12 Chapter 10

He clutched his prayer rug tightly and pulled up the side of his dishdasha. Stepping across the gold and white tiles of the patio, he'd stepped out to the car parking lot. A black Audi convertible parked next to his car. Faysal was a sight to behold. With his thick defined coily night black hair tied up, navy black skin, lean and still growing muscular figure and contrasting tree bark earth tone outfit. Faysal was in every way his father's son. Where Remi had lacked in gaining his father's black hair colour and glowing yellow eyes, Faysal had made sure to inherit them. The twins locked eyes with each other across the car park. Remi made his way to the cars.

"I prayed dua for you." Faysal spoke first. He'd even inherited their father's bass and rumbling voice.

"That doesn't sound good." Remi opened the boot of his car.

He placed the prayer rug inside. "How long is your break?" He closed the boot.

"I got 45 minutes left."

"I know a nice café not far from here. Follow me."

Remi got in the car and drove out.

Faysal had chosen a nice spot at the edge of the cafe overlooking the beach. The corner was far enough from casual listeners and closer to traffic so that anyone eavesdropping would have to work twice as hard to hear them. Remi's eyes scanned for the Halaal label in the café. Once he found it on the wall next to the cash register, he ordered.

"What brings you to earth?"

Faysal relayed his findings to Remi. The situation was getting worse and worse. Mbilu wasn't the only curious human to receive a riddle. She'd been one of the few to actually figure it out and go through with it. Though to be fair her riddle was the easiest to decipher. Mbilu was meant to solve the riddle. Just as Remi was meant to receive the first free verse threat. Remi couldn't decide which creature had sent her the letter. Anyone could've written the poem. Everyone was at the party. Many of them had an association with the moon. He'd crossed out the fae. His aunt would've been very personal with the message. That just left roughly ten or more different creatures. Yet he'd only had an affiliation with four. Which only left djinn, angels and fallen angels or demons. Djinn are too much of show offs to be this quiet. Angels are the same. Maybe fallen angels. They tend to lurk in the dark and blend in easily with humans. But poetry was not their style. They preferred in your face methods. Remi's head spun trying to come up with theories of who would risk exposure to humans and specifically target Mbilu.

That wasn't all, Faysal assured him. More and more magical artefacts were popping up all over the world. Historians and archaeologists were having a field day finding these objects. It all started when Stonehenge cracked and metal had been found underneath the stone. After that personal items belonging to magical creatures started appearing everywhere. There were cases of toys and personal jewellery being found in the most random of places. In Ethiopia an indestructible feather the size of an arm was found at a local church, In Peru, a knife older than the Mayan pyramids themselves was found by a child playing in the forest. In Japan, a woman was found wearing a kimono older than the mountains in that region. These new discoveries had led the humans to start digging the past up again. If the humans start paying close attention to details again, they could find their portals and hidden gateways to their realms.

"This is becoming personal." Faysal sighed.

"The other kingdoms must be under immense pressure if they're willing to expose us to humans." Remi took a sip of his colddrink.

"What if it's the princes?" Faysal sipped his tea. Remi looked up sharply. He hadn't thought of the princes in a while. Its not like they liked to contact anyone.

"Could be them? But they are only targeting the other kingdoms. They know we don't associate with anyone else." that is true. The Court of Ashes was as neutral as one could be.

"What if they have time on their hands?"

Faysal ate a few of his chips. "Everyone's a suspect." he was right.

With the prince's starting a war and everyone else trying to minimise the damages, anyone with an agenda could rise to power during this time. An unknown force could add themselves on to the chess board and throw everyone else off.

"By the way, the bracelet you sent me, it's an anklet. A mer anklet" Faysal started.

"I suspected. Why does it shock humans when they touch it?" Remi thought back to how Faysal easily came up with a logical solution of it being an advanced power sourced. She wasn't convinced and threatened to call bull but let it go.

"I have no clue there. Do you have a team around here?"

"Yeah. We're doing our best to track down every human who'd received a letter and interrogating everyone around here as to where they hid their things."

"That's good. Sent a strongly worded letter to the head of department to dispatch as many of us as possible. We need to outnumber the humans in the archaeology department."

"We need to outnumber them where it matters at the moment."

A heavy silence sat between the table. Faysal looked to the traffic of pedestrians trying to go in and out the Promenade then at him then at the customers in the cafe. He had something to say. "Has Markab said anything?" there it is.

"He prefers to be neutral." Remi looked anywhere but at Faysal.

His brothers have been at odds ever since they separated and led different lives. Remi and Faysal immediately went into the 'saving the world and changing it for the better' path of life while Markab went into serving the royals and nobles at every turn he could. They thought maybe he'd placed himself there as a way to help the family and keep to the agenda but Markab had different plans.

"I'll take that into account the next time he asks for anything." Faysal rolled his eyes and took a bite of his brownie.

"Don't be so harsh on him. You know what he's like."

"A coward unless he's ordered to do something against gunpoint." Remi flinched. Faysal had inherited their mother's ability to never lie. Unlike his mother, he didn't learn or try to twist his words to suit himself or anyone else. He spoke as his mind went.

"He's sensitive and doesn't like conflict."

"He's flakier than a baklava. Someday he has to pick a side."

"Until he does he's our brother. Family always comes first. Remember that were alone."

"I know....I know. Blood before bond."

"Unless decided otherwise."

"So...your girlfriend?" Faysal hide a smile and looked up at him.

"Stop right there." he shook his head.

"She's beautiful." Faysal winked.

"Faysal."

"Her eyes the darkest depths of a void which constantly pull me in and entrap me in their awe, her skin as soft as molten chocolate which melts in your mouth as soon as it comes in contact with my tongue -" his brother recited his own words against him. If they weren't related he would sent down a heavy curse to sort him out for the next decade.

"Faysal." he cringed.

"Her intoxicating scent takes me back to rainy days in the desert where the first drops of water would splash the red sand offering its first reprieve after months of self induced drought -"

"I hate you." he brought his cup to his lips. His brother was so embarrassing sometimes.

"You are a lovesick fool and I enjoy every moment of it." Faysal's eyes crinkled on the sides as he let out a carefree laugh.

"I will never get drunk around you ever again." Remi mumbled.

He placed his elbows on the table and leaned on his fists. "You said that the last time you fell in love. And the time before. And the time before. The difference this time is that I hear no flaws." he squinted his eyes and gave him a teasing grin.

"Shut up." Remi wanted to melt underneath the table.

"When can I meet this enchantress?"

"When I allow it."

"Brother. My younger by 2 minutes brother. Her scent is all over you. All I have to do is track her down."

His head snapped up. Impossible. "I removed her scent. I'm sure of it."

"You've been around her long enough that everyone around you believes that's your scent but you forget we're brothers. Your scent is forever stamped in my mind. I can tell the difference."

Damn it! He's right. "Fine. After she's done shooting her film." he grumbled. Faysal grabbed his shoulders and shook him with joy.

"I hate you so much." Remi muttered.

**

This week's council meeting was more tense than before. Everyone was on edge. Remi spotted more than ten different type of anxiety coping mechanisms. They were small and noticeable. Beside him Reuben couldn't stop freezing and defrosting his glass of water. The first crack appeared on the glass. Remi wanted to stop Reuben but he had his own anxiety to tend to. He'd drank 4 jugs of iced water before entering the room. It didn't cool down the glowing heat within him. Every breath he let loose was warm. He was aware that there could be steam coming off his head. He didn't care. At least he didn't have daisies growing all over him in a panic. Three loud knocks boomed from across the room. The ministers rushed about to calm themselves before the king entered the room.

When they'd all taken their seat and hid their nervous ticks, the doors opened. Leopold walked in, filling up the energy of the room as usual, with little Risso beside him. Risso looked more professionally dressed today. She wore a two piece suit. A black blouse with puffed sleeves and black pantsuit to match. Her normally messy braided hair was clean and organised. It was held back in a ponytail bringing out the hard brown eyes she'd normally hid behind her colourful exterior.

She stood on top of the chair. Said the agenda of the meeting and took her place beside the king. Leopold's voice was taut and strained today. He seemed like he wanted to yell but he held himself back. The other kingdoms had issued an order to all those in the court of Ashes. They all had no choice but to join their parent kingdoms or their families will bare the brunt of the war first. The ministers declined, saying it was a bluff and that they wouldn't harm their own citizens for them. But a few ministers have said that there have been many imprisonments of the parents of mixed creatures. More than a quarter of their citizens had given up and moved to their parents' kingdoms in order to keep their families safe. It was a bold and brash move from the other kingdoms. They were beyond desperate to win a war against the princes. This meant that the princes were more of a serious threat than anticipated. The other kingdoms also stated that they'd stopped terrorising the humans and threatening to expose themselves if the court of Ashes joined them.

"We've lost a third of our citizens to these orders. I suggest we join the war outright." Minerva, the minister of vampires and succubus, yelled from across the oval table.

"We can't! It goes against the foundations of the kingdom." Ronald, the minister of malakai and fallen malakai, slammed his fist on the table.

" The war includes us now. We need to take a side." Astrid, the minister of wolves and dryads, spoke up. A shouting match between the ministers had erupted.

"Enough!" A slam on the table brought the room to silence.

"Those who wish to return to their parent kingdoms will do so at their own discretion. We cannot force our citizens to remain here. It is against our own constitution. They have a right to enter and leave as they please." Leopold held back his anger. His red hair whirled around him. Embers forming at the edges.

"When this war ends and the princes are defeated and the kingdoms toss out their children again, what happens then?" Shiva nervously shifted her cape to the side.

"The Court of Ashes will remain open for its people." Solly's shadows darkened behind him.

"Any other questions?" Risso called out.

"What do the princes offer?" Remi's attention was immediately alerted. The princes were already handing out offers to the other ministers.

"Peace and tranquillity for those within the kingdom. They urge us not to take part in the war and they'll grant us peace and keep the humans from finding out about our worlds." Minerva spoke up when no one else would.

She'd taken the offer. The way she sat so confident at the table, the way her skin glowed underneath the twilight, the knowing look in her too yellow brown eyes. She couldn't wait for the war. Everyone would be too distract to stop her coven from snacking on a few humans. Apparently she'd been beyond enraged when blood thrivers where banned from personally taking blood from hams and had to go through a blood bank like civil creatures. This would be her chance to hunt again.

"If we remain neutral and the other kingdoms know that the princes asked us to remain neutral, we'd be at war with the other kingdoms." Tadao, one of the younger ministers, calmly suggested beside Remi.

The council broke into a debate. Discussing the pros and cons of siding with the princes over the kingdoms or the kingdoms over the princes or just remaining neutral as should be. Oddly enough the room didn't seem too divided. The numbers of voting to join the fray looked to be higher than the number to remain equal. A slither of dread entered his chest. If he was outnumbered, this would mean he'd have to enter a war. All of his training would've lead up to taking part in a war. He couldn't imagine himself being on the other side of conflict. Fighting? Could he fight? Would he fight? Would it be worth it? Loud slams sent the hall to silence.

"Any suggestions?" Risso placed the gavil on the table.

"May I suggest that we don't side but do take a side." Wellington straightened out his shirt.

"What is meant by that?" Minerva shot him a scathing look.

"We remain neutral and agree to the princes terms." he continued.

"Under no circumstances can we do that." she huffed in disagreement.

"If we agree with the princes then that will be an invitation to them. They'll believe we're allies and use us for their next family disagreement. The other kingdoms will also turn their backs on us. This includes parents and entire families completely disowning their children and isolating them." he brought out his explanation. It was a good point yet with many flaws.

"If we disagree with the princes then we will automatically be a part of the other kingdoms and evoke their wrath." she swiped her hands across the table and kept a hard glare on him.

"Let's take a vote." Risso's high raspy voice pulled the attention.

"Before we vote, I have a few thoughts to voice out." Leopold stood up. The room stilled.

"Rumours had swirled and I have conducted my own investigation. I know the princes have tried to infiltrate this room and move the meeting towards their favour. And they have succeeded." Hushed murmurs swirled throughout the room.

"Ministers Astrid, Ronald, Minerva, Solly, Wellington and Shiva. You've all been dismissed from your positions with immediate effect." Wide eyes, sharp intakes and looks of disbelief were mirrored on each face. What had they done to deserve this? The called out ministers stood up in outrage and proceeded to cause chaos and call out the king for his decision.

"Guards!" He called out lazily. Within seconds a line of guards burst through the doors and dragged the ministers out kicking and screaming.

Silence descended upon the hall once the doors were shut.

The king collapsed in his chair. "That was more than I'd hoped." he seemed to age with that sentence. The tips of his hair turned an odd bluish hue, the flawless glass like skin dimmed, a wrinkle or two appeared underneath his eyes. He was tired. He'd been sole ruler for far too long. He needed a break.

Tadao cleared his throat. "Apologies for what I have to say your majesty but what in the pits of Oceanus was that?"

Risso served tae to the king. "Reshuffling the cabinet. They were caught out for corruption. They'd taken bribes from the princes and made deals with the other kingdoms for their safety. Either way we swing they were prepared to save themselves." he took a sip of tea. The scent of lavender and chamomile wafted in the air. Was the king not sleeping? Or did he need it to relax?

"So what happens now?" Reuben wondered out loud.

"Now - if it's not too much trouble I'd like you four to shoulder on where they left off." Shoulder on?

Getting the djinn and fae in line was hard enough. At least Reuben did more with the fae then he ever could but djinn are different. They're like the unrestricted versions of fae. No forced truths, no proper court structure, too moody and very complex. At least the fae have structure and can be predicted. Who else could he take on? Maybe the demons. They were more like djinn. Except they constantly chose violence, chaos and are too playful. Could he whip them in shape? No he couldn't. Maybe something easier. He could take on fallen angels. They were more his style. And better to hang out with.

"What about the werewolves and vampires!?! None of us have any type of relation to them! How do we start!?!" Aliana shouted. Reuben gestured to her to put the volume down. She was a mer and siren. So used to shouting in the ocean due to their being no air and having to push sound through the water.

"Risso will deal with them." the king waved the question away.

The four of them looked at each other. There wasn't much left. A mer-siren, a djinn-fae, a fae-nymph and a wizard-angel. It wasn't enough to cover the rest of the missing magical creatures on the table. Only Remi and Aliana could add on a different creature to manage and another kingdom to deal with. The remaining two can't. Their hands already full with their parent kingdoms. It was all too much.

"I know it's too much to handle but we can't afford changing the council now especially in times of war when people are being bought off. Right now I need my strongest warriors on the case."the king sighed. He was very tired.

"We'll do all we can for the kingdom." Tadao mustered up some optimism. The remaining four stood and bowed to the king.

"Thank you all for remaining true to yourselves." With that Leopold got up and left the room with Risso.

No one dared to say a word after that. It all happened too quickly. Four ministers left. All of them young and new to the world of politics. The eldest being Reuben at 63 and the youngest being Leanna at 28. None of them were old enough to fully grasp the concepts of courts and kingdoms. Four left to shoulder on the responsibilities left by the treacherous six.