time waits for no one and two months have already passed since the luutons have gave their ultimatum. gora would once again be looking upon the city of oniedora in the distance though she no longer would be traveling in a small group of three now joined by kompsos, her grandfather, and five hundred sokaran warriors who would all be following from behind.

as they enter the city the inhabits of oneidora simply look upon them with awe as the foreign army heads through the city towards the castle. once there the high king along side the two lower kings of astra meet them outside all three look quite pleased upon seeing the army.

gora and her grandfather approach the the kings of astra upon standing in front of each other all five nobles bow to great each other. onei looks towards dyues first with a look of deep satisfaction”a pleasure to finally meet you lord dyues i have heard many tales of your exploits. any bad blood between you and the astrans is in the past.”

dyues’s nostrils flare with a great amount of vigor behind them as he hears that. his composure is calm as he looks upon the high king”i am happy to hear that. i look forward to ending this war as soon as possible so that i may return home. im getting to old to fight”

the king nods abit as a slight chuckle escapes him”yes i understand im quite shocked you came ready to fight at all. most would of refused the call to war at half your age”

once again dyues nostrils flare as he looks down at the high king with contempt ”well it seems my heir has made up her mind in fighting in your war. if she were to die in your war the lands of Sokara would be left in dismay”

gora smiles abit hearing she means so much to her grandfather while the high kings nods” well i wouldnt sell gora too short lord dyues as she has proven herself to be quite capable”

dyues sighs and nods in agreement”thats what I’ve heard. now let us head inside and discus the terms of our alliance”

the high king nods as well and gestures for them to head inside”after you, dont worry about your men they shall be taken care of.”

once inside onei takes the lead” what are your thoughts of my city lord dyues the gem of the astran kingdom”

he looks around the castles walls unimpressed”it is certainly extravagant. very impressive for a city that was not around 20 years ago.”

the high king give him a smile as they arrive at where ever he was leading them. the high king opens the door for them’’after you my esteemed guests”

they all enter to what appears to be a room with lavish wooden furniture. shelves filled with all sorts of documents and books. in the center of the room would be a highly decorated wooden table with intricate designs carved throughout it. the kings of astra sit on one side as the sokarans sit on the other. kompsos silently sits with them feeling abit nervous as he sits across the table from one of the low kings.

it seems secomi and utum are no longer with them as it would just be the three sokarans and the kings of astra.”before we begin id like to know if rex and the others have returned”

The high king looks toward gora and shakes his head”no im afraid he hasn’t comeback yet from his mission to recruit the lisad craftsmen”

Gora lets out a disappointed sigh from hearing this disappointing news.”well it cant be helped i guess they were pretty far away”

The high king nods his head”yes luckily they have that omin boy with them though im sure he knows his clans territory quite well”

A sudden awkwardness fills the room as both dyues and kompsos both give gora quite the glaring look as gora sets there now avoiding eye contact with anyone “um if you mean utum. he went with me to Sokara”

The three kings look toward eachother with quite abit of uneasiness themselves”wait then who went with him?”

The low king of the east says with abit of concern”um Sicus and Arvus i believe”

The high king lets out a sigh”well at least he has those two sir rex isn’t really the best at navigating a map. Thoughhe always manages to find his way home”

dyues coughs into his hand. the high king nods and looks back towards him”now the terms of our alliance . obviously i don’t expect you to fight for us for free so lets come to some sort of agreement.”

dyues nods keeping a very serious appearance.”i doubt there is little you astra can offer "

a look of confidence comes across the high kings face”oh i can think of one thing. i the high king onie lacerana of astra promise in return for your aide will remove our absolute claim on the potami river.”

everyone at the room look towards the high king with disbelief the low king of the east throws himself to his feat slamming his fist against the table as he does”sir you can not be serious! it took our predecessors a great amount of effort to consolidate our power along the river”

the high king shrugs seeming to not care about the kings outburst”who cares at the time of that declaration the kingdoms of astra were still divided and was mostly only enforced by the cofeneva clan against the lisads. now that we have consolidated our power and united our kingdoms, i see no need for such a bold claim. besides towards the northern parts there still lies a few sokaran settlement.”

the low king seemed quite angry by this decision” what about our settlements past the potami river that spreads into the plains?”

the high king breaks his usally calm and relaxed demenor”i have made myself clear Ingis! i have gave my reasoning and i will not repeat myself now sit down before you make even more of a fool out of yourself”

the low king of the east sits down without any furhter action he looks off to the side into the distance holding a look of intense irritation. dyues on the other hand seems quite please as he strokes his beard.”well i must say that is quite the offer. im guessing your willing to allow us to expand further into the lands of the the lisads then?”

the high king looks toward dyues with his normal estatic expression”yes the plains to our north hold no real worth to us. of course we excpect you to respect our current expansion by leaving our settlements alone”

dyues nods his head in agreement”i see no reason we couldn’t but obviously i will need more than your word”

the high king nods pulling out a scroll. unraveling it it seems he already had everything written down” feel free to take your time reading”

dyues examines the scroll and sure enough its all there everything they had just discussed was already in writing as well with a large sum of gold. dyues couldn’t help but chuckle. an amused grin comes upon his face as he looks toward the high king once more”it truly is an offer i couldn’t turn down. i dont know if i should be impressed by your cunning or afraid”

the high king gives his own amused grin now”and why would you have anything to fear from a friend?”

dyues chuckles again and signs the document” perhaps this war will beneficial after all”

both men stand up and shake hands” to our new alliance”the high king says in high spirits

“to the death of the luutons”

Gora smiles it wasn’t often her grandfather take a liking to anyone so quick. a deep sense of satisfaction arose in her now feeling as if this might have been fate. the king claps his hand signaling two servants to come in carrying bottles and glasses”then let us drink in celebration at our new alliance”

dyues grabs a pouch from his side and puts on the table and loosens it revealing a large amount of crushed plant matter”and let us smoke for soon the luutons will learn that their place is on the other side of their dammed mountains”

the rest of the night would be filled with merry celebration not confined just to the heirarchs as the soldiers of both kingdoms drink,dance and smoke for a single night all the troubles the war has brought is forgotten.

music filled the air throughout the entire city onei and dyues sit next to each other dyues loading his pipe as the high king tells stories of his youth” and from there i ravaged their city setting it ablze with my own two hands that was fourteen years ago i beleive and since then the alquurs havent dared raid our shores!”

the high king drunkily pats dyues on the back as dyues puts the pipe in mouth “care to light my pipe friend?”

the high king nods and holds a finger above his pipe letting a small amount of fire from out of his finger”why of course though i hope you plan to share im not sure that this stuff is but its quite relaxing”

dyues hands onei the pipe after take a deep breath in and a deep breath out the smoke escpapes his mouth as if he was a roaring dragon”yes its quite popular in the lands of Sokara its not only good smoking though as the plant itself can be made into a very durable fabric”

the high king takes a deep breath in and points his head to the sky as he breaths out the smoke he exhales fire like a dragon much to dyueses amusement

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

gora,kompsos,secomi, and utum would all be sitting around a fire passing around a pipe of their own” its a shame the others arent here yet”

secomi says taking the pipe from a dazed looking utum”ya poor cofus is probaly being put through hell by codia as were all partying”

gora jokes as she takes the pipe from secomi once hes done”and what about this captain you were telling me about sir rexan was it?”

gora nods to kompsos sucking on the pipe once done she hands to kompsos while holding her breath”ya hes um off dealing with the lisads i believe along with the other two members of his squad Sicus the field musician and his sister arvus”

secomi would be laughing hysterically as everytime gora spoke to talk more and more smoke would pour out of her mouth. kompsos nudges utum who would just be staring off into the distant with a blank expression”hey utum buddy are you alright?”

utum slowly looks down towards kompsos and slowly raises his hand to give kompsos a thumbs up. kompsos chuckles abit and pats him on the back”i think you have had enough my large friend”

he then stands up and hands it to secomi. secomi hovers his finger around the pipe swirling it as he lights it with his geia taking as deep of a breath as he can. both gora and kompsos give him a grin as he greedily sucks it down.

before he can even finish breathing in he falls into a fit of coughing much to gora and Kompsos amusement.”better slow down secomi or you’ll be in worse shape than utum”

gora spouts out between fits of laughter all the while secomi is still coughing. utum falls over onto his back only increasing the sokarans delight. though as the night continues the festive eventfully die down.

the next morning gora awakens to find herself out side the castle in some random field. feeling just awful after several failed attempts she finally manages to get herself up. though she only stays standing for a moment as she bends over to throw up almost immediately.

after wiping the spit from her mouth she stands back up and regains her composure ”ok thats better”

though the sound of rumbling earth of in the distance catches her attention. still quite abit groggy she has a hard time focusing in on whatever seems to be approaching the city. though as it gets closer and closer shes able to start distinguishing shapes.

she sees a large caravan of people with carts pulled by large muscular oxen. though in front of them something familar catches her eyes. 3 figures with bits of red hair riding ontop of large lizards would be leading the cavern.

her mind finally jolts fully awake as she realizes whats shes looking at. rex has returned and has secured the help of the lisads. though as gora knows she should be excited she feels uneasy as she looks at the large amount of people heading towards the city”well i guess that means more celebreations are due”

she says before once again throwing up. though she quickly regains her compusure and begins to head toward the large caravan of people. once within in ear shot she begins yelling at them trying to get their attention”rex! its me gora!”

rex looks off into the feild only to see a very disheveled gora. her hair would be an absolute mess as her clothes would be quite dirty from sleeping in the feild. he comes to a stop at the side of the road along with arvus and sicus. forcing the carvan of lisads come to a halt as well.

once finally face to face rex looks at gora with a mix of great confusion and slight humor”gora what in the name of astra are you doing here looking like that?”gora for the first time actauly stops to look at her clothes she blushes abit seeing how dirty she is” im sorry for the unsightly appearnce there you all missed quite the celbration last night. to be honest i cant even remember how i got here”

rex lets out a deep sigh and pats the back of his lizard mount”well hop on i cant just leave you here.”

she smiles and hops on without hesitation”so what are you all doing traveling so early for? excited to finally be back at the capital and just couldnt sleep?”

rex looks at gora with a look of bewilderment”early? its mid day gora did you just wake up?”

now even more embaressed she looks up to the sky to see the sun is in fact right above her head”oh woops i guess i partied alot harder than i realized”

rex shakes his while letting out a deep sigh as he gestures for his mount to begin moving again.” must of been some party im guessing though it wasn’t thrown together just for your return so im further guessing you managed to convince your grandfather to aid us?

gora proudly place her hands on her hips holding her head high”yes thanks to the help of utum and secomi we were able to gain my grandfathers support and have secured an alliance”

rex nods his head as they arrive at the outskirts of the city”this is good with their help along with the lisads the luutons will not stand a chance”

though before gora can respond rex brings his mount to a sudden stop. gora confusedly looks past him trying to see what could of happened”huh why did we sto-’’

as they enter the city they see soldeirs and citizens alike all sleeping in the streets. the entire city reaked of alcohol and smoke rex turns around to face gora as his bewilderment reaches new levels”must of been some party.”

gora chuckles abit looking around as rex ”well i guess i can figure why i slept in the feild every where else was occupied”

rex sighs and gets off his beast and looks towards karris who had been following closely behind” karris could you do me the favor of alerting these people of our arival.”

karris smiles and nods”why of course”

from the side of his beast he pulls out a long bronze horn that would be shapped like the letter G. he puts the device to his mouth and lets out a sound that peirces through the air other lisads soon join causing many of the sleeping parties to wake in rather sudden jolt.

many quickly cover their ears and make their ways out the streets allowing them to resume their march. they continue playing as they make their way through the city. much to the annoyance of those waking up from their slumber.

though as they arrive at the castle grounds their march is unable to go any further as a sea of people still partying surrounds the castle. rex , karris , sicus and arvus all look upon the party goers with disbelief while gora cant help but smile and hop off rexes mount”well i guess if they all can keep going so can i”

rex sighs pinching the bridge between his eyes”sicus and arvus you two join gora i have to find my uncle dont worry about your mounts ill take care of them.”

they nod and dismount” yes sir will see you later”

the three young adults run off into the crowd karris looks over to rex quite curiosly”what are we to do with our beast sir rex?”

rex groans wondering about that hemself”i say we head back out of the city for now and find temporary stables. the castle stables are blocked by this party”

karris nods and begins turning the caravan around telling his people to disperse and find somewhere to tie down their beast. elsewhere gora, sicus and arvus would be pushing through the crowd” sheesh how many sokarans did your grandfather bring?”

arvus complains as she moves through the dense crowd”lets see 500 of our finest warriors then some odd 3000 levies i believe? alot of astrans were already here too we better party while we can because i believe were leaving for the front lines in three days”

sicus grown abit”three days? i cant wait for this dammed war to be over im sick of all this traveling”

arvus shakes her head as her brother whines”i know but lets just enjoy right now sicus by the way gora where are you leading us”

gora smiles leading them through the crowd”i don,t really remember what happened last night but i remember where me and the others were hanging out last night i figure thats a good place as any to start looking for them”

both siblings sigh as gora leads through the crowd eventually as they make their ways around the caslte court yard the people disperse giving them more room to talk”should be just around the corner we were trying to find a placce where no one would bother us”

as they turn the corner they see a sleeping giant who could be none other than utum gora smiles running over to him standing above him”god youre still sleeping?”

Gora says with quite the evil grin upon her face. rubbing her hands together releasing abit of her geia lightly zapping utum”wake up sleepy pants!”

utum jolts up looking incredibly startled “what the hell was that!”

seeing the usally calm utum so panicked his comrades cant help laugh abit’’ where are the others utum?

gora says in a joyful tone’’how should i know i passed out while we were smoking!”

utum groans as his comrades just laugh even harder.”well then get up sleepy head lets go look for them we only have a few more days to relax "

gora offers a helping hand to utum though utum just sighs and gets up on his own”i dont think you could lift me gora but thanks for the offer”

the seven foot giant once again stands back on his feet and dusts himself off. gora takes a look around trying to find any hint of where her party mates went”perhaps they went inside the castle?”

Arvus shrugs as Sicus and utum catch up”i don’t know i guess its as good as any place to look for them”

they walk around the lively castle for abit eventualy finding secomi and kompsos along with dyues and high king in the throne room having a merry time still drinking and telling stories. goras group sits down with them figuring they might as well join them. upon seeing them the high king cant help but smile” ah the messor siblings! i take it sir rexan has returned then? how did your time among the lisads go?”

arvus smiles as she looks toward the high king”it went well my lord we have successfully gained their aid”

the high king raises his glass in the letting out a cheer”then with their help our armies shall be fully supplied and soon the luutons will be defeated”

dyues nods giving the high king a friendly pat on the back” i agree though lets not get ahead of ourselves the luutons are not pushovers they will not go down without a fight”

a grin grows on the high kings drunken face”then let them fight we sons of astra shall never turn down the call to war. we shall face any enemy without fear no matter the odds.”

dyues chuckles abit and once again pats his new friend on the back”well then let us face them head on together let their descendants tell stories of the terror they shall soon face”

sir rexan enters the throne room accompanied by karris they go to bow before him but the high king stops them”no need for the formalities we are in the middle of festivities”

rex nods and hands his uncle the declaration”this is the agreement that me and the cheifs of the lisads have agreed upon”

the high king unbinds the scroll and begins looking over it. a subtle grin growing on his face as he does”well done rex i doubt i could do better myself”

he looks over to the lisad cheif present with them and sticks out his hand towards him”i as the high king of the lands of astra. I happly welcome your people into our kingdom”

karris lowers his head as he shakes the kings hand”i hope to find you more agreeable than the luutons”

the high king raises an eyebrow at karris remark but dismesses it and simply pats him on the back with a smile on his face”im sure you will”

gora looks between the two men quite curiosly for a moment before looking around the room.”you know its quite funny for hundreds of years our peoples have fought and quarreled. you astrans claimed the river valley for yourself pushing us sokarans out of our lands while your expansion only depleted the lisads of their resources as you used your newfound wealth to get whatever you wanted. and now that the luutons have come to your doorstep we rushed to help you”

the high king glances toward gora taken aback abit. unsure how to respond to such a bold and blatant truth. karris shakes his head and looks towards the young heires of the sokarans”the luutons have been united under a single banner just as the astrans have and they too have started incorporating other peoples into their empire. and while i share your sentiment of not being too fond of the astrans the luutons are much worse.”

the high king goes to sit on his throne a look of contempt comes across his face as he looks at all those who have gathered”the world is changing lady gora. no longer can we find massive beast roaming our lands the age of hunters have ended long ago. if our people wish to survive then we must unify against this new threat”

gora simply shrugs at the high kings words and pulls out her pipe placing it her mouth then looks toward sicus”can i get a light?”

sicus nods lighting her pipe as goras gaze focuses lies upon the king” and you consider yourself the herald of this new age? pride is the excuse of the arrogant your highness”

dyues claps his hand together before the high king can respond”enough gora i think its time you and your friends continue your activities outside. "

gora sighs and gets up still smoking on her pipe”thats fine with me grandfather im sorry if i over spoke, we’ll take our leave”

exiting the castle with secomi , utum, sicus and arvus gora looks toward the sky once outside and with a somber tone she asks herself”i wonder if any of this will truly matter”