Mark walked back into the Throne room of the King of Jakahn. As he walked in, the servants and the Officials were dismissed with a wave of the King's hand.

Mark came in with a straight back and looked upon the King on his throne. The King was sitting lazily, with his right hand propping his head. He was a massive zombie undead, in large armor. His armor colors were those of Jakahn, Red, and Beige, much like the color of the City just outside.

To the King's left, as always, was the purple princess, Princess Violet. She wore a long purple dress, and she wore a new hairstyle of purple hair from her head.

Mark didn't get a chance to speak, as Princess Violet called out, "I wasn't sure you were going to return. Another week, and I would assume that you had turned down our offer."

With a light laugh, "I'm sure you jest. I did need time to think, as well as get some affairs in order, but I do come with news. I'm sure you expected the news I am going to say."

"Oh? Honestly speaking, I have no idea what you will choose. You have already exceeded me in our last meeting." Violet spoke, and she didn't conceal the bitterness in her voice from Mark's rejection.

"I'm glad that I can exceed your expectations, and hopefully carry this to Deagoth. I've come to agree to your counteroffer. I will lead your armies to the capital of Deagoth and smash them down. I only ask for one item in return, and everything else can be Jakahn's. This will be my last counteroffer to yours."

"Oh? And what makes you think you would get anything of Deagoth as yours, after all, we are providing the brawn for this campaign."

"And I am providing the brain. That is already one of two halves."

"Alright... Just what is it that you want?" Curiosity peaked within Violet.

"I wish for the Skull of the Sun God," Mark said with neither demand nor relinquish.

A moment of silence passed, until Violet spoke again, "How... Unexpected. I didn't take you as an undead that was into wealth."

"Well, we all have our hobbies. I like to collect rare items, as you can see from our last exchange."

"I see. Very well then. If you can, in fact, lead our armies to destroy Saigunrai, you make take the Skull of the Sun God. I only hope you are not taking too big of a bite."

"Even if I took too big of a bite, I would wish to choke on it, then not take the bite at all."

"Our forces are already at the border of Deagoth awaiting command, you may ride out now to them and command."

"...How long have your forced been at the border of Deagoth..." Mark asked he had been focused on his connections in Borda and Stonedge, and especially his wife. He had not been paying attention to Jakahn.

"Ever since you left to deliberate, they were vectored to their current possessions," Violet spoke blandly.

Mark gritted his teeth but didn't make any other sigh. A moment later he spoke, "I really wish you waited to consult me, even if the campaign was pushed back by a month.

"Hmmmm?"

"Deagoth now knows our intentions. Even if they thought about it before, they know for sure now."

"And how is that?" Violet asked puzzled.

Mark felt puzzled for a moment, "You... You don't know about the Shadow of Deagoth?"

"We have heard of such a thing, but it is little more than a fairy tale to entertain diplomats."

Mark shook his head, "I had higher expectations."

The King sat up in his seat, and Violet took a step forward.

"Exactly what do you mean by that?" Violet spoke aggressively.

"Please do not take this as offense, but the Shadow of Deagoth is very real. In fact, if it was not for the Shadow of Deagoth, I would have destroyed it from the inside out long ago. I'm sure you wondered why I haven't, and why I have resorted to coming here." [Among other things.] Mark thought within his mind, as he spoke.

"Really? Come now. This is simply a boogie man story. I don't buy it." Violet continued.

"Boogieman? I'm afraid not. For many years I have introduced pawns into the kingdom, but they disappear. I would set up various occurrences to lead to interesting events, but they never came to fruition. For a long while, I considered it a challenge to keep at it, but about two hundred years ago, I couldn't fight the Shadow of Deagoth on their own land. So here I am." Mark finished.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"...Let's say that I believe you. Just what does this Shadow of Deagoth do?"

Mark thought for a moment, "Many things, but two for certain. He gathers intelligence, and he kills the enemies of the Kingdom from the shadows."

Violet tilted her head, "That's it? And here I thought you were going to tell me the Shadow ate children or was super scary. We have spies ourselves."

Mark shook his head again, "I said it simply so that you can understand, but I see that I didn't get my point across. Let me put it like this. From my experiments, the Shadow of Deagoth must have an enormous system of spies. So many that it must be ridiculous. As an example, if something happened in one City, the Shadow will know in less than an hour... If something happens in another Country, then the Shadow will know in a day... If you do not understand the speed of information that he can gather, then I have nothing left to say. I can only say that the Shadow knows what we are intending to do. So, I can only expect that I will have to face the armies of Deagoth with their Warmarshals... There will be no surprise."

Violet looked up to her father, and they both exchanged glances. She returned to looking at Mark, "It seems we have underestimated Deagoth. As the ichor has already been spilled, we can't put it back in the cup. Please join the forces at the border. Father will give you his seal, and a decree giving you full control over the leading armies. We have three full armies, each with twenty thousand warriors, for a total of sixty thousand."

Mark did some quick math within his mind, "So you are allotting about sixty percent of the current arms?"

"You seemed to know much about our situation." Violet countered.

"Then I will await the seal and decree. Once I have them in hand, I will ride out with my servants." Mark bowed. He turned and left.

The King and Princess in returned waited for a long while until they spoke aloud.

"We didn't think he was the kind to covet wealth." The King spoke.

"I don't believe he does... The only thing is... What does he need with the Skull of the Sun God." Princess Violet stared at the spot where Mark left. She turned to leave as well.

"Royal-Father, my mind is tired. I'm going to retire to my evening tomb until you need me again." Princess Violet left, and as she was leaving her posture seemed to wilt. The King could see his daughter wasn't dealing with rejection well. What pained him the most was that this was his daughter's first time actively seeking a suitor, and she was rejected. He could only shake his head, as he called for his aids to return so that he could prepare the seal and decree for Mark. He had decided to give him the Title of Acting General, until the end of the war.

*******

Emily was within her room preparing to take some rest within her evening tomb. She had changed from her usual lolita dress to her nightgown of spider silk. There was no need to be so neat for a skeletal undead, but like much of the royalty of Neolith, she was a clean freak. She had already bathed for the evening.

She heard a knock on the door, as she was applying her lotion on her bones. She quickly put away the item, as she spoke, "Come in."

Instead of the normally visiting Leslie, it was the massive frame of Verruca that loomed into the room. Like Jack, she towered above the loli, but unlike Jack, she took up much more room, with her massive armor. Even at such a late time, she had not changed from her armor, and this puzzled Emily.

"Ummm... Warmarshal Verruca, what do I owe this visit." Emily spoke, as she pulled two chairs out. She took the chair meant for Jack for Verruca to sit.

Verruca said nothing until she took her seat. She watched Emily sit down, then she spoke, "How much can you guarantee that Neolith will not attack us?"

"What?" Emily didn't quite understand.

"I wish to pull some forces from the border of Neolith and send them to the border of Jakahn. I don't want to do this, but with one Warmarshal in the northern lands of the heretic tribes, and the other to meet him to look over the situations of the black stain of the ghost towns, I'm finding it low on personnel. When Warmarshal Frostgard gets back, she can rally all her forces and go, but I don't wish to have a prolonged war.

I want to send as much as I can and crush Jakahn's armies before the war gets started."

Emily heard everything until here, "Of course, Neolith isn't going to attack. We are allies now. Even if the documents haven't been signed by Jack and my Royal-Mother, their word is worth more than gold."

"I wanted to see you to make sure that Neolith doesn't... Pull something dirty. It's not like you haven't joined up with Jakahn before." Verruca narrowed her eyes and she looked down on the tiny skeletal doll.

"No. My Royal-Mother's word alone should make you feel better, but in addition, I am here."

"You can guarantee that no one of Neolith will get involved."

"Yes. I am the consort of Deagoth. Neolith is, basically, your in-laws."

Verruca snorted.

"I hold you personally responsible. If anything happens because of Neolith, then I will break each of your bones, and dare any bone doc to get within 5 km of you." Verruca said sinisterly. She really didn't like this little consort for so many reasons, and now that she had the opportunity, she let her know.

Emily felt shocked. Verruca had never been like this to her before, granted she wasn't the most civil, but she hadn't threatened her before.

"Is it really necessary to threaten me?" Emily asked softly.

Verruca stood up, and she turned to leave. She didn't even bother to look back, "Jack might have taken you as his consort, but I don't have to accept you. Furthermore, I don't like Neolith. You weren't the one that had to put her love into a thousand-year slumber." As Verruca said that she paused.

She turned back to look at the still sitting Emily. Emily felt something strange with the Zombie woman.

"That's right... Neolith was one of two that was responsible for putting Jack into entombment... Where he lost his memory."

"He lost his memory???" Emily asked quickly.

"That's right..." Verruca took a step forward, "If he didn't have to deal with both Neolith and Jakahn, he wouldn't have had to use the Angel of Death, and he wouldn't have been entombed. If he wasn't entombed, he wouldn't have lost his memory... He would have remembered me... He wouldn't have taken Leslie as his consort... He wouldn't have taken you as a consort... He would have taken me." Verruca slowly spoke, and equally slowly developed a dangerous look in her eyes.

"If it wasn't for you..." Verruca said ominously.

Emily had slide off her chair and backed up slightly way from the dangerous feeling she got from Verruca.

As Emily was quickly thinking to mentally message someone, a knock sounded at the door.

Startled Verruca stopped in mid-stride.