The Sorcerer's Bride 74 Unknown Enemies

It was not long before she broke, only about two hours. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air.

"Stop, stop, I'll talk... just no more fire."

Kaldrek stepped back so that Jayesh could ask his questions. "So, why did you attack my queen?"

"Carendlus is a blight on the earth. You are everything we despise with your comfortable ways, your comfortable traditions, even your wors.h.i.+p is too.... rose colored. Take out the queen, and severe your ability to continue your line, the whole nation falls. At least eventually"

"How did you get in?"

"Your little comforting barrier had gone down so we took the chance."

Jayesh sighed, "Who are you, where are you from?"

"I am a Grimshade a.s.sa.s.sin, from the wilderness of Nix'Ryl."

Kaldrek felt startled. Not much was known of Nix'Ryl. It covered quite a bit of land, was filled with monsters, and was considered barbaric at best. He was not so naive to think that this woman had been sent by the whole place, as there was not enough civilization there for that.

"And where, can I find those who sent you?"

"We are a nomadic people, I could not tell you anything about where my people would be as now."

Throughout the whole discussion she kept up her prideful arrogance. Kaldrek felt the urge to burn her again. This woman really annoyed him.

Jayesh turned and looked at him, gesturing him to follow. He did so, wondering what they were going to do with the prisoner.

"Apparently we have enemies we were not aware of." Jayesh grit his teeth. "And they dared go after my queen."

Kaldrek frowned, "I would put extra protections on her, but..."

"I know, what about the castle?"

"Of course. Will do that as quickly as possible."

Jayesh sighed, a look of fatigue came to his face, "And I just wanted us to live peacefully and quietly."

Kaldrek laughed, "Well, maybe someday. But honestly, you are a king, peaceful living is not generally a.s.sociated with kings."

"I know," Jayesh sighed, then he glanced back at the cell of the a.s.sa.s.sin, "I think it would be better to keep her alive for a little while,."

Kaldrek nodded. They headed back up to the brighter levels of the castle, and parted ways. Kaldrek headed to go fortify some of the protective measurements on the castle. Jayesh had gone to go give some orders regarding what happened.

It was nowhere near as draining to simply fortify the castle as it was to refuel the boundary around the kingdom. Of course this was completely natural, the castle was a lot smaller of an area than the whole kingdom.

Kaldrek found himself enjoying setting up some traps that would only function against intruders. It was making it so that they would not hurt anyone who was actually supposed to be there that was hard. But he managed it after struggling with it for a while.

After he finished setting all the traps he could think of, he leaned against the stone wall and closed his eyes. He felt a little tired after doing so much. Not so much that he was rendered completely useless though.

The sudden urge to find Zylvia and pull her into his arms rose up in him. A smile curved his lips just thinking about it. Especially due to the acknowledgement that if he were to do so, she would happily allow it. In fact, he was pretty sure it would make her very happy if he did seek her out for a hug.

However, she was currently keeping Fayre company, and while Zylvia would welcome his presence, he did not want to wreck their girl time. After all, it was because of Fayre wanting to be near her friend that he had gotten to marry the woman he loved. For this reason he was willing to stand aside at times in order to repay that debt.

Besides after not being able to tell her for two years and a half how he felt, he could suffer through an afternoon. He could wait a few hours to hold her, it would give him something to look forward to.