[b]King Aral Otharion
The Royal Palace[/b]

Aral sighed with impatience as palace servants rushed to finish buckling on his armor, his people were likely dying with every second he was forced to wait. Everything had happened so quickly, these invaders had chosen a time to strike during which all of the kingdom's eyes were focused inwards. It was ruthlessly cunning. He could not imagine how they had mobilized so quickly. Fort Madaris would have sent word if they had come through the open passes, and it would be preposterous to assume they had circumvented the mountains entirely while still managing to arrive at the perfect date. That only left one logical solution, they had suffered the costs of forcing their army through the higher passes to the north. That meant if he mobilized the local garrison at Riarson he could find and sever their supply lines. However, that depended entirely on whether or not he could hold the capital here and now. If he fled, an option that he left open for consideration, he would not be able to hold Riarson with mountains on one side and their forces on the other.

With the final clasp of his armor tightened, King Aral swung the doors before him open and entered the war room. Most of those present were from the Knights, but there were officers from the Relic Constabulary, and other branches of the military, streaming in as well as runners to carry messages to those in the field and relay their relative positions. There were over half a dozen torches lit to combat the darkness and the heat had become stifling, but the officers didn't seem to notice as they focused on a map of Amaryth which lay stretched across the table. They hardly even seemed to notice he was there, but after taking a deep breath he stepped into their midst and prepared to do his best. "Sir Estyn, bring me up to speed."

"Your Majesty, now that you're safe perhaps it would be best if you allowed us to-"

"Sir Estyn, [i]bring me up to speed.[/i]" the King repeated, a spark of annoyance at the insubordination which was punctuated by the boom of nearby thunder. Odd, the sky had been blue before.

"Very well your Majesty. By sealing the gates we have cut off communication from our forces in the outer city, which we consider all but lost," he knocked down several red figurines on the map, which represented the troops left outside. "The darkness is making it impossible to survey the situation out there, but all gates to the inner city have been secured. Pikemen from the City Guard have been deployed to form up around the gates for [i]when[/i] they break through, if they can maintain this darkness indefinitely it is only a matter of time-" at that precise moment the darkness seemed to lift, but just as the officers began to rejoice the gloom began to settle in once again. "Well, either their evoker is weakening or that was some sort of signal. Let us hope it was the former."

"What of the Relic Constabulary?" King Aral asked, looking to several Constabulary Officers situated around the table.

"We have four battalions situated within the Inner City, and six outside. We have divided battalion three to cover the south and west gates, battalion two guards the north and battalion four the west. Battalion one is securing the Palace grounds as we speak, they doubtless have evokers capable of infiltrating our defenses." Aral surveyed the map with a fervent determination to make himself useful to his country, but there was little he could do.

"We have been forced onto the defensive, but now that we are fortified within the inner city we can do battle on our own terms. They will not catch us off guard again."