Kothar froze for a short moment, he hadn't expected a grand welcome, but being called 'rat' even before he had met the Duke face to face was unexpected.
"You look surprised, rat. What else would I call the child of a thieving urchin, who cost me a fortune over the years that her and that damn brother of hers pilfered through this city?" The Duke's voice was filled with vitriol, and his craggy brow creased up as he stared at Kothar with the piercing blue eyes that mirrored Kothar's own.
Kothar moved to respond, but an invisible pressure weighed down on him, this wasn't the first time he had felt the pressure from a far more powerful individual, but it was the first time it was targeted at him.
Kothar felt completely helpless, his own mana was sluggish and he struggled even to twitch a finger. He felt a sense of confusion, but then Silane began to talk, assuring him that she was still there, and his mind cleared.
If not for SIlane, then perhaps he would now be laying on the ground with his mouth frothing. The Duke looked on in surprise as Kothar's eyes cleared, and he stared back at him, as if he were staring into the eyes of his reflection.
"I see you have some spine, it would be hard not to, with parents like yours." The Duke's voice lightened, and the pressure eased off.
"Take a seat." The Duke gestured to a small table, with two rickety wooden chairs next to it, nestled amongst a few fragrant bushes that absolutely buzzed with tiny birds that flitted from one flower to the next.
[What the hell was that about, what a senile old jerk! Beat his a**.] Silane yelled out.
[I think that was some kind of weird test. Let's see if we can get him to help Ursten before we die trying to fight this old freak.]
Kothar calmed Silane down, it was a strange feeling, the AI being emotional while he had to be the rational one in this situation.
Kothar followed the Duke to the rickety old table, the table carved with runic designs but showed no apparent mana fluctuations. It was a strange thing to be sure.
"Kothar of Balin, I await your guidance." Kothar gave the Duke an elaborate bow, greeting him in the Ursten custom, as was appropriate for an elder relative.
"Anteris of Newport, well met." Anteris gave the appropriate response.
"I can guess why you've come, but I'll let you explain." Anteris' permanent frown had softened and he almost resembled an older, darkly tanned Tam.
"I've come to ask for your assistance in Urtsen's battle against the Phintus Federation, if you could threaten their southern border and coast, they would be forced to retreat and would free us to send our full forces against Kalun." Kothar had a solemn look on his face, his tone respectful without being pleading.
Duke Anteris stared at Kothar for a moment, before he began to laugh, wheezing and slapping his knee, tears welling up in his eyes.
"You want me to what?" Anteris caught his breath as he wheezed out, still recovering from his fit of laughter.
"Here's what Rotan is willing to offer." Kothar ignored the Duke's mockery and handed him the sealed scroll.
The Duke took the scroll, picking up the small paring knife set next to the array of exotic fruits on the table, deftly cracking the wax open.
He read slowly, shaping the words with his mouth, as if unfamiliar with the written script of Balin. After reading the long missive from Rotan, he furrowed his brow.
"This is an extraordinary offer. Offering to reinstate me as royalty of Ursten, that is what my forefathers yearned for. This mansion, you must have realized as you came, it started as nothing more than a shrine to a home that abandoned us." Duke Anteris' voice choked with emotion and his eyes glistened in the twilight.
"The flowers we painstakingly grew in this harsh climate, to remind us of the smell of our city, this entire building, made to echo our ancestral home." Tears dripped down the furrows in his wrinkled old face.
Kothar leant forward, now hopeful, eager to hear Anteris confirm his allegiance.
"To tempt me with our hearts' greatest desire! After all these years! Now that Ursten is nothing more than a shell of her former self!" Anteris' voice rose into a roar, his tears of sorrow becoming tears of pure, unfiltered rage. He tore up Rotan's missive, and a puff of flame from his palm disintegrated them.
"Tell me, boy, shall I pledge allegiance to a fallen kingdom, a kingdom whose incompetent fool of a king has lost the greatest army of the Northern kingdoms to desertation and the promise of gold. Rotan cannot even command loyalty from his own countrymen, and he expects me to throw my lot in with him!" Anteris had risen to his feet, and stood tell as he yelled in fury. He was a good head taller than Kothar, and he towered over Kothar who remained in his seat, afraid to set offthe senile duke.
"Grand Admiral of Ursten? I bet the idiot expected me to build him all those ships too. The soft brained imbecile!" Anteris continued his tirade, slamming the intricate table, showering Kothar with splinters as it shattered.
"Forgive me, I have become… Irritable in my old age." Seeing the scraps of the table strewn around the garden, the duke collected himself, realizing he had flown into a rage.
"Let us go to my study, I need a drink after the idiocy I read." Anteris walked off down the stairs, not waiting for Kothar to follow.
Kothar followed Anteris down the winding staircase, only descending a couple floors before Anteris made his way to a door at the end of a short corridor. Opening up into a cozy study, which could have been plucked from any home in Balin. Comfortable upholstered chairs, shelves of books, a solid wood desk and what Anteris had come here for, a wall stacked with rows upon rows of liquor.
Anteris took a crystal decanter from the wall and slumped into a chair, sipping at the bright orange liquid inside.
"I would offer you some young lad, but it'd probably burn your insides. Literally." Anteris said as he exhaled a huge cloud of steam.
"It's the thought that counts." Kothar gave the old duke a smile, trying to keep the irascible old man calm.
"Truth be told, I don't believe your parents or even Rotan truly expected me to help Ursten. After all, why should I? Most of the greatest warriors, the true backbone of Ursten, fell in the war with the Southern Tribes. Ursten is now so weak that even those swamp dwellers are giving you trouble." Anteris sighed, the steam from his liquor casting the room into a haze, and the old duke sunk into the plush chair.
"Then why send me here at all, they send me on this futile gallops across the plains for nothing?" Kothar blurted out, genuinely confused.
"Bahahhahaha. Of course, a child would have no way to understand the sacrifice a parent is willing to make. They sent you away from the war, to a nation where you'd easily find safe harbor." Anteris had a sad look on his face as he spoke, the words stirring some deep memory of his.
Kothar's face flushed as he realized what had happened. Having lived a whole life without parents or children, with no family to speak of, how could he have know that his ridiculous ride across from Ursten to Newport was anything other than a hasty escape.
He had immediately shifted into the mindset of Commander Kothar of the Alliance, excited to be carrying out a key mission. But here, on this world, he was nothing more than a strong teen with strange ideas about training and weaponry, at least, that's what he was to his parents.
"There you have it, kid. Now don't go bawling your eyes out in front of me, you'll ruin my drink. Look at it this way, me declaring my allegiance to Ursten now, at their weakest point, would be like jumping on a burning ship that's half sunk. It's nothing personal, no matter what resentment we held against Ursten in the past." Anteris gave Kothar a sad smile, looking on as his distant relative had a look of shock and horror on his face.
"You must have spies, right?" Kothar spoke again after a long pause, a confused jumble of emotions, struggling to handle the fact that he had just fled so willingly from his family.
"You want to know how they're all doing?" Anteris asked gently, now a little tipsy, slurring his words slightly.
Kothar only nodded, his eyes glazed over, his thoughts still with his family.
"The last report I got said that soon enough the two armies would be marching on each other, neither army can afford to stay out by Janul for so long. My guess is that if the battle will be soon, it could even be happening now." Anteris' voice dropped to a soft murmur, his face hidden by the haze that now surrounded dhim.
"I'm sorry lad." Anteris muttered, in his slurred voice.