The Kings Personal Joker (boyxboy)

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty

[A/N] Back! I meant to have a longer break but realised yesterday that coming back next Thursday would make it two weeks, not one. Hahaa... (,,>ࡇ<,,)

[Ophelos's POV]

"What?" My voice was a little harsh toward the messenger who travelled back to us, a little late from the unsteady path he had to travel to and fro. The message was both late and concerning and I stood there outraged for nearly a full minute before I said this to the young man who looked at me, startled.

"When did you take this?" I demanded.

"Been a week sir. You said I wasn't to go back through the path we took here."

He'd had to take a detour, I didn't want him caught in a trap we didn't activate on our way over. He was the son of a friend and a valuable, skilled messenger.

He looked concerned, possibly under the impression the outrage in my expression and posture were directed toward him for some perceived mistake he had made.

"Go on your way then." I breathed carefully. "I will collect letters for you to deliver again when you have had your two nights of rest."

He nodded, bowed, backed away a little and left.

I drew in a shaky breath as I took the letter in hand and walked carefully back toward my tent.

I stepped inside and sat down carefully, setting the letter from Lady Mynthe on the low table, about the size of a footstool. 

I drummed my fingers on the letter for a moment, glaring at it.

I groaned and laid back against my cushions.

Elpis had snuck off to join the army, and the letter had gotten to me too late for me to issue an order for them to search the barracks to remove him before training, before being dispatched. Even if I did send Sion back with a message to do so by the time it arrived Elpis would be long gone on his way here.

I would still have to send out the order, naturally, but now we were presented with the impossible conundrum of whether to tell Demosthenes that his stupid valiant Joker had gone and chased him down to help just as we were about to be seizing together to prepare for one of the higher-risk fights we would encounter, if not the most dangerous yet.

It is of course not my place to direct your armies to search and recall the young man that belongs to you, so in this I will defer to you.

What did she mean by this? I tossed the letter irritably back against the table. By law Elpis would be directly under her control, yes Demosthenes was his ultimate master but he still belonged to her, that is to say legally, and she would absolutely have every right to demand they search for and retrieve him.

I could already feel the bristle in the air as Demosthenes eyes turned furious.  Hear his orders too turn the aspiring garrison upside down to retrieve the little man, I was already wary of the foul mood he would be in from now until his return, and who knew how long that might take?

Would it not be worth it to "lose" the letter...?

I groaned and smoothed my hair back. We had yet to pass a safe source of water for washing, so the majority of us were fairly greasy, most more so than I. 

"Sir?" A guard asked as he passed outside and heard my distressed groan.

"Nothing, nothing, go on, go." I muttered hastily, taking the letter and tossing it under the table.