“THAT IS TREASON!”
“What ARE you on about?! TREASON would be what you are trying to convince his majesty to do. Surrendering to the demands of a rebel would only further INCITE the anger of the populace, something you CAN NOT DO right now.” The man paused and looked towards his liege. “Sire, have you been out in the city recently? The gossip and rumours are spreading like a plague. If we do not assuage the citizen’s unrest and doubt-“
“-No doubt spread by spies.”
“Are YOU calling ME a spy?! “
“-Never called you one”
“I beg your pardon, but my family has served his majesty’s line for generations. My family and I have shown nothing but loyalty for the kingdom and it’s king. If anyone were a spy, it would be an upstart like you who swings where the wind blows.”
“Hoho, at least that shows I have a brain. Furthemore, I am perfectly content with my position, unlike you, who’s family is…. what did the noble ladies like to call it? ... Oh yes, that’s right!” The man clapped his hands together, coughing twice to clear his throat before performing a crude imitation to a female’s sneering simper. “His family is in decline. I doubt they’ll still be around in a few years. Have you heard about his son’s behaviour? Simply wild, audacious and atrocious. “
The two men were glaring at each other over a coloured model. It was a scaled map of the kingdom with all the castles, forts, towns and even villages on it. Little figurines were placed over the map, representing the current last known locations of each military unit. The whole model shone brightly –except a roughly spherical dark region near the centre of map. The symbolic military units on it glowed with a pulsing light, but the glowering figures overshadowed the table.
The second man, Mordant, grabbed the mahogany table in anger. He was tempted to flip the table, but the still rational part of his mind spoke of the heavy consequences such an action would lead to, so he refrained. For now that is. The man had a powerful figure, his muscles bulging with every action. This man was one of the three generals present in the conference room. Old fashioned and a traditional hardliner, he was strict with himself and those around him,- especially his soldiers.
Opposite him was a lanky wizened man, his white messy beard trembling in anger. He was one of the four vice captains of the still leaderless arc mage squad, Malcolm. Though his looks seemed to be the spitting image of an old man in his seventies, his actual age barely reached the forties. He had previously suggested surrendering for what he considered some more tangible benefits rather than pride and trust of the citizens.
The two noisy children however weren’t the only ones in the room though. A crowd had been watching their heated debate from the sidelines, swivelling their heads back and forth as if they were watching a tennis rally. Tired of hearing their noisy fight and impatient to continue the conversation along a more productive path, Liam stepped in. *1
“Gentleman, if you two may allow me to say a few blunt words, our country is facing a nation wide extinction event. It is perfectly fine for the two of you to throw in some suggestions, but right now is no time for you two to be childishly squabbling, slandering without evidence and trying to impress a king who doesn’t want to be impressed. Either put down your differences or leave. ” Liam walked over to the door before roughly opening it. “The door is right here. So? What will it be?”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry sir.” The two meekly sat back down, the fight taken out of them by Liam’s scolding. They were long terms rivals. Originally proposing separate solutions, this soon led to a conflict of opinion, which set off a spark for the old fights, gradually spiralling out of control. Neither of them wanted to embarrass themselves in front of the king, but both of them couldn’t help but feel shame at what had just transpired, and in their hearts, they were each blaming the other.
“Sire, if I may say a few words?” A nondescript man stood up. Of mediocre height and build, his clothes were nothing fancy, a clean brown shirt and leggings. The man’s only outlandish feature was the constant twitching in his right eye.
“Of course Robert. Is this about the economic repercussions?”
“You could say it is. You could also say it isn’t.”
“Could you just say it so that we can all understand?” Sophia fed up with the lack of progress and now confounding answers asked. “Stop talking in riddles.”
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“My, my. My dear Sophia-“
“-Who’s your dear!?”
“You are, my dear pupil-“
“-I’m not your pupil! You taught me for one day-“
“-A pupil for a day, a pupil for life-.”
“ENNNOUGHH!!!!” Everyone in the room turned to the king who was heaving from the shout. “No more distractions. Robert, just get to the point. Quickly!” The king rubbed his temples with his fingers. The constant signs of argument in court were a clear indicator of the unrest and change in balances of power. The previous checks were being removed and like a house of cards, they would soon all fall down. First Lara, then Mathew, now Sarratina. Who would be next?
“Sorry sir. My point is, no matter what you decide, we need the decision quickly. At this point, we can basically confirm there is foreign involvement and any further inaction or show of weakness and disunity will lead to our collapse. And sir, if I may dare say, it hardly matters much what we do at this point in regards to your daughter.”
“WHAT?!” Following the man’s outrageous statement, the surroundings exclaimed their disbelief. His increase in twitching only made him seem more insane and less…stable. The king restrained his smirk that threatened to come out after the crowd’s reactions. They were both aware there was a certain set of rumours going around the mill claiming he was mad, but finding it funny, neither the victim nor king did anything about it. The king raised his hand for silence.
“Continue.”
“Yes, well the point is, I can basically guarantee there are spies at work, so no matter the truth, it will be twisted.” Seeing the questions about to arise, the man continued “Now don’t interrupt me till I finish. Firstly, we haven’t been able to confirm they have caught your daughter. All we know is that she is missing and that she should have been back already. They have managed to show no evidence what so ever except for by letter. Yes, none of the search parties you sent out found her, but that’s not surprising.”
“-why is-”
“-BECAUSE she is a smart girl. Although she’s young and weak in many ways, she knows what she can handle and what she can’t. She also is very good at reading people and the atmosphere of places. If she has escaped, it is very likely that she would have gone underground. She also has no way to determine if the soldiers you sent were really from you or not, or are truly loyal to you, so of course she wouldn’t reveal herself. My guess is if she is still alive, she is either making for the capital secretly or bunkered down somewhere waiting for the storm to pass. “
“So I should go out to personally look-“
“NO sir. You would be putting yourself at too much risk and the chances of encountering her would be miniscule. If you were a minute early or late, you could easily pass her and she could be anywhere now. I don’t think she would want you to take the risk, and would rather you put the country first. Think about it this way. If you solve this issue with the duke and neighbouring kingdoms faster, her chance of survival would increase and she would be potentially able to reunite with you faster.”
“...You’re right. Thank you. – But potentially? -“
“Well, I hate to say this, but we are basing this on the fact that she is still alive. She could just as like-“
“- I see. Thank you.” The king frowned from being reminded of this point. “Anything else?”
Robert wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, his worry eroding his previous annoyance at being interrupted and continued nervously “Well, basically I recommend that you appear before the citizens of the capital and make a rallying speech and then consider mobilizing the army. The price of armaments has been on the rise as of late, and the blockade created by the Duke has not helped. However from the increase in demand for supplies and armaments along with the monetary flow and decrease in our currency exchange rates, we can conclude that war is not far on the horizon and we are expected to be on the losing side.”
“I see. Riley?” The man referred to quietly stepped forward.
“No news from agents inside. Evidence from ambassador’s and diplomats are vague, but it all points to the stirring of civil war followed by an invasion from multiple directions.” The man quietly stepped back, slinking back into the corner of the room. A few sent questionable looks at the King not understanding the curt initial message, but the King nodded to himself. He stood up and faced the surrounding important commanders, nobles and ministers.
“The army is hereby ordered to begin mobilization. General Mordant, General Haskin; begin mobilization. Prime Minister Fallow, you are to work with them on recruitment notices and organising supplies, make sure you don’t overwork the smiths. Robert, I leave you to deal with the economics. Try not to empty our coffers and MAKE sure you don’t sell off the heirlooms. And DON’T scare off the banks and merchants please. General Mat- Liam and Arch Wizard Malcolm, tighten the internal security of the castle- Liam’s in charge. Arch Wizard Alex, Duncan, Nicholas, you three are to organise a rotation. I want enough mages on stand by to cast a wide area Aerial Fortress over the entire eastern region of Fei. Riley, you know what to do. Make sure you set up a scouting perimeter as well. Marquis Jones, try to reach out to your brother in law please and get in contact with the mercenary guilds, see what their stance is and try to pull some over. Sophia, you are to come up with a draft copy for the speech to the citizens. Work your magic. I will look over it with you tomorrow. Anyone who hasn’t been assigned a role, make yourselves busy. I need some time to mull things over so we will reconvene tomorrow morning at 9. I expect results. Dismissed.” *2
“YES YOUR MAJESTY!”
Receiving their respective orders the recipients quickly left the room. The remaining nobles who weren’t mentioned at all quickly followed them offering their services and the room soon emptied out. The King quickly finding himself alone, decided to head back and comfort his wife. Exiting the room, he made sure to lock it behind him, nodding towards the still ecstatic door guard.
“Good job. I hope you keep anything you may have accidently heard a secret.”
“Of course, your majesty!”
…
Later that evening, after his wife had gone to sleep, the king had decided to take a walk in order to ponder what was to come. Deep in thought, he took a random route, which eventually led past the spell blade unit’s barracks and near the arch wizards barracks. With his acute hearing built up from muttering nobles and servants, he stumbled upon an interesting conversation.
He wasn’t prowling around and would have continued walking on deep in thought if not for hearing them mention him. Like any normal person, he couldn’t help but be curious about what people said behind his back.
“So now what do we do?”
“We could try to drive them against each other by angering the King and telling him his daughter is dead.”
“But we don’t have a body to prove it. For all we know, she could already be back and he’s just playing it dumb.”
“Impossible. Princess Sarratina should have broke free herself. The signs of struggle prove it wasn’t a professional rescue. Besides no one should of know it.”
Hearing his daughter’s name, he froze. Clenching his fists, and restraining his anger, he listened on to these two unfortunate shadows.