Queen Reddo, queen of Surane, grand vizier of the griffin, rivendicando Amazzoni, bridger of bridges (Which was, she was informed, a title that sounded better in some ancient language or another), and generally a very much accomplished gripphonese, paced circles on her room.
She could have yelled in frustration at the situation in fourteen languages and cursed in twice that many, which was eight more than the king, but the fact didn't bring her any satisfaction. She hadn't ever liked the stallion, that was true, but they had had a kind of mutual respect for each other, and most always had discussed about what to do with Surane in ways that where, no mater how loud, ultimately respectful.
But now...
...that gleam, that crazed gleam...
...she had seen it before, and so had the king whose eyes now sported it. Sleepers, having spent too long close to the dreamer in spite of the warnings about such a thing, oft got lost in his dreams, the sweet dreams he created.
The dreamer himself, too, worried her: she had always known him to be kind, if severe, and to do everything for his people. Whatever demon had preyed at his sanity was long since gone now, leaving only the shallow, bitter shell of the mind that once were.
But maybe Sparkle had really found the last agent needed for them to start their moves... or so she hopped, that the messenger had said truth, that the situation wasn't lost and the land of her birth didn't end in the claws of demi-people, shadows of her colleagues.
-ยบ-
"Most certainly" nodded the griphon.
King Hlaoo's eyes didn't move an inch from him, every line in his face a tale for him to read, to gain insight into the lies.
"Hm? Is anything the mater?" the gryphon noticed the degree of focus of the pegasus "Is there something in my face?" he added anxiously.
"No, nothing" Hlaoo forced his lips into a small smile, every inch a battle "I was just looking at the infinite. Your face happened to be in the way," he forced his throat to make a hoarse sound "Haha"
"Ah, haha" the griphon forced the laugh too, but for entirely different reasons. He had to play mouse, act like the prey, if only for the sake of making the rat believe he was a cat.
The king gestured at a chamber maid and faced Ganthe again, taking care of keeping his face-reading to a minimum this time, "So you do have information concerning the Equestrian queen?" he asked as the maid exited the room.
"Princess, my lord" just the right amount of brown nosing at all and any authority "they have repudiated the title of kingship since Mad King Discord"
"Yes, yes, but do you?" Hlaoo moved a hoof in an impatient gesture "I am waging cold war here, and I plan to be on top when it warms up"
"Without a doubt, my lord," the chamber maid entered with a tray, and Ganthe eyed her warily for a fraction of a second "I have reasons to believe that Princess Twilight has had her bodyguard, lord Spike-"
"The dragon?"
"A paladin, my lord"
"A beast" Hlaoo corrected distractedly. The maid put two glasses over the table and walked silently to a corner.
"As well, my lord. I have reasons to believe that lord Spike has been gathering information about a traveler, my lord," he took a photo from his pouch and put it over the table "Starscream, he is named. Equestrian, probably one of her agents. He is to arrive in two days from the south, I believe"
"Ah, I s-" started Hlaoo, but was interrupted by a knock in the door. "I said this was to be a private meeting," Ganthe took a small dagger from a skin pocket in his wrist and looked severely at the maid while holding it, daring her to say anything, swapped his glass and the king's, and put the dagger back in its pocket "and that I was not to be disturbed, begone!" he turned back to Ganthe "Starscream, huh," he picked up the photo "Any information on her?"
"Him, my lord" he picked up a file from his pouch "Officially he died a decade ago, and received Damnatio Memoriae shortly after that"
Hlaoo took the file and read it, scanning it for any incongruences and angling one of his bracalets just so to see a reflection of the gryphon's face, "I've been apprehending any and all Equestrians since the queenling arived," the face reflected in the silver twitched "Or trying to, at least. The dragon has occupied his time stopping nearly all arrests and freeing the ones he didn't get to. An irksome creature, definitely" Ganthe didn't say anything "I have another job for you," he put the papers back in the table "I want you to find a poison that works on dragons"
Ganthe didn't allow himself the chance to react, and simply nodded. How mad was Hlaoo to want to kill one of the ambassadors of a land that controlled, however partially, the very sun and moon?
It didn't mater, he said to himself. His work was to keep an eye in said madness. He got up and, with a last reverence, excused himself from the meeting.
Hlaoo spent a moment in silence, then drank from the glass that was on Ganthe's side of the table, gulping down the hard liquor.
"Mirria," he turned to the mare that sat quietly in a corner "That goes for you, too. I want a poison that works on dragons by the morning. And something that can at least knock out an alicorn for a few hours, too"
She nodded and, not disturbing a dust mote, slid rather than walked out of the room.