this is my first chapter of my book do you like it?

"Should we tell him?" asked the maid, cluelessly, as she walked with the care keeper down the dark hallway.

"We have to," said the care taker, regretfully, opening the heavy door for her as they entered an identical hallway.

"So, do you think he'll set up posters or a search party?" the maid inquired.

"Neither" he said, cutting her off quickly "Because if the Reigns didn't have anything to do with this they'll start looking to capture her anyway,"

The care taker steamed incoming flow of questions from the maid with a hard look. He then took a deep breath, and straightening his robes slightly (he wore a bathrobe) and he knocked, quite regally, on the throne room door. The door to the throne room opened slightly, and a guard poked his head out.

"Regalus, what the hell are you wearing?" said the guard that opened the door.

"I must see the king," Regalus pronounced formally. The guard (whose name was Shamus) eyed him with laughter in his eyes.

"Regalus, it's four in the fucking morning" he said cheerfully "Politeness ends at midnight, come on in!" He patted Regalus jovially on the back.

"So, my shift ends at seven," Shamus said hopefully, "You wanna buy a round afterwards?" Regalus gave him a serious look. "Oh well," Shamus shrugged "It was worth a try." "The king's up anyway," he whispered, in an accent you would probably think of as Irish, "He's been having trouble sleeping lately, and I think his daughter's giving him a hard time."

Regalus waved at the maid to wait and then walked towards the king's throne on the very long and exquisitely woven gold and white rug, which were the kingdom's colors.

The King was not an elderly man, but he was hardly young anymore. His face was regal and angularly handsome. His black hair contained small streaks of grey, and he had evidently not shaved recently, as he was sporting a five o'clock shadow.

Shamus's comment about the kings sleeping pattern seemed well founded, as the king had bags under his eyes as well. Altogether, it was the face of a man who was enduring hard times, as well as a writhing guilt.

"What is it that you want?"The king sighed in a tired sort of way. Regalus wrung his hands nervously, "Well it's the princess, your honor"

The king sighed again, "What about her?"

"Well…Your highness…she is … that is to say she's …gone," he sank to his knees in a mixture of shame and fear. In the space of three seconds a plethora of emotions showed themselves on the kings face. First were shock, then rage, and finally and angry fear. "You gather some men and find her and keep it quiet, if she ran away we don't need the Reigns to find her!" The care keeper bowed.

"Already done" said Regalus.

The king's expression softened and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "That's why you're second in command," he sighed, "you know exactly what I'd order you to do." The King waved away Regalus, who exited, wiping his forehead in relief.

Almost immediately after Regalus exited, a knock was heard on the throne room door. Shamus began to open the door slowly, but was swept to the ground as the visitor thrust the door open himself. Shamus lay on the ground, slightly stunned as the newcomer laughingly helped him up.

"Oh, you're one funny bastard" Shamus said sarcastically "you owe me a round for that, Bradish" Bradish laughed, his armor jingling slightly with his movements.

"At last count Shamus I owed you four hundred drinks, and I haven't bought you one yet" Shamus grumbled something about a lack of respect as Bradish walked to the king's throne.

"Your highness," said Bradish, bowing. "Your paladin brings grave news"

The King showed no emotion and simply said "Speak"

Bradish approached the king, his expression now as grave as his news "We may have lost the fort by Ridel and we suspect that the town may be attacked after the fort is taken, if it hasn't already been already" Bradish said, and the king motioned for him to continue.

"Also" Bradish hesitated, and continued, speaking quickly "Belsarius has just been found dead in his chambers" The king sat up straight.

"Apparently it was a heart attack."

"He was the best mage we've ever had!" he moaned in anguish. "How are we supposed to defend ourselves without him, he could cast spells that a score of wizards wouldn't even aspire to."

Bradish nodded grimly "I know, we needed him now more than ever." The king nodded, and a tear was in his eye.

"I always liked him, he was a fine man… an odd sense of humor, but you couldn't find a more decent human being" he said.

"I know sire" said Bradish exasperated "but how are we to hold off an army as large as three hundred thousand, especially with half of our troops on their way back from Fronks and the Swayedonia."

"Now we don't know yet that their army is of that size." The king said, slightly exasperated. "You put too much stock in rumors, Bradish" Bradish nodded, looking doubtful. The king rose from his throne, look
it only looks so big because of the spaces and huge print
oh and are you interested in it? does it grab your attention?
and! it didn't copy it all so it kinda cut off some off it so that's not the hole chapter
looking like the old man he would one day become.

"All we know is that they want to fight, and if they want a fight, then we'll fight like we've always fought, well, even without Belsarius." He said, patting the young paladin on the shoulder.

Then Bradish took a map out of his pocket, and pointed an area out to his king. "The mass of our army is on their way back across the ocean." He said, pointing out the ocean between them and Swaydonia. "Meanwhile, our troops are few, and we'll need help holding the forts until our men arrive."

"We can ask Orhall for help," said the King. "Queen Solara owes me, after I saved her last time.

"Send messengers," said the king as he sank back into his throne "We need time to summon a larger army and they can help us buy it"

Bradish said thoughtfully. "We can protect all the small villages except Ridel and Topside, so we to have them evacuated as soon as possible."

Bradish paused. "Sir, I'll try to start drafting immediately, and we can talk about
and we can talk about it then." Bradish folded up his map.

The king nodded "Fine, we probably have about two months until the army returns so we had best still be here when they arrive."

Bradish bowed slightly and said "Yessir, but is there something else troubling you besides the chance we may all die?"

The king sighed again, "Yes my daughter is missing." The king said and left a bewildered Bradish in the throne room, presumable to head for bed. Shamus followed him, as did the 10 troops outside the door that guarded the King during every moment of his life. Bradish frowned as he left the throne room. "Fuck."
just someone writing a book I'm glad you like it

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