Prologue

"Your Highness, there's a woman here. She says her name is Agna Souserift and that she wants to see you, but ... she doesn't look like a Souserift."

To the boy's surprise, the king merely laughed harshly and told him "bring her in." He left, quite confused, for the hall doors and ushered the woman in. Most of her was obscured by a long cloak, but what of her face that was not obscured revealed aged, Merish skin and a rather flat, distinctly Dwarven nose. Despite her old age, she approached the throne with quickly, such that the servant boy was forced to run in order to keep up with her. 

Once she reached the steps up to the throne, she removed her hood and bowed in a way that, while being deeply sarcastic, broke no specific laws of respect towards the monarch. He reflected briefly on he fact that, had she been anyone else, he would have her executed for such a display. 

"Leave us," King Levolen told the boy. His relief showed on his face and he left the room more quickly that Agna had entered it. Once he had closed the doors of the loft hall behind him, the king turned back to her. "I didn't think you'd seek an audience with me, considering all that has taken place." 

She shook her head at him sadly. "I don't approve of what you've done," she sighed, "but I can't help but retain a soft spot for my former pupils, especially the talented ones. And God knows you were talented." 

"You know I deserve it," he told her, ignoring the second half of her statement. "We deserve it. The throne belongs to our peop�""

"I'm a Halfling, Lev." He reflected once more on how he would have anyone else executed for interrupting him and calling him Lev. "We seldom think of the clans with such rigidity and I certainly don't consider the Mer to be my people."

"You know what I mean, Agna." 

She sighed again. "Each clan has laid claim to the throne at some point and each clan considers it to be rightfully theirs. The Mer are no more entitled to it than the Fae or the Dem."

His eyes narrowed at the mention of the Dem and he began to open his mouth, but Again cut him off again. "Yes, yes, you don't like the Dem. You made that perfectly clear by having your armies storm the castle and kill Zeduine." 

For a long moment, neither of them said anything, but just looked at the other with a sort of calculating sadness. 

"You've made a lot of enemies, you know," she finally commented. 

"That's generally what happens when you take rule after a revolution," he responded dryly. 

She chuckled, but he could not tell if it was because of his statement, his use of the word 'revolution' or her own inward musings.

"Is my throne secure?" he finally asked her. There was a subtle hint of fear in his voice; one you would have needed to know him very well to detect. It sprung more from having to share his uncertainty than the uncertainty itself. 

"Secure?" Agna scoffed. "Not possible. You said it yourself. You took rule after a 'revolution.'" 

"But will it be usurped, Agna? Surely you can tell ..." 

"Seeing is an uncertain art at best, Levolen. Even the most skilled Seers often misinterpret the future, simply because it isn't set in stone. You know this, or did you learn nothing from my teaching?"

"You have some idea, though." 

"Yes," she sighed. "I do. You are coming to a fork in the road, Levolen. You have important decisions to make in regards to how you rule that will determine which way you go."

He knew enough about Seeing to know she couldn't tell him how to go down the correct path. He tried an easier question: "If I do end up making the wrong decisions to ensure my safety ... who will ..."

"His name is not yet set," she replied, "but he is a Halfling." 

There was once again silence until King Levolen ordered "you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone." 

"And if I do?"

"I'll have you killed." His voice was cold and calm. 

She laughed, "I'd like to see you try." 

"The men I have at my disp�""

"I may be old, but I'm not dumb, Levolen. I have no doubt your mages could squash me like a bug. I meant I'd like to see you try to set them on me. You wouldn't be able to get the orders out. I know you'd like to think that you're heartless, but you're not. You just don't allow yourself to care nearly as often as you should. You're as capable of caring as any man."

To this he had no response.

"It doesn't matter. Like I said, I have a soft spot for my former pupils. My lips are sealed." 

He nodded curtly and she smiled wistfully at him once more before exiting the hall.