Lightstar Family/Xarnelf/Roleplay 76

Burly Bears

(Roleplay from Caim Haerthorne)

A thunder came down the road towards Anacan from Lenemazial. Caim had heard it coming during his vigil at the eastern gatehouse and offered a quick prayer of thanks to the Aenil for giving the Duke sense enough to come into the city first. Twilight was falling as pleasantly as she could have ever done over the stirring sky of velvet and ivory clouds, and a few torches were being lit along the length of the walls. It was a good time, yet he noticed through his adoration of its beauty that the clouds reaching towards the fleeing sun were tinted with red. Not a favourable sign. It didn't help that he made up his mind what to do after seeing the scout reports. Taop was vulnerable, and if Xarnelf wanted to go through with his plan, and they had support, then all three of them would have a few stories to tell at least.

Luck would decide whether they would be the good kind or the bad kind of story. Of course Caim held steadfast to the belief that he had the glibbest tongue in the whole kingdom, and that any story told by Xarnelf was inevitably the bad kind for an entirely different reason. Tharion balanced it all out, he thought. Damn this paper was chafing underneath his arm. Damn the humidity too...

Outside of the gates, three hundred men at the head of two frighteningly burly bears (heroes they liked to call themselves) were smiling at the guards and requesting entry. Once again it was as if a full quarter of Cathay's strength had to have the orders yelled louder than usual at them and still had to play an intricate game of Wizardly Whispers amongst the rows further back. Or Wizzardly Whispers. Usually the ones at the back were the most athletic soldiers. Caim felt that niggling little knot of fear that always brought itself up from a hole somewhere in between his upper intestine and pancreas that demanded to know why a normally shy boy was doing things so physically, and possibly socially, dangerous. He had learnt to ignore it though, otherwise it crippled you in the simplest of situations. So he called out the guards and had them open the gates.

It was with a sly grin and a brief bow that he greeted the two men that came through the gate.

"High King Tharion, Duke Xarnelf. I have news that will interest you." With that he handed the most recent reports in person, to the King first as precedent demanded even if Xarnelf would be the more eager one.