Amelia Merlin and the Game for Okamila

Part 71: Sealing the Deal

The alliance with the lizards had caused Kenrick Lattantio more paperwork than he ever imagined possible. Harold, his son, was useless in the entire process as well. He sent him as an embassy to discuss terms with the lizards and Kenrick had ended up having to go on his own to talk to Sapana. There was still no interaction with the Lord of Dreams himself, which Kenrick was insulted by but there was nothing he could really do.

"Did someone get the troops sent to the Gentle Forest? And tell me their uniforms are in proper order and you've paid the damn seamstress'." He shouted through the bustle. They'd set up their network in the middle of one of the ballrooms. There was no space in a regular conference room for all the operations they had to do. Akkedis was handling the fancy side of things, he was making the war plans and deciding where they would properly battle the Girl Queen. He was trying to find the prophecy so he could get a real chance to hear what was supposed to happen.

Meanwhile, Kenrick was organizing the paying of farmers so they would have enough food for the army. He was choosing colours for the banners, getting songwriters to find something for the troops to sing and sending the proper letters to his allies so they would be aware of the new alliance. There was no other way to properly get things done and Kenrick needed things to be done properly.

The ballroom was littered with papers and shouts all across the space while people did their best to get everything done. Smoke was heavy throughout the area and men wearing the most colourful robes.

A man wearing purple robes with golden feathers embroidered in patches all across approached Kenrick. Golden toggles held the robes together and the cuffs were made from the same feather that adorned the hat in his hair. Kenrick snorted when he saw the man but the sad thing was he wasn't even the most ridiculously dressed person in the room.

"What do you want?"

The man swept the purple feather to the side and handed him a piece of parchment. "This needs your approval, my lord."

"What is it?"

The jeweled finger of the feather headed man pointed to top of the paper, "It's the finalized contract between yourself and the Lord of Dreams. Once you sign it, I will send it over to him at once for it to be finished. Then the alliance will be legally binding."

"I didn't ask for this to be drawn up." Kenrick frowned and grabbed the parchment from the silly man.

"No, my lord, but the other party did ask. This contract applies to all your family members and anyone else who falls under your command." The man twisted his mustache and smiled.

"I'll read it over tonight and send you the copy."

"You should know, my lord, that Akkedis demands this be signed otherwise the alliance will break immediately." The man bowed, when he stood straight he had to toss the feather from his face.

That night, the Warden of Kalishterya sat in his chambers at the large oak table, pouring over the document. His assistant walked knocked on the door and Kenrick called for him to enter. He took his reading glasses off and folded them in his lap.

"Do you want to hear something ridiculous?" he sighed.

"Yes, my lord." the boy nodded vigorously.

"This contract says that, should any member under my command, including all members of my family, break any of the deals I sign, I myself will be personally in charge of terminating said member. If it wasn't bad enough to consider my own flesh and blood betraying me, I'd also have to kill them." Kenrick growled and the boy stepped cautiously forward.

"Couldn't you always ask the Lord of Dreams to make a different deal?"

"That's not how this works. I play by his rules or I am eliminated from the game."

"My lord?"

"Yes boy?"

"Why is it, that everyone refers to this as a game?"

Kenrick was surprised at the boys gumption, most people never asked any questions of him. "They call it a game, because that's what it is. Because in the grand scheme of things, that's all this is, it's just a game."

"So why are we willing to die for it?"

"Because the prize for winning is unimaginable. As is the cost of losing."

The boy nodded and looked down at his hands. "So you're not signing the document then?"

"Don't be an idiot. At this point, I don't have a choice." he shook his head and started melting the wax onto the parchment, pressing his seal into the hot liquid, Kenrick Lattantio officially chose a side in the Great Game. His quill slashed his harsh signature along the bottom and he gave the finished document to the boy. "Get this to Sapana."

"Yes my lord."

"And boy?"

"Yes, my lord?"

Lord Lattantio leaned back in his chair. "No matter how hard it is, don't ever betray me. I can promise you, my enemies don't live very long."

The boy nodded and dashed from the room. The candles were burning low and his eyes strained in the dim light. It was too hot out, sleep would be an absolute disaster and Kenrick knew that in the morning, he would have an obscene amount of letters from his family telling him how loyal they were to him and now to Akkedis as well.

"What a load of shit." he murmed to himself. His family had no where near the loyalty that he did. They would turn on him the second they got the chance, and now all he had to do was prepare for the first betrayer. If the Girl Queen was as smart as they said she was, she would have no problem tearing apart the snakes nest that had become the Lattantio family. He could only hope that she would hide the betrayers well. It would make the hunt all the more thrilling.