Under Siege Part 3

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The battle had raged for three days with the occasional lull, and there was still no sign of Baron Raleigh and reinforcements. There had been heavy casualties on both sides; King Demetrius's forces had been cut in half, but that still left Nasat outnumbered two to one.

Things were about to change, though.

[OOC: The Spy's Report is now open!]

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A King's Suspicions

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Diana Wynnthrope was very pleased with how things were going.

It had taken her three years to see the first bits of fruition in her plans, but she was a patient woman. It had been no easy task to manipulate the king, either; he was inherently a good man. She'd had to work slow at first, and after she'd gotten several of the nobles on her side, it had gotten easier to convince Demetrius that he was being plotted against.

The third night of the battle, during a lull, she calmly made her way to an empty clearing not far from the camp. None of the king's soldiers stopped her. They were used to her occasional disappearances.

The king, however, had been having doubts lately. She knew this, and she knew that Demetrius was tailing her. Without giving any indication that she was aware of his presence, she walked to the center of the clearing, and spoke the words to a magical spell.

Anyone that wasn't within 100 feet of the edges of the clearing would now see nothing but a rocky outcropping.

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The King had indeed been having doubts even before he had laid siege to the Nasat. Each and every time, it had been Diana's council that had soothed his doubts. After three days of battle his doubts and suspicions had grown ever more pressing; were Baron Archand and his people as treacherous as he had been lead to believe time and again? Were they truly wishing to take his crown?

These doubts swirling through his mind, latching on to one particular thought: who had always been there to advise him the last few years, the one who had been the source of his suspicions, had fueled them and led to this confrontation? Thus it was that he found himself trailing Lady Diana as she left the camp, leaving his bodyguard behind.

Undeterred by her magic the King stepped into the clearing, a grim look on his face.

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Calmly, Diana turned to give Demetrius a questioning look, not even bothering to feign surprise at seeing him, "Is the battle not going well, Your Highness?"

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Demetrius paced slowly around the clearing, her question getting no answer for a moment as he cast his gaze back toward the camp, "The Baron has held off all attempts to breach the walls. It seems that he has obtained the assistance of number skilled individuals who aid in his defense."

Turning to her before he went on, "But that is not why I am here, Diana. It was, after all, your advice that led to this moment, to this battle."

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"Yes, I had heard those rumors as well. I do wonder where they have come from." This annoyed Diana, especially the fact that one of these defenders was a dragon of a type she had never seen or heard of before, another dragon with green scales, and one that bore a slight resemblance to bronze dragons.

An annoying complication, yes, but one she was sure wouldn't cause too many problems in the end.

"What, then, troubles you?"

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"None have yet been able to provide that answer." He had been somewhat perturbed by their appearance but that was not the matter that weighed most heavily upon his mind.

"Many lives have already been lost in this conflict. I am beginning to have doubts. The basis for this conflict is not as clear or as certain as it seemed when you advised me of this course. All this troubles me; no more, however, than my doubts in your intentions."

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What a fool, taking him this long to catch on.

Diana kept her composure easily, a slightly hurt and confused expression appearing on her face, "My intentions are pure, Highness. Why would you have reason to doubt my loyal service?"

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The King's expression flickered with doubt before setting grim and resolute, "Then why, Diana, has your advice over the past three years brought us down this path, one that has only led to the suffering of my people? To what end?"

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"To what end?" Diana smiled viciously, a sadistic look in her eyes, and calmly took a step forward. "Oh, dear king, why did you have to come to your senses? I was so enjoying myself, playing with you. So much bloodshed, so much death, all caused by a little bit of misinformation. It's almost disappointing how easily humans can be manipulated."

Another step, and her voice began to change, taking on an odd, sibilant quality. "No matter. You can easily be replaced."

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His eyes widened at her admission before his expression turned to one of anger. He had been played! For three years, he had been the cause of so much death and bloodshed, a tool for the one he had come to trust the most during that time.

The king took an involuntary step back as he reached for his sword, "Who, what are you truly?"

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"I'll show you, Demetrius Fenley, king of Tielo." Diana's smile became even more vicious, and her form began to change.

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The King had no more drawn his sword before he laid eyes on her true form, his sword clattering to the ground in terror. A short lived cry was all that Demetrius managed before it was cut suddenly short.

His last thought was for the people he had betrayed.

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Twenty minutes later, King Demetrius returned to the camp, and after sending a sealed note to one of his nobles, retired to his tent for the rest of the evening with orders that he was not to be disturbed unless it was absolutely necessary.

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Another meeting occurred in that very same clearing later that night. Stealthily, a handful of nobles and officers had slipped from their tents and gathered there, along with King Demetrius.

Unbeknownst to them, a spy from Nasat had infiltrated the troops' ranks, and followed just as stealthily behind. He'd had several close calls, but he was well-trained, and taking up a position in the branches of one of the trees on the edge of the clearing, he watched and listened.

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"A slight change of plans is in order, as you can see," the king said, smiling coldly. "Our dear Demetrius finally came to his senses, and forced me to... dispose of him. A shame, really. He was such fun."

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An officer laughed, and arranged himself comfortably on a patch of moss, "It's about time. I don't see why you didn't do this earlier, Mother. It makes it easier to get all these humans to kill each other when you're the one giving the orders."

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The king hissed, a distinctly reptilian sound, and in his place appeared a large green dragon, deadly gasses escaping her mouth. "The journey is more important than the end, my son, and you would do well to learn that. Achieving our goal would not be as satisfying if we did everything ourselves. Besides, too drastic a change in his personality too soon, and his subjects would get suspicious."

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A dragon. The spy quickly turned a ring on his right hand, activating an invisibility spell, and went absolutely still. One sound, and he knew he'd be found and killed.

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One of the nobles snorted and shifted to dragon form as well, tail lashing, "You always were the most impatient of us. It's a wonder you weren't killed as a wyrmling centuries ago."

The rest of the dragons took this as their cue to shed their human forms, stretching wings and settling themselves comfortably in a loose circle.

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Thanking his luck, the spy carefully filed away all their human forms, and tried to keep himself from shaking too much. This was very, very bad.

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"How are we going to explain Lady Diana's disappearance?"

"The timing is very unfortunate, but she was called away on an important matter regarding her family. She regrets that she cannot be here to continue to assist the king throughout the rest of the battle," the largest dragon spoke, in the king's voice. "Demetrius will die tragically in battle, and a new king will be chosen. He has no successor, leaving the Duke of Sucrest next in line.

The dragon on her right, the one who wore the form of the Duke, preened, "And of course, Diana will return shortly after Demetrius's funeral and the Duke's coronation."

"Of course. She will be distraught, thinking that her absence was the reason for his death, but she will continue to serve as advisor to the king."

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Suddenly, the wind shifted, and the smallest dragon in the group turned its head toward the spy's hiding spot. "Mother, how certain are you that we're alone here?"

Before hearing the reply, the spy had already activated the teleportation spell on his necklace, appearing suddenly inside the gates of Nasat. He'd heard more than enough. Face white, he immediately ran for the keep in search of Baron Archand.

The Spy's Report

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Within a half hour, messengers had been sent to everyone on the team, to inform them of an urgent meeting with Archand and his officers. They gathered in the baron's private chambers, one or two of them still in their sleep clothes from being dragged out of bed to catch a few precious hours of rest.

[OOC: First three posts in order are Baron Archand, the spy, and Nehaalista. After that, no posting order.]

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Archand sat next to the spy, holding a cup of water for the man and talking quietly to him. As soon as everyone had gathered, he looked up, a serious expression on his face, and spoke, "Christopher is one of our best spies, and he managed to get into a secret meeting tonight amongst several of the king's nobles and officers tonight. With what he learned, we may be in more trouble than we thought."

He motioned for the spy to speak, giving him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder.

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Christopher took a deep breath and stood up, voice shaky.

"It turns out that our suspicions of Lady Diana and some of the nobles and officers manipulating King Demetrius were right. I did not stay for the entire meeting, but I heard, and saw, more than enough: they are dragons. Green dragons, to be exact. And, Demetrius is dead.

"Lady Diana, or whatever her true name may be, has taken his form. They have plans to fake the king's death during battle so that the Duke of Sucrest, one of their own, will take the crown."

He bowed his head, apologetic, "I admit, I left the meeting in a panic, afraid of discovery. I knew that this information would not reach you if I were dead, though."