Expensive incense burned along the council chamber walls, yet cedar smoke could not smother the blood scent seeping through Kenny Flint's bandages.
Angry voices overwhelmed the chamber's disciplined silence and rattled its tall windows.
Council meetings normally crawled through tedious procedure, yet today nobles crowded around the mahogany table and shouted until powdered faces turned red.
Duke Vahn of the Silver-Wing family struck the table with his palm.
"The report is absolute nonsense!" Vahn shouted.
Several goblets jumped against their saucers.
"Five-Shard knights do not get overwhelmed by a standard Gate breach," he continued.
"Either the leadership was incompetent, or your intelligence was wrong," Vahn added.
The Flint representative rose so abruptly that his black-and-silver chair scraped backward.
"Watch your mouth, Duke Vahn," he warned, gripping his dagger.
His court-polished armor displayed the Flint crest while one of his relatives sat broken beside him.
