A Herald with news from Cryn

Winlay clung to his legs pressing her face to his thighs, with practiced ease he dialed way back on her lust, replacing her sexual desire with a wave of awe, and well-being. He'd ramp her up again as soon as he dressed down this over-eager young Herald. High Priest Beldan did not recognize the new Herald, but the white robes and scarlet cords identified her position. The church messenger looked too young for someone with this honor, it must be on her first visit to the Holy Palace, but by the time he finished with her she'd think twice before intruding on a dignitary of his position.

"How dare you interrupt me in my own chambers!" Demanded the High Priest.

"Forgive me your Holiness, I knocked several times." The Herald was cowering before him, the fear in the young woman's voice acting as an aphrodisiac to his already stimulated libido. Her face was hidden deep in her white hood but what he could see of her small mouth and chin showed promise. He had to be careful with the treatment of church messengers, unlike his personal household and the Templar, he had made few inroads into the command structure of the Heralds and he could ill afford to sour his dealings with their members.

"I bring urgent news from the Imperial Palace." The Herald continued, "News from Cryn." She added holding out a scroll case nervously. Beldan stepped towards her, still furious at being caught with a nearly naked initiate sitting on his lap, but eager to hear if his operations on the southern continent were proceeding as well as they were in Veertor.

The High Priest snatched the case from the Herald's pretty hand and stepped away to open the missive in private. The leather scroll was sealed with an unfamiliar sigil, but he gave it little thought as he broke the seal and twisted the cap off the case. To his right Winlay gasped in surprise, and he glanced at the tasty young initiate curiously.

"Mika?" Winlay asked in stunned surprise, she was staring in shock at the Herald. Beldan had just enough time to lower the scroll case so the cloud of fine powder shot away from him into the room. There was no mistaking the murderous intent of a trapped item like this, he had arranged for more than one of these to be delivered during his climb to power, and suddenly all the other inconsistencies in this delivery snapped clearly into focus.

"Assassin!" Beldan bellowed loudly as he stumbled backwards towards his closet. Throwing the empty scroll case at the false Herald bought the High Priest just enough time to turn and run for the safety of this strong room. He saw the knife appear in the assassin's hand and recognized the tumble of golden curls that spilled from her white hood. Those sneaky bitches! She and Winlay had set him up. He fled for the sanctuary of his closet wondering where his guards were.

Just as he reached the doorway the assassin's knife cut the back of Beldan's neck and shoulder with a slight sting. That was the only blow that landed though because he was into the closet and slamming the heavy door between himself and the snarling assassin. As tiny as she was there was no way she'd be able to **** the door open against his massive frame, he had let himself go a little over the past dozen years, but he was still a bull of a man. Just to be safe though he slid all three of the heavy iron bolts firmly home before he tentatively touched the back of his neck staring in horror at the blood that coated his fingers.

His heart pounded painfully in his chest and his knees felt so weak that he slid to the floor as the pounding on the closet door intensified. How in the hell had they gotten by his guards? Beldan's anger kept him alert as he listened to the muffled voices coming from the other side of the heavy door. There was a man's voice as well as the assassin bitch's, so this had been a coordinated attack. Damn them!

More time passed and the room had become eerily quiet. He had done it! The best assassins in the world operating with help from some treasonous mole had tried to kill him and through Xelta's grace and his own cunning they had failed. Beldan was not unaware of the condescending mocking that his own staff had shared when he'd had this safe-room installed, but who was laughing now!?!

Beldan wanted to sound the alarm, but to do so he'd have to open the thick closet door, and it would not surprise him if one or more of the murderous assassins were waiting in the shadows for him to let down his guard. No, he'd wait. He'd wait until his own men found him. There'd be time enough to flush out the assassins once his safety was ensured.