Chapter 12

The heavy oak doors to the council chambers slammed open with a resounding bang, the ornately carved panels ricocheting off the stone walls and there was nothing the stoic guards could do. All heads whipped around in stunned bewilderment as Prince Didé stormed into the spacious room like a vengeful tempest.

"Father!" he bellowed, his handsome face contorted into a rictus of rage as he zeroed in on King Zauzau II seated amongst the circle of elders. "How dare you keep such vile news from me!"

The king's piercing brown eyes narrowed in a mixture of confusion and dawning displeasure at his son's untoward interruption. Rising slowly from his intricately carved rosewood throne, the regal monarch lifted a commanding hand as hushed whispers erupted among the assembled council members.

"Didé..." he began in a low rumble that seemed to reverberate in the very stones around them. "What is the meaning of this unconscionable breach of protocol? You know better than to—"

"Damn protocol!" The words erupted from the prince like shrapnel, his fists clenching so tightly at his sides that the ornate rings on his fingers bit into his flesh. "My bride-to-be goes missing on her journey from the Tiger's Keep Palace and you saw fit to exclude me from such dire tidings?"

The king's imperious demeanor remained statuesque and implacable save for the barest tic of muscle along his peaked jawline as he absorbed his son's blistering accusation. When at last he spoke, his tone carried the weight of a death knell.

"Mind your tongue, boy...lest I dock it from that insolent mouth of yours."

A thick, charged tension descended over the chamber as prince and king stared each other down from across the polished granite tiles. To the council elders clustered in tense silence, it was like witnessing two alpha lions sizing one another up for a fight to the death.

Finally, it was Didé who broke first - a derisive scoff slipping from between his clenched teeth. Stalking forward a few paces, he threw his arms out wide in a contemptuous gesture.

"So that's how you would address your only remaining heir upon hearing of his beloved bride's disappearance? With threats and dismissals rather than reassurances of the actions being taken?" His next words emerged as a guttural rasp tinged with bitterness and accusation.

"Tell me, great father and king, did you even bother to send pursuit after the mongrels who absconded with Ona? Or did the mighty Zauzau simply shrug away his own would-be daughter in-law's abduction as an insignificant trifle not worth his time and attention?"

A serpentine hiss of scandalized gasps rippled out from the alabaster-robed elders seated around the chamber's periphery at the prince's brazen insinuations. Zauzau himself seemed to expand within his regal doublet, his darkly bronzed features taking on a near violet undertone in his rising fury.

"How dare you..." he ground out in a voice made sepulchral by barely restrained wrath. "You go too far, Didé, even for your typical arrogance and pride."

Didé barked out a mirthless laugh, taking another few steps into the inner circle and causing several elders to shrink back from his approach. "Too far? No, dear father, I've yet to even begin apportioning the blame you rightfully deserve for your complacency and negligence!"

In the blink of an eye, Zauzau surged forward from his throne until only a mere stride separated him from his defiant heir. Despite being an entire hand-span shorter than his son's towering stature, the king's presence made him loom like an irresistible force of nature.

"Guards!" The king's bellow caused the entire chamber to reverberate as he swung his imperious glare towards the ornate doors Didé had flung open. "Seize this insolent wretch and remove him to the dungeons to await my judgment on his punishment!"

For a span of several heartbeats, Didé stood utterly immobile - his heaving chest and flared nostrils the only indication of the red-hot fury nearly leveling his princely countenance. Then, with a taut shake of his head, he turned on his booted heel and stormed back towards the exit.

"Very well then," he tossed over his shoulder, his cadence dripping with open defiance. "I'll seek my own recompense where you have clearly failed your duties."

Whirling back to transfix his father with a look of such disgust it nearly made the elders recoil, he swept his arm up in a lowering gesture of finality. "But when you see my bride's lifeless form brought to these halls, know that the guilt for her demise lies solely at your feet!"

As Didé snarled out those final scathing words, a shocked chorus of gasps and outcries rippled throughout the council chamber. King Zauzau II remained stock still in the wake of his son's parting condemnation - eyes slits of pure molten fury.

Only when the mighty doors slammed shut in Didé's furious wake did the king seem to uncoil slightly, icy rage dissipating into a more controlled yet no less intense state of promised retribution. Sweeping an imperious glare across the pale, dismayed eldren, he spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Summon the Sunlords to me at once. It is clear that firmer hands than my own must attend to this matter before it spirals any further out of control..."

The viceroy Va hurried through the palace corridors, his robes billowing behind him. He heard the altercations between father and son echoing off the stone walls. The king's legendary temper had already been inflamed by news of the Shanahan raiders scaring away Idolloan traders from the western trade fairs.

Va burst into the council chambers where the circle of revered elders were already gathered, their wizened faces carved with concern. Without preamble, he launched into the agenda he'd prepared.

"Elders, we must attend to urgent matters of state. The northern province still refuses to pay the required harvest taxes. Unrest spreads like wildfire among the populace there." Va met each of their eyes in turn, his expression grave. "And there are also rumblings of discontent from the western islands regarding the restrictions on trade..."

He went on at length, introducing issue after issue that required their immediate counsel and deliberation. The elders listened intently, stroking their beards and nodding. For now, their discussions would occupy the king's chronically wandering attention span.

Va could only hope the matters would distract Zauzau long enough for his rage to abate before he could lash out at his servants or, worse, order his soldiers to flog his son to death.

The King's blood boiled as he sat in his ornately carved wooden throne, the echoes of the guards dragging away his defiant son still ringing in his ears. How dare the insolent boy question his authority in front of the elders! He could feel the weight of their judgmental stares piercing his skin.

Clenching the armrests tightly, he fought to regain his composure and regal bearing. But it was no use - flashes of his beloved late wife Adama's face flooded his mind, the pain of her disappearance nine years ago as fresh as the day it happened. The anguish he saw in Didé's eyes mirrored his own hollowed heart.

He had moved mountains tirelessly searching every forest, kingdom and desert oasis, yet there was still no trace of Adama. No remnants of her colorful azure robes to be found amidst the sands. No glimmer of the jewels she always adorned so beautifully. It was as if she had simply vanished into the ether, a mere spirit slipping from his grasp.

A heavy hand gripped his chest as he recalled her melodious laughter, the way her eyes crinkled when she would tease him. Even now he could almost feel the warmth of her soft caramel skin, the floral scent of her raven tresses. Adama was the light of his world, the radiant jewel that made his kingdom shine. How could he go on without his queen?

The elders shifted uneasily, breaking the king's reverie with their hushed murmurings. He could not afford to show such vulnerability. Mustering his authority, he sat up rigidly and eyed them with renewed solemnity.

"My son has been detained for insubordination," he proclaimed in a steely tone that brooked no dissent. "We shall have the situation under control presently. For now, let us proceed with the matters at hand."

As they launched into the day's proceedings, Zauzau kept his expression impassive and regal. But inside, his anguish-filled heart smoldered like the harsh desert sun, torn between his duties as king and undying love for his family. If only the gods would grant him the answers he so desperately sought.