Page 79 of Morel Dilemma

“I don’t know; Rolf isn’t afraid to get assertive when he feels he deserves a tip.”

Tassani nodded to one of his lieutenants, and the male elf led the rest of the troops into the hallway, the storeroom, and one dared stride into the kitchen. Instead of replying to Rylana’s last comment, Tassani lowered his voice to say, “The queen has decided to accept Jildarin’s invitation and visit this establishment tonight for a meal of mushrooms.”

Rylana nodded. “Jildarin invited her personally.”

“So I heard. These elves are here to search the premises to make sure there’s nobody present who’s a threat to the queen.”

Two elves jogged out the front door and turned toward the stairs leading to the rooftop.

Rylana thought about protesting their presumptuousness, but Jildarin, despite being deep in his preparations, must have noticed their arrival and wasn’t saying anything.

“Another ten to fifteen elves will arrive with the queen. Some will stand at her shoulder while she dines and protect her. Others she invited to enjoy the dragon chef’s food while acting as deterrents to anyone with hostile intent who might arrive during the meal.” Tassani raised his eyebrows. With significance?

“If you’re thinking of Sylin, you must realize by now that she doesn’t have hostile intent. She helped lift the curse and is only curious about the queen. For reasons I assume you know.”

After all, he’d been at the boathouse for the meeting between Sylin and Layothlee.

“Yes. I don’t believe there will be trouble, but others have said they won’t allow naivety to endanger the queen.” Tassani gazed at the lieutenant who was walking back through the dining room on his way up to the rooftop. “I also…” He gazed at her pensively and chewed on the corner of his lip. “Other than Jildarin, and yourself, of course, have you any security defenses here?”

“You don’t think a dragon is a sufficient security defense on his own?”

“Generally, yes, but since he can’t turn into his native form outside of his lair—” Tassani pointed toward the ceiling to suggest the outside he had in mind, “—I can’t weigh his ability to defeat enemies as highly as usual.”

“I’ve seen him caramelize desserts without striking a match and carry a gnomish commercial oven down the block as if it were a sack of flour. I’d weigh his abilities quite highly, even when he’s in human form.”

“Yes, of course,” Tassani murmured but didn’t appear reassured.

“Out of curiosity, why do you believe the diner needs additional security measures? Especially considering you’ve brought your legion of elves and say more are on the way.” Rylana waited for him to correct her again on the size of a legion, but there wasn’t any humor in his eyes as he shook his head.

“I just have… a bad feeling,” he said.

“Wait, do you think the legion itself is the threat? The people you command?”

Tassani exhaled a slow breath, appearing like he hadn’t wanted to suggest that. And yet, he was here talking with her and essentially giving her a warning.

“Nobody has said anything to suggest they won’t follow my orders tonight, but I’ve caught a few surreptitious looks and whispered exchanges that are making me uneasy.”

“Among your own people?”

“Among some of them. I spoke to the elected elders who oversee the elven military in the north—my superiors, essentially—about leaving certain of these warriors back at the enclave, but they said my concerns were in my imagination. And maybe they are. But I’ve been unsettled since learning about your friend’s relation to the queen and that I wasn’t told the real reason we were supposed to seek her out. As a captain and distant relative to the queen, I’m not usually kept out of the loop, but I’ve also never immersed myself in political matters. In fact, after glimpsing the machinations that got us into the Ore War and saw so many of our people killed, I’ve formed a particular aversion to politics.”

“No soldier loves them. People who’ve never engaged in fisticuffs, much less outright battle, sit in their comfortable meeting rooms and decide the fates for the rest of us without much concern over whether we live or die.”

“As true for your people as mine, I’m certain,” Tassani said. “We soldiers are but chaffs of wheat blown about by tumultuous winds.”

“Did you know dragons and ogres are the only intelligent species whose rulers also commonly lead their troops into war?” Rylana thought that was a good system. People were less likely to sacrifice soldiers when they themselves were in the process of leading from the front of the formation.

“I did know that. They’re the most bellicose and aggressive of species.”

“My dragon ally is currently mincing mushrooms and might be offended if you lumped all of his kind in as aggressive.”

“During the war, I witnessed your dragon ally breathing fire to blow up munitions wagons while carrying his elven archer ally into battles in which they left hordes of fallen enemies in verdant valleys where the streams ran crimson with blood in the aftermath.”

Rylana waved a hand in agreement to the idea that the dragon reputation for being deadly wasn’t overstated. “That’s probably where he refined his ability to mince.”

“Mince, chop, sear, roast, barbecue, flambé…”

“He excels at those, yes. What do you want me to do, Tassani? Hire security guards to come to the diner tonight? It’s not like they would be able to carry weapons that weren’t tied by tranquility ribbons. Besides, if we had a bunch of heavies here, wouldn’t your lieutenant consider them a threat to the queen and question their presence?”