‘What?’ Kaz exclaimed.
‘You missed the whole thing with the treaty, son,’ Grandpa said. ‘I fear some of the kings have made alliances with the Librarians. They nearly got a motion through the Council to abandon Mokia entirely. That was defeated, but only by one vote. Those who were in favor of the motion are still working to deny support to Mokia. They have a lot of influence in the Council.’
‘But the Librarians tried to kill them!’ I exclaimed. ‘What about the assassination attempt?’
As a side note, I hate assassination. It looks way too much like a dirty word. Either that or the name of a country populated entirely by two donkeys.
Grandpa just shrugged. ‘Bureaucrats, lad! They can be denser than your uncle Kaz’s bean soup.’
‘Hey!’ Kaz said. ‘I like that soup!’
‘I do too,’ Grandpa said. ‘Makes wonderful glue.’
‘We need to do something,’ Kaz said.
‘I’m trying to,’ Grandpa said. ‘You should hear the speeches I’m giving!’
‘Talk,’ Kaz said. ‘Tuki Tuki is close to falling, Pop! If the capital falls, the kingdom will fall with it.’
‘What about the knights?’ I said. ‘Bastille, didn’t you say most of the Knights of Crystallia are still here, in the city? Why aren’t they on the battlefield?’
‘The Crystin can’t be used for that kind of purpose, lad,’ Grandpa said, shaking his head. ‘They’re forbidden from taking sides in political conflicts.’
‘But this isn’t a political conflict!’ I said. ‘This is against the Librarians. They infiltrated the Crystin; they corrupted the Mindstone! If they win, they’ll undoubtedly disband the knights anyway!’
Bastille grimaced. ‘You see why I’m on edge? We know all of this, but our oaths forbid us from taking part unless we’re defending a Smedry or one of the kings.’
‘Well, one of the kings is in danger,’ I said. ‘Kaz just said so!’
‘King Talakimallo isn’t in the palace at Tuki Tuki,’ Grandpa said, shaking his head. ‘The knights got him away to a safe location soon after the palace came under siege The queen is leading the defense.’
‘The queen of Mokia . . .’ I said. ‘Bastille, isn’t that . . .’
‘My sister,’ she said, nodding. ‘Angola Dartmoor.’
‘The knights won’t protect her?’ I asked.
‘She’s not heir to a line,’ Bastille said, shaking her head. ‘They probably left one guard to protect her, but maybe not. The knights in the area probably all went with the king or with the heir, Princess Kamali.’
‘Tuki Tuki is a hugely important tactical position,’ Kaz said. ‘We can’t lose it!’
‘The knights want to help, but we can’t,’ Bastille complained. ‘It’s forbidden. Besides, most of us have to be here in Nalhalla City to defend the Council of Kings and the Smedrys.’
‘Though the Council no longer trusts the Crystin like they once did,’ Grandpa added, shaking his head. ‘And they forbid the knights’ entrance to most important meetings.’
‘So we just end up sitting around,’ Bastille said, frustratedly knocking her head back against the backrest of her chair, ‘going through endless training sessions and throwing the occasional grenade at someone who deserves it.’ She eyed me.
‘Baking Browns, what a mess!’ Grandpa said. ‘Maybe we need some snacks. I work better with a good broccoli yogurt pop to chew on.’
‘First,’ I said ‘ew. Grandpa, that’s almost crapaflapnasti. Second . . .’ I hesitated for a moment, an idea occurring to me. ‘You’re saying the knights have to protect important people.’
Bastille gave me one of her trademarked ‘Well, duh, Alcatraz, you idiot’™ looks. I ignored it.
‘And the Mokian palace is besieged, about to fall?’ I continued.
‘That’s what it looked like to me,’ Kaz said.
‘So what if we sent someone really important off to Mokia?’ I asked. ‘The knights would have to follow, right? And if we had that someone take up residence in the Mokian palace, then the knights would have to defend the place, right?’