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Still, it would not hurt to try her plan. I stride forward to the gate and bark, “Who is your leader? Send them forward now, so that we may speak.”
The crowd quiets their yelling, and a murmur runs through them as if trying to decide who to send. Finally, a woman’s voice calls, “Are you the regent?”
“I am,” I confirm.
“As am I,” comes a voice at my side. I look down and see Pellia standing right next to me, looking serene.
The crowd parts and a woman pushes through. She is tall and overly thin, as if she hasn’t had a good meal in a while. Her hair is a tangled riot of red and she stands with the bearing of a general.
“We need to speak to you immediately. Open the gates.”
“You do not seem peaceful,” Pellia counters, “Why would we let you in?”
“Because if you do not, then we will riot in the streets until you do. This is no small matter we come to you with,” sneers the woman, clearly unimpressed with both Pellia and me, even with the soldiers at our backing. She is either brave or very stupid. Perhaps just desperate.
“The south is burning,” the redhead continues, “and if we do not save it, we are all doomed.”
Chapter 3
Pellia
The peasant woman’s words are shocking. I need more information.
“What do you mean, the south is burning?”
“No,” replies the woman. “I won't say another word until you let us in and hear us out. I’m done talking with a gate in my face.”
Her audacity of speaking to nobility like this is almost impressive. Perhaps a touch foolish, though. She is lucky that I have such thick skin, and she is not speaking to one like Stella Kimber. Instead, I say, “I will not let all of you in. You may come, along with two more representatives, to state your case.”
She snorts, “You must think me daft to go in there with only two people to back me. I’m liable to enter and be immediately thrown into the dungeons for daring to speak above my station.”
So she knows that her attitude is not wise. Though she is correct that some might treat her that way, I am annoyed that she is so suspicious. If I really wanted to hurt her and the mob that she came with, I would have thrown Verrick and his orcs at them and I’m sure they could quell the crowd in moments. But then there would be a lot of dead people on my doorstep and no solutions.
Wracking my brain, I finally say, “I swear, before Theesia,Mother Goddess, Patron of Hospitality, that you will be my guests and that no harm will come to you as long as you mean no harm to me and mine. Alright?”
The crowd murmurs. No one invokes Theesia lightly. She is petty about her punishments and brutal in her justice.
Finally, the mob’s leader nods. “Alright, I accept in Theesia’s name. May she strike you with blight if you are lying.”
Verrick stiffens next to me as if insulted on my behalf, but I merely smile at her impudence. “Very well. Captain, let . . .” I pause for her name.
“Bronwyn. Bronwyn Cooper,” the woman says.
“Let Bronwyn Cooper and her two associates in. We will meet in the Council Chamber to speak.”
With that, I turn and take Verrick’s arm in mine, pulling him along. He hesitates for a moment, then follows obediently.Ah, I do so like that in a male, I think, and secretly smile at my jest.
We enter the Council Chamber, and Verrick relaxes when he sees it is empty. Poor orc, he truly hates meeting with the Council. I definitely dislike it, but at least I am used to it.
As he escorts me to my seat, he says, “Are you sure you need me?”
Oh yes.I need him for things he cannot even fathom yet. But instead of the innuendo, I say, “They demanded to speak to the regent and you are the regent.”
“So are you,” he returns. “This seems like a human problem.”
That irks me. “If the south is indeed burning, whatever that means, then there is a good chance that we cannot pay the tithe to Orik without catastrophic death during the winter. That will devastate Queen Adalind and if she is unhappy . . .”
Verrick grunts, rather than finishing my thought. He knows what I mean. If my dear friend Adalind is upset, her protective mate, King Rognar, will be angry. That anger cannot bode well for the one he left in charge.
