Dawn's Light

Chapter 50: Interlude

The long hall-like room was silent until both of the massive double doors were forced open with a boom. A crowned head lifted as the man who opened the door dropped his hands and regained a regal posture. His piercing stare was almost a glare that made the recipients feel as if their soul was pierced by the gaze.

"Adviser Konrad." The royal's imposing voice echoed into the large room with a hint of urgency as he focused his royal gaze onto the opposite end of the long rectangular space. "Konrad, what are you doing in my throne?"

The man whom the royal spoke to sat with his legs over the right armrest and leaned against the left armrest and the back of the black chair. "Ah, King Baron." Konrad briefly sat properly in the throne with the same regal posture as a powerful ruler as he stood. Strangely, the man's shiny leather boots with silver plating were oddly silent as he placed them on the ground and stood. "How may I be of service?"

Konrad's copper breastplate shone as if the metal was brand new despite their old age. A black cloak was clasped onto his shoulders with shining copper buttons marked his status as a member of the royal court. His armor was a common procedure when it came to those consistently around the royal family. Though he bore no weapon, King Baron knew he could trust the man to protect him.

However, the young king had noticed that there was something especially strange about the royal advisor that was stranger than his oddly light clothing in the cold night kingdom of Roahla. Not only did the man have a powerful presence, but unlike most of the people in the king's court and the entire population, Konrad was unaffected by King Baron's royal gaze.

Despite the distance between them, the young king felt Konrad's powerful presence. The advisor had a strange aura around him that crippled those who had not grown up around his presence like the ruler.

With a sly grin, Konrad approached the king with the silence of a cat stalking its prey. "You asked me to join you here?" Although the man before the king was known as being wise, Baron knew that though he was potentially dangerous. Konrad had been his father's advisor for his entire reign, yet had not aged at all from the young king's earliest memories from nearly twenty years ago. "I am at your service, your majesty." He bowed before returning to his seemingly supernatural height.

The king looked up to the taller being. "There are rumors of dragons in the land near Urre again. I need to calm the people." Despite the king's reservations and questions about the royal advisor, Konrad was still strangely wide about how to control and calm the citizens of the sun-blessed town.

"Furred beasts," Konrad snorted and scowled, "worthless food thieves and killers." He raised a hand to his chin as he pondered over potential solutions. After a few seconds, he came to a conclusion and lowered his hand. "Send out some knights to search the mountains. If they return in two weeks with no sightings and no pelt, dust off one of the old ones and show it to the people as if it was new."

"Very wise, Konrad." The young king nodded, then looked straight into the man's dark eyes. "But this is a warning, advisor." He emphasized 'advisor' with a slight glare that accompanied his statement. "I am the king of this realm. Though you wear the royal colors on your cape, you have no right to sit in my throne, and next time I catch you, you're going to the dungeon for treason." With a slight snort, the king turned and walked out of the room with his royal black cape trailing behind him.

The young king left the doors to the throne room open, and as he walked out of the advisor's view, he thought about the advisor he had inherited with the throne. King Baron knew that he did not fully trust his father's advisor quite yet. However, the king knew of his father's undying trust for the man.

Several things Baron had noticed about his advisor made him feel as if the wizard was up to something. For starters, Konrad had a habit of vanishing at the oddest of times with no explanation. Furthermore, the man always refused to visit the spirit dragon of wisdom that was trapped inside the cave. He claimed that he disliked and loathed the sight of dragons as a result of a childhood incident. Though the spirit dragon was an ancient species of scaled dragon rather than the furred dragons that thrived in the cold dark land of Roahla, Konrad did not care.