Chapter Two

The second chapter to my book.

Annreah spent the next few days going through her royal obligations mindlessly.  She couldn't help but daydream about what it would be like to live a free live, completely free of courtly OBLIGATIONS. But instead she sat in the castle, learning how to live exactly as her aunt, so that someday she could teach her daughter how to live exactly as her.  Her life was surrounded with people all worrying, FESTERING over unimportant things; but meanwhile there was some war going on??  So one day she decided to ask her aunt about it.

"So when was the last time Gilithia was involved in a war?"

"You know this" her aunt said "about 200 years ago, the Providence War; between us and the Pelmish Elves"

"And we have lived in peace ever since?"

"Of course, honey" her unusual but superficial affection told Annreah something was wrong.

"Oh, ok I was just wondering, because I heard rumors about some small skirmishes" Annreah now had her aunt’s full attention. "But I must have been mistaken..."

Her aunt's surprise and stress was very thinly veiled as she asked "where did you hear that?"

"Oh, nowhere" she said, keeping her emotions in control much better than her aunt "never mind, it’s obviously not a big deal"

Her aunt just nodded and gave her another superficial smile.

"I'll see you this afternoon, dear" she said "take care of yourself"

"That’s odd" Annreah thought "no specific instructions" Her aunts mind must be somewhere else. She knew that Petunia would soon go warn the entire royal court not to tell Annreah any details about ______. Annreah knew if she was going to get information, she needed to hop to it before Petunia made sure she stayed in the dark.

Annreah knew just who to talk to; Samuel Fletcher, newly appointed superior general of the Gilian troops and was always caught up on the latest gossip.

~*~

Annreah knocked on the door.

"Come in"

She opened the door slowly and walked in most regally. The general's face went slightly red as he looked up. Annreah smiled.

"Hello General Fletcher" she said in her most pleasant voice

"To what do I own this great honor?" he asked politely

"Well, I was just talking to my aunt/the queen about the recent skirmishes involving the Ishnamarian Army"

He nodded.

"And she suggested that I hear it from someone of high authority, you know" she paused, and smiled again "someone like you"

"Oh, sure" he stammered "I guess" Annreah thought she might be laying the flattery on to thick, but Samuel seemed to be eating it up.

"If you are busy, I can come back another time"

"No, no right now is perfect" he was still red. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Tell me everything"

“There are three main ‘orders’ that keep balance in the world. Ishnamar stands for hard word, friendship and moral value. Lee is known for being quick-thinking and calculating. The Jojos are theologians, they study language and logic.”

“Yes, I know this”

“But, your highness, did you know that there was once a fourth order? The Georges were brave, spirited and proud; too proud.  The Georges became power-hungry and wanted to be superior to the other three orders.   The Lees realized something must be done and tried to work out an agreement with the Georges, but the Georges were determined and wouldn’t corporate. Finally Lólindir Culnámo, the second most important leader of the Georges, realized how bad this revolt was and began working with the Lees and Ishnamars to help defeat the Georges.  When the Georges found out that Lólindir was working behind their backs, he was killed; but it was in vain. The Lees already had several attack plans laid out, and the Georges were an easy defeat.”

“Excuse me General Fletcher, but how does this pertain to the Ishnamarian army today?”

“The most advanced priests of the Jojos can sense the rising power of the Georges, for they were never fully eliminated.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Author's Note

Again all the names are placeholders until I can come up with some cool sounding ones ;)