Chapter 45

I could only fume silently as we ate our food and Hadok and the Sovereign spoke, planning our advance from here.

"We will go to Membentuk, they will help us." The Sovereign said, stuffing a chicken leg in his mouth.

You may wonder where I found such a chicken, it was fairly simple. Me and Brigitte after being told by the Sovereign to cook, went down to the kitchen then, exiting the place we found an old chicken coop, in it was a rooster and a brood of hens. Finding an axe I quickly set to work and soon the bird was ready.

It felt great doing something requiring my hands. Brigitte on the other hand was absolutely horrified at my ability to pluck and gut a chicken.

My thoughts awoke from Hadok's reply, "That will take too much time my Sovereign, we must seek help elsewhere."

"Where? Mathuba? You and I both know that that will not happen Hadok." The Sovereign replied upset.

My brow furrowed, "Why do we have to fight against this?" I asked.

The room went silent.

"Personally I don't want him as the leader of this country, and clearly, neither do the Lords." I reiterated.

Hadok cleared his throat, "My Queen, Hayden Stone and Mercer Gaul are two of the most corrupt men that I have ever met. Leav-"

"Is he not also?" I asked, pointing my hand at the Sovereign.

Hadok watched me carefully, "Since I arrived at this palace I have seen and watched Lord Stone. His daughter may be kind but that does not mean that she inherited it from her father. He steals and lies and cheats. He will stop at nothing to have Cadarama twisted around his finger, and once he does, the country he's built for himself on treachery and murder will fall to the ground."

I felt the room drop in temperature as I shrunk in my seat. The Sovereign was not as bad as this.

"We will save this country, I for one do not want to let it stay in his hands. But, he has Mathuba's forces along with our own guarding the palace. The only way to reclaim it would be to seek help elsewhere."

I didn't reply, letting the information sink in.

The room continued in silence.

"If not Membentuk, then I suggest we travel to Viskogorny, we have always been in good terms with them." The Sovereign said, his voice actually thoughtful for once.

Hadok nodded, "I agree."

"The only problem is how to get there." The Sovereign mumbled twisting his fork in his hands.

"Why not go through Bobian?" I asked, then immediately swallowed my words from all of the faces turned on me. I felt small.

The Sovereign chuckled, "Despite is sharing the Channel, we are not on good terms with them."

Hadok nodded his assent then spoke, saying, "We will journey through Waxingville, avoiding main routes until we come to the Guillermo Estuary, for that we will need to service a boat."

"That shouldn't be too hard." The Sovereign said with a proud smile.

I wondered why he was so familiar with boats.

Hadok nodded, "Good then. Next we will have to make our way through Wanington, it's smaller but we will have to pass through Kuratuma Lake's entrance, that will need cause of another boat."

The Sovereign nodded.

"How did you know that this was going to happen?" The Sovereign asked.

Hadok paused in his thoughts and looked at the Sovereign with an unreadable expression.

"When you said that I had been drugged you said that Emon had done it, but how did you arrive there on time if I hadn't called you?" He elaborated, watching Hadok intently.

I watched Hadok too, also wondering how he'd known of this plot.

Hadok looked at his plate, "Lord Damien brought the information to me the evening prior, wanting to warn me of the upcoming events."

"I see, and you did nothing before then?" The Sovereign asked, his voice edged with anger.

"I'm afraid that I was detained."

"You? Detained? I'm sure you could've managed to escape to tell me that I was going to be overthrown?! If you had not, then I would still have a country and a throne!"

"Oh, please." I said exasperatedly, "I doubt that would've changed anything. Someone else would've tried to overthrow you eventually."

"Then I would have them killed as well!" He shot back, standing from his chair.

"How would you have killed them if you hadn't been informed of the coup beforehand?!" I said standing as well.

"I would've figured it out, and when I had, they would never be welcome in Cadarama again!"

"What good would that have done? If they hate you enough to start an uprising here, they'll surely try to start one anywhere you send them!"

"Then I'll kill them!"

"You can't kill everyone who upsets you!"

He pulled a sword from a scabbard at his hip and held it to my neck, "And why not? I'm capable am I not?"

I swallowed carefully feeling the cold blade against my neck, my eyes wide from his sudden movement.

Glancing out of my eye I saw Brigitte watching us with a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in shock. Hadok was hidden from my view but he remained silent.

My eyes moved back to the fury filled eyes of the Sovereign's. His hand was holding the sword's hilt tightly as he held the sword at my neck. My nostrils inhaled the scent of sandalwood.

"My Sovereign, seeing as how you are finished with your meal, I suggest we move to the armoury to find collect the needed defences for our escape." Hadok said and the Sovereign removed his sword from my neck and placed it in his scabbard, his eyes still smouldering.

I stood still as he stormed from the room. Once he was gone I clutched my throat.

"Your majesty. Are you alright?" Brigitte said, leaping from her seat.

I shook my head, "I'm fine, I'm fine."