7

  The man was fed, given new clothes and a room to stay in.

  A few days later, there was a knock on his door.

  The man was taken to the London residence of Francis Walsingham and seated in front of him.

  Francis stared at the man.

  “Sir?” The carriage driver asked.

  Francis raised his hand, and the carriage driver stopped talking. He gestured him to leave and he bowed and left.

  “You…” Francis said.

  The man just sat staring at the floor; sitting with poor posture.

  “The Queen does not often involve herself in such selections. But…I see now why she did.”

  The man looked up in Francis’s eyes.

  “Let us to the matter. You will repair thither in the Queen’s name, bearing yourself as a loyal servant of the Crown, yet with eyes unclosed and judgment unspoken. Whatsoever passes of consequence you shall diligently observe and convey unto us with all discretion. In this course you shall persist until such time as the appointed signal be given and the red moon doth rise.”

  The man didn’t say anything and stared at the floor.

  “This will suffice. Go.”

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  The man got in the carriage and was taken back to his room. The Queen wrote to the king of New Syntar that she had plans to set up a government cabin there. When the king read it, he went to Thavron and told him the news.

  “We have done something wrong. And this is her way of saying ‘you’re walking on thin ice.’” Handing Thavron the letter.

  Thavron read it and said, “what does she want? I was feeling happy that we got rid of all those illiterate bastards and now she writes us this.”

  Silence filled the room. But the atmosphere around them felt heavy. Then the king said,

  “Clouds?”

  “They would call that witchcraft.”

  “They are coming to storm us.”

  “They won’t. She won’t get a big taxpayer on her bad side.” “Her eyes are coming not her soldiers. Only thing we can do is not make the official have a bad opinion of us.”

  “If it wasn’t for our military not yet fully established, England would’ve hoisted the Syntarian flag.”

  “He is arriving in a few days, the official. The first thing we can do to make him have a good opinion, is by giving him a kingly welcome.”

  The king nodded.

  11th Umbrilis The official left for New Syntar in his carriage. Five days later, his carriage stopped in front of the gates of New Syntar.

  A crowd stood waiting for him. The king walked up to him and bowed in respect.

  “Welcome my lord, to this land of ours.”

  The official looked around.

  “We hope this welcome soothes you after your hard journey.”

  Banquet was held as a welcome to the official. He was served and treated better than the actual king.

  After the banquet, the official was led to his cabin. And the crowd full of smiles stood around him; waiting for him to go inside.

  The official looked around his cabin. He sat down at his desk.

  The bird that observes, the bird that remembers.

  The one that arrives where inauspiciousness is at its greatest.

  Is now sitting on a pole in New Syntar…Waiting for the red moon to rise.

  TO BE CONTINUED…

  Red moon…