I couldnt believe it, I was back in the fields of maltier, the battle was over. We had lost. I just barely managed to hold the line long enough for Grom to escape with a few others via teleportation. Then my eyes shot open. I had a pounding headache and my vision blurred. I sat up and coughed into my hand. I blinked a few times to regain my focus and stared at the blood in my palm. I wiped my hand on the blood stained rag I kept next to my bed. I tried to banish the dream from thought.
Then right on que, the door to my room burst open. There Grom stood with his big goofy grin and a plate full of eggs, sausage and toast. He was dressed in formal clothing, gray slacks polished shoes and his favorite dark blue overcoat adorned with war medals. He even shaved his face and did his hair, which was highly unusual for him. He looked good, the colors mixed well with his brown skin complexion. It had been awhile since I seen him dress in anything other than shorts, moccasins and sleeveless shirts.
"Wakey wakey," he said trotting over and setting the plate on my lap.
"Come on Grom, you know I don't eat breakfast. And whats up with the suit?"
"Two bites," he said holding up his fingers.
"Really, I'm not-"
"Two bites" he said cutting me off."
I sighed, took two of the sausages and quickly ate them.
"Happy?" I said unenthusiastically.
He smiled once again with that big grin of his.
"Come on, you know what time it is." He said dragging one of the chairs from the desk and spinning it around. I let out a long grunt and leaned back on my bed.
"You know I can still take you right," I said.
"Hurry up fool, we got some important stuff to do today." He said pointing at the chair.
I let out a an exasperated sigh and sluggishly complied. As soon as I plopped down in the chair he immedietly drapped me with a barber cape and whipped out some scissors and a straight razor. In a matter of moments, he had my hair cut into a fancy comb over that suited my rugged face. Once finished, he pulled my head back and went to work on my face with the straight razor. He paused for a second to wipe a little bit of blood that I missed from the corner of my mouth.
"Is it getting worse?" He asked concerningly.
Looking up, I could see the worry creeping into his always happy expression.
"About the same" I said, but I could tell he knew I was lying.
afterwards he had me get dressed in my formal wear. Tight fitting black slacks, black silk long-sleeve and polished black shoes. To top it off, he tossed my heavy black cape over my shoulders. These types of capes were worn by leaders of territories and royalty. My cape was embroidered in gold with our territories emblem, a mountain with the sun behind it. Then it dawned on me.
I forgot we had a council meeting with the kingdom representative today. Grom just smirked at me as I came to my realization. I hated going to these things, and he knew it. He gave me one more once over to make sure I was up to his standards, then we set out.
As usual, Grom was picking up my slack. The other three council members and their entourages had already been gathered in the meeting hall. As soon as me and grom walked in, all talking stopped and their eyes diverted to us. The other three council members pushed their way through to us, and we all exchanged hugs.
"About time, lazy ass." Said Archon stepping back to take a look at me.
"you look paler than normal, and skinnier." He said eyeing me up and down.
Tribius and Sariel the other two council members both nodded in agreement. I opened my cape and slapped my stomach.
"I'm still over two hundred pounds, I'm just tall so it makes me look skinny."
They weren't buying it though. They began scolding Grom about not taking care of me, which sent him on a rant about how stubborn I am. We got a couple solid laughs in before the two guards stationed outside the conference room at the far end of the hall summoned us over.
They pushed open the two solid oak doors which were engraved with runes that prevented eavesdropping. Inside was a large rectangular wooden table with our territories symbol engraved in the middle with gold lacing. At the far end of the table stood Tobi, one of the kingdoms representatives. He was tall, slender and had fair skin complexion. He dressed in fancy clothing, jewelry and had on pungent cologne. He had a red half cape slung around his shoulders with the kingdoms emblem on it. A golden castle surrounded by stars.
"Ah! There he is." Tobi exclaimed with his arms wide open. "Casper Lee Creed, in the flesh. Good to see you again."
"I told you this before Tobi, just call me Cas." I said taking my seat.
"right, my apologies." He said with a sly smile.
"Shall we begin," he said gesturing to the table. Everyone took their designated seats. Grom and Dova on one side, Tribius and Sauriel on the other. With me and Tobi facing eachother at the far ends of the table. Tobi opened up by asking for reports on sales in Dovas area, followed up by reports from sauriels division of magical research. He went on to tell Tribius that the shipment of weapons will need to be delivered in one week. I sat back and listened to them all talk, go over numbers, reports, projections and so on. I never really did much in these meetings besides sit here and listen.
It finally seemed like it was about to be over. Tobi began packing up all his briefs and reports.
"wait, thats it." Grom said speaking up with a hint of irritation. "you haven't told us anything about what you guys are planning to do about Cas's condition."
Tobi let out a sigh and placed both his hands on the table. "We've been over this, there's nothing we can do. Grom slammed his big fist on the table causing a small earthquake. Luckily the table was magically reinforced, or it would've been in splinters like our last table.
The two guards standing outside stormed in.
"Its okay." Tobi said raising his hand. "Look, we have had all the top magical and non magical healers go over him, and consensus is always the same. There's nothing that can be done.
Grom shot out of his seat and was probably gonna go off about how the kingdom owed us this and that. But I was fed up.
"enough!" I shouted. "you will not speak of me as if I am not here." Grom bit his tongue and sat down. no one wanted to meet my gaze. I rarely lost my temper, but when I did everyone knew I was serious. "if that's all, then I'll take my leave now." I stood up and turned around to walk out.
"hold on," Tobi said in a quiet voice. "Theres one last thing. The king gave me explicit orders to remind you that you still haven't sent the mandatory twenty percent territory personel to the capital."
Now If there's one thing that will set me off, it's telling me to hand my people over as collateral slaves. I turned my head to face Tobi, He couldn't bring himself to look me in the eyes.
"Its not happening." I said slowly, trying to remain calm.
"Come on Age, be reasonable. Everyone has to do it and plus, the people have good lives there. you know as a matter of fact--"
"Tobi!" I said beginning to lose my cool. "I said, it's not happening. If the king has a problem with that, then tell him I said to come speak to me personally about it." I was beginning to grit my teeth as I talked.
"easy now." Grom said walking over and placing his hand on my shoulder which made a sizzling sound. I looked down, and realized I was beginning to glow and emanate heat. Everyone was staring at me wide-eyed.
"sorry," I said taking a deep breath and dissipating the heat. "didn't meant to almost go nova on you, I know you're just doing what you're told Tobi."