Courtly Matters Part 7

"I heard the drums, late last night."

The look on the Baron's face was enough to satisfy the Duke of Colias that he had not been imagining things after all, nor had he been the only one to hear them.
  
"Has no one said anything?" Baron Filado de Ostraol asked, completely ignoring the looks of annoyance from the other nobles around them.

"No," the Duke of Coilas spat bitterly. "Since we have visiting vermin- excuse me- dignitaries with us, we're all to keep it quiet, by private order of the King. Where were you at that meeting?"

"Elsewhere," the Baron said elusively. "How much longer will this foolishness last?"

"I dare not think of it." The Duke said in frustrated exasperation. "It's a ruse, that's much for sure. I simply do not understand why the Crown refuses to see sense and let us mount our own attack."

"The drums will tell." The Baron sighed. "His Majesty should know better then to brush aside a warning such as the one he received. There is a fool on the throne, that much is certain."