[Critique Group 1] Leonard's comments for Cleora for July

Fri Aug 30 14:21:59 EDT 2019

This summary is very useful and clear. 

It’s a good characterzation of Fly and his mentalprocesses. 

He’s having some minor difficulties with hismemory which are probably age related. 

But his mind is clear  and able to assess  the political situation.   

The piece clearly defines the issues that Silentenigma  is  experiencing. 

The rehash of the time line was needed and itworks well.

1814 words

Part Thirteen

Castle of Sir Fly, The Halfling ruler of Farius Kingdom ofSilent Enigma

Sir Fly paced in acircle around the table in his command center. The events of the recent meetingin the king's conference room replayed over and over in his mind. He nowregretted supporting Almero for monarch. He felt they needed to accept thepeace offer from Hades Legions and end this war, but Almero kept insisting theycould get a surrender. When Almero had arrived in the kingdom a few months ago,it was clear from the way his province was run that he knew how to rule. WhenAlmero started boasting of his leadership experience, and his many allies, Fly,weary of being monarch, asked him if he would take the job. Almero actedreluctant saying he didn't know if he wanted the additional responsibility. Flyand the other rulers encouraged him, and at last he accepted. Fly now suspectedthe reluctance had been a ruse, and that Almero had wanted to take over themonarchy from the start. It turned out the allies were other provinces Almerocould call on to gang up on another kingdom in order to force a surrender. Flydisapproved of that tactic. But how many of the other rulers agreed with it?The others were clearly cowed when Almero made his not so veiled threat. Hereally didn't want the monarchy back, but things were getting out of control.Almero's actions were troubling. They might get away with bullying anotherkingdom into surrender this time, but he knew there were strong, honorablealliances in Legendary Worlds that would eventually step in to bring downgroups that acted dishonorably. He didn't want that to happen to Silent Enigma.

But, what aboutthe other rulers? Did they agree with the king's method? 

As he walked pasthis chair for the tenth time, he glanced down. His eyes fell on the CrystalBall news report for Hades Legions he had been studying before the meeting. Hesat down and began reading it again. 

May 2nd, YR2Gotar of Silent Enigma attempted an attack on The Crystal Pond. 

“The CrystalPond,” he said thoughtfully. According to intelligence, a duck had wonderedonto the province shortly after its former ruler, Sir Hound of War, disappearedfollowing a serious defeat in battle. Hades Legions had elected this haplessavian monarch. Surely, this was because no one wanted to be king knowing theywould receive the same crippling assaults the past two monarchs had suffered.Silent Enigma had rejoiced at this news, confident that this was the first steptoward the kingdom's surrender. Rumor had it that the duck had no experience asa ruler or a fighter. She would undoubtedly rush to surrender as soon as shesaw they sent a dragon to torch her new home. She hadn't. Somehow, she haddispatched the dragon with all haste, and invited the other rulers to comecelebrate with her. He and others in Silent Enigma had sent thieves to stealthe leftover dragon meat and most of her resources. Then, curiously, she hadflown away. 

His gaze fell onthe goose quill pen on his notepad. He saw his list: 

1. Review thenews from Hades Legions. 

He returned hisattention to the scroll. 

May 2nd, YR2Gotar of Silent Enigma attempted an attack on The Crystal Pond. 

May 2nd, YR2Halla Suyop of Silent Enigma invaded 3. 

May 3rd, YR2Sworn to Neutralize has sent an aid shipment to The Crystal Pond. 

May 3rd, YR2Sworn to LuvRei has sent an aid shipment to The Crystal Pond. 

May 3rd, YR2Hamburger Hill has sent an aid shipment to The Crystal Pond 

May 3rd, YR2Sworn to Neutralize has sent an aid shipment to The Crystal Pond. 

The next day,five provinces had sent aid to The Crystal Pond. Didn’t they know the duck wasgone? Or, were they trying to cover it up? Were the reports wrong? A bird's cawbroke into his thoughts. He rose and went to look out the window. He saw hissteward talking with a man in the courtyard. The man handed something long andslender to the steward, and then walked away toward the barracks. Flyremembered the report and returned to his desk. He read, May 3rd, YR2, one ofHades Legion's had made an attack outside the war. Then another of theprovinces sent it aid. Followed by another province sending aid to The CrystalPond on May 4th. Then, the outside province that was attacked retaliated theone that made the outside attack. Fly read further trying to get a handle onthings. It appeared the rulers in Hades Legions were supporting their newmonarch, but the different rulers, for the most part, were acting on their ownas if they were not part of a kingdom. That supported Almero's conviction thatit was only a matter of time before Hades Legions surrendered. But, they hadbeen there before. Each time they just elected a new monarch, and did notsurrender. If the duck didn't want to fight, why run away? Why not justsurrender? Is the duck afraid of the other rulers? he wondered as he picked upthe news for the previous month. Before May, Hades Legions had been more activeand there had been more outside attacks. Whoever Almero's allies were, theyseemed to be making fewer attacks. It looked like the king’s plan might befalling apart. But could he be sure? What about Taran of Spielburg? Taran was astrong ruler. Fly felt he would be a good monarch, but he had shown no interestwhen Fly expressed a desire to step down. There was also the fact that SirTaran's province was half again the size of his and two to four times the sizeof any of the others in Silent Enigma. If offended, he could be a dangerousenemy. But, he hadn't flinched when Almero made his not so veiled threats.“Taran isn't afraid of Almero,” Fly reasoned aloud, but that didn't mean hedidn't support his tactic. Fly got up and began to pace again. As he passed thewindow, he noticed a patrol of thieves returning from a mission. He wondered ifthey brought anything useful back.

Knock, knock.

The door opened,and his steward poked his head in. “My liege?”

Fly jumpedslightly and turned around. “Oh, steward, I'm glad you're here. I see thepatrol has returned. Do you have their report?”

The stewardstepped in. “Yes, Sire. They sent a runner ahead. I have the report here.” Hewalked over and handed the scroll to Fly.

Fly unrolled theparchment and scanned it thoughtfully. Their attempt to raid The Crystal Pondhad failed miserably. Several thieves had been captured in the attempt. Beingthe lowest class of people. Fly knew they likely ratted on who sent them.

“Have you had achance to look at the scrolls I brought you yesterday?” asked the steward.

Fly thought for amoment. He looked over at the table and saw the scrolls he had been studyingearlier. “Oh, yes, I did. There don't seem to be as many outside attacks thismonth as in the previous month. The Crystal Pond is strong. There were nosuccessful attacks”

“Is thereanything you need me to do?” asked the steward.

Fly tried tofocus his mind. What had he been considering? He glanced around the table.There was his notepad, but there weren't any notes on it. He hadn't writtendown what he was thinking. He cursed his stupidity. Then, turning to thesteward, “No, not right now. I haven't decided what course to take.”

“Would you likethe wizards to see what they can do, Sire?”

“No, not at thistime,” said Fly. “You may go. I'll let you know when I've decided.”

The steward bowedslightly, turned and left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Fly sat down inthe chair and buried his face in his hands. It was so frustrating. Finally, hepicked up the scrolls and reviewed them again. Now he remembered. He waswondering if Taran was on the side of the king. He reached for the notepad andscribbled a note. He looked at it for a long time, and then at the closed door.He glanced around the room for a place to hide it and finally decided to tuckit under his breast plate.

Now what? Howcould he find out if Taran was thinking along the same lines? He reached forthe IM button on the CBM. Then, pulled his hand back. He picked up the scrollsagain. Taran hadn’t been active in any way he knew of during this war. But, hehad said at the start he was going to explore for a while. He knew from his ownprovince that the thieves and wizards in Hades Legions were very active. Taranhad mentioned in the meeting that he was having trouble getting ready for warbecause they were stealing his resources. But what did that mean? Was heworking toward getting ready for war, or was he using that as a convenientexcuse not to start attacking? Well, he reasoned with himself, he wasn’t goingto find out this way. He reached out and stroked the base of the Crystal Ball.“Message to Taran of Spielburg,” he said.

“What would youlike to say to Taran of Spielburg?” asked the Crystal Ball.

“Taran, are youthere?”

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