A King's Duties

The guards awaited the King while he questioned this unsettling prisoner, the unspoken worry that he would not leave the room alive and that the mad magic woman would shriek out of the door to devour their souls. Imagination, however, was often worse than reality, and their watch ended very simply when Drysllthen walked from the room with an expressionless face, uninjured.

He held something bundled in a handkerchief, and wordlessly, he took a dusty box from one of the shelves and dumped it in it. Blue eyes grazed over his men thoughtfully, each unconsciously straightening under their King's inspection.

"Alberoc."

At the sound of the King's voice, the grizzled old guard snapped to attention, his fist clasped over his heart. "Yes, m'liege?"

Drysllthen beckoned him closer, his bright head bowing close to the guard's ear. The King's voice was barely a whisper as he pressed the small box into his hand. "Take this to my estate in Ygriss, and have the steward place it in the strongbox. Take men with you if you must. Return quickly."

"As required, m'liege," he murmured. With a light bow next to his King, he closed his hand around the offered box and tucked it inside his armour. Turning, he selected two men of similar age, and they set off, leaving the King with the rest of his guard.

Motioning for them to follow, they resumed their mounts and set off back to the castle. If the ride to the tower had been quiet, the ride back was absolute silence for the look on the King's face was one they knew better than to disrupt. The King was thinking. Dangerous to interrupt a man while he's thinking.

By the time they returned, dawn lurked but a few hours away, and the King dismissed his men, allowing only the usual cadre he kept within the castle. With these, he embarked on a wordless patrol of the castle, every hallway and public area seeing the King's face that night. Blue eyes scoured it as silence hung heavy about the dark stone monstrosity, even the servants assigned to night cleaning having retired.

Apparently satisfied, he made his way up to the royal floor though after a pause at his own door, he turned to slip into the nursery, leaving his guards outside the door.