Chapter XI Meeting of strength
3rd Era, 845, 2nd of Lost Souls
Unclaimed lands
First meeting of the Twin Rivers, Encampment of King Godfrey IV
Balin Cantillon
Balin was standing with his helmet on outside the grand tent of his King. The helmet helped him avoid all the sand the wind threw around. In the last hours it had started to really pick up. His men had arrived a day ago, half a day before the King’s main army. But there had already been a gathering here. Many a few Counts and many Barons was here already. Waiting for the King as he did. Together they set up tents for a sizable force, but the King brought enough green tents for his entire army too, bringing it too enough for 10,000 men. It wasn’t near the sizable army the King could muster, but Balin understood that in times of diplomacy a smaller army was preferred. He understood, respected and even agreed with that. Although not all did. Some Lords had already complained that they should have a larger army. 50,000 large at the very least. 7,000 of the men were Templars, 30,000 were Men-at-Arms from various lords within the Kingdom of Al-Rhuidean. That left the rest as regular knights, all wearing the different garbs and armor of the House they served.
The king’s tent was standing in the center of the massive green sea. To their east was only sand, as well as to their south. As far as you could see, sand. But north was a river and a larger river to the west. To their north was a small crossing that bridged the two Twin Rivers together. There was another crossing further northeast, several kilometers passed the first.
The four knights guarding the entrance to the tent wore similar armor to Templar Knights. But they had Sapphire blue robes over them and their Hite shields was the same shade of blue with a white bird in the center. The Sapphire field with a white bird was the heraldry of House Godfrey. The knights had sheathed Arming sword attached to their belts.’
A fifth knight stepped out from the tent.
“You may enter lords,” he said in a soft, yet loud voice.
Balin was the third in, with two Counts before him. The three dozen different lords filed inside and came together around the King. Balin noted mentally that he was one of a small number of Barons present. Most were Counts and even a few Dukes. Two Archdukes too. The King’s brothers, in-laws or cousins. Either way they were related to the king. It was the only way to achieve the title of Archduke. Both kept their positions from when everyone came inside.
He gathered they had discussed the situation beforehand. Then he saw a priest. Wait, no. it wasn’t a priest. The golden chain with a star around his neck wasn’t worn by priests. They had a chain of silver. This man was a bishop.
There was a wave of half-bows and ‘My lord, Your Grace, Your Majesty’ and so on. He himself went with ‘Your grace’.
The tent wasn’t as full and fancy as Balin would have expected for a king. It had a wooden table-which looked like it could be taken apart, a stand for his armor, a mirror, a weapons rack, chairs and a simple bed.
“My lords,” the King spoke with a modulated voice.
The king was in his mid-forties and he wore the same armor as his knights with the Sapphire robe. The only different was the wing shaped crest on his helmet, however at the moment it was sitting on the edge of the table they had gathered around. There was a map of Bay of Fey on it. Anyways, the king had brown-grey hair and an unshaved brown stubble. His brown eyes studied the lords listening to him for a moment before continuing.
“Some of you have heard why we are here, some have not. So I will put any rumors to rest and explain it to you. We are here indirectly because of the Naegi people in the south. Their kingdom, the Sejkuuan Sultanate is expanding north with effort. Their naval power is considerably stronger than ours and their arms is more fitting for desert fighting, it may be larger. I have no doubt that with the help and blessings of the gods we will prevail when they declare for our lands. For our holy city.”
On the last note everyone agreed with clenched hands rising into the air and shouts of utter agreement. Balin didn’t do either. Not because he didn’t believe or agree, but because he wondered how this brought them here. He had heard the rumors, but he was listening for the true reasons.
“But many will die for the city we both think holy,” King Godfrey continued. “And every man who has ever fought a battle knows that you cannot lay the fate of the battle in the hands of the Council of Heavens. If they wanted us to have blind faith, they would not have given us free will to think for ourselves.”
A good number of bobbing heads and ‘aye’ showed that most agreed. But Balin remarked upon a small number of lords that did not. The body language showed that one of them was insulted by that statement. Duke Reginald Greywood, lord of the city Aba-Janah.
“The Sultanate is fighting to conquer the rest of Blood Sand Island and our spies has uncovered plans to conquer and annex the islands of Bluestone and Lowrock. It would give them an advantage in the Bay of Fey completely. While the islands of Paltena and Wessox defend our southwestern passage, we have no islands between the mainland and Lowrock. It and Bluestone would be perfect naval bases and would not only limit our own naval operations, but also act as perfect locations to gather forces for naval landings on our beaches. While we fight their armies in the deserts between our borders they could land 50,000 men or more fifteen kilometers from Al-Rhuidean. I trust you all understand our dilemma. Our greatest threat is the Sejkuuan Sultanate.”
“With respect your Grace,” Count Reginald spoke up in his gravely and uncomfortable voice. “May I speak?”
“Of course Lord Reginald. I value all your opinions, or you would not be here,” Godfrey said in a kind and respectful manner.
“I believe that the Sejkuuan’s is a threat, but there are others roaming to our north, west and east. Naegi armies that has no relations with the Sultanate other than being the same species. I speak mainly of the Warlord. Bastet,” Count Reginald stated to the king and everyone.
Mumbles, ‘ayes’ and nods of agreement came from half of them.
“My king,” an elderly man said. It was a bishop. An elf. High elf, obvious from his light, almost golden skin color. “I fear that the city of the gods is in grave danger. We must send letters to the kingdoms in civilized Nyshara. We must call upon the Archbishop in the Grand Citadel to call for a crusade!”
Many proclaimed their agreement with cries of ‘yes, aye’ and so on.
Balin-again-remained silent. He saw Godfrey raise his hand and everyone instantly fell silent.
“This is a discussion for my advisory Council,” he said firmly, glancing at the elven bishop. “There are details to consider which we will not debate here.”
Balin wouldn’t be surprised if there were kingdoms. The Sepheran King for one, that would send down an army to claim the holy city for themselves before caring about the threats. Not all would, and there was probably other details he didn’t know because he obviously wasn’t on the king’s council. But the bishop were. Was this his attempt to undermine the king and force his idea through without the kings approval? If it was, it was disgraceful. He felt sick just thinking about it.
“Now…” Godfrey returned to the matter at hand and lowered his voice slightly. “…we are surrounded by many enemies and therefore I have decided to do something my father, my grandfather or my great grandfather never considered possible or worth pondering. Yet I have. I have to, because safeguarding the holy city and its people, Human and Naegi, falls to me.” He looked at the lords for a moment. “Later today, when the sun reaches midday, I will meet with Immortal Serpent Bastet to negotiate a truce and an alliance against the Sejkuu people.”
To say everyone was shocked was putting it mildly. Balin was angry for a moment. How could he negotiate with Bastet? The Naegi Warlord had sworn to reclaim Al-Rhuidean from them. it wasn’t until a few seconds later he realized Godfrey used her title. Not the simple Warlord title they marked her with, but her actual title. Giving her legitimacy as a leader. In a way, he was recognizing her as an equal to himself. the Naegi living inside the holy land, those that had converted were their equals, of course they were. Even those that worshipped their own bastardized goddess was equal in some ways. They were peaceful. He paused,
He shook the thoughts out of his head. No. no. They were equal. Everyone was equal. He reminded himself that the Naegi outside their borders was the same race of Naegi that lived inside. Some just believed in another god. Lady Serpent, if he remembered correctly. The king was right. Maybe making an enemy into a friend could help them.
But some did not think of it like he did.
“Blasphemy!” The bishop sneered in disgust.
“Be silent Bishop Luciano,” Godfrey warned him. “Or I will have you thrown out. I am confident this is the right decision and it is very much mine to make. He directed a warning glare to the lords that had also spoken up in dismay.
“May I speak your Grace?” One of the Archdukes requested.
Godfrey bobbed his head down and up ones, giving permission.
The Archduke took a step forward.
“I am Archduke Robert of House Godfrey,” he announced. His voice instantly changed to a more hostile and disapproving one. “My brother is right! Can’t you all see that? If we do not make peace with our neighbors it will lead to to disaster and the holy land will turn to ash in the coming wars. We cannot rely on the kingdoms across the Narrow Sea, beyond the elven homeland of Cyrene, we cannot rely on them to launch a crusade. Now we have survived through my brother’s and our father’s reign without a crusade. It may be that Nyshara itches for a crusade, I do not know. But I do know that the Sejkuuan Sultanate is more organized than any tribe, Warband or horde we have seen before. I do know that the Naegi Legions is more organized then before and lastly, I do know that Bastet’s army is composed of many Legions. She has an army bigger than any, we have ever seen before.”
Godfrey put a gauntlet on his brother’s shoulder.
“This kingdom will not fall because of arrogance.” He delivered a glare to Bishop Luciano. He looked like he was fuming with anger. “Now, Robert will both join me to the negotiation.” He gestured to both his Archduke brothers. “As will Duke Caedmon Clermont, Count Reginald Greywood , Count Arvin Bolton, Count Philip York, Baron Bach Conte and Baron Balin Cantillon. You will each bring a small detachment of knights as bodyguards. When we come in range of Bastet’s delegation everyone will stop but me, Archduke, Duke Caedmon, Count Reginald and Baron Balin. The rest of you will safeguard our escape in this would turn hostile.”
His brother Geoffrey would stay behind and lead the army in anything went wrong, and keep the lords that disagreed with this in line.
“Yes your grace,” Balin said in unison with everyone else that had been called forth to join him.
“Everyone else will be prepared if attacked, but we will not start a war here. Prepare to ride, soon, get to it.”
When everyone filed out of the tent Balin ended up walking alongside Baron Bach Conte.
“Well wasn’t that interesting,” he commented.
“They do say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend,” Balin answered.
“They do. This whole ordeal is madness in my ears, but maybe the kings sees things differently.”
“He does. He has to as king.”
“Hmm, right. Let’s hope so.”867Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OA26USBpP
Balin Cantillon
Balin rode a few paces behind the king as his horse’s hooves stepped into the low running river. He had brought Quinn with him, and the Naegi Healer Jaleesa and four other knights. It was about the same number that everyone else had. Give or take. They rode onto the sand on the river’s opposite side and continued. They picked up speed and galloped at a decent pace through the sand for a number of kilometers when a man from Archduke Robert’s guard pointed to the sky.
“My lord! Dragon rider!”
Everyone halted and looked to the sky. They saw a large dragon swooping around with what appeared to be a Naegi on its back.
“By Avuskal,” Quinn mouthed in stunned awe.
“Bastet’s forward scout, no doubt,” Archduke Robert told Godfrey, who nodded.
“We should see her delegation from that hill,” Godfrey stated.
They rode to the hill mentioned. It was a short one-hundred meters away. From on top the hill Balin saw approximately fifty riders approaching.
He heard Quinn make a disgusting sound in his throat.
“Crawlers,” he spat.
“Do you have something against crawlers Captain Quinn?” Jaleesa asked.
“They are unholy. Lizards should not be that size.”
“Some would argue that traveling across the world to butcher children is unholy,” she argued back.
Quinn didn’t answer that. He intentionally looked ahead and avoided even looking at her.
Balin focused on the Crawlers. The giant lizards was two meters tall and six meters in length from jaws to tail. Speaking of jaws. Those jaws was filled with multiple rows of sharp teeth and the neck was filled with long colorful feathers. Its scales was a mix of blue-red-yellow-blue and green in different patterns. And off course on its back, a Naegi. What was extraordinary was that they didn’t throw up a cloud of sand when they moved. Their horses did and it made them pretty easy to spot in good numbers.
He wasn’t a fan of the Crawlers either. But he had to admit that while they were creepy, they were extremely fast and agile on the sand, and unlike a horse they could bit your head off.
He saw half the Naegi riders stop and the rest rode towards them.
This is it, Balin thought. He wasn’t sure which of the Crawler riders was Bastet yet. Although there were a great many strange things with the Naegi tribespeople but one of the strangest was their titles. Nothing like King, or lord or duke. No. Their highest title was Bastet’s. Immortal Serpent. It was someone that had been blessed by their god-or something crazy like that-a sort of supreme queen or high king.
Godfrey
The last twenty meters he rode alone, as did the female counterpart. Off course the lords loudly protested but he wanted to speak with Bastet alone. Her lords and bodyguards was waiting a similar distance back as well. The wind was still whipping up a fury of sand and made Godfrey happy to wear a Great Helm. He got off his horse and walked over to Bastet who dismounted her Crawler. The lizard hissed, but she patted it on the head soothingly, just above its mane of feathers and the beast laid down in the sand and relaxed.
“Immortal Serpent Bastet,” he said in a husky voice. He spoke loudly because of the wind that had been picking up for a while since they left their camp. It looked to be a real sand storm on the rise.
“King Godfrey IV,” Bastet said in a seductive voice, lips curved into a small smile.
Her black hair was blowing in the wind, partially covering up her facial features. The right horn in her forehead had broken off at some point in the past, a scar of all her battles. Her blue skin had a darker shade and her glowing eyes, perhaps the scariest part of her features. They had a pure black glow to them. it gave her an almost, demonic look. Apart from that, she was actually quite attractive. But he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.
In her right had she held a War Spear. Made out of wood and with a sharp steel edge and a formation of feathers below. Spears was a traditional weapon and symbol of a warrior in Naegi society. She buried the far end of her spear in the ground and stared back at him with her black eyes.
“I can’t see your face, your Grace. Would you remove your helmet. It only seems fair since you see my face that I can see yours,” she inquired.
Godfrey complied her request and moved his helmet. The sand caused a little discomfort, but not a lot.
“Certainly. It is my pleasure to finally meet you.”
She arched her left eyebrow.
“Is it? Did I catch the true king of Al-Rhuidean’s interest?”
Her voice was gentle and beautiful. There was a mocking tense to that sentence. She obviously didn’t consider him the true king of the holy lands.
“Your skills as a leader of armies and a warrior in your own right,” he stated. “You bested my brother-in-law, Eridanus, in battle a decade ago. The Battle of the Twin River crossing.”
She smirked.
“Oh, yes I think I did.”
Which was why she wanted them to meet her. Because a decade before she had beaten Archduke Eridanus somewhere in this very same sand. His army had been smashed and routed. A bit of gloating from her side.
“9,000 dead humans on this stretch of land,” she remarked.
“A good number of Naegi too I’d say,” he countered.
“Some, yes. A worthy sacrifice for halting your expansionist plans to go further north.”
Godfrey stroked the left wing crest on the top of his helmet.
“There has been too much death, has it not?”
“Not just yet. Not until we reclaim out holy city, our temple. It’s that simple.”
Godfrey kept himself from sighing at her response and merely glanced at her Crawler. He-or she-kept an eye half open.
“You know why I called for this meeting.”
“I do. I have to say, it peeked my interest. You want to sign a treaty with me, to defend the holy land that you occupy. Lands that is rightfully ours. Intriguing.”
“The Sultanate in the south will destroy us both. They would crush you as well as us, you must see that.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“We didn’t use to fight each other. Not before you came here and slaughtered entire cities worth of innocents. Women, children and babies put to the sword. We had a society, gorgeous cities and Rul-Dam was the greatest trading city in Bay of Fey. Until you turned it to ash.”
“That is in the past, Bastet. Just because our forefathers committed atrocities it does not mean that things can never change,” he argued.
“If you wish for my army to help in in a potential war, tell me, what would I get in return?”
He was sure she knew that the Sultanate conquered the Al-Rhuidean she would have to fight them for it. And she might find the Sultanate a tougher foe.
He raised his right gauntlet covered hand to protect his face from the sand blown by the wind. But she didn’t seem bothered at all.
“Speak clearly, what do you want?”
She smiled.
“I want the Southern Twin River’s east bank.” She had a smug look on her face. “I want Dawn of Dread, Lion and Sun Castles. All three of them.”
“That is out of the question,” he said calmly.
“That’s my only term. If you want my army to defend you against the Sultanate. Give me control of the river or I sit back and wait until the Sultanate and your army have smashed against each other. I can wait and pick up the piece.”
Godfrey knew he had to give up something to get her cooperation. It would seem weak and many would see it as him giving an advantage to an enemy. But if he managed to turn her into an ally, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“A compromise Immortal Serpent Bastet-”
“Bastet is fine,” she said.
He bowed his head.
“Then you may call me Godfrey. My counteroffer is Dawn of Dread Castle and Lion Castle. Sun Castle must stay ours. It will ensure my lords that you will not stab us in the back.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Very well, Godfrey.” He saw the hint of a spark in her eye. A thought struck him that she might have known he would never give her all three and hoped he would offer two. Either way, he needed her strength, her army. “In a week, I shall have the castle garrisons peacefully await to be relieved by your soldiers.”
“Acceptable. In a week than. You have my word that I will stand with you if the Sultanate attacks the holy lands.”
Godfrey looked into her pitch black eyes. he couldn’t read any intention or emotion in those demonic eyes. Demonic, humph, a fitting description for a priest or Bishop Luciano who liked to depict Bastet as a demonically possessed being. Their answer to powerful enemies. He regretted thinking about her in combination of the word so often used by those who could not prove their case.
He nodded.
“Would you have us sign a scroll?” Bastet asked.
It surprised him that she had honestly in her voice when she asked.
Assuring her, he raised the palm of his hand.
“Nay. I am content in following your peoples customs and traditions.”
It was her turn to look surprised. While the civilized kingdoms of the west of Nyshara, from across the Narrow Sea signed treaties to ensure that both parties could stay true to their word and not break the deal. But for the Naegi, that was strange and untrustworthy. For them, the only way to trust someone to stay true to their word was to swear of their parents’ names-or it their dead-their graves.
“Well then, on the graves of my father Godfrey and my mother Leanna, I swear to stand together in defense from the Sejkuuan Sultanate.”
“On the grave of my father Troye and grave of my mother Mali, I agreed. The goddess Lady Serpent witness our vow,” Bastet proclaimed.
They grabbed each other’s forearms firmly.867Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsdbTNN3Cu
