such a matter."

Theo nodded. "There has to be more to diplomacy than just chest-thumping. I mean, I guess that's an important part of it, but..."

He trailed off, and Eru ambled away to another part of the garden without excusing himself. Jane gave a slight sigh as she returned to picking off dead leaves and tending to live ones. "I wish I was smart like you, Theo."

"What d'you mean? You're as smart as me."

"I don't get any of the stuff you and Eru talk about... diplomacy, and all that."

"That's... that's not important." She noticed him fumbling a bit with his work. "It doesn't do me any good to know that stuff. I can't take part in it. You've got all the smarts you need."

"No I don't, actually." She turned to look directly at Theo. He remained focused on the plants. "You know I don't like fighting. So when I came here, I kinda figured I'd be a healer. But I just can't understand magic. Three weeks training, and I couldn't even get a basic heal spell to work for me. So they made me an archer, even though I can barely hit a straw target from ten feet." She let out a brief, blatantly self-conscious laugh.

Theo was silent. She bit her lip. Idiot! What a stupid thing to bring up. What is he supposed to say to that?

"I still say you're smart enough," Theo said with easy confidence. "You just don't know diplomacy and war. People, though... people you understand, a lot better than me. You realized how they must have been treating Halron. You realized how Deanna feels for 'Tasha." He shook his head, and grabbed at a weed. "I never notice those things."

Jane's heart brightened. No one had ever told her she was smart before, except when they were lying. All doubt was erased from her mind. She had to ask him now. "Hey Theo... Would you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"I need someone to escort me to the ball."

Theo looked back at her, frowning. "Hasn't anyone asked you yet?" She shook her head. "Well, I wouldn't give up just yet. You know some guy's going to work up the courage to ask you the day before."

"Come on. It's less than three days away; no one's going to ask. Guys have actually been avoiding eye contact with me more and more as the ball gets closer. They're not shy; they just don't want to be with me." Actually, she'd turned down three offers so far, but Theo would only be embarrassed if he knew she'd been holding out for him. "If you don't take me, I won't be able to go. Please?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You're sure? I gotta warn you, I don't have any nice clothes. And you know I'm not going to look good in any of the things Varmo raided from the nobles' closets."

"You'll be fine," Jane answered, rolling her eyes. "We're going to a ball, not posing as enemy royalty."

He smiled. "Alright. Shall I fetch you a little while after dinner?" Jane nodded. Returning to his work, he added, "If someone else asks you, though, don't worry about dropping me. I hadn't been planning on going anyway. No need to feel guilty."

In a flash, the flames of her victory turned to bitter ashes. She shot back, half-choking on the brittle dust that rose in her throat, "Hey, you don't have to go with me if you don't want to. I just thought we might have a good time."

"Whoa, hold on!" Theo said, staring back at her. "I'd love to go. I just don't want you to feel... obligated..."

"Oh." Jane blushed. "I'm..."

"Excuse me," Eruminshus interrupted, making Jane jump. "Got someone here I'd like you two to meet. C'mere, Barro."

A young human boy, standing slightly over Eru's height, stepped forward and smiled shyly at them. An oversized cap of neat blond hair covered his forehead, just reaching his eye sockets.

"Hello," Theo smiled at him in return.

The boy fidgeted, looking down at his shirt. "Hi."

Eru smiled and patted the boy's shoulder. "That's fine, Barro. You can run along now." The boy readily complied.

Jane frowned. "Who's he? He can't be your son..."

"Ah. That lad," Eru said, his voice dropping to a low volume, nearly soft enough to be a whisper, "...would be the current heir to the Cypress throne."

"What?"

"I think I get it," Theo said. "His Royal Highness named a relative as his heir, right, Eru? Just in case he died in the war."

"That's the way of it being, indeed," Eru replied. "Nicholas's brother died young, and his sister was killed by Woldol. Same happened to his parents, and his father's one sibling died a bachelor. His mother had a sister, though, and Barro is her son. The rebels were lucky enough to find him during Woldol's coup. Nick brought the lad with him when he went to Guardiana. Left 'im in the care of a nice couple, not telling them he was from Cypress, of course."

"But once he'd freed Cypress..."

"Indeed, he had Barro sent back. He needed a temporary heir, just in case."

"But..." Jane said sadly, "...he's so young. Younger than me."

"He's the only relative King Nicholas has left. And with luck, General Mayfair and Lady Sarah would be left to advise him."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Theo asked.

"Only four people know that Barro is the heir. One's myself. The others are King Nicholas, General Mayfair, and Gyan."

"And they're gone."

"Exactly. Whereas I could pass from this world any day. More people were needed to proclaim Barro as heir if the king dies. People who won't betray him to Varmo."

"What could Varmo do?"

"Well, and what do you think?"

Theo was silent for a minute. "...No. Varmo's a creep, but he'd never -"

"Assassinate? Usurp?" Eru said, raising an eyebrow. "Those're the ways of the world, lad. Remember those Iom troops the guards spotted a few days ago? Strange how there hasn't been an attack yet." He shook his head. "No telling for sure, but my instinct says Varmo had some associates dress up for that act. His post is built on the promise that he'll keep us safe. An' the more threatened we feel, the better that promise looks. That's the way of it being. I suppose he could even make it look like Iomites killed Barro."

"That's crazy!" Jane put in. "Barro's just a boy."

"Varmo has a lot to gain, though," Theo admitted. "Maybe he wouldn't kill, but... We can't let him control things anymore. We need a different leader. If we send a party out soon, we can probably still rescue General Mayfair and the others."

Boy, he came to that decision awful suddenly. "Can we do that? It seems like most people like the way he's doing things."

"We have to. If Varmo really is trying to scare us into keeping him as leader, who knows how far he'll go? And for all we know, the lives of the missing troops are at stake. Getting enough people to vote him out would be tough. But maybe..."

Jane stared at him, waiting. "What?"

"Got an idea," he said, shaking his head. "I'll need to get a meeting together. Soon as possible."

"I've got guard shift pretty soon."

"No problem. Don't need you there, anyway."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand later," Theo said, staring up at Castle Cypress. "I just hope 'later' won't be too late for Natasha and the others. I should've done something before..."

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"It's too risky," Donlie objected. "I don't want to get killed."

Theo gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm telling you, he'll back down. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Theo, I'm sorry, but you're making an unreasonable assumption," Vyra said. "To make a challenge with no intention of actually fighting is neither honorable nor wise."

I don't believe this, Theo thought as he looked over the five he had gathered. They're all turning me down - all of them. He turned to Binuto. "Are you telling me you're afraid?"

"Of course not," Binuto answered casually, drawing his eyes toward the ceiling. "The whole thing just doesn't matter to me. The more I think about it..." He shrugged. "...nothing matters."

"If that were true, you wouldn't be at Castle Cypress in the first place," Theo pointed out.

"Maybe I just enjoy watching everyone worry themselves over trivialities when most of us are going to be killed anyway."

Theo watched him as he continued to study the ceiling. Is it true? Did he come to this meeting just to amuse himself? ...No; he's just trying to hide the fact that he cares. Doing a pretty poor job of it, too. But then why won't he accept the challenge?

Vyra broke in on his thoughts. "Theo, if this is to be done, you'd best do it yourself."

"Come on, Vyra. You're a better fighter than me..."

"Not significantly. And if your plan is to make Varmo back down, you at least have a reputation as a vanquisher of bullies working for you."

The others nodded.

"This is ridiculous!" Theo suddenly burst out, jumping up from his seat. "You all know nobody's afraid of me. Some of you have laughed at me right to my face! While you're all digging up excuses, thinking about what you're going to wear to the ball, our comrades could be facing death right in the eyes! Don't you care? If I was the right man to do this, I'd jump at the chance. It's a small risk... to do something big for Cypress."

He looked over the lot of them, waiting. Their expressions did not change.

"We don't know that General Mayfair and the rest are in danger, Theo," Donlie said. "If they are, we don't know if we can help them."

"It's likely that they've been captured," Theo returned. "By Iomites, or someone else. If they have been, they're probably still alive. We can -"

"Theo," Vyra cut him off. She stood. "I'm sorry... it's just too big a step for us. You're on your own."