The Crown's Entrapment

Darius sighed deeply as he gave Xen a loving kiss on her forehead. He then carefully and quietly got up from their bed, moving deliberately to get ready. Dressing himself up, he walked straight to his private study, where everyone was already gathered and waiting for their arrival. Darius knew that Xen should also be with them, but he just didn't have the heart to wake his wife upon seeing how deep she was in her slumber. His Queen needed as much rest as she could for her fight anyway.

Entering the study, Darius first turned to Jayra and asked, "How long will the spell for Lady Shila last?"

Jayra sighed as she replied, "Four to five days at most, Your Majesty," Jayra sighed in reply. "I'm sorry... I'm just not able to make it last any further than that..."

Darius nodded in appreciation. "You did your best, milady. No one has ever achieved such an accomplishment like this before other than yourself, so be proud of what you've managed to achieve." He then gratefully added, "I'm more than grateful enough for the help you've extended to us. We'll do our best to execute everything in the given time and not prolong it for longer than four days to ensure Lady Shila's safety..."

He then looked at Calypso and reminded, "Make sure to hold yourself back in these crucial times, Cousin. We're this close to putting Nasser down after years of waiting, so let's not put my wife's efforts to waste just because we couldn't put a lid on our emotions."

Calypso's expression shook his head in acknowledgment. His expression was still as dark as the night sky, but he nodded at him regardless. With a frown, he whispered, "I understand. I'll try my very best not to go off and kill him before his time."

"Don't TRY! But DO your best!!!" Gideon hissed at Calypso from the sidelines, earning a scoff from the man in question.

Ignoring the sudden remarks, Darius turned to the rest of the group for his next words. "For now, our main focus will be tomorrow's fight," he informed them. "Once Xen has assumed her right of possession  for the crown, Nasser will go down shortly after."

He then turned his gaze to Jayra and added, "Wizard Magnus is currently on his way here. Lady Jayra, you two will have to work together to make sure that the entirety of Nasser's past will be played throughout the Kingdom as soon as the battle is finished and I've proclaimed Xen as my Queen..."

With the plan now out in the open, the atmosphere inside his private study became thicker by the seconds the more they discussed the final plan amongst themselves.

Calypso and Bartos had already begun their move in gathering further evidence in accordance with the details inscribed on the parchments Xen brought with her inside her sack, and any and all information they could get was further shared with the group to further expedite the process.

Time was very much golden, and Darius didn't want to waste a single second in bringing down Nasser as fast as they could.

Looking at Gideon, the man immediately understood his king's gaze as he went on with his report. "I've already relayed your request both to Gilas and Clara. Gilas will make sure that Lady Shila will be present tomorrow in the tournament, hopefully, with Clara's help to make everything go as smoothly as possible..."

Darius nodded. Gilas didn't have enough details on what had happened, but he was immediately given instructions for him to bring his mother to the arena tomorrow so that Jayra could perform her spell and give the woman her potion right before the tournament ended.

It might irk the man a bit since they purposely left him out of the finer details of the plan, but operational security was paramount to these kinds of fabricated conspiracies. They just couldn't afford for anything in these discussions to leak, especially to the wrong ears that might give Nasser a bit of warning to try and head them off before they could enact it all.

"Good," Darius nodded in approval. "Also, if Gilas asks or if he notices something, just tell him that the plan is happening. We still can't afford for him to be a double agent for Nasser, even if he had already proven that he's more than ready to cooperate with us. And even then, the old man might just be keeping a close eye on everything he does. It's just not worth it to bring him into our circle. At least, not as he is now."

"Agreed," Calypso grunted. "Still, can't this all happen a bit faster? I'm really itching to cave the old man's head in."

"Not yet, Cousin," Darius insisted. "However, there is a way for it to go faster, and that is if Xen dominates in her fight against Pinra. It won't be favorable to us, however, since Lady Jayra will need all the time she could get to prepare the mass vision spell along with Wizard Magnus."

"And that's also only going to happen once I've cast the protection spell on Lady Shila," Jayra sagely added. "So if the woman in question can arrive earlier, I'll be able to move into position earlier as well, thus making the preparation time shorter than it should be."

"Good to know," Darius acknowledged the added information Jarya said before then turning to Gideon. "Gideon, if you can, have Gilas bring his mother into the arena sooner. This is in case Xen would actually finish the match faster than expected. If not, then at least we'll have more time to truly make sure that the spell would be solid and failproof while the visions are being played."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"From there, we'll have to be ready to arrest him," Darius finished off. He then turned to Bartos and Calypso as he added, "I'll be the one to announce the orders a few seconds after the visions have played out, and our men will have to be ready to make sure he won't be able to slip out of our grasp and escape."

"I'll add a regiment to the arena's security then," Bartos nodded.

"And make sure they won't look like soldiers," Calypso quickly added. "Don't want the old bastard to catch on before his time."

Darius hummed in agreement. Looking at the chamber and what they'd hashed out, he was sure that this would be the end of all their troubles. At least, for the inner working of Cordon. Surely, after all of this was over, they'll be able to finally present a united front against their foreign enemies threatening to conquer them and their allies.