The hours passed faster than they could imagine. In that time, most of the boys had fortunately the chance to properly take a shower, a pause also used as a way to cope with the utter fear they experienced throughout the entire storm. Niva, on the other hand, had already packed her things, refusing to bathe with them, explaining that she would do it later, when they reached the boot camps.
It was time they started nearing the island they were told about. Just under them was Timigua, or at least one of its many connected skylands, containing innumerable masses of tropical jungles, outstretching themselves even from the corners of its lands, with trees and barks hanging from its edges like crooked nails.
As the ship progressed, a line of orange-red dirt appeared between the vast green scenery, indicative of the man-made roads there. They were erratic and unpredictable, clearly improvised on the spot to tackle handling business inside of the wilderness.
The navigators soon located soil smooth enough to land the damaged ship without a problem. A strong tremor reverberated throughout the ship as the vessel’s giant metal legs hit the ground below.
The Timiguan military was soon on their way to surround them in the perimeter with caution. The Leonhartian crew knew this was a dangerous ground to lightly tread upon, as this could quickly rise into a political catastrophe if handled badly. The ship’s slowly lowered down, making way for the captain to get first down, followed by the lieutenants, navigators, and the rest of the crew. They came face to face with a large amount of Timiguan soldiers, preceded by a high-ranking Timiguan army individual, clad in dark blue and green. He was a bearish man at the center of their formation, rocking a cigar big enough to eclipse in size most people’s fingers.
“May I know who am I speaking to?” inquired the captain, utterly neutral in his tone and pose.
The silent commander with a prominent black ink beard did not budge a muscle. He called someone to the right of him in Timiguan, to translate whatever would be further discussed. A young troop with saggy eyes stepped forward from the line and approached the tense scene, his limbs moving as stiff as a wooden doll.
The commander gave an order, nodding at the Leonhart captain, indicating who he was supposed to speak to when translating. He further explained something else to the young fellow and simply stood tall after, eyes set straight into those of the opposing military.
“Commander Aygo Riho demands to know why you’ve decided to land here when you were denied to come near our military in the first place?”
“Well, our original plan was to set sail to the neutral part of your islands, commander, but the unconditionally harsh storm set us on a different path than what we decided upon. It was either that or certain death for us.”
The translator spoke in Timiguan loud enough for most people around to hear, as per the commander’s order.
“That is not our problem nor concern whether your ship would have been damaged. We agreed to let Leonhart ships stop only on our outer micro islands, on the premise of you keeping distance from our inner lands. Wasn’t that clear?”
“Oh, but it was. And it was also clearly stated that intentional damage invoked upon any Leonhart property under our latest agreements would be treated as an act of aggression. And I don’t believe any of you would be keen on enraging our military now, so if you will, let us fix our pipe system and we’ll be gone faster than the wind that brought us here.”
The commander waited for the translation to end, mentally munching on every word he received like a bitter pill. He arranged his thoughts and uttered them in the most concise way a battered soldier, such as him, could.
“We do not whimper like scared puppies near your boots, Leonhartian mutt, and we do not bow our heads to your government’s every wish and desire just because others do. So don’t stretch our agreements into your own little tale of bullshit. Your famous, as your army claims, ‘indestructible’ airships should sail through storms as if knife through butter. Or was that simply propaganda all along?” said the commander, with a sly smirk.
The mustached captain held a blank expression, the army behind him tenser than a stretched bow line. He gave an order to them to calm down, to ease the situation. They had nothing to hide, but the wrong reaction could convince the people in front of them of the opposite.
“Then allow us to depart as soon as possible. My soldiers won’t exit this perimeter without your consent and your watchful eye. We’ll simply do a quick ship scan and fix it, nothing more. Do we have an agreement?”
“But how can be sure of your intentions and that you’re not hiding anything in there, captain? At times like this, a quick search needs to be made by my crew to ensure you don’t present a danger to us.”
“I can’t agree with that, I’m afraid. Unwarranted inspection by someone other than our own military is out of the question. If it comes to that, we’d rather fight right here and now. Does that option entertain you?”
Aygo Riho thought about it for a second, doing mental calculations of how much of a nuisance it could provide for them, but in the end, took a clockwork out of his pocket, showed it to every crew member of the Leonhart military like a signal and shouted with a raspy voice, forgetting that the intruders didn’t understand him.
“You have exactly three hours to complete whatever it is you wanted to, and if until then you’ve not gone from our territory, you will be treated as an enemy vessel, under accounts of espionage and possible endangerment of our people,” explained the translator in a similar tone, just without the elderly voice scarred by years of Tiguan cigar smoking.
The soldiers of Leonhart’s army glanced at each other pointedly, explaining things to the ones standing further down in the line, whilst the vice-captain simply extended his arm towards Commander Riho formally to confirm their pact. The latter accepted the offer and popped a cigar right into his mouth as he faced to leave for the office nearby. He called nearby troops and assigned to them the duty of looking after the troublemakers while he was away writing a rapport to the generals at the king’s ceremony.
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Today was the day the first prince was to be crowned the ruler of these islands, and strict orders were given to report any activity no matter how slight to the army higher-ups, with the help of messenger hawks.
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The ceremony was held for two hours, starting at the exact time the Leonhartian drafting ship landed on the Timiguan lands. In the bronze triangular echo chamber that presented itself as the main hall, kneeled the prince. Every member of the royal family, from the previous king and his two sons and daughters to the most meritable aristocracy and the military generals, all were present to witness this event.
The crowned prince, Vacko Lariciko the Second, was given the right to rule the country finally. After years of studying under his father, the ambitious prince was finally given the reigns of the kingdom overruling the vast majority of airports of the Second World Ring. Long has it suffered the threats of entities such as the Leonhart kingdom. With his promise of elevating the Timigua islands into a superpower under his rule, the people cheered the newly crowned king and the future he offered.
With the approval of everyone around him, after the horns of liberation rang through the air, he exited to the balcony overlooking hundreds of people under him and greeted them with genuine joy. They roared in response, singing chants to their new ruler, dreaming of the wishful future. And as the celebration went on, delegations upon delegations from all over the First, Second, and Third Rings arrived, to offer gifts as a peace offer. From Aloris, to Lolabe and their neighboring island Fortes, everybody came to greet the new king and bid successful future relations with him.
Leonhart didn’t send anybody, he thought, eyeing the guests at the lush banquet filled with exotic food. It didn’t come as a surprise, really. Most people wouldn’t expect to see their most prominent adversary cheering them on or offering anything resembling good relations when they could one day decide to attack them, even if they weren’t technically at war with one another at the moment.
As Vacko spoke with people from all over the world, he saw at the edge of his vision a familiar figure approaching him with hastened steps. It was his trusted assistant, and now soon-to-be-promoted counselor, Alvitt, a wise one-handed man, known for his previous endeavors as a war veteran and a strategist.
“Your majesty, I have news for you. In private, if possible.”
Vacko gave a courteous sign to the guests of his temporary departure from their discussion and made his way to the private chambers on the upper floor. Alvitt made sure to close the door and placed guards to prevent prying ears from hearing their discussion before relaying his information.
“What is it, Alvitt?”
“Your majesty, I received a note from the generals about a Leonhartian ship that landed on our soil a few hours prior. Our commander at sight asked us what to do about them, as the Leonhartians claimed it was due to a failure in their ship’s gravitum pipes. They promised to set sail as soon as they fixed it. What would be your orders on this, your majesty? Do you believe they are planning anything?”
“Where have they landed?”
“At the edge of the Norma region, my king.”
“Norma? That place is basically our military base of operations at this point, not to mention how far from us it is. What could they possibly want by placing themselves into our hands? I don’t think they’d gain any possible information regarding us that they wouldn’t already know.”
“Could be a failed attempt at infiltration perhaps, my king, but on the other hand, an attempt this bad? Perhaps the storm truly did a number on them and it’s all explainable, but still, to land precisely at the time of your coronation…Maybe they thought that our troops would be preoccupied with protecting Annka due to the coronation happening here. I’m not sure about this.”
“In any case, I have duties to attend to either way and unfortunately, we don’t have the means to deal with Leonhart right now. Send a message by a hawk to the commander and tell him to keep an eye out on them and report whatever suspicious activity they record. However, no direct combat engages unless they present an immediate danger. Not in any other case, understood?”
“Of course your majesty. I’m off to the royal postal then. I’ll be back as soon as the task is done.”
Vacko nodded affirmative and watched him leave the chamber to deliver the message. The young king sighed, already feeling the toll of responsibility falling heavy on his first day as the ruler of his people. He always thought himself mentally prepared for this, but the small hints of doubt plagued his mind like a pest.
He sat at the edge of his cushioned bed, dismissively thinking to renovate the entire room to properly fit a king and his future queen. From here on now, Vacko had a duty to his country and everyone who resided in it, and he would see it through no matter what. Perhaps the dream of uniting the neighboring islands wasn’t impossible and he could do it after the innumerable unsuccessful attempts by his predecessors.
The tan short-haired king looked outside the enormous window at the center of Annka, the capital of Timigua they resided in, and marveled at the beauty of the orange-painted towns their kingdom was known for. Truly, the kings who thought of retaining this connected image for the town had good taste. Coupled with the sea-blue skies around, it gave off a feeling of a painted canvas thrown together by a talented painter. This was his and his family’s home and nobody would dare to take it from him, so long as he was alive.
With a fastened heart rate and a rush of dopamine, Vacko turned to leave, when he noticed something protruding up above the palace. A dark spot appeared in the sky, looming like a dark figure in the clouds. People outside pointed at it and asked each other about its origin, reaching the conclusion that it was another delegate sent to congratulate the crowned prince. However, something seemed off to Vacko. The shadow didn’t seem to navigate toward the landing spots they had provided for airships further down the city. Curiosity won over Vacko as he sat to watch where this thing was headed, which became clear once the ship fully descended from the skies.
From them emerged the nose of the famous diplomatic duck-shaped Leonhartian ship, clearly pointed downwards. Right at the palace. Before Vacko could respond, the ship would already be only a few hundred meters from them. As he was about to move out of the chamber and into the hallway, a hand reached out, grabbed him by the wrist, and dragged him out of the room, to the windows overlooking the front side of the building.
Vacko heard the sound of the impact start from the dome of the palace, and for a second he thought he too would be buried along with his ambitions under the rubble of his own home. However, before that could happen Alvitt embraced him with a bear’s grip and using all his strength threw them out both of the second-story windows to the garden pool below.
The ensuing destruction would bring about the destruction of the whole middle section of the royal palace where the banquet took place, leaving few survivors, and among them, the only survivor of the royal family, King Vacko the Second.
The shocked witnesses to this incident would send the blood-chilling news of the tragedy like wildfire in hot windy summer, reaching the surrounding cities and islands in a matter of hours. Amongst the chaos and mourning spreading throughout the city, a written order would be sent to all Timiguan military units, reading:
“Seize all Leonhart sympathizers, soldiers, and citizens alike. Resistance is to be met with execution.”