Nalokha looked down at the small child in her arms, she frowned as the ittle thing yawned and made a gentle sound. Never had she thought that she would be the one who hold child of her own. But events has transpired that now cannot be undne and as long as this little wretched thing serves its purpose she would make sure no harm would come to it.
"No harm what so ever..."she said with a gentle voice.
As she laid the little one down in its cradle she thought back on what had recently happend and how much blood that had recently been spillt. She gently placed a small fur over the child as the cold within the great stone hall begun to reveal itself. Night had come to her lands and with it she could feel her strength returning. All the time she was in the Shire, the land of the half-folk she had been carrying the child within and not able to do anything herself. She had to be rely on those who served her no matter if they did it well or not. She cursed some of the men as she walked across teh hall towards one of the windows and looked outside.
Many had fallen during the weeks she had spent in the half-folk lands, three villages had been burnt, the fields planted for the forthcoming winter had been turned to ashes and both woman, man and child had been ruthlessly murdered. She would have done so much more had she not flet the pain of labour. During a night of fire and death she gave birth to her son, his life bgeinnign in the way as it was destined to end. She clapped her hands and a group of slaves appeaerd and prepared teh hall for the evening, lighting the fires and setting the table. One of the girls accedently dropped one of the plates on teh floor and the sound of it shattering woke the baby in the cradle. Nalokha walked over to the girl who despereatly tried to gater the pieces from the floor and grabbed hold of her hair. She dragged the girl to her feet and struck her across the face, splitting her lip.
"How dare you wake my son!" she said in an angry tone before waving dismissivly at the girl.
"Pick up the shards and leave the hall, if I see you here one more time I will make sure you have no hands to drop things with."
The girl nodded and gatherd the remaining pieces and rushed out from the hall. The restof the slaves finsihed the hall and as Nalokha took the screaming child once more in her arms the doors parted and two of her most trusted servatns entered the room. She turned and looked at them, a man in black and red armour and as pale as death itself. And a blonde woman dressed in a fine purple robe who skipped and sang as she came into the hall, giggling and dancing around before meeting the cold eyes of her mistress and she halted herself:
"I'm sorry me' lady..." she said and bowed her head slightly before taking an apple from the table.
"What took you so long? It has been weeks since I sent you to the southern lands to find out what our advesaries has been doing." Nalokhas voice was cold and she gave the man and woman a harsh look as she caressed the childs cheek in order to try to calm it down.
The man in armour cleared his throat and spoke: "We were delayed and for that we apppologise mistress it was not our intention. But as you know, from the night we were discovered in the Shire many a crossroad has been watched and guarded."
The man paused and walked up to the table next to the woman eating an apple. He moved a chair and sat down, reaching for one of the many pieces of meat.
"But...the delay was useful to us as we came to see how despereate our enemy is." he said with a grin and took a bite of the meat.
Nalokha shushed her son and put him down in the cradle once more before moving across the hall and sitting down on the short side of the table. A slave appeared and poured some clear water in a crystal glass and gave it to his mistress who took it without even looking at the slave. She took a sip of the water and gestured towards the man in armour by the table.
"So...what did you come to learn?"
THe man paused his eating and dried his fingers on the tunic of a nearby slave. He grined and looked down the table at Nalokha.
"Well..we know now that they have had a great increase in numbers but most are still useless warriors and most of them do not even know the foe they are recruited to fight."
"Most are idiots if you ask me..." the woman said and tossed the remains of the apple across the hall.
"It would be far to easy to have them...turn ill, if you know what I mean." she giggled and begun to play with one of the small knives at the table.
"And what of our numbers?" Nalokha said with a cold voice, drinking some more of her water.
"They are strong still and we still outnumber them almost five to one" the man said before taking a large bite of the meat he was holding.
"The Eagle Guard has been annoying me for more years now that I care to remember, lets hope they are foolish enough and start this war. They will not stand much of a chance as our eyes and ears within their ranks keep giving us information." Nalokha smiled and put down the glass.
A silence fell over the great hall and had it not been for the sparkling fires behind them the hall would have been as dark as the night outside. The three dined and talked for the remainder of the evening and as the moon reached its highest in the starless nightsky the man and the woman left the hall with new orders to be carried out. As the great oors shut behind them Nalokha walked over to the cradle and gave her son a gentle kiss on his forehead. She hated the feelings that had begun to take root over her, she hated this child as much as anyone would claim her to love it.
But she knew this child was ment for greatness and he would be the bane of his father...the bane of the Eagle Guard...
