The Office of Warlord Balthazar, War Advisor

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

Wulf walked in. "Milord should be here soon," said the page, and then disappeared.

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

Less than half a minute after the boy left, Captain Balthazar strode into the room. He was a muscular man with chocolate brown hair and a commanding look about him, despite his forty years of age and many battle scars. For some reason, he chose to be referred to as Captain rather then his titles of Lord and General.

"Ah, you must be Wulf. Sit down please," he said, as the much younger man obliged. He then closed the door and began to speak.

"We have been trying to assign you to border duty for nearly three weeks now. Please explain why you haven't answered all SIX of the letters that were sent to you."

Wulf started angrily. "I never got any letters! WHAT letters?"

Captain Balthazar narrowed his eyes. "I am not an idiot, young knight. What happened to those letters, and why has no one in Mayhope seen you for a month, even though we had stationed you there until further notice?"

"This is going to be a rather long story," said Wulf.

"And we have all the time in the world," retorted the Captain. "Go ahead, please."

[<Insert creative name here>]

Kat quietly walked into Captain Balthazar's office. Wulf was in trouble.

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

Neither man noticed Kat walk in as Wulf launched into his story.

10 minutes later........

"Very elaborate, Sir Wulf. Now what proof do you have?" asked the captain with a frown.

Wulf dug around in his belt-purse and found the letter. "Your clerk gave us the instructions, as you were elsewhere," he said, handing the letter to the military advisor.

"Interesting idea for a prank, I daresay," said Balthazar, scanning the letter and frowning. "But really, a teddy bear? You BELIEVED that?"

Wulf turned red and muttered something unintelligible.

"I suppose that I understand now. But do take more care about assignments. From now until whatever this problem is ends, I'll be giving the messengers orders to give messages directly to you. And by the way, look for my seal, because had you done that, you wouldn't have been sent on that wild hunt," said the captain. "Do you have any idea who might've done this?" he asked Wulf.

Wulf hesitated, and then shook his head. "No idea, sir," he lied.

"You are free to leave, and will not be assigned to anything until at least a month after Midwinter. Good day," said Balthazar, writing something down on a scroll.

Wulf got up and left the room, still not noticing Kat.

Perhaps I should've told him about who did it, he thought darkly. But I suppose that would be making it too easy for me, then... He headed back towards the inn.

"You behind the chair there, come out and explain who you are and why you wanted to hear that," said Captain Balthazar, directed towards Kat's hiding spot.

[<Insert creative name here>]

Kat walked out from behind the chair. Wulf, you are so dead for leaving me here... Kat sent that thought to Wulf.
"I am Kat of Willow's Hollow. I am Sir Wulf's squire. I figured that I should know what kind of trouble he's getting in with the people that command him," she calmly replyed, begining to search this man's mind.

[knightET]

((wait so.... hoo done it?))

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

"Very well, then, off with you," said the captain. "It's good to know that Wulf has a squire, though don't come crying to me when he hasn't taught you anything. And stay out of other people's business," he added.

[<Insert creative name here>]

"Rest assured Captain Balthazar, Wulf is a very good teacher," Kat said, and immediately walked out the door to go back to the inn.

[Summer Lover]

((Stay out of other people's business?))

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

EIGHT MONTHS LATER....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain Balthazar of Dugon Feld sighed as he gathered his papers, leaving the other half stack for his clerk. He was on dubious terms with this new clerk after having fired the other one.

He called the clerk in.

"Couturs, here is your paperwork. Record this meeting, please."

The clerk came in, fidgeting nervously. Balthazar rolled his eyes and the clerk hurriedly took a seat.

A fist rapped on the door. Balthazar moved to open it.

"Good afternoon, Lord Echelon. General Kasis, I trust you have brought General Licchavis's papers. "

He paused and bowed. "My liege, I'm glad you were able to come."

The men took their seats around the table, each one nodding to the king.

"Now, I called you here to discuss the interesting retreat of the forces of Al'alim in our border dispute. General Kasis, the information?"

The general stood up. "Sightings of enemy forces reported by the border patrols every two hours have decreased nearly 90%. We have seen less and less fighting as the months have gone on, since the heat of the fight five months ago, as you all remember."

The men nodded. Lord Echelon looked bored as he traced his finger in circles on the table. The man he had with him elbowed him in the ribs. He stopped.

"Sightings of enemy troops within a fifteen mile radius of the city have numbered ten in the past three months. I, having been stationed there, can vouch for-"

"Thank you," said Captain Balthazar, irritably. Sure, Kasis was a good leader, but he could be immensely annoying at times. "And what actions have you taken?"

The general cleared his throat. "Troops in the city have been reduced. The troops in the city should be sufficient to handle an attack of 100 men. Sir Khris of Wanderlock's request for additional guard has been granted."

"And the border patrols?" inquired King Garreck.

"Reduced three-quarters, per the instructions of the Captain," said General Kasis, nodding towards Captain Bathazar.

"And Lord Echelon, have you any insight as to the cause of the retreat?" asked Captain Balthzar, trying not to show his boredom with the general and eagerness to get to the point.

"My spies have very little information. We have reason to suspect that the nation of Al'alim is under an attack from a third party. "

The gathering raised their eyebrows.

"Weisfeld? Surely Hroald would've informed us! That temper of his!" said the king.

"No," said the spymaster. "I brought one of my Weisfeld informants to give a report. Sveinn?"

"Ah, vell," said Svainn in his thick accent. "Ze king hass been up to nofing. Ve have just been enjoying a rare varm moment and concentrating on crop growing. Ze king iss enjoying ze temperature and frequents ze forest for hunts. However, Ve have heard rumors from our ports. Rumors ov a terrible var. Much death. I vill, vith my master's permisson, go und investigaat."

"Are there any numbers or statistics you can give us?" asked Lord Echelon.

"No. I vas monitering the activites ov a suspicious fur trading group."

"Well, if you wouldn't mind, Lord Echelon, I wish to make investigation of this war first priority. Report all findings to me," said King Garreck.

"I shall do so, my lord," said the spymaster.

"Well, I think that's enough for now," said Captain Balthazar. "I will examine the potential military threat of this 'third party' nation with my lord Echelon. For now, you may be assured that our nation is at no risk of attack. Goodbye, gentlemen." They nodded and exited, except for the spymaster.

"You may go, Sveinn. Prepare for your journey home," said Echelon.

The spy left.

"Couturs, leave while I have a discussion with Echelon."

The clerk bowed and exited.

"What have you found out about the weapons?"

The spymaster sighed. "As I said during the meeting, not much. We're sure that the enemy force is quite large. Possibly even five thousand strong."

Balthazar glared at the spymaster. "The weapons, Echelon. I'm not fooling around."

"It's incredibly far-fetched, and-"

"The WEAPONS. How are they doing it?"

"The information I've heard and pieced together points to the use of dragons, from the looks of it. I can't be sure, though. I have far too little information to be certain. After all, we haven't seen too many dragons lately and there is only one expert that could be of any use."

"There's still an expert? How? A noble, there's no way anyone else could have the money to live on a fool's profession. Who?" asked Balthazar, curious.

Lord Echelon took out a large, leather-bound book. It contained information about various nobles of Creon. "His name is Drake of Sturmhammer Gorge. He's older, and spends lots of time alone," said the spymaster, turning a page.

"Could he be of use to the military?" asked Balthazar.

Lord Echelon shook his head. "Probably not. He seems to devote lots of time to the studies of science. He's been seen traveling with a relatively large group of people. He does have three relatives in the military, however."

"Who?"

"He has a brother-in-law on Weisfeld border checks for smugglers. But he's older and wouldn't be of much use. The brother-in-law has two sons. Finnigus of Sturmhammer Gorge is stationed about twenty miles from his father. Wulfenstein is usually found in Mayfield or right here in the city," said the spymaster, rifling through his book.

"Wulfenstein. Hmm, I know that name from somewhere. Interesting. Thank you. You may go," he said. The spymaster left.

"Couturs, take my papers to the record building at the university," said Lord Balthazar. "I'm late for weapons practice."

"But, sire, I'm busy!"

"Fine. Call the messenger boy. This is his LAST chance, I swear. He's not been dependable at all these past months. I've no IDEA where he's been if it takes so long to find him. If he reads this information and blurts it out to half of Creon like he does most of the time, he's FIRED," said Balthazar irritably, going to his quarters to fetch a sword.

The clerk packaged the papers and went to find young Thaddeus.

((Now Tad has a choice! He might be fired! *gasp* And don't worry, Wulf isn't going to be assigned yet. First, everyone's SO going on a vacation to some beach somewhere! And then they'll find him there, or something. Hehe. And kudos to you if you find out why the spymaster and generals have those names! Perhaps a story spoiler is in order for the person who finds out! PM me!))

[Summer Lover]

Tad ran in looking disheveled,"Sorry my lord, I hurried, I..,"He hid the food behing his back and blushed.

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

Balthazar rolled his eyes. "You should find him in the hallway, Thaddeus."

[Summer Lover]

Tad walked out into the hallway.

[The Taper Of The Ducts]

"Here you go," said the clerk, shoving papers at him.

[Summer Lover]

"Thank you sir,"Tad bowed and ran out.