Page 2Touching down lightly at Pol Virere he moved swiftly through the broad passageways of the green palace in the general direction of his office suites ignoring the salutes of the myriad colored gargoyles ensconced at each doorway as he went. Damn this Consilium he thought quickly ducking behind a tapestry into a narrow corridor. He detested the confinement of this route but his desire for speed overcame his revulsion and the halls were littered with bumpkins from the farm planes all endlessly discussing new developments in weather spell. He sniffed againEmerging from the garway he flexed and shuddered his wings to be rid of any spider webs before entering his administrative suite. Blessedly the four golden couches that dominated his outer offices were free of supplicants, only the reception goyle Nicole sat quietly at her post. Varede swept by the pale green gargoyle eyeing her with distaste. Aurum Brinmorte bred this shade personally, stationing them liberally among the other slaves of Pol Virere. An “honor” to accompany his new position the green and gold had said. Varede grimaced inwardly at the thought, just another way to mark the comings and goings of his domain. Brinmorte’s paranoia was matched only by his perversion but at least the paranoia was justified. Sporn would deal with the leader of the greens at the proper time, until then he would endure this indignity as he had all the others under the rule of Brinmorte de Virere, Aurum of the green planes. ”Admit none but Marcus”, he growled back over his wing at the goyle as she inclined her head in supplication. The inner office was another situation all together. Here both scribes snapped to attention as he moved through on route to his private gardens. Varede glanced in the direction of Rose a holdover from the previous ambassador. Recording the fact that the pale pink goyle did not stand with the others he drove thoughts of Brinmorte from his conscious mind. A house cleaning was in order, the sooner the better if that type of open insolence had taken hold. Nothing could be done about the green goyle of course but those that had served his predecessor Palen; they were quite a different matter. He would put Marcus on it second thing but dealing with the human came first. The perfume of cherry blossoms and acacia mingling in his nostrils was beginning to calm him. Palen may have been an incompetent fool when it came to selecting gargoyles but he was a master horticulturist the silver green thought as he reclined on a Draesgold couch near the fountain. He did his best thinking in gardens and this one was magnificent. Each plant selected to catch the glow of the nexus and reflect it back in deep green leaves and silver blossoms. With the setting of the last sun shadows deepened and green overwhelmed silver as Varede’s thoughts returned to the humans. Everything depended on finding the son of this human that dared call itself a king.The soothing babble of the fountain was replaced by the grating clicks of gargoyles coming from his inner chamber dragging the drakcyn’s attention rudely back to the present. “Stop that incessant clicking immediately Rose.” Varede commanded. “What is the problem here?” he asked striding back into the room.Quailing a bit at the ferocity of the drakcyn the pink began haltingly, “I am humbly sorry to have offended you my lord drakcyn but it was this gar.” She said pointing to the yellow veined black Marcus.At the sight of his security gar Varede’s anger turned too mild irritation. The goyle misinterpreting the drakcyn’s change in demeanor straightened and looked down her nose at the black. “He demanded an audience with you but would provide no details for the report my lord.” “And just who was that report for?” the black gargoyle asked casually.“Why for the ambassador Varede here. Not that it’s any of your business.” The pink sneered. “Well my dear incompetent if you had simply taken me to the Lord Varede I would have given him the information in drakcyn eliminating the need for your report all together.”
