‘Where are we going?’ Sarah asked confused when Linea left the palace.
‘To the meeting with Lord Urundir in the War Council’s rooms,’ Linea answered absentmindedly. She looked around the courtyard in front of the main entrance and searched for a high-ranking guard, who was supposed to accompany her. But no one was to be found. She walked over to one of the palace guards.
“You there!” she snarled at him. “Where is the guard that I asked for?”
If the man was offended by her snarky tone, he didn’t show it. Instead, he snapped to attention and saluted.
“Captain Tuvadunir just started his shift, Your Royal Highness. He was informed of your order and is currently overseeing the preparation of your personal carriage. He should be here shortly.”
Linea groaned over this.
“Go and search for him,” she ordered. “And tell him to leave the carriage. They are to prepare my horse.”
The guard seemed to hesitate for a second, but Linea’s stern look convinced him.
As he was about to leave, Linea quickly added, “And tell them to mount my travel saddle, not the sidesaddle.”
‘Okay, are you telling me now, where we are going?’ Sarah asked again after Linea had calmed down a bit. ‘I don’t know where this ‘War Council’ is, but apparently not here. And why are you so pissed?’
‘I’m pissed, because those idiots just invited me to a meeting, which I don’t want to attend. But because the one inviting me is important enough, I can’t decline the invitation without insulting him,’ Linea explained, but tried to shorten the explanation as she didn’t feel like talking right now. ‘And the War Council is a set of high-ranking nobles that often meet to discuss our military situation regarding foreign threats and Torra activity.’
Sensing Linea’s petulance, Sarah opted for a quick thankful feeling and withdrew from Linea’s consciousness. Linea closed her eyes for a moment trying to compose herself. She even stretched herself a bit and was happy that Tenasia had convinced her to wear her dress armor. The dress armor was a type of clothing especially common in Luna’sindra and Tali’sindra, two of the three Elven nations, where females had a lot more to say and often went to battle alongside the male populace. It was designed to allow mobility, while retaining enough protection, without forgoing the esthetic aspect of clothing. How much armor a woman added to her dress armor depended heavily on her fighting style. In Linea’s case, she wore only a mithril breastplate for her chest, while leaving the shoulders in the open. This allowed for more agility in the upper torso. The dress itself, which was the name giving part of a dress armor, was only nominal for Linea. It just covered a bare minimum of her butt and was rather loose. This had caused a pretty harsh fight with her mother, who assessed Linea’s dress armor as ‘inappropriate’. But as usual Linea had sit out the fight and had stubbornly insisted on it. She simply wanted nothing coming in the way of her movement.
The ensemble was completed by moon silk trousers, bracers made of mithril silk and a pair of dark mithril plate boots.
Overall her dress armor was one of the most expensive pieces of clothing in Linea’s direct possession and she was extremely proud of it. The combination of Midnight Blue moon silk and silvery-white mithril gave her gravitas.
At least in her eyes.
For the occasion she had added a black cloak for the short ride from the palace to the keep where the meeting was about to take place.
A few minutes later the guard returned together with a dark toned Sun Elf on horseback. The guard also led a beautiful black mare to Linea.
“Your Royal Highness, it is my honor to escort you to the keep,” Captain Tuvadunir said. “A group of my guards is waiting outside the front gate. I was told that the squire of Lord Urundir will accompany us.”
Linea only nodded and took the mare’s reins from the guard, who bowed and left. Linea skillfully leaped onto her horse and caressed the neck of the mare.
“Hey girl,” she said softly. “Missed me?”
The horse replied with blowing through her nostrils and shaking her head.
“All right, let’s get going,” Linea answered with a chuckle.
When they moved out of the main gate, the guards awaited them and positioned themselves around the princess. Lord Durandir was allowed to ride beside Linea.
As they rode towards the keep, which was in the northern district of Luna’sindranar, Lord Durandir tried to strike up a conversation with Linea.
“They told me about your blessing yesterday, Your Grace,” He said with a smile. “I congratulate you on this feat. It must be an honor for you and your house.”
“Thank you very much, Lord Durandir. It is an honor as you say.” Linea answered tersely.
For a short time, neither of them talked, but it was Lord Durandir, who picked up the conversation again.
“I heard interesting rumors caused by your blessing. People seem to expect you to be titled as the new heiress to the throne, because of the obvious favoritism of our goddess,” he said and starred at Linea awaiting her reaction.
“Well, those are very interesting rumors,” Linea agreed and gave him a fake smile. “I would be thrilled to learn, where they might come from.”
“That’s hard to say, My Lady,” Lord Durandir said with a sly smile. “Since even the lower class attended your blessing, these rumors could have been started anywhere.”
Linea nodded without commenting on it. She subconsciously brushed over her forehead where Luna’s mark still glowed.
‘Well, that was way too obvious…’ Sarah stated.
‘True,’ Linea agreed. ‘But to be fair, he’s the squire of one of our greatest warriors. Not a spymaster. When we arrive at the keep, I expect higher ranking people to be present, who most likely will try to force me to reveal more about my blessing, instead of just beating around the bush.’
‘But why are you going then? Or why is your mother even allowing you to come?’
‘She is probably fed up with me, because I didn’t tell her anything. Perhaps she used Lord Urundir’s meeting as an excuse to lure me out of my comfort zone,’ Linea mused. ‘But it doesn’t matter, I will not tell them about you.’
When Linea and her escort reached the keep of the city, they were led towards one of the bigger halls. Linea frowned as she noted that they didn't go to the rooms commonly used by the War Council.
‘Something is going on,’ she noted for Sarah. ‘We are brought into the ‘Hall of Heroes’. That means that there are more people involved than I expected.’
‘Will this be a problem?’ Sarah asked concerned.
‘I don’t know. Mother never invited me to a meeting here,’ Linea admitted. ‘I only heard of them from Tarina. If the full War Council is summoned, the main hall is the only place big enough inside the keep. The whole council comprises over fifty people, I believe.’
‘That’s a lot for a council,’ Sarah noted.
‘We have one of the greatest military potentials in the world, since we are bordering the human empire to the south, and another human kingdom to the north-west. We’re the buffer zone between the Elven and the human realms,’ Linea explained in a few words. ‘Even though we haven’t had a war with the humans or two hundred years, they will strike in the same moment we let our guard down.’
Before the two could exchange more words, they had reached the doors leading into the Hall of Heroes.
The guards in front of the door saluted and knocked on the door. A man in fancy robes came out of the room, looked at Linea and nodded, saying nothing. He instead opened the door fully, hammered his staff against the stone floor three times and waited for the attending people to get quiet.
“Her Royal Highness, The Princess Linea, Bearer of Luna’s Blessing!” he announced and then slammed his staff on the floor again. “And Lord Durandir of House Turana!”
Durandir made a bow in front of the attending people, whose attention was now focused on the new arrivals. Linea followed suit by making a curtsy even if just barely.
The hall was round and had a lowered center in which a large table stood. Around this table, roughly fifty people sat in three circles. Her mother and sister sat on the farthest side from her, but the closest to the table. The chair beside Tarina was empty and Linea assumed it to be for her.
Before she took place, or someone could address her, she walked over to one statue at the walls of the hall. The statue represented a man with a bow and a woman with a sword staff. Linea got down on her knees and laid one hands on the pedestal on which the statue stood.
‘Thank you for your heroic sacrifice and may your souls rest among our ancestors,’ she prayed.
‘Your aunt and uncle?’ Sarah asked to which Linea mentally nodded. She got up and went towards her mother, her sister, and a huge man, who sat beside them.
“Lord Urundir, I have appeared as summoned,” she said trying to sound neutral. “How may I be of help to the Council?”
“The queen asked me to send someone to inform you that your attendance would be necessary, My Lady,” Lord Urundir answered with a quick side look at the queen.
Linea suppressed a groan.
“Forgive my confusion,” Linea pressed on. “As I’m neither part of the War Council nor do I have any military position, I believed my individual skills or knowledge would be required.”
Before Lord Urundir could reply, the queen exhaled.
“Sit down Linea,” she ordered, and Linea realized that her mother was much more agitated than expected.
Linea sat down on a chair beside her bigger sister, who looked at her with an apologetic gaze. Linea just shrugged and focused at the discussion that unfolded before her when the focused shifted away from her.
“Lord Urundir,” the queen said and looked at the armored man. “You have summoned the full War Council. Even though not all its members currently reside within the city, they all have sent a dignitary to represent them. Will this be enough?”
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“It will,” Lord Urundir stated. “The problem at hand is important, but not immediately dangerous. There is still time for the honored members of this council to reconvene at a later point in time.”
“Very well, you may begin.”
Lord Urundir gave a sign to a robed man at the side of the room. The man said a small incantation and stretched out his hand towards the table. On top of the table, a map of Luna’sindra suddenly appeared as a three-dimensional construct.
To Linea’s surprise she felt the magical power flow inside the man. Even more disturbing, she felt how the warm and welcoming Ley-Energy was transformed into something cold and threatening. The energy dissipated quickly however from the mage’s body.
‘Was that…’ Linea started flabbergasted.
‘Void-Energy!’ Sarah added as surprised as Linea. ‘I felt that as well.’
‘This is the first time, I felt something like this. I didn’t even know someone could feel magic like this.’
‘Could it be because I’m with you now? Proximity could strengthen us if what Luna said is correct. Perhaps this is one of my abilities leaking to you?’
‘It’s possible…’ Linea said, but Lord Urundir interrupted her thoughts.
“We have received disconcerting news from The Marquess, Lord Ranadir of Myrana,” he said and a point on the map flared up in red and the name of the city appeared. “It seems that the empire has conscripted an army and positioned them at our southern border. Our spies could not find out the reason for this. Even though the army is roughly five thousand men strong, it is not nearly strong enough to be a major threat to us. The walls of Myrana and the city's garrison should be enough to repel any attack from that army.”
“If there is no major threat, why have you called us then?” someone asked.
“I was coming to that,” Lord Urundir said and frowned at the man. “This is the reason for summoning you.”
He gave the mage from before another sign and the map got an overlay with different colors ranging from pale green to yellow.
“This is a map of Torra activity from last month,” he explained, and a few people nodded in understanding. “As you can see, as usual at the foot of the mountains and deeper into the forest, the activity is existent, but not threatening. Around the cities the activities are less due to the Void Hunters.”
He gave the mage the next sign, and the map changed its colors. Around two eastern cities, Taldira and Anir, the color changed from yellow to bright green.
A loud gasp ran through the member of the council.
“These are the recorded activities from this month. You know, what this means,” Lord Urundir said.
‘I can’t quite follow,’ Sarah admitted. ‘Does the color green mean something bad in your world?’
‘No, green means less or no activity, which is a good thing,’ Linea quickly explained. ‘But the sudden decrease of activity in a region has certain implications.’
‘Oh, I get it,’ Sarah suddenly said. ‘Those Torra weren’t coordinated, but when they disappear, then someone has his finger in the pie!’
‘A finger in the pie?’ Linea asked in amusement.
‘It’s a phrase in my world,’ Sarah said waved it off. ‘It means that someone has his hands in something.’
‘Well, then it’s on point, because a dark mage has most likely subjected all those monsters and prepares them for an attack.’
‘Which is bad!’
‘Correct.’
“As you all know, I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lord Urundir continued. “In my opinion a surge is imminent, and the empire is involved somehow. I don’t know yet how those two facts are tied together, but they are. We should prepare and move the Royal Army into the duchy of Avandir in case of emergency. It would allow us to send fast reinforcements to Taldira and Anir, if the dark mage attacks, or Myrana and Kandir, if the empire attacks.”
“Duke Tarundir won’t be pleased with that,” a man objected and crossed his arms.
“The Duke’s sensitivities should not stand in the way of our people's safety,” another one countered.
“It’s not only about his wishes, but deploying the Royal Army is expensive. I would suggest only sending two regiments. One to Myrana and one to Taldira. Also, the expenses should be paid by the crown,” the first one argued.
Cutting the nascent discussion short, the queen raised her hand.
“We’re not here today to argue about finances. Having the empire mobilizing an army at our border is disconcerting, but not threatening. At least not on this scale,” she said and looked at a woman to her left. “Send a message to Marquess Ranadir. He is to prepare his people for temporary conscription. I will not waste money for something that most likely won’t happen. Have him deal with it. Advise him to stockpile food in case of a siege. If the humans are stupid enough to attack, he will buy us the time we need to rally our armies.”
“As you wish, Ma’am!”
“The dark mage is of a greater concern,” the queen continued. “Lord Urundir, I wish for the Void Hunters to send out multiple scouting parties to determine the severity of the threat. If there is a dark mage, I want to know how strong he is and how many beasts he subjugated.”
“Very well, Ma’am.”
Queen Arania looked at Linea.
“Princess Linea, is there anything you want to add to this?”
The question caught Linea by surprise. Everyone looked at her and expected her to answer. It was one thing to deny her mother an answer in private, but this was a question from a queen to one of her subjects. She could theoretically keep silent, but it would make her mother appear weak. It was clear that her mother wanted to know if her blessing was in any way related to the situation.
“I have no concrete advice to give, mother,” Linea answered. “However, I would suggest not underestimating this threat.”
“So, you know something about this?” Queen Arania probed deeper.
“No. Like I said, I have nothing concrete at hand.”
“Fine,” her mother gave in after a few seconds of intensively starring at her. “Lord Urundir proceed as I said. The Council will meet again in two weeks and discuss our next steps.”
With her decree, the queen rose from her seat and made her way out of the Great Hall without giving Linea a second glance. Linea and her sister stayed behind, both deep in thought.
‘She was not happy with that answer,’ Sarah commented, and Linea had to agree.
‘But what did she expect me to say? I mean, perhaps this is the threat, the goddess talked about. Or it’s not. How should I know?’ Linea complained.
‘Try to keep calm,’ Sarah tried to relax her soul sister. ‘I suggest we get back to the palace and you get some sleep. Tomorrow you give me some lessons about the big players and our situation, and then we will decide what we can tell your mother. She strikes me as a rather impatient person.’
‘That’s true,’ Linea admitted. ‘She can be very persistent. I had hoped that she would at least give me a few days.’
‘Nothing we can do about it now.’
‘But I’m still angry that they called me to this charade, just because she can’t wait a few days.’
----------------------------------------
The next night gave Linea a bit of free time. Her mother and sister were off to clear problems in the duchy of Luna’sindra, which was the heart of the queendom. The queen held the title of Duchess of Luna’sindra and her queendom while the first-born daughter and heir to the throne would receive the title of Countess of Luna’sindra. When the heiress bore her first daughter as well, the queen would cede the title of Duchess to her own daughter, while the granddaughter would be the new Countess of Luna’sindra. This system ensured that the future queens of Luna’sindra would always be experienced enough to reign wisely.
This, however, led to Linea’s mother and sister being absent for now, which gave Linea and Sarah some much needed time alone. Linea had already moved to the library of the palace. It was not the biggest library in the city, but it was sizable enough for their purpose. And best of all, no one would disturb them. Since her mother and Tarina were out of the city and Senia never set a foot into the library, only Tovandir could bother her. But he had no reason to get in his sister’s way. Nora had excused herself as she didn’t want to ‘be bored in between millions of books’.
‘Where do we start?’ Linea asked unsure of what Sarah wanted to know.
‘Geography,’ Sarah said. ‘Most political struggles start with territorial quarrels. Would be helpful to know where we are and who is around us.’
Linea nodded and walked over to a shelf and pulled out a big atlas. She took the book to some sitting accommodations in the middle of the library where two maids served her some snacks and wine.
“Thank you, that’s all I need,” Linea said to them. “I’ll call, if I need something else.”
Both women made a curtsy and hurried outside.
Linea dropped on the couch and opened the atlas. After skimming some pages, she stopped at a big double-sided map, which was labeled ‘Kavaris’.
‘This is our world,’ Linea said. Before them was a painting of a big continent which was rather mountainous. ‘To the east we have the Elven nations of Sera’sindra and Tali’sindra. They are separated from the remaining continent by the Nava’sinkuna Mountains, which reach all the way from the Dragonlands in the south to the northern parts of Tali’sindra.’
‘Wait,’ Sarah interjected. ‘Dragonlands? As in Dragons? Big flying fire-spiting lizards?’
‘Call one of them lizards and they’ll roast you alive,’ Linea chuckled. ‘But yes. Even though, only the Dragon Elders can spit fire as far as I know.’
‘Awesome! Can we meet one?’
‘Can we meet… what?’ Linea asked flabbergasted. ‘You want to meet a dragon? Are you mad?’
‘Why? I definitely want to see a living dragon!’ Sarah said with conviction. ‘How can you not want to meet a dragon?’
‘Because they are unpredictable!’ Linea said. ‘Besides, they have a bad history with elves. Sun Elves to be exact, but dragons don’t care about this kind of difference. To them an elf is an elf.’
‘Well, I still want to meet one.’
‘If we ever have the opportunity, I will let you talk to a dragon,’ Linea conceded just to shut Sarah up.
‘Nice!’
Linea rolled her eyes but continued.
‘Sera’sindra is the Sun Elven Kingdom in the middle between Tali’sindra to the north and the Dragonlands in the south. Its name stems from the Sun God Sera, which is their protector god, as Luna is ours. Their land consists mostly of plains and hills, but the north is fertile grassland, and the biggest river is the Sera’aguna,’ she explained and tapped with her finger on a region which was labeled Sera’sindra, and then at the region in the north. ‘This is Tali’sindra. Named after Tali, Goddess of the Forests. The whole country lies within a forest bigger than Luna’sindra. Its biggest river is the Tali’aguna, which is around two thousand kilometers long.’
‘Elves are not the most creative people when naming stuff, are they?’ Sarah asked dryly.
‘Those names are ancient and come from a time, when our old language was still young,’ Linea replied in defense. ‘Give them some slack.’
‘All right,’ Sarah said and shut up. ‘But let me guess, the elves in Tali’sindra are Wood Elves?’
‘Wood Elves?’ Linea asked confused. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Well, the Moon Elves are devoted to the Moon Goddess; the Sun Elves are devoted to the Sun God. I thought the people living in a Forest of a Goddess of the Forests would call themselves Wood Elves or something similar.’
‘In that case you thought wrong,’ Linea said amused. ‘There are only Moon Elves and Sun Elves. While the population of Luna’sindra consists mostly of Moon Elves or respectively Sun Elves in Sera’sindra, Tali’sindra is mixed. The current King of Tali’sindra is a Sun Elf, however.’
‘And where is Luna’sindra?’ Sarah asked skipping to her next question.
‘Here,’ Linea answered and tipped on the other side of the mountain range. ‘We are isolated from the other Elven nations. There is a large break in the mountain range, which allows us to travel to Tali’sindra. We suspect that this gap was created before the Cataclysm by powerful mages, but we can’t confirm this, because the records were lost. But I digress. To our west is the northern part of the Ring Mountains, which frame the human empire. Calling it an empire is technically false to be honest, because it’s just a coalition of kingdoms under one ruler, who calls himself the emperor. These are the Seven Holy Kingdoms. Why they are called holy is something beyond me. They don’t even have a protector god to call upon. That’s just how humans are, I guess.’
‘It has probably something to do with power projection,’ Sarah guessed, but went on to her next observation. ‘If I read this correctly the Seven Holy Kingdoms are all scattered around this sea right in the middle of the continent.’
‘That’s correct, and in the middle of the Tavarian Sea is the island of Tavaris, where the Imperial City of Tavaris is located. The city is the biggest city in the world and one of the wealthiest ones because of its trade income.’
‘Good. And what are these countries in the north of the empire?’
‘Directly to the north and bordering us is the kingdom of Shor Bryns. The Brynisians are a strange bunch of people. They are not aggressive towards us, but battle-hardened. You get their respect only by hitting them hard enough.’
‘If they are not aggressive, why are they battle-hardened?’ Sarah asked in confusion.
‘Because of the lizard tribes from the northern islands of Roshkalak here,’ Linea tipped at a group of islands. ‘They conduct raids now and then and sometimes even invade deep into the land. We had them at our border from time to time. ‘The northern lizard men live in their city Eporlak and don’t like foreigners.’
Linea moved her finger more to the west.
‘This is Rivania. A kingdom ruled by a human king, but with deep ties to the dwarfs. It’s rumored that the king himself is a half dwarf. Further down to the south is the Magocracy of Ossinga. They are ruled by a council of powerful mages. North of Ossinga and west of Rivania is the Dwarven kingdom of Kush’rak. The dwarfs are the third big power after us elves and the empire.’
Linea traced her finger further to the south.
‘Here we have the beastmen tribes of Verenis. They are neutral as long as no one tries to take their land,’ she explained further. ‘And even further south are the lizard men jungle tribes of Kishkalak. The southern tribes are as wary of foreigners as their northern brethren are, but they are way less aggressive. I once read a travel diary of someone, who described them as ‘cautious but jovial’.’
‘And what about this island here between the empire and the Dragonlands labeled ‘The Fallen Kingdom’?’
‘That used to be the eighth kingdom of the empire, but it got destroyed, when the king stole eggs from the dragons as a present for the Sun Elven Princess Dinera. The story says he gave half the eggs to the Sun Elves as a courting gift. Long story short, the dragons didn’t like it and burnt down the whole kingdom. They even attacked the Sun Elves because the princess didn’t want to give back the eggs. Her father took them away from her after the dragons destroyed a whole city. There are many ballads and tragedies written about the whole thing. It happened around two hundred years ago, I think.’
‘I would like to read one of those at a later point,’ Sarah said in anticipation. ‘A good story would be nice.’
‘I can take my favorite one with me later,’ Linea proposed.
‘That would be nice, thank you,’ Sarah answered, and her contentment spread throughout their shared soul.
‘But back to the lesson,’ Linea said with a smile and took a sip from the wine in front of her. ‘Let’s talk about domestic politics…’