25.13

Dirk had dressed and donned his armor, but he had trouble shaking his grogginess. His legs felt wobbly and his arms heavy. Sindra opened the magic barring the door for him, but she insisted on following him out into the castle. Despite his protestations, she would not leave him alone.

He attempted to ignore her with a moderate degree of success. She was a minor nuisance to him, but at least she was a quiet one that did nothing more than slink along in the shadows behind him.

Outside his chambers, not a single soul stirred, but the evidence of a recent, heated battle was all around him. In places, the passageways were nearly knee-deep in corpses, all of them wearing the insignia of the kingdoms of Camerand and Baaldorf. The manner of butchery left no doubt as to the killer's identity.

He came to a section of the passage where his way was nearly blocked by rubble. A powerful explosion had ripped through the castle's thick interior walls. Everything was charred, even the stone.

Dirk crossed through the destruction, surveying it with dismay. It was unimaginable to him that Castle Blackpool had been attacked. This castle's walls had never been breached. Seeing his enemies' army inside his home shook him to the core.

As he made his way through the castle, the dead bodies in the North Wing gave way to the chaos of the living. In the castle's great hall, his palace guard appeared to be busy dispatching the southern wounded to the underworld.

When the soldiers saw Dirk they stared in surprise as though seeing a ghost. Finally one of them a smile and said, "Welcome back, my lord! Hail Blackpool!"

"Is my castle secure?" Dirk demanded anxiously.

"Yes, sire. The goddess protected us!"

25.13.1

Dirk's entrance into the throne room caused an immediate commotion. His men suddenly stood at attention.

"Hi," he greeted coldly. His eyes scanned the bedlam in the room slowly. They settled on the woman seated upon his throne. She was still curled up in the chair with her chin resting upon her knees. She looked unhappy, exhausted and frail.  Her glassy-looking eyes were fixed upon a distant, unseen point.

Kendall appeared at Dirk's side almost instantly. "It's good to see you well, my lord!" the knight said, genuinely relieved by the king's return.

"What happened here?" Dirk demanded, scowling. He tried to affect a stern, crisp demeanor to mask the vague sense of dizziness he still felt.

Kendall replied, "Eric Greystone had the audacity to launch a sneak attack against this castle and Tronin simultaneously. Vector and Bethel helped him fly his troops in here. We held both castles. It seems Greystone burned the entire remainder of his forces on this failed attack."

Dirk's eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at Zyrdicia on his throne. The sight of her on his throne triggered an immediate visceral response: fury. He clenched his jaw. He demanded in a course whisper, "Did she seize power?"

Nelor appeared at Dirk's other side then and answered for Kendall. "Yes, thank the gods. Your queen saved the kingdom, my lord."

Dirk scowled. The thought of anyone-even Zyrdicia-trying to take his crown from him made his blood boil. It triggered a powerful emotional response. He suddenly was no longer interested in what is minions had to say.

Zyrdicia's weary eyes moved then to look at Dirk. Her face reflected a mixture of surprise and relief at seeing him. As he stared at her, however, her expression changed.

She sighed miserably.

He strode forward purposefully and greeted in a dark tone, "Hi."

Zyrdicia uncurled her legs and tried to sit up in his throne. She winced briefly as pain shot through her abdomen. Ignoring it, she said, "Welcome back. I suppose you hate me now?"

"Stand up," he ordered coldly.

She held up her blood-soaked hands to him, offering to let him pull her up.

He grabbed her hands and yanked her roughly out of his royal seat. She flopped against him like a rag doll, but his arms did not encircle her. Instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders and sneered, "Does my throne's seat hold you so captivated?"

"Hardly. I despise your kingdom more than you will ever know," she said in a whisper.

"You hate it enough to seize control of it," he mocked. He frowned as he watched her close her eyes as though she were about to lose consciousness. He shook her again and moved his face very near her own and whispered nastily, "You put me in a coma to steal my throne. I'll never forgive you for this treachery."

"Of course you won't," she said wearily. She looked at him as though she had expected his outburst.

Dirk's lips curled into a cruel grimace. He hissed, "This time you went too far. I won't tolerate such betrayal, even from you. Disappear from my castle this instant!"

Sindra stepped forward from the shadows then. She stared briefly at Dirk with an expression of unmitigated disgust. She reached out her hand toward Zyrdicia, and Zyrdicia's limp body flew out of Dirk's grasp into the vampire's arms. They both vanished then.

Dirk sneered as he looked around and his men's faces. One by one, they turned and exited the throne room. Within moments, the throne room was empty but for Nelor and Kendall.

Dirk leaned heavily against a pillar, feeling deflated. He felt Nelor staring at him expectantly. "Have you lost control of them all?" the northern king demanded, gesturing toward the throng that had just exited without waiting to be dismissed.

"Sire," Nelor said cautiously, his tone conveying his concern that Dirk had embarked on a very dangerous course. "After what our queen did today to save this kingdom, her name will replace the name of every god in those men's prayers. That they only walk away in protest is a testament to their discipline. Were they any less loyal to you, they would be attempting regicide."