Insidious gears are turning

Even a month later Rinlest was furious! The scene had been perfect, the city was aflame, he and his forces had been poised to strike at the human rear as glorious saviors when orcs had appeared out of nowhere! Rather than aiding in his designs and making his heroic gesture even more astounding by its defeat of both foes the mongrels had instead come to aid the queen's forces! When it became clear his assistance would not be required he had quietly withdrawn, swearing his men to secrecy upon threat of that they had been there at all. His plans in ruins. Now one of those foul orcs stood at the queen's side! The mere thought of it was outrageous. The whispers that accompanied it were no doubt false but they were growing louder. He would have to deal with this matter soon.

His thoughts turned to the queen. As most elven women were she was beautiful and while his primary desire was for the power she could grant him he still wanted her body. Her daughters were equally beautiful. Had the queen been killed before his arrival he would have sought the elder twin's hand instead, the young elf would have been unable to resist his advances or the stability he offered. In fact, that was one reason he had waited so long before attempting his gambit. He had been far too clever for his own good!

As his thought lingered on the twins, however, something caught in his mind. His spies had been reporting that one of them. Leitha he believed, had an avid interest in the humans. While he dismissed the other part of his agent's report about her nightly habits. He could see with his own eyes her manner of dress certainly favored the human's styles. If some rumors were to be believed she had even been to see human prisoners simply to ask about their clothing. If he could turn that interest into something more possibly he could... What would the queen do for her daughter? More importantly, what would she be willing to give to get her back? A plan was stirring in Rinlest's mind. He had time. If nothing else the Orc's luck had seen to that. The beasts forces also seemed to swell the fighting strength of the elvish army. Why any elf would even think of trying to learn from such a creature was beyond him but it was obvious the sparring helped shake off the cobwebs and made the queen's forces better.

His first step towards the queen then had to be with her army. His soldiers were clearly superior to any orc and to refuse his offer of training would be an insult she would not dare risk. The orcs were few in number and his soldiers could handle far more recruits at a time than they could. Step two would be to win the favor of the queen's advisors. They would no doubt prefer his company even more if what he'd heard about their relations with the orc were true. The final phase would be to become indispensable to the queen. Make his support a pillar that she could not stand without. Whether he did this through poisoning her advisors against her or with a plan involving her daughter mattered not. Before this war was over either he would be king or he would make sure everything burned behind him.