In Dreams: Red

Meeting

"But sir! That will waste man-power-and horses! Horses we may need if we plan to ambush this army!" Toland exclaims.

"What of our villagers here? Can any of them not be convinced to fight? Do not overlook the farmers. Many of them have strength from working the land and would die to defend those they love. Do not be so quick to dismiss those you consider weaker because your mindset doesn't believe them capable or willing to risk all for what they love." I say softly, stepping forward on my father's right side. It is a shameless show of political strength. By positioning myself thus I have forced the men to recognize me as my father's right-hand and acknowledge my statements. “Father, I present that we should ask for volunteers among the villagers. Ask for any and all willing or able to defend their land and family. The able-bodied elderly and women must not be dismissed, nor dare I say, the eldest among the children. For even among them will be many who can and will do what they are able, even if they chose not to fight-there is still work to be done elsewhere that they can do to support the soldiers. Offer them the opportunity to flee or stand to protect their homes, I feel their decisions may surprise you." There is much grumbling among the men, but I see some nodding in approval and Reggie sneaks a wink at me.

"My daughter is right. We should ask the villagers for their aid. In point of fact I will be sure to do this personally. An address from their King to help keep matters calm and rumors from running wild would be most welcome at this point. I can also think of no better way to enlist their help, than a personal petition for aid. We will continue making battle plans in one hour gentlemen." My father states dismissively.

"My Lord, there are still matters that need your attention..." Searle begins but my father waves his left hand.

"Searle, I will attend to them shortly, you can meet with me after I am finished here. Please make sure those riders are dispatched, and all the repairs we discussed are made. If you will await me outside we will continue our discussion on the way to my address to our villagers." He firmly responds. The men begin to file from the room, and I turn to leave as well, but my father catches my hand. “Kennice." He says, and I turn back to face him. "I have a request, it is most unusual for me to do this, but I'd like to ask you to lead an ambush party on the invaders. I normally would not blatantly put you in such danger, but you are one of the only ones that I can trust to lead a party swiftly out and back into the castle through the secret tunnels without being discovered. Some of these other bumbling fools I call Captains would lead the invaders straight back to our secret entrances-which we cannot have."

"Of course, Father." I answer him directly, but his expression changes slightly and he meets my gaze sincerely.

"I will not know which direction I will be sending you in, until the army has arrived and taken up their position outside our walls, but I will leave you to pick the men who accompany you. Choose men who are fast, are excellent fighters and who will follow you without thinking twice. They need to be able to slip in and out with you, as silently as spirits through a wall. Discuss with them your plan of attack, and make sure you trust these men implicitly." He charges me.

"Yes Father." I say distractedly, already thinking of a few men whom I would like to ask to go with me.

“Kennice, I do not ask this of you lightly. I want you to be safe and return to me whole and sound, do you hear?" My father urges. Something in the tone of his voice makes me tum back, and to my surprise I see tears in his eyes. This man has never cried in front of me in my twenty-odd years of life, so his tears alarm me, and make me feel as though something is drastically wrong that I am not being informed about.

“Yes Father!" I answer a little too quickly, and wonder how to ask him what is wrong.

“Now go, we both have preparations to make." He tells me, I hesitate, still wanting to ask him what he is not telling me, but he waves dismissively at me, which is my signal that he will not say any more to me and to leave. I turn to go, but as I reach the door, he calls after me. “And for the Gods' sake, don't tell your mother!" To which I can't help but smile as I tum back to answer him.

“Yes, Father." The smile is still on my lips as I make my way down the hall, looking for my first victim: Reggie. Of course, as soon as my father had said to pick some men that I truly trusted, my first thought was of Reginald, Corwin and Tyrus. Luckily, I don't have very far to go before I run into Reggie, who had apparently been pacing the hall, waiting for me to exit my father's study. Almost as soon as we meet up with each other, he begins chattering in agitation.

"I intercepted a messenger headed in your direction from Corwin. He said he couldn't find me, well that's obvious, I was in a private meet with your father. However, he was able to locate young Tyrus; and they wished to know if you still wanted to meet because they had been unable to locate me. So I sent word back that I was found-” Here Reggie pauses to give a chuckle, obviously he amuses himself "and asked the messenger to bring them here, to meet us. I hope that is alright with My Lady, I just wasn't sure when you would be finished meeting with your father. I thought we could all await you, but now you're here and we'll just have to wait on Corwin and Tyrus instead." He finishes, though amazingly, he doesn't appear to be struggling for breath.

"Reginald?" I inquire.

"Yes, My Lady?" He responds.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much when you're nervous?" I ask, hiding a smile.

"Just My Lady, just now." He answers with a sheepish grin. Behind him, a messenger comes scurrying around the corner followed closely by Tyrus and Corwin.

"So glad you could make it Reggie!" Calls Corwin jokingly, "And My Lady of course! We apologize if we've kept you waiting! Hope Reginald didn't slow you up too badly!" I thank the messenger and send him on his way, then turn back to Corwin, Reginal and Tyrus.

"Gentlemen, I have much to discuss with you, and very little time. I know some of these rooms are very rarely used, let's see if we can find one suitable to hold our discussions in." I say briskly. The search for a rarely used room turns out to be quite easy. Many of the rooms surrounding my father's study are used as extra storage spaces for books and maps, but a few are kept as guest rooms for visiting dignitaries. We find a guest room that is vacant, based on the dust covers thrown over the furniture. There is a table and several chairs, which is perfectly suited to our needs. I think quickly on where to start as soon as everyone is settled, and decide it would just be easiest to start at the beginning and explain everything I could as quickly as possible. I tell them of the legends I had heard from the woodsman, and the things I had personally seen or heard about our prisoner that they had not been privy to. I then tell them of my opinion that our prisoner might be a spy, and my confusion over his actions and words before and after he arrived, which further convinces me that he was intent on getting inside our walls. I quickly summarize his family history to the best of my knowledge by the woodsman's story and ask for their opinions.

“Well." Corwin exhales and sits back in his chair.

"I second that." Tyrus proclaims.

"I at least, have some helpful information to add, if I may?" Reginald responds and I nod. "While I was in your father's study earlier in the day, I happened to ask if your father had any information or books on myths and legends of the region. I'm delighted to say he did and allowed me to borrow it. I spent much of the afternoon looking for information on our friend, the prisoner. While there wasn't much information to be had, a short passage described a certain type of people who had an uncanny ability to transform their shape into any form they desired. These shape-shifters were said to choose a shape that best fit their taste or personality by adulthood and tended to stick to it almost exclusively. I'm guessing in our friend's case that would be the shape of a very large wolf. It also described the people as having very keen senses, above that of an ordinary human, which could cause a weakness to loud noises or bright light. The book mentioned a weakness to certain metals, though it was unclear on what they were, briefly mentioning silver or iron, like the fae folk, but that the metal acts as a poison or allergen of sorts. However, once the metal is removed the problem ceases to exist, so it must remain in constant contact to cause them any problems. I think this lore clears up a lot of your questions, My Lady. I nearly forgot one final point; it is thought the size of the creatures is entirely up to the shape-shifters as well, though it was thought none have ever achieved a size larger than a tall horse or large bear, nor smaller than a fly." He reports.

"Did the book mention how the shape-shifters came by this talent?" I ask Reggie.

"It was thought that they were born with it, and at one time almost any person could be born with the ability, but it has since died out; and only a few families that can trace their bloodlines back to the original populace of this area and that time period retain the ability." He informs me. I mull over the information.

"Thank you very much Reggie, the information you have gathered is very important to me. Do you have any thoughts on the possibility that he is a spy?" I look at him directly, but he hesitates to answer.

"My Lady, if I may?" Corwin breaks in, and I nod my assent. "It does seem a funny coincidence that he comes here at the same time the army approaches." He states simply.