The Court

Odi led Lauren and Ben down the halls. "It feels weird," Lauren said after a while."

"What does?" Odi replied.

"It's just the two of us. I miss Amias."

Odi did not miss a beat. "I miss him too." Odi stopped in front of a pedestal with a dark object under a glass case.

"Is that…" Lauren began.

"It is," Odi said as he pointed to a golden plate with the words "Piece of the bottom of the Obsidian Lake. Found by Amias Raydn" engraved on it. "This is the piece he gave me before the Battle of Cardell."

A lump formed in Lauren's throat. She was there when Amias made his journey to the bottom of the lake, which was his fathers wish before he died.

"Amias," Ben murmured. "He was Fallon's son right? I remember him from when he was little."

"We should continue," Lauren said, not wanting to think about what Icas had done anymore. Odi nodded and continued down the hall.

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"Here we are!" Odi exclaimed once they reached a large set of double doors at the end of the hall. He opened the doors (and had to pull hard on them, for they were extremely heavy, wooden doors).

Inside, the room was even larger than the throne room had been. Paintings decorated the walls. Some were of people, others were of animals and landscapes. I'll have to look at those later, Lauren thought.

In the center of the room, was a large rectangle shaped mahogany table with the shorter end facing the front and back of the room. A large throne sat at the very back. There were men in smaller throne-looking chairs lining the sides of the table. They all turned to stare at the group that entered. Lauren immediately recognized the Knights of Evermore on the right side. She saw Kalzin, Hadrian, Elina, and Maline. She was disappointed when she didn't see William, but this was not the time to be thinking about that.

"Lauren, Ben," Odi said. "I would like you to meet my court…" Lauren zoned out. A couple of the members were staring at her with suspicious looks. One of them with black hair and a black beard looked vaguely familiar to her. She had seen him before.

After some formal greetings, Lauren pulled Odi aside. "Where is William? Icas's son?"

"He is in the stables," Odi said with a twinkle in his eye. "Ever since you left, he couldn't stop talking about you."

"Really?" Odi nodded.

Lauren ran out the door and down the halls until she was outside. She had to ask someone for directions once, but she finally found the stables. When she got there, she saw a very familiar boy grooming a very familiar black horse.