Dressed in a shiny green silk robe, the orator stood on top of the stage. He tilted his head a little to the left and bent his back a bit to the right. He positioned his two hands as if he was cradling a newborn. Palms open and angled eyebrows, he let the first words flow.
"Good People of Bivon! Oh what a great day we have. The sun is shining like the glistening hope inside our hearts. Once that hope was dimmed, now it rises again like a full moon after its absence. I am here because just this morning I had a realization and I want to share it to you! I realized that Princess Emily is a gift from God. I saw her lead the the first wave of assault to rescue us. She was fearless because she cares!"
The orator paused to let the audience make their nods of agreement. Sure enough, they did. Several hundred paused from their work just to listen to him.
"Because of her attack, many of the hostages died!" Said a man in the back. The fellow wore a smug face and had his arms crossed.
The orator cursed the man silently. People like this fool were making his job more difficult. The orator shifted to the right, carefully muffling the sound of coins inside the pockets of his robe.
"A sad tale friend. Such a sad tale. But Princess Emily was forced by the evil knight Balian to attack. Her heart is bleeding because of the deaths"
"Oi! Bleeding heart? The only bleeding part of her is her arse! She is a Castonian pet. You people should ignore this old fool. He was paid by the Princess to fill your heads with propaganda"
The orator smiled. Deep inside he was burning with anger. He looked towards the hooded men in the corner and gave a single nod.
"She is a wench" Continued the fool "I tell you, she is selling our nation to the Castonians. She is..."
The hooded men cupped the fool's wide mouth and dragged him away. They were silent, fast and the commotion they caused was minimal. The orator gulped after seeing the skills of the hooded men. The Princess sure has some scary people employed.
Some of the audience looked behind but the orator quickly grabbed their attention.
"Princess Emily is an angel! She saved us. She saved this city. Oh what a great day. How lucky we are to be her subjects. Of only King Brice is the same but King Brice fled the city and left us. It was a shameful act for a monarch to leave his citizens behind!"
The audience looked at each other. They looked convinced. The orator pushed his advantage.
"I hope that one day Princess Emily would take the crown for herself. She is the Queen that we need. She, Grand Master Henry and the Castonians are our saviors!"
**********
Henry scrubbed the back of his steed. The horse neighed lowly, satisfied with Henry's care.
As a Prefect, maintaining horses is not his responsibility. Even a normal knight doesn't have to groom his own steed. There were stable boys employed to do the deed.
But Grand Master Nelson taught him that the best knights are those that have a connection with their mounts. The horse and the rider needed to be of one mind. So Henry would often spend time with his horse to make this connection.
"Grand Master" Stan said from behind him. The low voice was unmistakable.
"The Grand Master cannot hear you Centurion Stan" Henry dipped the brush in the bucket of water. Fleas, horse hair and other stinks clouded the liquid "He's dead. We are yet to elect a new Grand Master"
"Our brothers and I consider you as the Grand Master"
Henry continued brushing the back of his horse. "You shouldn't. It is sacrilege. I am a Prefect. I need to be hailed as a Master first. After that I need to have the majority of the votes. And after that a ceremony is required to formally announce my position. Now you are telling me that I could skip these three steps and just leap to the highest position of the Order of Knights?"
"Rules change Grand Master"
"Not in the Omniscient's eyes"
"I hope you change your mind Grand Master. We need you"
"You need repentance for your sin. I am not and I will not become the Grand Master. Let's not breathe further life into this topic Centurion Stan. Why are you here?"
"Marquis Erik wants to see you"
Henry put the brush down. He patted the back of his horse as a farewell.
"Of course he does" Henry said as he walked outside.
When he reached the grand hall of the palace he saw Erik reading a book wrapped in white leather. The inscriptions outside were of gold dust.
"Interesting" Erik said, flipping through the pages "You have laws and rules and philosophy for almost everything. Nice book, although the wording could be better. There are words as deep as a Vanadian's pocket and as difficult to understand as a Castonian's temper"
"The book of knights is inspired by Omniscient himself. The First Grand Master wrote it but the words belong to the Omniscient" Henry said.
"So the Omniscient, with his omniscience, made some grammatical and spelling errors while inspiring the first Grand Master to write the Book of the Knights"
"The scribbler's error Marquis Erik. The Omniscient's knowledge is supreme"
"Fine"
Erik closed the book and took a letter from his pocket. He gave it to Henry. The letter had a broken golden seal. It was the personal seal of King Timothy.
"They agreed to change Castonia's stance in this war. We will support the claim of Princess Emily on grounds that King Brice abandoned his responsibilities. It is a weak claim I know but even weak claims become strong when backed by Castonian steel. The people of Bivon also view her as their savior so she has support. You should address her as Her Majesty now. As for you, the King and the Queen also approved. Castonia will support your claim as the Grand Master"
"There's nothing to support Erik. I don't have a claim and even if I have, Castonia's support means nothing. The position of Grand Master is..."
"Elected, yes" Erik interrupted "I know. I have read the portion in your book and it is specified that Grand Masters need to be elected from the current Masters. But these are different times Henry. We need to bend the rules a little"
"Not the rules of the Omniscient. God is absolute. If the Omniscient says that a Grand Master should be elected, then we mortals cannot just put someone..."
Erik slammed his balled fist on the table. Henry was jarred.
"Listen here you stiff-headed idiot!" Erik shouted, his eyes quivering in anger. Erik looked to the side. "Squire! Map!"
In just a moment, Erik's squire came running towards them and laid the map on the table. Erik traced his finger on the map.
"King Brice and the fanatic Master Tobias made an alliance. They control Vuono and Murt. The sly Master Balian fled to the west, dragging your mother, your sister and Captain Rain with him. Our scouts reported that the Calgarians are sending men to support his claim. We, on the other hand, control Bivon. King Brice, Master Balian and Master Tobias are all not qualified to lead Tulosa. Only you and Princess Emily care about your people and that is the reason why Castonia chose you. This war will last long and thousands will die Henry. Thousands of children will be orphaned. Thousands of wives will be widowed. So do me a favor and just accept the role! You can be an instrument to end this suffering but you would rather follow the old words written in this book full of grammatical errors!"
Henry lowered his head in shame. It was not that he doesn't know that. Neither between Master Balian and Master Tobias is qualified to become the next Grand Master. But he doesn't want to disobey God's command.
"I will think about it" Henry said, biting his lips
"You better think it fast Henry. By the way, she is coming here"
"Who?"
"Freya"
Henry's brows creased "Why? It's too dangerous. Who is with her?"
"Now that Castonia supports Queen Emily, we need ambassadors and a diplomatic party. Freya was chosen as one. Also new supplies are coming from Solon"
"Erik" Henry went closer "She is in danger. King Brice and Master Tobias could attack her party. I know we have our differences and I know that your strict orders is for me to stay here. But please, I beg you, let me out of the city. Send me to guard her and the supplies"
Erik sighed "You talk as if I am an evil jailer. Who do you think I and Timothy are? We grew up with Freya. She is our dear friend. Of course we will make sure that she will not be harmed on her way to Bivon. One of the reasons why I called you here is to order you to meet and guide Freya on her way here. A romantic reunion is not bad right? Take all your knights and half of my cavalry. You leave at once"
"Thank you. I will be going" Henry saluted and turned around. He walked towards the door.
"Henry" Erik called. Henry looked behind.
"The position of Grand Master" Erik said "Think it over. You are a good man. I know you will make the right decision"