E

"Here's what you requested."
Joan set down a bowl of noodles and a copy of today's newspaper on the table by Elektor's bedside.  Elektor hasn't read anything since he arrived to Kaph.  But reading is not one of those skills that fade away so easily.  He instinctively looks at the top right corner of the front page.
"So, it's been almost four years now.  Who would've thought I would make it this far."  Elektor laughs, a fake laugh, a very sarcastic laugh. 
"Yes, four years."
Elektor puts down his fork and picks up the paper.  In the center of the front page in big bold font, "THE SESSIND'S FRONT CRUMBLES: IKRA THE UNDEFEATED MARCHES ON."
"How pathetic.  I warned those idiots and they still didn't listen."  Elektor lets out a long sigh and puts down the paper to finish his meal.
"I am going to bed early tonight so don't bring me dinner."
"Understood."
The previous embarrassment has long passed Joan's thoughts.

In the dead of the night, a great explosion wakes Elektor.
"What the hell.  Joan, what's going on?!"
But Joan is not there.  The central alarm starts ringing and several more explosions fire off, each getting closer to the compound.  Each explosion sends a wave of blue and green light into Elektor's room through those prison windows.  If Elektor didn't realize what happened after the first explosion, he certainly knows now.  Kaph is under attack.
"Damn this shit."
Elektor tries to flee his room but it is locked from the outside.
"Of all times, are you serious?"
Elektor hears panic and footsteps in the hallways.  He bangs on the door with his fists, screaming and yelling for someone to open the door.  The central alarm begins to ring in a different pattern.  Elektor recognizes the code, after all he devised it for the kingdom back in the day.  At last, his door slides open.  It's Joan.
"Quickly, follow me."  Joan commands Elektor.  She grabs his hand and runs to the opposite direction as the fleeing prisoners and caretakers. 
"Where are we going?"
"I am not a spy.  Not for the king anyways.  This corridor is directly under the control of Lord Kaph.  We brought you here because the king began to make his move."
"The king is attacking this place?  He has to be out of his mind."
"A lot of politics has been going on in the time you spent idling around in here.  Lord Kaph respected your wishes and left you alone for as long as he could but I couldn't stand by seeing him agonize as he watched his position get worse and worse by the day."
Politics.  A deadly arena.  Years ago Elektor played this game as the king's advisory reform committee that eventually became the king's right arm, the king's council.  This was five kings ago.  Four years, five kings.  The most turbulent era in the kingdom's recent history.  The political stage has been so toxic it was akin of criminal organizations.  Once you get in, you never get out.  That's why reform was needed and that's why reform was enacted.  Under the committee, the nobility's powers were curbed, the financial district was effectively destroyed, and the military was tamed.  But when the king died without an heir, the tension ruptured.  When the council's demise was imminent, Elektor knew the only way to survive was to leave this hellhole.  He seek refuge and found haven in Kaph's prison.  At the height of the council's power, Kaph was one of two only men in the kingdom that the council could never touch.  Kaph and his prison has always been a thorn by Elektor's side.  Within Kaph's domain, the only royal presence is a meager intelligence unit stationed on the ground floor of his prison establishment.  In here, Kaph housed many political enemies and prisoners.  The intelligence unit's primary goal is to relay any suspicious activities of the prisoners back to the king but more importantly, to monitor Kaph's actions.  This was a tough move that Elektor helped initiate but ultimately the unit was handled by the military.  Elektor came to Kaph with the help of several military strongmen that sympathized with Elektor.  These strongmen are all dead, save Ikra, a man that Elektor implanted in the military as his handle on them.
"The monster you have created is besieging your fortress, Lord Elektor.  There is no escape.  Fate dictated you save the throne from the evils within.  Now fate dictates you save the people from the evils on top."      
"Lord Kaph, blunt as ever."
Joan opens her mouth.  "Fight the war on our side, milord."  This was the first time she spoke in Kaph's presence without asking for permission.  Yet another explosion.  Boom.