Whispers of Fire Ch16 Ficbit – Entai

A/N: It’s going slowly – too much Drama in my life – but I’m trying to get this going again.

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The Dungeon Gate shimmered like night-dyed silk, rippling into stillness again as the rest of the Kou, plus one would-be king street rat tagalong, vanished off the face of the world. Leaving the three of them behind. Forgotten.

Just as our Prince planned.

Well, maybe not just as Prince Kouen had planned. Entai hmphed, tasting the settling dust even through his veil. Their prince had planned for his favorite Dungeon Creatures to take over as King Abhmad’s bodyguards, decimating the Royal Guard and army in the process. The king and nobles might have been willing to peacefully join the Empire, but experience gained in absorbing the last three kingdoms said the soldiers would be much more troublesome.

And if in the process the three of them just happened to guard his too-trusting little sister from her husband until he could be properly disposed of – well, two birds, one stone. Why should the Empire lose a princess and Djinn Warrior to an idiot?

So far this Cassim didn’t look like an idiot. Whether or not he’d survive what Judar was about to put him through…eh, fifty-fifty odds, Entai suspected. Judar could be vicious when he liked someone.

But that was a problem for later, Entai thought, cracking his neck as he looked over the crowd of witnesses. Ambassadors. Whatever. Half-dozen of them plus Sinbad; and it’d be very stupid to underestimate the King of Sindria, even without his Metal Vessels. The man had gotten through at least one Dungeon completely on his own, with no Magi and no mortal help. He wouldn’t be an easy fight.

Then again, Entai had Engi, Enshin, and Enshin’s monkey-horde behind him. Entai liked those odds.

He huffed a breath that really required at least one trunk for full effect, and smirked behind his veil. Their master had been right to send them along, if wrong about who was actually going to be the problem.

High Priest Judar. Raising a Dungeon. In a land we haven’t even conquered yet!

Chaos. Disaster. Blood, death, and screams.

…And that was Judar all over the place, which meant someone should have realized this would happen. The Magi couldn’t last three weeks without a dose of deadly chaos.

Entai didn’t know if Judar had planned to kill King Abhmad in the process. But given how the magical brat’s eyes narrowed whenever someone else even looked crossly at his “hag”, Entai wouldn’t put it past him.

Problem was, Judar’d done it in front of witnesses. Noble, ambassadorial witnesses from half a dozen other nations the Kou Empire couldn’t conquer immediately.

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