Consent

In the chambers of the High Court of the King were gathered nine of the ten ruling sages. They stood each in his place before the judgement seat where Zephyr sat. Kallida stood in the place of the second with Dehnhardt standing close behind him. There was an emptiness to his left.

"Where is Blackridge?" Kallida inquired in the form of a harsh whisper directed toward the young man standing behind him.

"Uh..." Kelvin moved his feet, uneasy.

'I wish I knew. He should have been here by now.'

"Like I said, all he told me was that he had some brief business to attend to that demanded his immediate attention," he reiterated to the Inquisitor for what must have been the fifth time, "and he told me to go on with you."

"I know, but I don't like that," Kallida whispered back again.

"Does the Inquisitor have something he would like to share with the Court?" Almauni's voice boomed from the place of the fourth seat of the Wartime Counsel.