Throne Room

[Red Gypsy]

But Kael had his own agenda, apparently. He looked over at Gypsy and shook his head a bit, knowing what had to be done to help her but knowing he wasn't the right one to do it. So he simply left.

That left her laying on the cot in the throne room. Part of her struggled with what had been done to her, knowing that Lareth had to have the throne room ready for his meeting with the Barons, that she shouldn't be here right now.

But she didn't have the energy to wake up, much less leave to head to her own room. Thankfully, Hal walked in to check on the room and found her. He got a few servants together and had them carry her to her room in the tower that was now hers, wondering who he could call on to help her...  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Lareth had been in meetings with his barons in the throne room when he felt the odd pull of power coming from below. He felt that his magical wards were being tested and frankly he had not expected to feel one of them break.
He gritted his teeth as he sat listening to one of his barons.

That Malphas....

Malphas escaped and he knew it had to be because the door had been opened down below. There was only one other person who had the access to the room.

Perhaps he would take an eye....or an arm to punish the a** who left the door open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Lareth had finished the first day talks with all his barons.
He listened to all of their worries and took notes on what they wanted done.

The last bit of news was how Lareth put forth the proposal to pardon Cynthia.

At first it had been met with silence and then the arguments had broken out.

It was quite a feat to convince them to at least think about it overnight.

Lareth sat on his throne in a dark mood as he wondered how he would tackle the issue of Cynthia on the next days talks. He had hoped they would listen to his reasoning and to accept that he would take full responsibility for her....but that apparently was not enough. Many still remembered how she had caused such strife when she was burning and dismembering many of their family members and fellow demons. It would be very hard for some of them to even consider a pardon....

What else could he do to convince them to pardon the one woman he wanted to marry and make his Queen?

He sighed as he made notes on the meeting because there was no way he would find Malphas anywhere close to the castle. The s**t probably already fled the realm.  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

One of the doors flew open as a single figure ran into the throne room. Cynthia was clearly terrified as she ran straight for Lareth and nearly knocked him into the throne behind him as she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest as she shook with her fear. She didn't even notice the barons who watched the display.

"He's here. I felt him. He's here, Lareth. Goh's come back. I don't know why but he's in the realm," she said in a horrified whisper as her arms tightened around his waist.

As embarrassing as the display was, it altered the thinking of the barons. Strangely enough, it was Bechal who stepped forward to speak after a soft moment of conferring with the other barons, "Sire, I think I speak for all but one of us when I give our agreement to your wishes. We will trouble you no further and give you our complete support," he said simply then bowed himself out with all but one of the barons.

Only Lothair held out, clearly hating the woman currently clinging to the king as he glared at her before simply turning to leave the throne room.

Of course, he had no idea that in appointing an heir, he was now expendable. Especially when his heir, aptly named Brimstone, was silently on the side of the other barons...

But with the throne room now empty of all the barons, Lareth could deal with a very terrified Cynthia who had no idea of the plans for Goh's demise or the fact that the trap for him was ready to eliminate him for good...  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

((and because I am a lazy king of this realm page.....my post is gonna be blah. Sorry Gypsy))

Red Gypsy

Lareth was more than pleased to hear the favorable response to his request, but inwardly he was simmering as as Cynthia brought news of Goh.

As his barons gave him privacy and the doors shut, he stroked the top of her head and then cupped her face in his hands.

"Do not fear. He may have come in, but he will never leave it now. He dies here....for good. This I swear to you."

He kissed her hard before he helped her off him and escorted her to their chambers.

((And since I am also a lazy king who has been absent, goh has been defeated in my absence so...again, the post is naught and simply an means to an end, to fill up space and reply to a post from months ago. sry. -.-))  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

Cynthia moved into the throne room and paused to stare at the throne for a moment. After a moment, she noted Gaelan standing behind it and simply gave a nod to him as she continued up to sit on the heavy chair. It wasn't overly ornate, but it was big and solid.

As she walked up to it, a swirl of light green power moved around her and changed her clothes. By the time she was turning to sit, she was dressed in a marbled emerald gown that hugged her upper body then moved to a flowing skirt. The upper body of the dress lifted her breasts and kept them contained while giving a bit of teasing cleavage without overdoing it. On her feet were light brown suede boots with a low heel on them, making moving easier. Her ankle-length red hair was pulled back into a very intricate and decorative braid.

But the kicker to everything was the crown.

It looked like something a queen would wear. Delicate and decked with thousands of tiny gems that glittered and accentuated her beauty.

In truth, Lareth had designed the thing specifically for her and with this dress in mind. So it held alot of emeralds, gold, onyx, and diamonds.

As she sat down, a dark green rune appeared on her left cheek then faded from sight. It was a very old magic and something that would terrify anyone that knew what it was. But very few alive would recognize it. It was simply too old.

But it showed that Cynthia was beyond angry over what had happened. She knew that someone had arranged the death of Lareth and most of the Drow.

She would grieve later.

She wanted vengeance first...

She knew Gaelan was standing behind her as a bodyguard. She wasn't going to question that. But she didn't expect that he'd get to do much more than observe.

Everyone in the realm was afraid of Lareth's temper. But they'd forgotten what Cynthia could do...

They were about to get a very painful reminder...  

[Wolfe Garm]

Red Gypsy

Haeo

Zosne was very efficient in her tasks given by Cynthia, the first signs of her fulfilling her tasks came when the door across from the hall opened and the Lords and Ladies of the realm started pouring in through the door as required when summoned by the Queen. Zosne though was not among them when the last one went through the door and someone on the other side of the door closed it behind them, they didn’t take very long to congregate before the throne all wondering why they had been summoned to begin with.

Zosne and her agents were swift hunters, it didn’t take very long for Zosne to get leads, her agents having checked the ruined drow village had acquired what they needed to have the poisonous agent identified, their quarry having a good lead but they failed to understand just how far Zosne’s influence was within the realm which made tracking them down simple for her. Zosne and her legion had already begun to descent upon their foes hideout.  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

Haeo

Cynthia looked at each of the Barons and Baroness' gathered in front of her and waited in silence to see who would break first. It didn't take long...

Harrow stepped forward, "Majesty... You have our condolences for your loss... But now we must look to the ruling of the realm and setting a regent for young Merrick," he started then stopped when she said nothing to him. After a moment, he backed into the crowd again, allowing someone else to start to step forward.

She interrupted that one, "There will be no selecting a regent by the Council. Lareth saw to that before the twins were born. It is acting law as of their birth," she said with a deceptively calm tone then held a hand out and 'called' the relevant law to her side, "If you don't believe me, you can read the law yourself. You did pass it unanimously, after all," she added, using her magic to unfurl the ridiculously long scroll and hold it suspended in the air in front of them.

That law stated that Cynthia was the only acceptable regent for the twins, Merrick in particular as heir.

There was alot of other stuff in there that effectively tied the hands of the Council and kept them from interfering with her rule. Lareth had been very thorough when he'd written the law...

Right after that one, Lareth had passed several other laws in just that way. Laws that would later come to bite a few of the Council in the posterior in rather painful ways...

She gave them all time to look over the law in its entirety then rolled it back up and floated it back to her hand, "Are there any questions now?" she held up a hand to stop them, "Serious questions only. There will be no questioning that law or any others that Lareth passed. There will be no entertaining marriage contracts with the twins until they are old enough to make their own choice. there will be no entertaining a marriage contract with either myself or Gypsy, either," she told them firmly then lowered her hand to allow them to speak.

Once again, it was Harrow that stepped forward.

"What news on the king's death? Are there any suspects? Was it natural causes? What news may we pass to our people?" he asked, sticking with smart questions for a change.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes at them all, deliberately not singling out Harrow yet, "The investigation is underway as we speak. This gathering right now is to inform you of my position as Regent and Queen Mother, and to have you in place to gain and pass on any news as it is gathered. Rest assured that anyone carrying any guilt in what has happened will certainly pay the full price for it, if any evidence exists for it..." she told them simply then waved a hand at the door.

One of Zosne's legion opened it and gave her a respectful bow, "Majesty?" he said simply.

She looked the Barons over again then addressed the 'guard', "Please see the Barons to their rooms and ensure their safety. And make sure that they can be reassembled when needed," she said in that very calm tone of voice.

In that moment, she was at her most regal. One could easily see her as queen. Especially when, any time one of the Barons started to speak, she simply quelled them with a look. That look wasn't angry, nor carried any real emotion to it. It simply carried a weight to it that was beyond heavy and silenced everyone before they could get a word out.

She was very contained right now and that was possibly more terrifying than if she'd been in hysterics...  

[Wolfe Garm]

Red Gypsy

Haeo

Before anyone could begin to question or try to argue what was before them the doors behind them slammed open Zosne and her legion started walking through them, the look on Zosne’s face was one of euphoric bliss she didn’t even bother to clean up the stains of blood on her clothes and were clear to see as was the blood on the war demons who were apart of the contingent who’d gone hunting, she hadn’t wasted any time on tracking down her quarry nor dishing out retribution upon them for the slaughter of their Lord and those at the drow village, above all multiple members of her legion had in tow three prisoners who were gagged and being dragged across the floor, all of them looking like they had already been on the receiving end of someone’s wrath.

The members of Zosne’s Legion who were not transporting a prisoner broke off and took position around the perimeter of the hall their weapons held at the ready as the Lord’s and Lady’s parted ways to allow Zosne and her legion through without delay. Zosne stopped before the throne and bowed slightly “Majesty I have done as instructed” Harrow was the first to speak “What is the meaning of this, you have no reason to bring enemies of the throne to this council meeting” harrow started walking towards the prisoners only to be barred by weapons raised by the legionnaires who were protecting their catch Zosne already had her rapier drawn as she stepped towards Harrow, the look on her face and her demeanor showed she was itching to bathe in blood some more which caused harrow to shy away from her catch as she approached “no one but the Queen shall approach my prisoners and only the Queen above all has the right to deal final retribution for our fallen king” Harrow bowed lightly and after a few glances sheathed her rapier before turning to face the Queen and continued “evidence has been collected by my legion which will provide us with the identify of the assailant who has committed this act against the crown along with information collected from the camp of the murderers, it will be only a matter of time before the coordinator of this act will be brought before the throne to answer for their crimes against the crown” Zosne stepped forward giving Galen a nod before she approached Queen Cynthia and handed off a note with a list of suspects who not only had the connections but also the financing to pull this off among those being Harrow who was on top of the list, along with a few other lords and ladies, for Zosne, she was on the hunt still and wouldn’t stop until she had rooted them out.  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

Haeo

Cynthia had been steady through it all, her green eyes on every movement and listening to every word. She took the page from Zosne then gave her a simple nod, "Question them," she said simply. Then she stood and headed for the doors, Gaelan falling in behind her while Zosne's men formed a corridor for her and another one opened the doors for her.

She left the throne room and headed for her rooms, leaving the rest of them to wonder.

For once, even Harrow dropped into the background with a thoughtful look on his face.  

[Haeo]

Red Gypsy

Wolfe Garm

Gaelan followed quietly through a series of troubling events. The death of a king was always a destabilizing event for a realm. However, a leader's death from treachery was generally far more disruptive. Among the Pater Humantil this had been dramatically evident with many battles ending as a direct and immediate result of one side's highest ranked leader falling. But, the queen seemed to be handling things well.

In fact, all Gaelan had to do was stay close and unobtrusive. While he knew that there were probably many who were more powerful than he was in this distant era, it was still a small blow to his self-esteem when he began to realize that his protection was likely akin to a layer of decorative paint.

He would need to improve in all things if he were to actually gain respect and security here.

For now, though, he remained vigilant. The portion of Cynthia's magic that he was able to perceive was impressive... but it still lacked a self-awareness that was somewhat disturbing. He kept waiting for her lack of personal defensive magic to prove a trap for another assassin, a lure for the mastermind, a sign of some greater plan at work. But, as they walked away from the audience, Gaelan was forced to realize that it had simply been negligence. Queen Cynthia lacked any real awareness of her own value as a target.

Once they were out of sight of the hall and surrounded only by those Cynthia trusted, Gaelan sighed and waved his bare hand in the queen's direction while speaking softly.

"Pardon my additional caution, Majesty."

As his hand waved, it glowed a dull green and emitted a thin mist of glowing essence which drifted around Cynthia before fading from sight into her clothing. It might not be powerful enough to save her from an overwhelming frontal assault, but such enforcement spells were usually capable of keeping stealthy and surprise attacks from being instantly lethal.

There were more powerful spells of this kind, far more powerful, but those were generally learned by those of higher rank or more magically inclined specialization. Not for the first time, Gaelan found himself feeling twinges of envy that his own abilities lent themselves toward personal combat and regional governance.