<em>They were going to take her life</em>, thought Ancel de’Marteau as he stormed through from the stables towards the entrance of the main hall.  His face was stern and he paid no mind to any of the courtiers or servants milling about the common areas behind the walls of Collindor, his personal manse and keep.  The cool spring air did little to cheer him up, nor did the sun that was melting the snows of winter away.  There was mud caked onto his riding boots following a fast paced ride from Chene Hall, the manse of Lord Tormeu l’Daciux.<br/><br/>They had been friends for nearly twenty years, Ancel and Tormeu, following the establishment of the Order of the Golden Mane by Ancel following his coronation.  It wasn’t the first knightly order within Terracor’s borders, but this was King Ancel’s personal charge.  His companions and friends whom always rode into battle together, Ancel himself at the front of their formations.  Many of the original knights of the order held positions of power throughout the kingdom, from captains of the guards to his personal adviser, they had all served under the Order of the Golden Mane.<br/><br/>Lord Tormeu’s seat at Chene was on the edge of the King’s forest not half a day’s ride from Lac’vert, the host city to King Ansel and where his Collindor stood upon the highest hill of the city in its entire splendor.  It was at Chene where Tormeu told Ancel of the bandits his knights had caught in the Kingwood, who had revealed a plot of theirs to take the life of the queen.  They spoke of further treason against the recent marriage of the King to his young wife, of nearly the same age as his own son and heir.  That did change of course, for part of the contract when he married his young wife was that any male child they have should succeed the King's first son as the next in line for the throne.<br/><br/>This had caused a great stir, including with the Prince's wife to be.  Her father called off the wedding and this raised the tension between the two kindgoms. Further still, this new wife was the daughter of his adviser and there were many rumors running rampant here as well.<br/><br/>Ancel's ride took him swiftly through the streets, not seeing the commoners gathered to watch the king ride without his honor guard of knights from The Order.  There was no pause to explain himself to the guards at the gates of Collindor itself, nor the stable hands that watched curious as he leapt from his stallion at their doors and stormed off towards the main entrance hall.<br/><br/>He was greated by Sir Pil’iar, another compatriot from The Order and his acting seneschal.  He greeted the king at the door, “What is it my lord, what troubles you so?”  It was the eyes of Pil’iar that grabbed the king’s attention finally and he calmed down some.  Though it was only to bark at him, “Where is she, where’s my Queen?”  He entered the hall, looking around as if to fathom where she might be in the castle at this hour.  Little else was on his mind,<em>They were going to take her life</em>.<br/>