The great hall was flooded with the amber hue of waning daylight. Dozens of candles and torches had been arranged to illuminate the cavernous space, counterpoint to the encroaching darkness.

Delfar stood before a large paned window surveying the vast panorama below; the expanse of Ikbar’s estate, the dense stretch of verdant forest, the village beyond, and farther still the enemy.

“Welcome friend” Ikbar clasped Delfar’s hand in his. “Your journey was a safe one?”

“Thank you” Delfar removed his sackcloth cloak revealing his ornate garments beneath. “I’m sure no one recognized me”

“Please, you must be hungry” Ikbar motioned to heavy oak table and as if on cue a series of pages arrived with steaming silver platters, fresh fish, quail, custard tarts, venison. Ikbar dismissed the servants with a polite nod and the two exiles were free to speak openly.

“we are greatly outnumbered” Ikbar began, “I fear at times we are on a fool’s errand. Against ten Lords, many of greater wealth and power than I”

“True” Delfar admitted, wrestling with a large chunk of mutton, “Lord Ogdan has replaced me, and I fear his influence over the others is growing rapidly. Still there are those that will not succumb to his…manipulation, and these are the allies we must win over”

“we are as good as dead if either of us sets foot in the summit again”

“we need an agent, a go between, someone with easy access to the Lords but who will raise no suspicions. A master of discretion. Someone who can pass through the Halls of Lords as you have passed through the night tonight.”

Ikbar glanced at Delfar’s rustic cloak and knew what he would do. “I have heard tell of a sorceress who lives west in the mountains. It is said she has a gift for transformation. Perhaps my form could be so altered that I could roam freely as I used to within the folds of the Lords’ confidence.

“as I roamed freely in the guise of a peasant” Delfar clapped his hands together and grinned.

Just then a loud knock echoed through the hall.

Ikbar was to be disturbed only in the case of a most urgent necessity.

“Enter” he boomed.

A messanger burst into the room, a nervous page behind him. “He said it was urgent, your highness…”

Ikbar raised his hand “Do not worry, let him speak”

“I bring this with most haste from my master”

Ikbar recognized the wax seal at once and gingerly broke it open, unfurling the lengthy scroll of heavy parchment. In astonishment, he read the first line aloud.