Wulfsen walked into the war room and sat on the first chair he saw. His head was spinning.

Sileas sat next to him, holding his and Xyla's hands. Olivia joined them as James simply paced back and forth anxiously.

Liadan entered the room. "What the hell is going on?"

Sileas looked up at Lia. "We don't know yet. Grandpapa wants to tell everyone at once."

Liadan swore and muttered.

Xyla watched Lia with wide eyes.

In reply to Xyla De Wolfe (msg # 125):

"She's crazy but she won't harm you." Wulfsen told Xyla in a low voice.

Xyla made a small o with her mouth and nodded.

Nelek arrived with his wife. He hoped things weren't as bad as they felt.

Shawn entered behind them.

Nelek looked expectantly at the door for his son.

Shawn sighed again. "I'm sorry, Nelek. I couldn't dissuade him. I even told him he might face a reprimand from Wulfsen. He standing on his principles. It's hard to argue against that."

"Oh no!" Nelek gasped.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Tue 18 Feb 2020.

"What's this?" Wulfsen asked, Nelek's exclamation bringing him to the present.

"Lek declined to come to the meeting. He challenged one of the knights to a duel for molesting Millie and deriding young Pinja. I tried to tell him a reprimand from you would be better, but he feels he needs to defend Millie and Pinja's honor."

"Lek did that?" Wulfsen was too surprised to be angry. He knew Lek was close to his twin and cared a lot for Pinja, but never thought the lad had it in him. "Who did he challenge? I never thought any of my knights would treat a woman so shamefully, otherwise they would never be serving me."

"I believe I heard the name Edgar mentioned."

"I will look into this, whoever it is will find himself stripped of his title." Wulfsen said.

"He should probably be banished as well, for the safety of the females."

Wulfsen nodded. "After I determine who he was and learn all that had happened. It doesn't look like Lek is coming- is everyone else here?"

Shawn glanced around. He finally spotted Xavier, and nodded. "Yes, everyone is here."

Wulfsen turned to James and Olivia. "I guess you can tell us now." He squeezed Sileas's hand.

James cleared his throat. He didn't have the military style for delivering this, so he would report it the only way he knew how. "Prince Alexander has gone mad for power. He's already imprisoned the King and Queen. Olivia and I only got out with Xyla because some of the knights came and warned us that Alexander would be coming after anyone allied with the King. Your mother and step-father refused to come along, feeling it would be too obvious, but they did send Xyla with us.

The knights who warned us were following but were overtaken to fight off those loyal to Alexander so we could get out. We took some devilish roads to get here, and lived off the land so we could avoid any villages and inns. But we can be certain he'll be heading here to get you, Wulfsen. Thankfully the village has been resettled in a slightly different location, but it won't take him long to find us all. I was hoping the keep would be strong enough to hold off a siege and that we could settle here, but we may have to just run for it."

Wulfsen was shocked and dismayed. His mother... he doubted that Alexander would leave her alive for any purpose but to torture her. He thought quickly.

"We can't run, he will keep chasing us. This is a keep, it can withstand siege. I'll have those who began settling outside brought in here. I need more guards on the walls." Wulfsen said, standing up.

"The gate and the outer wall seem pretty sturdy for holding off a siege," Shawn offered. So much for his plans for a nice quiet life on a farm. "But we can't stay in here indefinitely, he'll easily starve us out. We have to be able to get supplies."