15— Lies and reasons

King Alok was not at ease. For some reason, he'd been unable to sleep, the burden of some matter he couldn't place his hands on was dragging his spirit down and refusing any thought of sleep. It was like someone was placing stones in his chest, rattling them around and creating discomfort. King Alok was, in plain words, weary.
Having tossed on his bed for the twentieth time, he sat up, determined to find out why he was so restless and put an end to it. He needed his sleep, even though they came with nightmares as their special package for him. He needed rest because he was starting to look like a crazed man with all the late night planning and thinking he'd been doing for the past few months.
His personal advisor had told him that he was using the kingdom matters as an escape from his growing and sinking depression. He was throwing himself into more affairs that concerned the kayaans, were sending spies and working on the Intel he was getting late into the night, on an empty stomach just so he wouldn't have to enter his chambers and remember his current state of loneliness.
Swinging his feet down, he silently wore his fuzzy slippers—something he would die before admitting he owned—and padded out of his room, heading towards his patio.
King Alok sighed, pausing at the entrance, almost afraid to even glide across the small but beautiful space. The building of a patio had been his wife's idea but the person he'd spent his time with there had been Chad.
He could remember sitting on the comfy chair, looking out into the forest as Chad had talked enthusiastically about his new technique for hunting down animals that required minimal blood shed.
Sure, Chad had been a liar and a cheat one too many times but still, king Alok still loved him and the kayaans had no right to kill him. It was not right. And if he'd been caught sleeping with their woman, so what? She was the one who had been trespassing.
Angrily, king Alok sat down on Chad's usual chair and sighed. It wasn't fair. He could still smell Chad on the fabric of this chair, his woodsy scent. He'd almost forgotten about how his son smelt and it was all the kayaans fault. They thought they were so powerful, king Alok bitterly thought, they thought they were so smart that they'd never lost a battle before.
Well, king Alok thought staring into the forest, they would soon get what was coming for them.
Their stupid belief of how they would be the most powerful supernaturals to ever walk the earth would soon be crumbled. Especially since their new commander was a child, king Alok thought with scorn. He would make their blood flow into their stupid river and their screams would grace the night air when he was done with them.
He would personally lead his armies into the kayaan lands and massacre them. He could feel his fingers shaking from where he'd stuffed them into the robe he was wearing.
His fingers were shaking with need, with the burning desire to hurt and the overwhelming urge to kill. He wanted to shed some blood, goddammit. It'd been so long since he'd felt this urge, the adrenaline coursing through his system and his mind sharper than ever. And he knew it was a good start.
All he was waiting for now, the only reason why he hadn't charged into the kayaan lands was because his new informat hadn't sent word on the goings of the kayaans.
Mirthlessly, he laughed and heard it echo into the still night which was still undisturbed, if he excluded the chirping of insects and the distant sound of night birds calling to each other.
King Alok wasn't someone who believed strongly in luck or fate or gods help him, the moon goddess as the kayaans so strongly believed. He prefered to think that he was a more realistic person, one who planned and executed it and took the glory when it all went right.
But, for the first time, he was starting to believe that maybe something was betting for him to win because things were going too well. Just this evening, someone had approached him and had voiced interest in being their informat.
King Alok had found it impressive that the person hadn't lost his life and had even had the guts to approach him, despite being one of the kayaans.
A kayaan person had volunteered to be his informat and had promised to pass top secret information if only they, the bear shifters, would wage a war against his people, the kayaans and wipe them out. He'd even specified that even if they lost the war, at least the priestess was to die and the new commander too.
King Alok didn't really have a choice but to accept the informat's contract because all in all, it was still a winning edge for him.
King Alok shifted in his seat, a cool breeze blowing his untamed hair and bringing his attention to the fact that he had not cut his hair in some while.
It was the reason why sometimes, being a bear shifter sucked. He grew hair faster than creepers grew on trees and also had a tendency to put on weight. None of the bear shifters were sinewy with muscle and lean like the vampires were.
Instead, they had this well fed look around them and were also big and brawny with muscle. It was always to their advantage either way and gave them a fighting edge over their opponents.
Another unfortunate occurrence was that the mayans were also well built, muscular and had a lot of stamina when it came to fighting. It was the reason why the kayaans could kick ass as well as they could. It was like they never tired out.
"My Lord," came the almost whispered but respectful voice of his new messenger, Cival. King Alok started from his thoughts, clearly not expecting someone to approach him that night.
Scowling at the now bowing man, he barked out rather unpleasantly.
"What do you want, Cival?"
Still bowing his head, Civil delivered the news that he was sure would please his master. He'd heard what happened to the last messenger and he didn't want that fate to happen to him too. Although, he clearly doubted that the messenger carrying bad news had been his fault.
"My Lord," Civil carefully began ,"I have received a message from the informat." He said, raising his head to address king Alok who now looked excited at the news.
"Well then, what does it say?" King Alok excitedly but impatiently said, sitting upright in his chair, the tired expression on his face was already dissipating as he anxiously waited to hear the news. The infiat had just started work but had already started work already. This was good news. King Alok had a nice idea of what the messenger would say but he was still anxious. This had better go well, king Alok thought eyeing the man, Civil who'd only started work yesterday. If it didn't go well, he was likely to spend the rest of his days in the dungeon, tied to a chair with salt water dripping into his eyeballs.
"The informant says that all is well, the new commander has started her work and that the kayaans are not tight on security like before. The informant says that something will be done tonight and blood will be shed, so you, my Lord, should prepare for the kayaans' visit," the messenger said, edging away as he saw the look on king Alok's face go from excited to thoughtful. At least, Civil thought breathing an inward sigh of relief, king Alok wasn't angry. Just deep in thought.
"Is that all?" King Alok asked, not knowing what to make of the message he'd just heard.
"Ah, no my Lord," Civil said, remembering the last bit of the massage.
"The informant also said it is mandatory that you learn the moves of the kayaans and teach your men these moves. The informant said we should look out for the next message which will be sent us and it contains the fighting moves." Civil summarized.
Hmmm, king Alok thought. He'd never expected the informat to be this precise but here Civil war, recounting what king Alok hoped was word to word of the informat's message. It was getting too good to be true.
King Alok had never thought so much about using the kayaans' moves against them and maybe even adding a touch of his own to confuse the kayaans who the informant had said would soon come to pay him a visit, but now that he thought of it, it made perfect sense.
"You can go,"he dismissed the messenger and Civil nodded once and disappeared into the night the same way he'd come.
King Alok got up from Chad's chair and slowly began to walk back to his palace. His mind was alive with the new information he'd just heard. The informant was going to provide more information on the kayaans and king Alok couldn't wait.
Striding inside his plan room, forgetting he was dressed in just his pajama bottoms and his robe, he barked at the guard who was keeping watch outside his chambers.
"Get the council members, tell them that I want to see them, all of them right now," the guard nodded, perhaps wondering why the king was holding a meeting in the dead if the night when the council members were probably asleep or hunting or doing gods knew what.
"Yes, my Lord," the guard bowed once and was already asking away when king Alok called him back.
"Tell them, as a side note, that if any of them disobey this order, their intestines will be fed to the crows by sunrise, I bet them that. You can go now," king Alok said in an even tone, already striding into the room and ignoring the way the guard practically scrambled and ran off to give the information to the council.
King Alok didn't give a damn if he was waking them up from whatever they were doing. The gateig the kingdom was already in their hands and he would kill anyone who tried to sabotage that by indulging in something as unimportant as sleep or food.
Two minutes later, the council members all scrambled into the room, some of their clothes were worn wrongly and were still carrying their bed hair and probably had a hint of morning breath. King Alok didn't care.
"I called you all today to inform you that the kayaan villager who approached us today to become one of our spies has delivered a message," king Alok said, watching the expression of each and every one of his council members. Open surprise and distrust played on their faces
"How do we know he's not a double crosser?'' Vinch asked one of his councilors. For someone who had bags under his eyes from the rude disruption of his sleep, his mind was sharp.
"I've checked him out. Besides," king Alok said, nonchalantly waving his hand, " he has more to lose than I do,"
"What was the message, my Lord?" Another council member asked.
Finally, someone who's smart, king Alok thought.
"The informant has promised to give us a message in which the fighting skills of the kayaans will be included. The informant had told us that we will soon have a visit from the kayaans so we should ready ourselves, the informant has also told us that the kayans new commander is nothing but a child who should be killed along with the priestess when we wage war," king Alok summarized, walking towards his window and looking out of it.
He heard a murmur go round the council members.
"My Lord, this is good news. All we have to do is pass the message to our warriors and they will be duly trained in the kayaans way of fighting. That way, we have a fighting edge over them." Vinch said, stroking his beard and king Alok rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Vinch, my thoughts exactly," he sarcastically drawled before looking at the other council members who looked duly pleased with the information.
"Well, tomorrow we'll start up a strategy and await the informers' next plan for us. On the side, our warriors will be training and once we've received a signal for a go ahead from the informat, we shall bring war to the filthy kayaans," king Alok said and watched as the council members had a roar of approval.
Things would go well, king Alok thought once more. He just wished Chad was here to see it.