"The Advisors aren"t going to like that," warned Tezra, shocked."Good, then maybe they will take me serious," remarked Aella, turning to the rest of the table. "I would name the rest of you my personal guards, to protect me and any children I may have in the future, until such time as I bestow you a different position. None in the castle shall be able to withstand you, if you accept?"
"I accept!" declared Frederik and Seifer, standing immediately.
"I do too!" called out Kieran and Cyran, pushing their chairs back out of the way.
"I want the position," said Ulrik, standing.
"Me too!" said Torrod, dropping his mug and spilling ale all across the table in his excitement.
"I agree with the understanding that I may acquire a different position in the future," said Vesh, standing.
Only Morden remained sitting, looking around at the rest as he finished cleaning the meat off a bone. Tossing the bone onto the table, he stood as well, as everyone looked at him, and belched.
"Frederik, Seifer, Kieran, Cyran, Ulrik, Torrod, Vesh and Morden are all declared Royal Guards, to protect King Aella. They are allowed to kill any who endanger the king"s life, and are allowed to carry out any orders from the king, within the castle."
A flash bright enough to have everyone blinking for a moment erupted throughout the room.
No sooner had everyone reclaimed their seats, then the door opened with the 6 advisors rushing into the room.
"What is going on?" asked Ernun, the advisor in charge of law.
Aella raised an eyebrow from her perch on the table, "I don"t recall summoning you, Advisors. What do you want?"
"We were summoned when you started handing out t.i.tles!" raged Varnin, the advisor in charge of the military.
"I believe as the king, I am allowed to do that," Aella smiled at Varnin, ignoring the att.i.tude she was giving her. Reaching down, she s.n.a.t.c.hed a tart off the table and took a bite of it.
None of the advisors reacted to her eating the tart, so she tossed it to the side. She wasn"t really that hungry anymore.
"Your job, as the king, is to defeat the heroes when they get here. We"ve had reports of them being spotted near the border, so they"re on their way as we speak," said Varnin.
"You know, it would be nice to know what my duties were, outside of those d.a.m.n heroes, but no one wants to talk to me. I"ve had to threaten death to the counselor here, to get her to summon the tutors, because apparently, I"m a waste of their time. Would any of you care to explain that one to me?"
"You don"t have any duties, sweety," said Xathtak, with a smile. "You are to fight the heroes when they come, and that"s all. We run everything else, so you don"t have to. It"s been like that for centuries. We can"t seem to keep a king long enough, because of those heroes, to warrant doing things any other way."
Aella turned her smile on the blue demoness, "Well, I don"t intend to do nothing. This kingdom has been fighting the humans for too long, and I am going to put an end to it. Someone seems to think being king is important, otherwise the heroes wouldn"t constantly be trying to kill him. So, you 6 put your brilliant little heads together and figure out how to pull this off, or I will start replacing you."
Orolon chuckled. "This one actually does seem to have a brain in her head at least."
"We don"t have time for this," complained Varnin. "Those griffons are killing our troops, and the human troops are moving to steal our crops again this year. I don"t know how they always manage to coordinate, but if we don"t figure it out, we"ll have a major problem on our hands.
"If we lose our crops this time, we"re going to have famine all winter long," complained Jirga. She sighed in exhaustion. "We"ll lose half our population."
Aella glanced over at the food still on the table. There was easily ten times as much as what they needed, and the kingdom was struggling with famine?!
"Enough," said Rannaun, the advisor for water, calmly to the other advisors. "Your Majesty, you are right. We should have taken better precautions for this day, as we all knew it was coming. I"m sure you can understand our lack of foresight with the precedence set by previous kings. None have been nearly as insightful as yourself. Please accept our apologies."
Aella c.o.c.ked her head to the side, as the pink demon smiled at her and bowed. She really didn"t like this guy, and was looking forward to killing him.
"You are right, Rannaun. King Aella, we have been childish in our decisions concerning you. Please allow us an opportunity to prove to you we are worthy of our positions," pleaded the old demoness, Jirga.
"I"m waiting," she growled, fighting the urge to cross her arms, so she was able to fight if need be.
"Counselor, have you summoned the Tutors, yet?" asked Orolon.
"Yes, Advisor," she said, lowering her eyes.
"They shall explain to you what you want to know about the humans and their heroes, but I am willing to answer any questions you have until they arrive," he offered, showing white teeth in his white face as he smiled.
"That"s a start," she nodded grudgingly. "Why do the heroes never get stopped by the guards on their way to the king?"
"The heroes are uniquely excluded from all powers granted by the castle, save for the king, so all of our guards are nothing more than cannon fodder against them. We have always ordered them to flee rather than be killed when the heroes show up. The heroes are granted powers similar to what the castle does, except those powers are available to them everywhere, not just in the castle. That is why we were so upset at the idea of you leaving the castle to challenge them. All of your powers would be gone, while all of theirs would still be active," explained the white demon.
"How many heroes are there?"
"There are five, one from each element, earth, air, water, and fire, as well as one of light, who is the most powerful of them all."
"I imagine they have powers a.s.sociated with their respective elements?" guessed Aella, turning her back on them and pacing along the table.
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"Yes," affirmed Jirga. "They are also all stronger, faster, and smarter because of their hero status and the specialized training they"ve received from the human church."
"Church?" asked Aella. She frowned as a memory of someone talking about the church nagged at the edge of her memory.
"The humans don"t have a king, as we do. They are ruled by an organization that calls itself the Human Church. Not very original, but it is as old as our war with the humans. When new heroes are born, they go out and find them, bringing them back to train in order to kill our king. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they don"t."
"But normally they succeed," said Aella, giving the old demoness a look. "It would be better if your king was trained to fight against these heroes, instead of other demons."
The advisors looked at each other uncomfortably.
"Why do you never build traps to prevent them getting to the king?"
"There are traps everywhere. They are able to get past them because of their abilities. The Hero of Air can fly and knock aside projectiles, the Hero of Earth can crush and move through earth, the Hero of Fire can burn everything save stone, and the Hero of Water can freeze the water in your blood. Everything we have tried in the past has always failed," said Varnin.
Aella paused when they mentioned the Hero of Air, because the idea of flying had always appealed to her, but she wasn"t born with wings. Her father had wings, but she never grew any.
"Previous kings that have succeeded, what did they do to win?" she asked.
"They won because not all of the Heroes come every time. Sometimes the church can"t find all of the born heroes, so not all of them will come to fight the king. We never know until they arrive, who they bring," explained Xathtak.
"What powers does the Hero of Light have? I imagine blinding light can cause discomfort, but beyond blinding you, it"s not deadly."
"The Hero of Light can travel at the speed of light," said Rannaun.
Aella frowned. That sounded like a pain. She had always prided herself on being faster than everyone else, but she wouldn"t be able to beat the speed of light.
"What things will my tutors be able to teach me?" she asked, resuming her pacing.
"Normally, they teach you etiquette and diplomacy, because they wouldn"t begin their lessons until after the heroes come," said Orolon.
She nodded. Things were stacked against her a lot worse than she had thought. Having so many personal guards would work great against any demons that came after her, and even human troops, but they wouldn"t do her any good against the heroes. She was going to have to rethink her strategy.
"Where were the Heroes last spotted?"
"At the border, two days ago. They would have been notified by now, that a new king has been selected," said Varnin. "The Heroes of Light, Water and Fire were seen, but there were other people with them, so we"re not sure how many Heroes to expect this time."