The paper fell from the general's hand and quietly floated to the floor. He had not known the messenger that had delivered this letter to him... and now he understood why he didn't recognize the lanky man. He also understood why the man had bolted off as soon as it was delivered. This letter was from Erodyne Maug-Rin: the master of the Tokens. This had been delivered from Garhemia.
This was not how Zayn had expected to begin this day.
It was only the third day in Wallfront. Before receiving the letter, he had planned to stay a week here... but now, now he wasn't so sure. He had not guessed that the Tokenmaster would go for the emperor. It made sense, yes. The general's eyes were wide with both surprise and a little fear. Erodyne was right, he was in no position to go to Oraborn. But... there was a chance to save the emperor from the fortress.
If he made it there in time, that is. He wasn't sure how long he had before the emperor was killed.
Now the general moved, bending down to pick up the letter. He glanced over it again, rereading the Tokenmaster's message quickly. Another thing he did not anticipate was the demeanor of the man's words. All this time, he had pinned the Tokenmaster to be a savage hard-ass who cared nothing more than murdering innocents.
Now, Zayn didn't know what to think. Erodyne was... peculiar. At least, his words were. As delicate and serene as they were, Zayn wondered just who was leading this merciless army. After all, any normal general wouldn't have written those words. Any normal general would not even think to send a casual, even friendly, sounding letter to the enemy. Given, the words were passive-aggressive... but still. Something was wrong.
"Damn it all," Zayn groaned, "What do I do?"
With a glance outside, he knew it was still morning. Maybe, if he told the group now to prepare to leave, then they could be completely ready by nightfall. Normally, he wouldn't do something like that. After all, he promised them a good rest before they headed out on the road again... but there wasn't much else he could do.
Their emperor was in danger.
He folded the paper and shoved it into his pouch. Then, he left the inn room. His steps were quick as he made his way downstairs. As he walked, he wondered if anyone was up yet. He figured Gwen --well Iris-- would be. She usually seemed to be up before he was. Either way, he would know soon enough.
Once he stepped into the main lobby, he did see her. She was sitting on one of the chairs with a book in hand. He stopped, seeing no one else but her. Not yet. He was not surprised at all that she was the only one. He, however, did not expect her expression. Sure, she had the book in her hands, but she did not appear to be looking at it. No, she was looking past it. Her eyes were distant -- sad, as if her mind were far from the room.
Zayn knew why.
Kayde was no longer with the group. He had disappeared three days ago. The general knew, even without being there with them all of the time, that he was her friend. After all, why else would the guardian have come to save her? Zayn wondered why he chose to leave them so early. Even though Kayde was never a true part of the scouting group, he might as well have been.
"Ingred?" he asked, mind flying back to the letter he had gotten. This made the rogue look up. General Zayn was taken aback at the sadness that shined within her eyes. He did not like seeing her like this.
"General," she responded brusquely, closing the book and standing up, "I did not expect you here this early."
He was quiet.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him after a moment, and he felt as if her eyes could somehow see right into his soul.
All he could do was nod at her. Because there were so many things wrong. The letter. The war. The fact that he couldn't seem to keep his head on straight anymore. This world was tragic, he always knew that. This war was tragic in itself. The days seemed to always be spinning faster and faster and he was having a hard time keeping up.
He had seen a fair share of disaster, being a general. He'd seen men die... women die... children die. Hell, even his own parents had passed on. He was in the midst of calamity now, what with the threat of abduction looming overhead.
"He sent me a letter," he told her after a moment of thought, "I need you to gather the group while I sit here and plan."
"Who sent you a letter?"
"The Tokenmaster."
With that, she was off in a flash. There were no more questions. Not right now. Iris bolted up the stairs, knocking loudly on the doors of her group mates. She heard a couple of groans as she did so, but right now, she was panicked. There had been something in Zayn's eyes that had practically shouted treachery.
They came out slowly -- one at a time. Ra was still in bedclothes. Iris was fidgeting as she waited for them. As soon as they were all out, their eyes fell on her.
"You need to come downstairs. General's orders. Something has happened," she said, not going into much detail. After all, she didn't know a lot about what was going on. As she walked, she expected questions. However, she received none. They followed behind her wordlessly. As soon as she brought them downstairs, she led them to Zayn... who was sitting in a chair.
Zayn looked at everyone. There was no greeting this time. "We have a problem."
"What is it, sir?" asked Dregar.
"The Tokenmaster, he's sent me a letter," Zayn told them, and watched as everyone's eyes grew wide, "I received it this morning."
"What did it say?" Shen asked after a few moments.
The general pulled out the letter and read it to the group.
"General Zayn Rothstead, First and foremost, I offer greetings..." he began.
A minute passed, and Zayn finished reading the letter aloud.
Iris was the first to speak. "Can he do that?" she questioned, "How does one kidnap an emperor?"
"I don't know," Zayn responded, "But I don't doubt that he's got something planned. We can't take any chances with this. If he takes our emperor, Eldia will go into a state of alarm. You all know this. He knows this. We have to reach the fortress... and soon. Sooner than I planned. We can't risk our emperor dying."
"Will he be expecting us, then?" Jehrth asked.
"I have no idea. I don't intend on responding back to him. I am not so foolish to tell him that I am coming."
"When will we leave here?" asked Dregar.
"I think we should get moving as soon as possible. I hate that I have to go back on my promise concerning your rest," he paused, "But I'm afraid that I have no choice."
"I understand," Iris spoke up, "We cannot let him die."
After that, the group dispersed. Rather quickly, too. The only ones left standing in the lobby were Iris and Zayn. Things were as they usually were. This time, the General Zayn did not question why she wasn't moving to go pack... but simply made his way for the door. After a moment, she began after him.
She followed him to an alleyway. He wasn't sure why she persisted behind him, but didn't turn to find out. No. He was in no state to talk to her, or anyone, right now. His brain was whirling and he needed time to think. Iris was confused as to why he was purposely avoiding her. With a frown, she called out to him.
"You know, I have something important that you might need to consider. Something you overlooked."
At this, he turned around. She halted quickly, looking around for people. There were none. She supposed that's why Zayn headed here, he wanted to be alone --but she couldn't let him go without information.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I realize that you are the general and that you need time to think," she began, "But I think you missed something. Something you should probably think about as your making your decisions and plans."
"And that is?" his words were short, but not unkind.
"How in the hell did Erodyne know to send that letter here?" she pointed out, slightly breathless.
This had him reeling. She was completely right.
"Surely it wasn't a lucky guess that you were in Wallfront, general," she continued, "I believe he's watching you. Somehow. I wasn't sure if you'd picked up on that -- but whatever we do next, we need to be more than careful."
"You're right," he admitted, body stiffening and panic rising in his chest. But not for himself --for all the residents of Eldia. If he failed here, the possibility of the country falling and dying was immense. His mind began spinning even faster and he could no longer clearly think about anything. Not his actions -- or even the words he would say.
In this state, he began pacing. Iris simply watched him for a minute, as he walked and rubbed his temples.
"Are you alright, sir?" she asked. No response.
"Sir?" she furrowed a brow.
Zayn still did not respond. She edged a little closer to him... and then closer. She placed a hand on his shoulder, grasping it tightly as a man would, trying her best to offer him stability and comfort. This made him stop in his tracks.
"What will you do?" she asked, Ingred's low voice dropping an octave.
His answer was almost an outburst. Not of anger... but out of stress. He didn't even think it through before he said it. That was his mistake.
"I don't know, Gwen!"
And then, he felt her hand leave his shoulder. After a few moments of thought, he looked up at her. She had taken a step back and her eyes were wide as they stared at him. He wasn't sure why she looked at him this way -- she surely knew that he meant no harm in what he'd said. And then... he realized what exactly he had said. This blunder grounded him, glued his feet and his thoughts to this very moment.
Now he looked at her.
"What did you just call me?" she asked
He took a deep breath and searched for an answer --something to cover up his gaffe. Quickly, he replied. He felt as if he was too quick to respond. "I called you Gwen," he said, "Your last name is Gwenneth, isn't it? It fits."
"But... Gwen is a girl's name."
She still looked frightened, but not as much as before. He could tell she was trying to conceal it. Now he took another deep breath, looking away from her for a second. And then, he looked back at her... his voice calm and his eyes unreadable.
He decided it was time.
"I know that," he paused, steadying his voice, "...Iris."
And then, he walked away from her, further into the alleyway... leaving her rooted to the very spot she was standing in. He didn't even look back to fully gauge her reaction. In fact, he didn't come into contact with her for the rest of the day.
----
It was later that evening when Iris got the letter. After hours of anxiety, it reached its peak when it was delivered to her inn room. She knew that the letter she was holding was nothing short of a death sentence.
Gods, she wanted to vomit. Now, though... she took the message calmly and sent the innkeeper on his way. After the door shut behind him, she opened it slowly, not wanting to read the words that were surely there.
Iris Gwenneth,
I expect you to come see me. Tonight. I assume that you know that we have a lot to discuss. And, furthermore, when you come to me...
Come to me honestly.
That is an order.
-General Zayn Rothstead