A Kingdom of Hidden Betrayals || Dreamnotfound

3

Clay's POV

Clay's jaw dropped at George's statement. "What kind of person says that?! George, war is never the answer."

George's lips thinned. "It's going to happen eventually."

"No! I will not put our men into a preventable war!"

George didn't reply and Clay continued, "We will not lose good men for this. I won't allow it."

"Well that's not your choice to make."

Clay's stomach twisted. He knew this was going to be brought up. He just didn't think it was going to be this soon.

"I know I can't make any final decisions, but I won't let you do this."

George's face remained impassive. "This is the right thing to do."

"No it's not," Clay's voice rose, "I know what it's like to be a soldier and I will not stand by your side if you send them into war."

"You won't stand by me?" George asked quietly.

"Not if you send our men into war. I will join them myself on the battlefields instead of staying here with you," Clay snapped. He took a deep breath and said more quietly, "You know nothing of what it's like to be a soldier."

George's face softened, "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Clay let out a relieved sigh. "I don't know. We need more time to think before making such a big decision. Thank you for asking for my opinion."

George nodded slowly. He went to speak when the door to the room opened.

Punz walked in and bowed. "Excuse my disruption, but Nihachu and her guards refuse to talk. Nihachu only wants to speak to you."

Punz looked at Clay. Clay's eyebrows furrowed. "Why me?"

Punz shrugged, "I don't know... we can use other methods of making them talk. You don't need to speak to her."

"No!" Clay responded quickly, "Torture isn't necessary." He turned to George, "Let's go and talk to her."

They followed Punz into one of the interrogation rooms. Punz and the other two guards left the room and Clay and George faced Nihachu.

She was sitting on a chair, her wrists and ankles bound to the chair. Clay and George took a seat across from her.

Nihachu scowled at George, "I wanted to speak to Dream, not you."

"Too bad," Clay said, his voice surprisingly cold, "he's staying."

Nihachu glared at them, "I guess I'll get straight to the point then. I want you to let me, my father, and my guards out of here unharmed."

"That's not happening," George said, his glare equally as piercing as Nihachu's.

Nihachu rolled her eyes. "I figured you would say that... however, I want you guys to hear me out."

"Go on," Clay replied hesitantly.

"No!" George exclaimed, "We won't hear you out. Not after what you did to Clay."

Nihachu frowned. She gave Clay a sympathetic glance, "For that I do apologize. I got out of control."

"No duh," George snapped.

Clay furrowed his eyebrows. Why was she apologizing?

Nihachu read his confused look, "I-uh. I have manic episodes sometimes. It happens when I get off my herbs that Puffy makes me. She's one of my guards and helps me with my health... I had been away from home for far too long and I ran out of herbs."

Clay thought this over, "That doesn't excuse what you did."

"It doesn't, but I thought you should know that," Nihachu said.

George scoffed, "That doesn't mean we're going to sympathize with you."

Nihachu's lips thinned and Clay decided to change the topic, "Why did you and Eret attempt to kill off all of the royalty of Emberfall?"

"We wanted a better place."

"Better? Emberfall and L'Manberg had been on neutral terms. Our kingdoms are both prosperous. Why'd you mess that up?" Clay asked.

Nihachu sighed, "We wanted a different structure in place."

"Why?" George asked.

"There are many reasons..." Nihachu said, "For starters, I am sick of these stupid gender roles in your kingdom."

"... gender roles? What do you mean?" George asked.

"I hate the fact that you don't allow women to serve in your guard. It's sexist." Nihachu snapped.

George's eyebrows furrowed. "Emberfall is not sexist... you want to go to war with us just on that accusation?!"

"No," Nihachu said with a sigh, "this place has plentiful lands that my father and I want, not to mention economic and territorial gains we would receive."

Clay considered this. "If we would allow women into our guard, would you leave Emberfall alone?"

"Probably not," Nihachu said flatly.

Clay let out a defeated sigh and Nihachu continued, "I figured you guys would see my perspective because of your relationship."

Nihachu gestured between them. George glared at her. "That doesn't mean we'll change our rules or give you land."

Nihachu shrugged. "It was worth a shot. I guess I'll have to resort to other methods."

Clay's gaze narrowed and Nihachu added, "Did you guys forget?!" At their confused expressions, Nihachu grinned gleefully, "I have someone on the inside, remember?"

Clay froze. George's fist curled and he stood up, "That's enough. Clay, we're leaving."

They left the room, Nihachu laughing behind them. George rushed down the halls and Clay racked his brain.

He remembered Nihachu mentioning a spy way back when she was going to kill George. But who was it?

Was she saying that to mess with them? To make them paranoid? If so... it was going to work.

The spy could be anyone, but it had to be someone who had known about Clay and George's relationship before they came out.

That list could potentially be very long. Clay figured that a couple of guards probably caught onto it. Wilbur certainly had. And there was that one woman in the market, not to mention all the people around them there.

Clay let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. He asked George, "What are we going to do about this?"

"We're going to debrief the council and commanders. We'll question them ourselves and then the commanders will do the same to their troops," George said, his voice determined.

"This could take a while," Clay muttered.