A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 19 - Protectors

Benje settled on the edge of the couch, adjusting his blond hair over his half-elf ears.

Not many knew Benje was a halfling, and those who did contained the knowledge, knowing that it reaching the wrong people could mean the end of Benje's life at the palace, perhaps even the end of his life completely. It seemed more important to keep that fact hidden now that the half-elves were the prime suspects in the plots against Nash's life.

He knew Benje would never do anything to endanger him, but many others wouldn't. They'd be calling for his blood just as the first elves had upheld the Astors' laws to outcast their half-human children.

Now that his identity was safely hidden, Benje folded his hands in his lap and frowned. "I wonder how Lord Dundor found out what happened."

"Lyr called me after the incident. She said she'd pass the news on to my father." Nash rubbed his eyes, still uncertain that this was reality.

Everything had happened so quickly. He had been slipping in and out of sleep, and the events of the waking world had mixed with those of the land of dreams.

Benje and Isarea exchanged a look.

"I'm glad she informed the director." Isarea shook her head at herself. "We should've thought of that, but we were so overwhelmed by what happened."

"No harm done." Nash gave her a smile she could barely return so tight was her face with concern.

Lyrani was a secret agent. She had been trained to handle these types of situations. Benje and Isarea were just Nash's friends who also worked in his palace. He didn't expect them to have the same level of expertise even though they often held themselves to secret agent standards when it came to plots against his life.

"Let's go." Isarea rested a hand on Nash's shoulder. "Lord Dundor is in my apartment."

Nash frowned, shifting his eyes from her fingers to her face. "Why not my office?"

"We thought it might be compromised, so it would be safer to have the meeting somewhere nondescript. Somewhere these murderers wouldn't think to spy." Benje's eyes darkened.

The halfling was uptight by nature, but threats against Nash usually brought out another side of him. One that was sharp and terrifying. One that had even scared Lyrani when she was investigating Nash a year ago and had made the challenging choice to interrogate Benje, even though it made Nash feel safe.

Nash nodded. "That's a good point."

He was glad that his friends had thought of that because he hadn't. Someone on the inside might have been informing Nash's enemies. If they made a new plan with Lord Dundor somewhere the spies and would-be murderers wouldn't think to look, this plan might actually protect Nash.

He smiled to himself. Lyrani would tell him he was thinking like a secret agent now, and he would say that he had learnt it all from her.

She was right. Even when she wasn't with him physically, she was with him in spirit. He knew that she supported him and that wherever she was in the realm, she was thinking of him just as he thought of her.

He had believed himself to be unlucky that he kept drawing assassins to him, but that had made him the luckiest man in the realm.

"Come, Nash. Let's not keep the director waiting." Benje's fingers tugged at the hem of his tunic, as impatient as his voice was.

Nash tossed the warm covers off and stood, smoothing his hair and straightening his tunic so he looked more like a king.

Benje and Isarea led him to the door, and the guards flanking it fell into formation behind them. Four of their colleagues that stood outside the apartment took their places at the front of the group while two more joined the rear, the movement as flawless and elegant as a dance that had been rehearsed countless times.