Word reached the Dranvok capital before dawn, garbled and terrified, carried by soldiers who could barely explain what they'd witnessed without their hands shaking.
"The Emperor is gone," General Rhaek said, staring at the empty throne like it might explain itself if he glared hard enough. "Not dead. Gone. The reinforcements say Mr. Silver simply took him, along with four other heads of state, and vanished."
Strategist Velka's face had gone very pale. "Four others. All five of them, at once."
"We need to contact the other pillars," Rhaek said. "Immediately."
...
The messages crossed each other within the hour, five separate courts reaching for five separate lines of communication at almost exactly the same moment.
"Levetron confirms Iralith is missing," came the first reply, terse and clearly written by someone barely holding composure together. "We assumed this was a Dranvok operation."
