It was early afternoon and Patryg was in his office, reading over a manuscript that one of the Crown Knights had brought back from a trip, when there was a knock at his door. “Enter,” he stated, after carefully placing the Manuscript on the desk.
When the door opened, and the two women entered his office, he took a moment to look them over. Eva, his wife, was all of five foot five, with long raven hair and green eyes. Usually, she was full of energy, At the moment, she was not smiling. Crap, Patryg thought as he saw her expression. This isn't going to be good.
Her companion, Larena, was five foot seven with luxurious red hair and hazel eyes. Where Eva looked like everyone's mother, down to the motherly smile, Larena was luscious and lithe and wouldn't look out of place in a temple to pleasure. That had served her well, until she got married to Samael, at which time, she had settled down and started teaching the Shroud Knights how to blend into their environments and stop drawing attention to themselves. As a master of covert information gathering, Larena, along with Eva sat on the Council of Knights. Like Eva, Larena usually had a cheerful disposition, but her mouth was set in a semi-frown.
I was right, this isn't going to go well. Patryg carefully set the manuscript aside and gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. “What brings you ladies here?” When Eva glanced at Larena before taking a seat, Patryg drew in a slow breath and prepared himself for bad news. “I don't usually see both of you at the same time.”
“We have a problem,” Larena stated as she leaned forward. “Eva and I think that Kalyb is worshipping a dark spirit.” At Patryg's gesture, she continued. “He's instituted sweeping reforms in education, religion, law enforcement, and even family life that has us concerned.” She paused, hesitant to continue.
“Go on,” He prompted.
“He's replaced the independence ideology of his father with that of dependence on him. He's started teaching that freedom is dependent upon favoring him. He's imprisoned people for speaking against him. He's called for every young woman above the age of fifteen to go to his castle and receive his blessings.” She paused again, “And we've heard word that he doesn't like us, and that he's taken peasants as prisoners and is threatening to kill them unless we go visit him. I'd expect a messenger in the next few days.”
Patryg leaned back, the manuscript forgotten as he considered his next step. “Advise the Masters of the orders to get ready for a trip. We'll be ready when that messenger arrives.”
I hope that you've been enjoying this series. If you have, please feel free to follow me for more content. Upvoting always helps, and you can resteem this as much as you want.