The ocean breeze blew gently over the ship as Alexander Mukuru spotted the iconic tip of the Royal Palace over the horizon. The Hatha soldier manning the ship knew that their vessel was no ‘Umatiloshe’ and that he was no Captain Pathi, so he made sure they never sailed further than an eye shot distance off the coast.
The general took a deep breath to calm himself and then walked into the meeting room to greet his most trusted advisors. “Lord Mukuru, as commanded we have reorganised the troops and issued orders for them to be on high alert.” reported one of them, pointing to a map of Ikona on the table.
Ervinos traced the units on the map, the Ikonan troops were positioned along the border, with half of their troops spread out across the part of Mol River which separated Ikona from the swamplands. The other half was concentrated at the Bridge of Paligxulu, which separated the Diafthoreat Empire from the Kingdom of Ikona.
“Father,” urged Ervinos grimly, “Do you really think they’ll try it? I know the Empire hasn’t been communicating with us much, but this is far too sudden.” The room was as grim as Ervinos, no one needed to say out loud what such concentration around Paligxulu meant.
“I can only hope that I’m being paranoid here, but this Diaf Emperor cannot be trusted.” was the steely response, Alexander knew his military could not survive an all-out confrontation with the enemy.
“My Lord, the Empire’s called off their brutal campaign against Bāb Al-Nūr only this year, they’ve lost more in blood and gold than all of Ikona itself. Surely this is the worst time for them to invade.” pitched in another strategist.
“Or maybe the Emperor needs an easy win to convince the people he still reigns supreme, and so wants to take Ikona as a show of strength.” contradicted another.
Alexander pondered on the question as well. He reminded himself that the only constant over the past 5 years had been change, a blistering series of events after centuries of quiet.
Starting with the Emperor's declaration of war against the Holy City, the Empire steadily devolved into multiple civil wars. The forest region of Verdelle, which bordered Ikona, was no exception. The revolts were so bad that the Empire was forced to enter a bargain with Ikona. The Diaf waived Ikona’s taxes for the next 10 years, and in return, Ikona imposed an aggressive blockade on Verdelle - completely stopping the flow of all goods, and people to Verdelle.
Most Ikonans considered this an amazing deal, they could insulate themselves from the chaos of the Southern Continent, obtain a guarantee of continued independence from the Empire and keep all their resources to themselves for a while.
But Alexander was always sceptical, he remembered a line from a conversation with Queen Theodora that perfectly encapsulated his concern - “I hear nothing from across the river any more.”
So when the Diafthoreat Empire sent an unannounced delegation to Thalassanqaba, claiming that the rebellion in Verdelle had been quelled years ago and that Ikona was now late on multiple years of taxes, he feared the worst.
“Making port in 5 minutes, Commander Mukuru.” came a yell from the deck, Alexander took another deep breath, and walked out.
----
As the soldiers disembarked, they noticed a small contingent of the Ikonan Royal Guard ready to welcome them. In the middle was a young woman with stunning emerald hair.
Stolen story; please report.
“Greetings, Lord Mukuru.” she bowed clumsily, “Thalassanqaba welcomes you.”
Alexander wanted to embrace the young girl, to tell her that she had no reason to be worried, but he knew that such behaviour was unacceptable in public. “Your servant is proud that he could answer your call, my Princess,” he announced while holding a formal salute.
Aikaterine nodded, turned to Ervinos and smiled, she was glad that the Mukuru had finally arrived in full force.
“I see you two finally grew a bit, little boys.” came another voice from the welcome committee. It was a scrappy old man with a shabby naval uniform.
“Captain Pathi!!” screamed Symeon and Ervinos in unison, as they ran to the mythical Captain of the Umatiloshe. Every time he met the boys, he would tell them stories of the storms he faced in his trusty new ship off the coast of Thalassanqaba, testing the limits of how far humanity had ever sailed before.
“The Umatiloshe isn’t far from here, it’s just down a few blocks in a different pier. If you little runts have the time, I might let you come see her up close again. She’s got a few more upgrades this time as well.” enticed the old Captain.
“I’m sure they would love that, Captain.” interrupted Alexander, “But unfortunately we need to be heading for the Palace immediately.”
The two Mukuru entered a carriage drawn by royal porters and left the rest of the soldiers to follow on foot. Aikaterine and her maid escort entered as well, and they set off for the Royal Palace.
“I’ve missed you” exclaimed Aikaterine, as she hugged Ervinos with all her might. “And Alex you too, ever since the blockade you don’t come to Sufundiso nearly enough!”
“The bandits were slightly less boring than you, every time we meet all I hear is complaints that you can’t find out anything new about the Holy City or the Rihla.” quipped Ervinos, taking a leaf out of Niko’s book, and accepting the resulting punches from Aikaterine with grace.
The little girl expressed her frustration through her punches, her twin brother had performed several favours for her in return for a comprehensive report of Bāb Al-Nūr and the Rihla, but she had yet to deliver her end of the bargain.
“It’s not my fault, okay!” complained the girl, who hated being indebted to her brother, “Ikona barely wrote anything about the Rihla and since the blockade, it’s been impossible to get my hands on any of the Imperial texts on the matter. Besides, Niko stopped caring about that deal a while ago, he’s far more concerned with Thalassanqaba.”
“What’s wrong with the capital?” enquired Alexander, who knew that despite Nikolaos’s excessive paranoia, the Prince had a nose for danger.
“He doesn’t say much, just that the nobles are rotten, and that Mother has spent too much time working on administrative reforms from Sufundiso.”
The mood turned quiet and ominous in the carriage, the passengers all worried for their Kingdom's future.
“Enough about that,” exclaimed Alexander, “Aikaterine, I heard you’ve been running things from Sufundiso, how was your first year working with the Archon of Sufundiso?”
“It’s incredible!” chirped Aikaterine, happy to speak about something else, “Archon Phathiswa is an exceptional minister, he knows the city like the back of his hand and has some visionary ideas. We just finished setting up a boat transport system that can take people from Paligxulu to Sufundiso in a day, free of charge! Now people who live in villages halfway between Paligxulu and Sufundiso can come to the city just for the day to work!”
The Princess smiled brightly, Archon Phathiswa had initially planned on charging for the boat rides, but she convinced him that a free service would be more beneficial to the Kingdom in the long term. She was, however, still annoyed that he shut down her plan to ban all money without any discussion.
“I see you’re putting the Empire's tax money to good use!” joked Ervinos, the three laughed as they rode towards the palace.
---
At the gates of the palace, they were greeted by an elderly noble dressed in elaborate purple garb, with golden adornments on his arms and ears.
“Welcome to the Royal Palace of Ikona, Sir Mukuru.” he bowed, with proper noble form. “Prodos Ikona greets the Mukuru and the Royal Princess.”
“Uncle Prodos, how are you doing.” asked Aikaterine, skipping all formal greetings with her mothers' cousin.
“All the better now that the Mukuru are here.” smiled the old noble, as the bridge between the conservative faction and the more reformist nobles, Prodos was an invaluable ally to the crown. If it wasn’t for his masterful negotiations, the decision to begin appointing commoners like Alcides Umpetha and Oikon Phathiswa to key positions would have been politically inviable.
“How are the conservatives doing?” asked Alexander, lowering his voice.
“Let’s just say they’re as worried as we are.” whispered Prodos, “But I’m watching them closely. You should focus more on the Imperial delegation, they’ve now changed their story and are saying that the real reason they are here is to confirm Queen Theodora’s successor.”
“What!?” burst Ervinos, “But we haven’t even announced a successor yet?”
“I don’t know what their game is, Ervinos.” spoke Prodos, calmly. “But we should get you to the Queen. She will tell you the rest herself.”
The group hurried up to the Royal meeting room, worried that things were getting more suspicious by the minute.