A Drink Before Battle [M/M] ✅

34: Don't Let Him Rattle You

General Zarayan Sevei was a common man from a common family of merchants, mostly dealing in common household goods. Aside from a trip to the palace when his Generalship was conferred, he hadn't had much opportunity in his life to rub elbows with royalty or nobility. Like many common people, though, he couldn't help a bit of ambivalent curiosity about them. Waiting in the foyer of Tharlburg's municipal house, outside the closed doors of the great hall, he and Yanek both craned their necks to peek through a small side door that repeatedly opened and closed with the bustle of servants.

The municipal house was nowhere near the size and splendor of the Valeskan royal palace, but it was still quite a fancy place, all high arches with stained glass windows and stone columns carved with grotesque faces and leafy flourishes. Inside, the floors and walls were paneled with a dizzying, multicolored parquet design in various types of wood, and the place was lit with so many lanterns and candelabras that one might think they'd walked up into the starry night sky. The town's Mayor, a somethingth cousin several times removed from the royal family, resided in one wing. Another wing held accommodations for distinguished guests, and the rest was used for government business.

Their party had been received with proper ceremony, handed out of the carriage by footmen in brightly colored liveries and then escorted up the stone steps to the imposing front doors by a cadre of the Prince's Royal Guard. Sevei was immediately uncomfortable, having hoped for less formality. He tried to remember the protocol he'd learned at his promotion, but resorted to watching Yeresym and doing his best to emulate him, an effort now wasted as he did his best emulation of a goose for a peek at the Prince. He awkwardly jumped back into line as a rumble sounded and the large main doors swung open.

Inside the great hall, three tables were arranged in a horseshoe, with rows of extra tables outside of it. Across the head of the horseshoe sat three men, all dressed in voluminous silk tunics and brocade robes. The crowned one in the center would be Prince Rendrick, with the Valeskan Envoy and the Mayor of Tharlburg. The outer tables were already filled with people - the retinues of the Prince and the Envoy along with some of the Mayor's staff. The side tables of the horseshoe were empty, waiting for the military delegations of both countries.

Sevei squinted a bit, training his very perplexed gaze on the Prince. From the afternoon's revelations, he'd somehow expected a slight thing like the boys at the Aviary, but this was clearly a man of considerable brawn. He sat almost a full head taller than the other two men, with very long, tunic-covered legs visible beneath the table. If he swapped all his fashionable finery for a General's uniform, it wouldn't look out of place. Sevei tried to imagine what Anzen had implied about Prince Rendrick's business with Kyrzhan... and then tried very hard not to imagine it. He failed miserably at both efforts.

He leaned toward Yeresym, ready to whisper an inappropriate comment, when Yeresym suddenly turned around with a panic-stricken face, startling everyone, and pushed Meira toward Thelan.

"Lieutenant, get her back to camp," he hissed between his teeth. "Now!"

"What's wrong?" Sevei inquired as he and Yanek crowded close to the others.

Caught between Yeresym and Thelan, Meira frowned. "The Envoy is his brother, Gendaran," she murmured.

"The one we're getting you away from?" Yanek asked, his voice taking on Yeresym's alarm.

Thelan peered around Yeresym into the hall, eyes narrowing in anger, and tried to turn Meira towards the outer doors, saying in a lowered voice, "Let's go..."

But the Brinnish generals had arrived, their entourage crowding in and blocking the way. They were all looking at the Valeskan party now with some curiosity. Meira gently pushed everyone away from her and looked at Yeresym with a sigh of frustration.