An agreement
Nalokha held out her arms and let the servants undress the silk robe she was wearing. The chamber was lit by dancing flames from the vast fireplace at the chambers longside. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought back on what had recently happend. Things had grown quiet, no news of any movement of the Eagle Guard nor any news of anyone who said to oppose her and her plands. "A little too quiet" she thought. "But none the less, it makes what to come alot more easier".
The servants hurried as best they could to place the robe on a finely carved chair and one of the girls poured what looked like salt into the carved marbletub in the middle of the chamber. Nalokha stepped graciously into the water and as the warmth caressed her soft skin she sighed. This had been sought after for a long time now, she layed back and as she closed her eyes once more she could hear the servants close the door behind them as they left her. As the silence touched her mind she drifted away in thought.
She thought of the recent days in the filthy, wreaking streets of Bree. Where she had walked to see if there was anyone left who was bold enough to confront her. Yet there was no trouble to be found, instead a silence seemed to be resting over the town. Her patience had payed off and soon the lands of the south was to be hers for the taking. "But not until the army is fully raised" she said softly to herelf. She raised her hand and took a phial with a herbal balm in it and begun to apply it on her wet skin. When done she slided gently underneath the surface of the water and when she came back and opend her eyes she let out a startled cry. At the far end of the tub there stood a hooded man, his head held low and his one hand held over his heart.
"I've returned, lady of many shadows...your days with the crown is over" he said with a deep raspy voice.
Nalokha stood up and swiftly spoke in the dark ancient tounges of old. The warm air in the chamber suddenly seemed freezing and a thin black mist begun to form around her left and right forearm. She looked at the man, his plain grey cloak almost covered him entirely but as he raised his head and looked into her eyes she begun to recognise him. And with a cold voice she replied: "The crown belongs to me and will continue to do so until my son is fit to rule. You failed to take it from me all those years ago and you will fail once more should you try." she closed her hands and the mist seemed to turn her arms dark and translucent in the eery light. The man laughed and stepped back from her.
"So they did not lie to me when they told me your powers had grown, the air wreak with cursed sorcery." He spat on the floor and pointed at her with an armoured hand. "Yet there is still something you lack my dear, dear cousin. And that is a commander of your army."
Nalokha looked at him with a grim look across her face, she hated her cousin. Even more then she hated the cursed man Ventris. Yet there was some form of honesty in his voice and as she slowly lowered her arms and the air of the chamber returend to its warmth she nodded to him. "Very well, speak what you carry in your mind but do so swiftly before I have a change of mind."
Her cousin nodded slightly and explained his intentions to her, it seemed like ages passed yet when they where done they had come to an agreement. One that would not bothe well for the free lands. As her cousin opend the door and left, Nalokha called her servants who begun to dry her once she steped out of the tub. How the man had been able to enter her chamber without anyone seeing him she did not know, in fact, she did not even care. The servants finshed and begun to empty the water of the tub. Naloka stepped out of the door and as she made her way down the hallway towards her throneroom she cried out one name:
"Cae!"
