“I have some good news, people,” Boss said, smiling and reclining in his chair, his feet resting on the table.
“Ohh, what is it, Boss?” Natalie asked.
“First of all,” Boss said, removing his feet and leaning his elbows on the table, “You did an excellent job with that girl, Bryan.” Bryan beamed.
“It was easy, Boss. After you ordered the guards not to let her in, and to burn any letters she might send, she started feeling unloved, unwanted. I just showed up and filled the empty spaces in her mind with lies of how Prince Orion obviously didn’t care about her anymore, and how it was her fault that he was attacked before.”
“Mm-hmm,” Boss nodded, “just like you were supposed to. And now that he’s feeling so blue because his girlfriend hates him, he’s getting homesick.”
“That’s good, right?” Mac asked, “We want him to go back to Olhoe so we can call on the ATA and kill him, right?”
“Yes, that’s the plan, but,” Boss glanced at each of his followers, “we can’t do it right away.”
“How come?” Bryan asked, “Don’t we want to attack while he’s miserable and weak?”
“You don’t understand. I know Prince Orion better than that. I’ve seen him training, and he’s too much like his father, the telblec king. He won’t let a bad mood distract him from a fight. He’s not as weak as you think. No, we’ve got to think of something else,” Boss sighed, leaning back in his chair.
“How hard does he train?” Mac asked.
“Very. He exercises for at least an hour before sparring for another hour. Why?” Boss asked.
“Is he usually tired after training?” Mac pressed. Boss nodded. “Well, how about we attack him right after his training? That way-,”
“He will be too tired to defend himself,” Boss said, picking up on Mac’s idea, “Yes, that’s it! But we still need to get the ATA involved without anyone else knowing about it, and that will take time. Plus, we don’t have enough people. If we attack the telblec palace, we’ll have to pick up a lot of new members.” Boss grinned. Everything was falling into place.