Deep within a secure area, a single large rectangular table sat in the center of a windowless room. Magical lanterns cast bright white light, illuminating much of the room but also casting long murky shadows. A dozen highly polished chairs lined either side of the table, with a thirteenth situated at one end. They were currently occupied all by men with varying levels of social standing, each one sitting silently as they mulled over the report they had just heard.
General Ushire was the first one to speak. "Your Highness, we should be cautious and investigate these claims before making any..."
"Investigate! You want us to sit on our asses and wait for an investigation?!" A tall and sickly thin man interjected with his hawkish opinion. "We should strike back tenfold! Show them that they stepped on a hornet's nest."
A small chorus of agreement rang out from half of the room, heads bobbing up and down like birds pecking at seeds. The other half of the room remained silent, not wanting to appear weak willed in front of their peers while at the same time not courageous enough to send men to war. General Ushire said nothing to the fact that he had been disrespected, he just narrowed his eyes and sharpened his gaze at the thin man.
"Now, now, Marquis Mallow. That's no way to have a civil conversation, now, is it?" Duke Hutchens chided him.
"Yes, of course, you are correct Duke Hutchens. I apologize for my outburst General Ushire." Marquis Mallow apologized, giving General Ushire a halfhearted bow.
"I concur with General Ushire. There have been no witnesses to what had truly happened to the village, it very well may have not been the Morganites." A rotund balding man said while he adjusted his gold rimmed glasses that would perpetually slide down his round nose. A din of agreement sounded out once more, equally splitting the room.
"Thank you for your wise guidance, Baron Murphy."
"It is my duty, Your Highness."
"Mage Petticoat, what is your opinion in all of this?" King alexander asked calmly, turning towards the man to his left.
Mage Petticoat hesitated to answer right away, his opinion could very well sway the King's decision. He closed his eyes briefly, forming his words in his mind. "I have to agree with the General, we must obtain more information before we could possibly declare war. I cannot think of any reason that Morgania would have to attack us, especially a small village such as Swayzee."
King Alexander nodded his head, normally, he would have agreed with his Royal Mage. What Mage Petticoat didn't know was that he had given First Princess Alessandria only thirty days to solve an impossible problem. He knew deep down that they were not the ones responsible for the curse, but he had let his anger get the better of him and his pride made it impossible for him to back down.
With everything that had happened, there was a good chance that the Princess took it upon herself to strike first, although the small village would not have been his first target. That was the sticking point, why would they kill the entirety of such an inconsequential backwater village? It just didn't make any sense.
King Alexander turned to the man seated on his right. "Duke Hutchens, what do you think?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I believe, although their methods escape us, the facts are indisputable. The Kingdom of Morgania's knights, for unknown reasons, razed a peaceful village of our great Kingdom. We cannot, in good conscious, let this transgression stand." A murmur spread through the small number of people seated around the table. "Now, I'm not blind to the need of an investigation; but we should only use that to uncover what happened to those poor souls, not use it as an excuse to put off what must be done." Duke Hutchens exclaimed passionately, managing to kindle the flames of war inside most of those present.
Now most of the room was quietly talking amongst themselves, the consensus agreed with what the Duke had said. General Ushire gave no hint to what his emotions truly were, he remained still, waiting for orders from the Crown. Mage Petticoat on the other hand let out a resigned sigh, shaking his head. There hadn't been a war in over fifty years, now it seemed as if he would have to experience one during his lifetime.
The low murmur of voices slowly intensified until it was a clamor of intense arguments between the nobles. They had moved on from discussing the possibilities of a war into who should provide the troops for the inevitable invasion. All the while, Mage Petticoat, General Ushire, and Duke Hutchens sat quietly, waiting for the King to make his decision.
"General." The King's quiet voice instantly overpowering the nobles' and silencing the room. "How long will it take to prepare?"
Everyone present listened intently to General Ushire's answer. "Most of the preparations have already been completed due to your previous order. The manhunt for Lord Arckroft's killer is still ongoing as well, so there is already an increased presence on our borders. We only need to establish supply lines and conscript the regular army."
"So how long?"
"One month would be an accurate estimate. We need time to send out the draft and to summon the drafted citizens to the camps we will need to set up. Being that everyone is mandated to join the army upon adulthood for two years, we will only need to spend a week or two on refreshing their training." General Ushire said, his deep voice reverberating throughout the room.
"What about the upcoming winter?" Mage Petticoat asked, fearing the deep snow that was bound to fall in only a few months time.
General Ushire nodded his head at the perfectly sensible question. "Snow will be an issue, but the further we push south the less snowfall there will be. As long as we can capture Nox before winter truly starts, we will be in possession of a fortified bridgehead. Unfortunately, we would have to pause our advance during the coldest months, but they would not be able to attack us as well."
"What about their defenses? Surely they had noticed our movements by now." Mage Petticoat added on.
"They have." General Ushire said. "They have increased the manpower on their side of the border by fifteen percent, according to our spies. This is mainly because of the aforementioned manhunt; they had been helping us in the search. If we were to strike now, I am confident in a swift victory."
"Alright." King Alexander said. "Thank you General. I have taken everything you all have told me today into consideration. My father had overseen several decades of peace, sustaining a fine balance between the three kingdoms. I'm reluctant to break that peace, but what must be done must be done. We cannot let this travesty remain unanswered; we cannot allow our countrymen to remain unavenged." His voice grew in fervor. "Mage Petticoat, I will be relying on you in the coming days."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
The King then turned to Duke Hutchens. "Duke Hutchens, do we have any foreign students inside the Academy at the moment?"
Duke Hutchens nodded. "Less than a hundred Your Majesty, and only twenty from Morgania."
"Keep an eye on them for now, do not allow them to leave the city."
"At your command, Your Highness." Duke Hutchens said respectfully with a bow.
"Good. Now, General Ushire, make the necessary preparations, we are going to war."
…..
A clear bead of salty sweat rolled down Ryan's nose, hanging off of the tip precariously until falling down onto his hand. He had a white knuckled grip on the leather reigns as the four horses plodded down the wide dirt road. It was cool outside, the mid-autumn breeze ushering in the pretense of winter. The sun on the other hand was still putting up a valiant resistance, reminding everyone of its presence as its rays heated all they touched.
The leaves from the nearby forest had mostly fallen off, leaving the trees to stand naked and exposed. Mountains rose up in the distance. Their ice-covered peaks scraping the sky as well as providing their chilled water to the small river running parallel to the road. Ryan looked ahead, off in the distance a large, fortified building had been erected. Surrounding it were dozens of soldiers going about their duties and with a lengthy line of travelers waiting to enter.
"Looks like a checkpoint." Professor Kal said, poking his head out of the covered compartment. "Just act natural."
"Act natural? We didn't do anything wrong, why would I have to 'act natural'?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Professor Kal gave Ryan an inquisitive look. "You just have that look about you, like you're up to no good."
"Gods." Ryan muttered. "And people call me a child."
Ryan stopped the wagon, taking his place at the back of the lengthy line. Luckily, it looked as if the line was moving smoothly, only taking about five minutes per inspection. After an hour, it was their turn. A soldier gave Ryan the order to pull inside the structure which he followed without protest.
Once inside, Ryan noticed the center of the building was wide open. Clear blue skies could be seen when he looked up, the walls of the building reaching twenty feet high. There were other carriages and wagons lined up, they were being processed as well, their occupants waiting inside a designated area.
"Alright, everyone out, you can wait over there." A soldier ordered, pointing to an area with a few benches not too far away.
The handful of guards waited patiently for the people inside the wagon to disembark. Their eyes going wide in shock as they landed on the unearthly beauties that descended from the plain wooden wagon. It wasn't as if they had never seen a beautiful woman before, they were all experienced men, not the green bucks they used to be. Even so, when they watched the graceful movements of the four women descending from the plain wagon, they could feel their hearts flutter and their breaths quicken.
"Ahhh, it feels so good to move around. It was getting cramped in there." Marissa exclaimed as she jumped down from the bed of the wagon and stretched her arms above her head, her joints audibly popping. The guards watched slack jawed as the auburn beauty stretched out her slender body only a few feet in front of them. She moved her hips in a playful manor, drawing in their attention before topping off her actions with a flirtatious wink which sent them all into a fervor.
"Gods, I'm starving." Professor Treffle said, looking around the large dirt courtyard. "I was really hoping for at least a food cart in here."
"We do have some of that wonderful boar that Marissa so graciously hunted for us." Alessandria said, as she was helped down by Lilly who had exited just before her.
"Yes, Lady Alessandria, that boar was delectable." Lilly wholeheartedly agreed.
"Now Lilly, I've told you several times to just address me as Ali." Alessandria chided her with a small smile on her rosy lips.
"Please forgive me, your ... Ali."
"How long is this going to take?!" A boisterous voice sounded out from two carriages over. "I'm on a very tight deadline and I've already been waiting in line for well over an hour!"
A broad-shouldered man clad in fine clothing and gilded jewelry stood cross armed and was impatiently tapping his foot. He stood surrounded by four armed guards but could easily be seen behind them due to his height. Half a dozen soldiers were busy unloading his wagons' contents onto the ground, carefully opening, and inspecting each one. A single soldier was attempting to remain calm as the large man continued to raise his voice.
"What do you mean you have to search every container!? I have four wagons loaded with crates full of perishable goods, will you be the one to reimburse me should they rot?!" He screamed at the soldier, a vein bulging from his neck and white foam forming at the corner of his mouth.
Having had enough, the soldier could no longer contain his annoyance. "You WILL submit to the search WITHOUT complaint! If you refuse, I will exercise my right, as a soldier of the Kingdom of Amine, to have you arrested for interfering with official business."
The bodyguards surrounding the man did not react to the soldier's words in the slightest, they were only being paid to protect the merchant from bandits, not from his own stupidity. While the screaming matched continued between the two, the other soldiers continued to methodically empty out the wagons' contents.
"Be careful with those!" The man shouted. "Those are... they're..." The merchant stuttered, pulling at his collar. "Very... exspen...."
Clutching his chest, the merchant dropped to his knees, dirtying his blue silk pants. One bodyguard rushed to his aid, while the other three, not knowing if it was an assassination attempt, covered his body with theirs. The soldier that had been arguing with the merchant moved in to help, he may have found the man to be unbearable, but he would never wish him dead.
Finding the merchant unresponsive, the bodyguard shouted out for help. "We need a healer! Quickly!"