The king of Rabier and the queen of Shona had not managed to leave the Grand Palace of Korazin when the attack begun. Nonetheless, Hatto had known they were here, and made sure they were dealt with civilly. Still, he was struggling to keep them here until General Garrera arrived. It was the evening of the day after the attack, and Hatto was discussing the intransigence of Queen Rukh-shana with his senior officer atop the roof of the palace. The Queen was openly hostile to this invasion unlike the Rabian king Gaixa, whom Hatto liked better.
'She's going to be a problem,' senior officer Rosco was saying, 'I wonder how Garrera will deal with her.'
'The General will send 1200 men to the western border with her,' Hatto said, wearing a frown because of the officer's disrespect, 'she knows what's good for Shona.'
Rosco smiled to himself, and let out a sigh of relief. The city was a marvelous sight from this point, but today it was obvious that the city was in more shock than splendor. A man like Hatto could smell the fear reverberating between those walls, and he would have liked to hear what was on people's lips. Chaldea was tilted southward, so at a high vantage point like this, a keen eye could make out the 51-foot south wall. That wall was heavily fortified, owing to the country it faced albeit the relatively long distance between the city and Goldora. It was built to resist an attack from the south, and for this reason it was the only wall that boasted a 70-foot watchtower to spot any incoming invasion. Korazin had for a very long time in the past fought against Goldora on Korazin land. The Goldorans boasted that Korazin had never managed to get even 100 miles near Tyrne, their capital. Hatto was now simply awaiting his master and his next orders. The invasion had been a success, but the icing on the cake was missing, and Hatto knew that Garrera was not going to be all smiles. Having the king alive carried severe consequences. Royalist allies would amass and join forces. The people would lay down their own lives for the king. The worst case scenario was the intervention of foreign nations. Hatto was now thinking perhaps they should have eliminated the prince first, then the old man. It was not long before his wait was over, and a steward came up to deliver the news that Garrera was in the city.
He didn't make the grandest of entrances. By this time, the rumor that a Goldoran procession was approaching Chaldea had already been confirmed as truth. What was still a rumor was the attack on the palace, which revelers wanted to confirm by congregating near the palace's second gate to the east, which faced the common city buzz unlike the main gate, which was away from the eyes of the city. For this reason the people were still unsure about the rumor, but once they heard about an advancing enemy force that was met with no resistance whatsoever, it became clear as day. It became easy to conclude that the sharp turn of events from the last king's illness to his death to this invasion was all part of the same plan—to oust the ruling dynasty. So at first sight of the approaching maroon coats, some in the city caused a stir, and a protest immediately ensued. They were yelling "close the gate!", "kill the invaders" and so on. Garrera's Southern Frontier Division were discernible in their blue, and they led the march, but the red droves behind them were in thousands. Thousands of Goldorans. Thousands of enemies. The curved road leading to the gate was cleared of commoners. The march stopped slightly below the short rise up to the gate. The soldiers were standing in four rows stretching more than a few miles back, along with their wagons and horses and logistics of war, which they wouldn't use, for now at least. They wore no helmets, and the flag bearers carried white flags symbolizing a peaceful intent. Along the wall's ramparts, there was no activity of defenders frantically preparing for an attack. Their senior officer, who was Garrera's man, was actually with the General, and was riding a black horse in the first row of the formation. He was smiling to himself. After a moment's pause, Garrera's own brown stallion came forward from the back.
'This is your city now, sir,' said officer Balhoui to Garrera.
'Not the welcome I would have wanted,' came the reply. The protest was inside the walls, but Garrera had been informed of it.
He organized a number of the soldiers into two long rows on either side of the road to prevent any unwanted behavior. He assigned General Kaputska, who had become a very good friend now, to the job of using force to pacify the disturbance if it was serious enough to threaten harm, and began the final phase of his hostile takeover. General Garrera hadn't been to the city in over three years. Now he was coming into it to stay in the grandest of its residences.
'We'll head straight to the palace,' he ordered.
If the city had been in an uproar before they came in, the moment the march came into the city walls, the residents went amok. It was inevitable. These people and the Goldorans were enemies straight from conception, and seeing enemy troops escorting their own General like their leader was as painful as a gout attack. Garrera had known this, and that is why he had asked for 3000 Goldoran troops to help him force the new reality upon an obstinate Korazin. A third of these would help him prevent Shona from harboring any crazy ideas—that was also nearly inevitable, that Shona would intervene if preemptive measures were not activated immediately. Hostility from natives was especially raucous here at Chaldea, despite passing major fortified towns such as Tishri, Tirzah, Hishmoi, Kemosh and Taccalis. The south of Korazin from the capital to the southern frontier was a lot shorter than from Chaldea to the northern coast, but the fortified towns south almost doubled those in the north. Such was the relationship between Korazin and Goldora.
'Sir,' officer Balhoui approached Garrera, 'all these troops can't fit inside the walls. Shall we encamp them in the Red Plains?' the Red Plains referred to a 28-mile terrain west of Chaldea, culminating in a defensive outpost on the edge of a sparse wilderness. A camp in one of its open grounds was ideal, especially since Garrera was to send troops headed for Shona in that direction.
'Do it,' ordered the General, 'but do not advance without Rukh-shana.'
The march to the palace lasted close to an hour. Along the way, Garrera assigned native soldiers to strategic locations to keep up the order, especially after the forces came under attack from the local Constabulary. By the time Garrera came to the palace, 22 men and five Constabulary officers were under arrest. And he knew that his first order of business was to restructure the government and its departments with more force than civility. The Constabulary was on top of this list, as it had remained immune to Garrera's scheme because of its being led by a very loyal former General.
Hatto had guessed right. The General was incensed by the king's absence from the palace, but even more pissed that the king was breathing, and they didn't know where he was. He assembled all his accomplices, including 12 of Korazin's 17 military generals, but only 3 of its 10 Administrators. These were powerful men, but they were difficult to sway. These were the quintessential Korazites, and they would in no way join hands with Goldora to take out their own monarch. In fact, Garrera knew that if they found out that the king was still alive, they would rally themselves for the boy and stifle Garrera. He understood the essentiality of either getting their support or destroying them. They were the government, and they had the capacity to frustrate all Garrera's plans. Garrera, still, had the deadliest tool at hand. The men in maroon uniform could accomplish his will by force if necessary.
The throne room at the palace was fully occupied with Garrera's friends when he made a grand entrance there. He stood with his concubine, Kishra, without any remorse now that it was known his official wife, Esella, was with the king on the run or in hiding, at least to his inner circle. While he was arrayed in armor and wearing his sheath and sword, she was resplendently dressed in purple and white robes, as well as the finest jewels of opal, gold and ivory. She took her role to be a serious one, knowing that she would be queen of this nation, from being a lowly girl in a southern farm near the Reideland. One man instigated a cheer, which turned into a rapturous applause for the leader of the revolution, and the first King of Garrera's dynasty. Garrera majestically marched to the throne at the top of the hall and turned to face them. Everyone fell silent. Kishra would sit to his right in an ornamented chair. She and Garrera had had a long discussion regarding her role in his plans, except simply being his wife. She, too, had an agenda, and would begin to execute it quickly.
Garrera took one look at the throne. It was a beautiful throne. It was large enough to seat two people. It was very comfortable. Its back was ornamented in pure gold, cushioned in blue, the color of the Korazin flag. A small table on which sat the King's seal and scepter and other regalia was to his left. The signet ring wasn't there, which was a problem, but Garrera did not let it ruin the moment. He took the scepter, scrutinized it, but placed back down and drew his sword. He walked down a stair, his boots loud in the silence, and raised it and let out a battle cry. The throne room burst out again.
'Let's celebrate, friends!' Garrera proclaimed, 'welcome to the new world!'
But the merriment was short-lived, because a very angry Queen Rukh-shana and her entourage stormed into the throne room, and everyone was silent again. All eyes were on the queen in the entrance, and her eyes were transfixed on Garrera. She then walked across the hall to the base of the staircase leading up to the throne.
'So it is you,' she said harshly.
Garrera was courteous enough to bow his respects,
'Your Majesty,' he said, 'this is nothing personal.'
Her Majesty wasn't ready to get into a passionate exchange with the usurper, so she just said,
'You will not escape this, soldier.'
'Garrera is my name. Eton Garrera, first of his name. The sooner you accept this, the better all of our lives will be.'
'And whether you like it or not,' said someone from behind, 'you must speak with respect.'
It was Hatto. Hatto and Queen Rukh-shana had already met, and he had already received his portion of her tirade.
'Well then, King Garrera,' she said, 'seeing as I didn't come here to see you, I'd like to leave now.'
'I'm sorry for keeping you,' said Garrera, 'but I had to meet you. Like I said, please don't take this personal. As the saying goes, those who cannot master their…'
'What will you do to the king?'
'I'm afraid that's a matter for me and my home affairs people.'
When Garrera met the Rabian king Gaixa later on after her departure, they got along well. Gaixa was good at adapting to his environment. He knew that unlike Shona, Rabier was better off staying out of Korazin's crosshairs. Nonetheless, he too, wanted to leave this volatile land as soon as possible, so he endeavored to say his goodbyes to the Queen of Shona. He visited her chambers upstairs, and asked to speak with her. She came out wearing the same frown as before.
'I just came to say goodbye,' said Gaixa. He had a calm temperament, one of his outstanding qualities as a man of noble birth. So when Queen Rukh-shana opened fire, he maintained the same innocent look.
'How dare you treat this as though it's nothing?' Rukh-shana was complaining, 'I've heard you even shared a drink with the usurper. After all Korazin has done for your country.'
'Well I intend for that relationship to continue,' said Gaixa. He always remained on the real side of things, 'as I'm sure you'll soon notice, it's best if we don't antagonize the man. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way sanctioning his grave sin.'
'Tell me you're not just saving your own blushes.'
'I exist for the welfare of my kingdom. Just like you,' he looked left and right and then said softly, 'this is the reality now, Your Majesty. We were surprised, but we must get used to it.'
'Till we meet again, Your Majesty.'
Gaixa made a bow and scuttled away, flanked by his six-man entourage.
Garrera had a lot of work to do in his new political role. Just a few hours into his rule, his military disposition betrayed him, and he knew he had a long way to go before he became a person capable of wielding political power. He had always thought it was an easier job than wielding a sword, but just a day into his rule, the reality slapped him like a massive wave. First, Garrera had to name new positions of the government. This was the easy bit, because most of the old government rejected him as their king, and he could install his own friends in these positions. Chief Magistrate Maldab was a blessing in this appointment business, so he assigned that task to him. He decreed his new government meet in two days at the palace, when his coronation was scheduled. Korazin was made of 10 provincial districts. Collectively, the heads of these districts were called the Korah, and they were the power houses of the nation. Maldab appointed a man for each district from his closest allies, including three who were already administrators. These ten men were the voting power on certain royal resolutions and decrees, and they were each allowed to have a small military force of not more than 200 men apart from the Constabulary, and Garrera appointed the Generals or Captains of these. His inside circle had explained that this would consolidate his power all over the land, and it would keep the Constabulary, whose leaders he didn't trust, in check. Many of these would be Goldorans who were now under Garrera's authority. There was an eleventh administrator, the Chief Administrator, who governed city affairs and oversaw the activities of the other members of the Korah. This one was the head of the Korah, and his seat was at the palace with the king. Garrera would appoint this one by himself, and he didn't disappoint Maldab, a loyal dog. Meanwhile, Garrera took care of the military end of the business. The Southern Frontier Division was disbanded, now that the worst of enemies had become the best of allies. General Hatto became the Chief of the Korazin Army. The Constabulary also had to metamorphose into something new, and this required an appointment of a new Principal Superintendent, or just the Chief Constable. When the Korah and all the new appointments convened at the Palace's audience room in two days, there had been no changes in the Constabulary, but there was bad news. The incumbent Chief Constable had refused to enter an appearance, but not only that, he had also taken with him the best of the Chaldea Constabulary personnel. He was in open rebellion to General Garrera.
'Where is he?' Garrera was fuming when Maldab appraised him of this in a private chamber before they went to meet the new government.
'He was last reported riding north, my lord, after the boy,' said Maldab, 'that could mean…'
'That he's now a rebel?' Garrera said, 'well we are looking for the boy too. Let him lead you there if he knows. Don't catch him yet.'
They had still not found K'rar for two days now, and Garrera was losing patience.
The Korah sat in the ten front seats in the Audience Hall, adjacent to the platform on which Garrera's own seat was. This time, he would share this seat with Kishra, but since she wasn't queen yet by marriage to him, she was absent today. Five on either side of him, and the rest of the officials sat in a group directly in front of the king's chair, behind the Korah. This audience room was large enough to accommodate all of them. There were servants moving this way and that placing cloth on the tables, as well as refreshments and snacks. The audience room hadn't been used in ages. Only the Korah ever met, and these would meet in the throne room and disseminate new edicts and information to the officials under them. The Chief Constable was the only other official who wasn't under a Korah administrator, having an independent office. That is why he was a pain in the ass for them and why they began with him for today's agenda.
'Your Majesty,' said Maldab the Chief Administrator after all the preliminary idiosyncrasies of the first ever government meeting under the new kingship. He reiterated what was already known to the Korah and a handful of ministers, 'the first issue of today's session is the rebels. The Chief Constable has come up against Your Majesty openly, and has declared his support for K'rar von Caspar. He took all the senior Constabulary officers with him, including some followers, so there has been no policing at all in the city. The city has been in disorder for two days now.'
'Solutions, Chief Maldab.' Garrera said. He was dressed as the king, but at Kishra's advice, he would make his own royal apparel, symbolic of his own dynasty and the fall of the old one.
The Minister of Trade, Ishkeniaz, stood up,
'My lord, the Constabulary should not be a pain in the neck for you,' he said, 'at your disposal are thousands of troops that helped you take the throne. Surely, if they can help you pacify the city, they can find a small band of rebels.'
In truth, Goldoran soldiers were already trying to enforce law and order in Chaldea, but were registering massive failures. They had no particular order or organization.
'General Hatto,' Garrera called. Hatto straightened up and stood.
'Yes, sir?' he said. Both he and many others would have to learn to address the General with another title, and Garrera himself had to acclimatize to being called a Majesty.
'How many of your men do you still have?'
'All of them, my lord. We have not relocated since that night.'
'Take some of them and occupy the Constabulary. It is your responsibility now.'
'Yes, my lord. But, my lord, I have no experience as a constable.'
'We have some on our side who worked with the Constabulary,' Maldab cut in, 'they'll help you.'
'Draft a royal directive,' said Garrera, 'anyone found committing acts of vandalism or speaking about K'rar von Caspar will be publicly flogged or imprisoned. Splinter groups are bound to appear in support of the boy. Suppress any growth of such.'
Some in the audience were surprised at how fast Garrera came up with that. They had all grown used to him as a vicious military general, as a man who gave orders to retreat or advance or reconnoiter or something similar. They now had to learn to get used to him giving royal edicts such as this one. They also had to earn to get used to him wearing the robe of the king. The robe of the king he had killed. It was a robe made of pure cotton and fur. Its body was blue in color, the color of Korazin. On its back was embroidered the figure of a golden fish eagle landing on a perch, with her wings spread out. That was the emblem of Korazin. Its edges were made of white wool, and the collar was heavy with it. Garrera looked so out of place with this attire instead of heavy armor and a sword dangling in its sheath.
'Now, how goes the hunt for the boy?'
'There has been no further report since I last saw him,' Maldab said, 'he has eight men with him, and I believe they are heading west to Shona, in which case we will catch him.'
'I sent a hundred men after him, including Scar. How is it they haven't found him?' Garrera knew that the longer this went on, the harder it would be to establish himself, 'if we cannot catch him quickly, he'll cause us problems.'
'He has seasoned warriors by his side, and the Chief Constable is after him to join forces. He would be avoiding the main roads.'
'That is not helpful.'
'Apologies, sir.'
'Take your seat. We have something as important. King Tao's payments.'
He was referring to the payments to King Tao for helping him usurp power. Only he and his right-hand man, Lankh, knew the details of the deal with Goldora, 'who is in charge of the treasury?'
The Minister of Trade stood up again.
'I am, my lord,' said Ishkeniaz.
'Report.'
'I do not know how much we must reimburse Goldora with, my lord.'
'King Tao must be granted 650,000 kori, or tribute amounting to forty parts of a hundred of Reideland produce for two years. Which is our best bet?'
'My lord, giving up that amount of tribute from Reideland would be disastrous,' said Ishkeniaz, 'and the grand treasury will be depleted completely for 650,000 kori if it's given at once.'
'I asked which one is a better option.'
'Paying them directly would be better, sir.' Ishkeniaz said timidly.
'Then find a way to make that amount within a year.'
'Yes, Your Majesty.'
It was then that the preparations for the coronation of Garrera as king began, as well as his wedding to his betrothed, Kishra. She had bagged him for the wedding to happen as soon as possible, and as he was almost rendered invalid because of his infatuation for that woman, thirteen years his junior, he had steadily agreed. Kishra was something like a drink that made him young again, even though he was only 49. She gave him something that his own wife had lacked for so many years. The eccentricity of youth, the freshness of the flesh, even the uncontrolled sexual passion that he so readily fell for. She made him forget his manly anxieties. And being a mere farmer's daughter, Kishra had no interest in treating herself like a highly esteemed aristocrat's daughter, unlike his spent wife. Garrera never thought of Esella for more than a few seconds. To him she was long gone, and now that she was in open rebellion against him, the only thing he couldn't do to her was to kill her, but he would definitely roll her in the mud.
The Korazin-Shona border. The Queen's procession had set up camp just four miles from the Hone border. They had been travelling almost eight full days, making few stopovers here and there, and the remaining distance was very precarious to traverse in the dark, being a very dry, rocky expanse. This was the semi-arid Reeji area, a landmark of the border between the two nations. Some miles north of here stood the remains of a large copper mine that Shona and Korazin once shared. A town named Garza had developed there, and this journey would have been quicker if the procession had used that part of the border, but Queen Rukh-shana did not want to pass there, as it reminded him of his friend, the dead king of Korazin whom she had just buried. 23 years ago, she had met him at that town. He was already king at that time, while she was just a princess. The royal families of the two nations had a custom of having a joint get-together sometimes, either in Korazin or in Shona, away from the palaces. It was a custom that strengthened the relationship between them, so much so that it spread to their peoples so that the border between became porous. The Hone people in Korazin felt at home, so did Korazites in Shona. At some point, the militaries of both nations had engaged in military drills, which alarmed the belligerent Goldora that it began expanding its military, as well as trying to concoct a similar relationship with another Moabian nation, Kai. Rukh-shana had been intentionally hostile to Caspar at first, but he had won her friendship expertly, and soon she too, as queen, took a special interest in his son as he had taken in her. She loved K'rar as if he were her son, so much so that when he was born, she paid Korazin a visit just to see him and to introduce her own daughter, Helga, to him. She wanted to be the same thing to him as his father had been to her. Perhaps his kingship enabled him to remain pragmatic and mild, especially to young Rukh-shana, who was several years younger than him. So the royal houses maintained close ties as if they were related by blood. For this reason, the queen of Shona didn't want to go through Garza. She already had enough nostalgia. Still, for the same reason, the usurper Garrera had sent after her procession an entire army of Goldorans to watch the border in case Shona mobilized her own military in order to restore the true king of Korazin, whom Rukh-shana knew was still alive. The queen knew also that the army was tasked not only with preventing Shona from mobilizing, but also to stop Korazite military officials from crossing into Shona, including the king, K'rar.
Because of these cumbersome thoughts, Rukh-shana didn't hear Helga her daughter when she came into her tent, and the latter had to raise her voice to snap her back to the present.
'Helga,' said Rukh-shana, 'Helga, you startled me. Isn't it your bedtime?'
'Yes,' said the girl.
'Well, why aren't you asleep?'
'I'm worried about K'rar too,' came the reply. Helga did not need an explanation to know why mother was this gloomy, as she had been for the entire journey so far.
'Who told you I'm worried, girl? I'm…'
'Mom, stop pretending because of me. K'rar is my friend more than he is yours, you know.'
She hadn't lied. Rukh-shana sighed, and beckoned her,
'Come here.' When she did, Rukh-shana put her left arm around her, and caressed her hair with the right, 'you're right. I am worried about K'rar and Queen Noor-shan. But what is more worrying is that I can't think of a way to help them get out of this, or how to make that usurper pay for this.'
'We have to do something, still, don't we?'
'Yes, for sure,' said Rukh-shana, sighing again, 'what do you think, though?'
'Are you asking what I would do as ruler?'
'Okay, as a ruler. What would you do?'
'For personal and political reasons both, I would mobilize the army.'
'Ah, using force from the start. Tell me, though. What are the political reasons?'
'The actions of that General have turned Korazin into an enemy, in collusion with Goldora. He is using Goldoran soldiers as his own, so it is not impossible for King Tao to plan something bad.'
'He knows Korazite soldiers would not come up against ours. Good reason, that. But then his military as well as the Goldorans could easily amount to tens of thousands of men. So how will we use force?'
'That's where my personal reason comes in.'
'You'd invade a sovereign nation to save him?'
'Not to save him. To avenge him if he is killed. I know they are actively hunting him to kill him. So I would invade to find him first, because I know he is heading in this direction.'
'That would risk war, Helga,' she now held her by the shoulders, 'a war we cannot possibly win. And that is why I feel so terrible now.'
'The priority is to save him from death. War is the second question, and we can always avert it. If we move first and find him, perhaps Arioch will join our cause to prevent a war, but also to join it on our side for the sake of K'rar's life.'
'Hmm,' said Rukh-shana, 'that is a marvelous idea. But honey, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We cannot act first, because the enemy has moved a step ahead.'
'What do you mean?'
Rukh-shana looked up at her tent entrance.
'Rohr, are you there?' she called. Rohr, and is twin brother, Ruhr, were her top guards, two of the best fighters in all the land of Shona. They had served her since her days as a princess, and she knew them personally.
'Yes, Your Majesty,' Rohr replied from outside.
'Come.'
Rohr stepped inside and made a bow, and then stood straight with his arms behind him.
'Yes, Your Majesty?'
'Has the scout team returned?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Report.'
'They are near a thousand men, ma'am. They're dispatching along the main routes.'
Rukh-shana looked down at her daughter, who had just dropped her lower jaw in shock.
'Are you talking about Goldoran troops?' she addressed this question to Rohr, who stared at his master to get permission to answer her question.
'Tell her,' said the queen.
'Yes, Your Highness Helga. Goldoran troops have been following us since, keeping good distance.'
'But they're not after us?'
'No, Your Highness. They are coming to guard the borders, but it seems they want that to be clean without causing alarm back home.'
'Thank you, Rohr,' said the queen. When Rohr turned to leave, she stopped him, and asked Helga, 'they knew that a direct confrontation was not far from my thoughts if it involved helping King K'rar. That is our situation.'
'Those savages,' the girl was flushing with anguish, but it was mixed with an obvious fearful anxiety over K'rar, 'now what will happen to my friend?'
'It is what I have been worried about,' said Rukh-shana, 'but tell me, honey. What have you in mind?' She genuinely wanted the girl's opinion. She was very proud of her daughter. In many ways she and K'rar were very similar, at least according to her assessment, although his aptitude was military-oriented while hers was politically charged. The girl was almost 16 years old, almost three years K'rar's senior. Rukh-shana saw K'rar's future as having a substantial military element, while her daughter was primed to rule in the orthodox way. Perhaps in the future, he would offer military support to Helga while she offered him less hostile support. But K'rar's future was now critically jeopardized.
Helga took a minute to think.
'There is no doubt they will find cause for war if we mobilize our own armies,' she said, but her face was lit up and a bit less jaded, 'but I have learned something from K'rar. There is no need for an army. Only a few men are enough to search for him.'
'Elaborate,' her mother was eager to hear it.
'I once confronted K'rar about his love of the army, and he shared with me some ideas,' she said, 'to catch many fish, one needs a large net and a boat. To catch one fish, though…' she intentionally paused to let them figure it out. They didn't, so she dropped a clue, 'K'rar is a single fish. There is no need for a net to catch him. Just a fishing line.'
'Ah! Brilliant idea, Helga, brilliant!' the queen spotted the reasoning, and her countenance lit up too, 'to find him we need just a few men, who can cross the border less conspicuously.'
'Then we can worry about his throne after that,' now Rohr also understood, 'but, Your Highness. King K'rar probably has help like this from inside.'
'But Garrera would know his enemies and those who would attempt to restore the king. He has the means to hurt them or hold them at ransom,' said Rukh-shana, 'and they are under constant watch.'
'We have to assume that some will try to look for their king,' Rohr said. He could speak freely with her master.
'Rohr. I am dismissing you from your duty,' said queen Rukh-shana immediately, 'take four men with you and do everything you can to find K'rar and Noor-shan. If you can, throw off the Goldorans' scent from him. You will report to me regularly, understood?' She was unaware that Garrera already had Noor-shan in his custody.
'Certainly, ma'am. What shall I do if I find him?'
'Report, and we will see. If we are late, and he is captured or killed, report it too, but I hope that doesn't happen.'
The Hone military in that case would be severely outnumbered, but her intentions were clear as far as Garrera was concerned.
'Rohr,' said Rukh-shana, and Rohr turned around again, 'don't take your brother.'
'Yes, Your Majesty.'
K'rar was faithfully counting on that help from Shona as if it was guaranteed. He was like a devout worshipper waiting for deliverance. Nevertheless, contrary to his enemies' expectations, K'rar was not travelling west. He had known from the start that Garrera would set his eyes on the western border, and had convinced his companions that going north would be very helpful in keeping away from the devil's sight. This judgment was vindicated when K'rar received a report that the western border was heavily fortified and teeming with Goldoran and Korazite rogue troops, who were carrying out a heavy screening exercise to prevent any royalist military officials from crossing. This was according to Pliny, one of K'rar's eight soldiers who brought the report. K'rar and his people, ten in total, were hiding in Old Kedesherad, about 72 miles north of Chaldea. Old Kedesherad was the suburban area of the main city of Kedesherad, or New Kedesherad, up the hill of the same name. Old Kedesherad was once the main city in this jurisdictional district, until his great grandfather foresaw the expansion of the city. That culminated in the existence of two cities of Kedesherad, the New being the offspring of the Old, which is why some people referred to New Kedesherad as Kedesh-minor and the Old as Kedesh-major. Old Kedesherad was sparsely populated, and had been mostly reclaimed by farming landowners and those who couldn't afford to live in the buzz of the city. K'rar and company had been on the run five days, after their original hideout became infested with Goldoran soldiers. They had managed to avoid getting spotted, and K'rar was hoping that state of affairs did not change until they came to their destination: the Debasian Mountain, and its forest. Mount Debasian was the highest in Korazin, and it sat on a vast expanse in between the central and northern regions of the land. This location was strategic for many reasons, including the difficulty in traversing its peaks and the fact that his enemies would not dream of him being there. K'rar had taken Lady Esella's advice to stay out of the public eye almost completely, and Ashdud had intuited that the Debasian Mountain and its forest were the best bet. Besides, all the towns and cities, and even some villages, would be laden with enemy soldiers to establish the new order. Garrera would stop at nothing to eliminate K'rar, as he was the foremost existential threat to his power, even away from the city and the palace. Some Korazite peoples would sacrifice themselves for him if they chose, and that was already too much power in the hands of the boy. Still, K'rar's presence among his own people was as advantageous as it was fatal, and to avoid any unintended consequences, the best way was to keep away from them.
K'rar was hiding in an old disused mill belonging to an old man's farm with his companions when Pliny brought the report. They had been hiding here for four straight days waiting for Pliny, and had discarded their horses. They were feeding off stolen animals and corn from the farm. Eleven people, including the king and Lady Esella, were living as fugitives. That was the price of the silent approach they had chosen. At this juncture it was unwise to purchase goods from Kedesherad, even with the best disguise. Pithadia had done that for the first two days, and realized she was being closely monitored. Their enemies were monitoring every person who came in or out of the city, and on the third day they had tried even to follow her. They had been given a description of all the people traveling with K'rar, including even someone as lowly as Pithadia. In the more westerly directions, their pursuers were using oil pictures of them.
The old landowner of the farm, Ashdud had studied, lived with at least five other people at the main house, which was a good distance from the mill and on the hill. He kept hundreds of farm animals and had a 3-acre plantation of various tropical plants, so it was easy for them to steal without raising alarm.
'I don't think that's the only reason they're planting themselves on the border,' K'rar was saying in response to Pliny's report.
'Neither do I, Your Majesty,' said Pliny, 'they're obviously warning Shona against trying anything hostile.'
This was a problem for K'rar, because he had been holding on to a glimmer of hope that Shona would be prompted to use force to redress balance, thanks to the rich history of the royal houses of Korazin and Shona.
'Do we know which military officials are on my side?' K'rar wanted to know.
'No, sir, but I can find out,' said Pliny, 'may I ask why though?'
'They are also being hunted down. If we can get them to join us…'
'I like the idea,' Ashdud said. The whole party was assembled in the base of the mill, and it was getting dark outside. They had made grass beds for themselves, and out of respect for the king, they had made his more comfortable by using some of their clothes to cover it, despite his protest. Pithadia and another man were roasting two chickens they had stolen from last night, and making a cup of tea as well for K'rar from some old utensils they had with them.
'With the king's permission,' said the one who went by the name Mongoose, 'I'll go out and collect information.' His real name was Ederin. He hailed from the Kai Islands, paternally. Because he was a snakebite survivor more than twice, whether this was true or not, his close friends had called him Mongoose, and he had come to be known as such.
'Not yet,' said K'rar, 'we must reach the mountain first. If we know any homes of our friends between here and Debasian, we will contact them.'
'There is one I know along the way, but he lives some distance off our route,' Ashdud said.
'We have to pay him a visit,' Lady Esella cut in.
'We will,' K'rar's words were more than a suggestion.
In the morning, K'rar awoke earlier than everyone. It was just before sunrise, and the outside was still considerably dark. Pithadia was resting right next to him, being the one tendering to the boy king's immediate needs. Her master, Lady Esella, had dismissed her as long as they were with the king. K'rar knew this. So he wanted to get up as quietly as possible without disturbing her rest, to go outside. In front of the mill was plantation all the way up the valley to the large wooden chicken and goat pen, behind which the main house stood. K'rar had not moved from this mill since his arrival. It was not impossible that someone could recognize him—most people would, as it was custom for many households to have an oil painting or paintings of the members of the nuclear royal family—and set off an unwanted chain of events. So even in this dark morning, K'rar refrained from going up the hill, and instead went to explore the back. A hedge separated this land from the adjacent one, as well as a permanent stream of water along the whole width of the land. They had been getting their water from this stream, but K'rar had not been there once. He followed the stream east for some distance until he came to a space in the hedge that allowed him to catch a good glimpse of the flowing water. Apart from the noise of insects and waking birds, the stream refreshed his mind, and, as had happened many times in this journey, the thought of home landed on his head. K'rar was a positive thinker, but the thought of his mother's current welfare only made him melancholy. He couldn't stop himself from imagining all sorts of terrible things happening to her at the hands of Garrera. He remained statuesque for some time, lost in this pessimism, not once lifting his eyes off the flowing water, as the sky begun to illuminate the expanse more. He was in this state until a hand frightened him back to the present, Pithadia's hand.
'Oh!' she flinched too as a result of his reaction, 'I'm sorry, Your Majesty.'
'How long have you been out?'
'I woke up some time ago, and I couldn't find you. If I'm interrupting…'
'You aren't. What is it?'
'You looked like you were meditating.'
K'rar looked up in her face. For the past few days she had been a perfect substitute of his mother. In fact she had been better, because back at the palace, Pithadia's duties would have been performed by another servant like her, not his mother. Mom had done it until he was about eight years old, but since then she had only spent quality time with him not just as a son but also in his role as the Crown Prince. But his life had been a primrose path for all that time, and K'rar found himself appreciating Pithadia's presence today with much more feeling.
'Yes,' he said, 'I'm thinking about my mother.'
'Oh. Shall I bring you something to cover yourself?'
K'rar was just smiling.
'No. Just stay there, it will do.'
'Yes Your Majesty,' she said, blushing.
'Where are your parents, Pithadia?'
'Pardon, Your Majesty?'
'It's fine. Tell me.'
'I am an orphan Your Majesty. Lady Esella took me in since I was 11 years old.'
'And how old are you now?'
'Twenty, Your Majesty.'
'Twenty? You're twenty years old?'
She had no time to answer that. They had just heard a female voice from the other side of the structure, and it wasn't Lady Esella's.
'Let's get back inside, Your Majesty,' whispered Pithadia.
'No, wait. We'll see who it is.'
'If she…'
'She is going to enter the mill. All of us will be compromised.'
Ashdud showed up from inside.
'Your Majesty, we need to go!'
A male voice now was heard from the back, the intruder's companion. K'rar gestured to Ashdud to come closer.
'We are going to talk to them.'
Ashdud had been with the boy long enough to know when he had something up his sleeve, especially after the boy had correctly predicted that trying to go west and cross the border was a suicidal move. He, not any of the adults, was the reason they were still out of Garrera's hands.
'What are you thinking, Your Majesty?'
'We have no business here. Pliny came back with the report. Now we can go on our way.'
'Well, isn't that why we can't be seen, Your Majesty?'
'The art of war is the art of deception. You taught me that.'
Now Ashdud knew what the boy was thinking.
'Say no more,' he said, and went back inside.
'Come,' K'rar said to Pithadia.
The woman on the other side and her friend were just flirting around, very early in the morning. Apparently the man with her was a new arrival, having returned in the night. K'rar watched as they shared these flirtations, until he thought it was too much and he stepped out of hiding, startling the lovebirds. Pithadia followed suit.
'Shit, what the hell!' was the man's reaction. He was staring at his lover, 'what's going on?'
'I don't know.'
K'rar stepped forward.
'Good morning,' he said, 'I was about to come up there and say my greetings to your father.'
'Who are you?' the man is the one who asked.
'You are talking to the king,' Ashdud and two others came out of hiding, 'use respect.' The confusion was stronger than the man's words, and he remained mute, looking like a blue-headed iguana, so Ashdud went on, 'this is your King, K'rar von Caspar.'
'You think this is a good joke—'
The man clapped his hands over her mouth.
'It is him, Merab. His face is all over the west. They're hunting him.' He let go and bent the knee. Merab did the same. Now she was the one looking like an animal.
'Looks like you were right, Your Majesty,' said Pliny.
'There's a price for the man who brings you to the soldiers in the Reeji, my lord.' K'rar and his companions exchanged terrified looks.
'He has put a bounty on the King's head?' Ashdud was shocked, 'wow, he has many cards to play.'
'My lord, how did you get here?' Merab wanted to know, 'how can you rest your head in a place like this as if you're not welcome in this home?'
'Please, let us go back and prepare something for Your Majesty. I will inform my father…'
'Thank you. We would like to meet him too.'
The old farmer was a man of good repute. Apparently he was 84 years old, and was known for many miles beyond Kedesherad. His name was Chelah, and he was known as Chelah of Kedesherad. Ashdud knew this name.
It was bigger than they had been seeing. It was an extended family home, accommodating more than just six people. The compound was three sided, with an open end for the entrance, and buildings on the three sides. The main house accommodated all the family, and the other structures were a kitchen, a stable, and a hay and firewood store among others. There was a water reservoir laden with drums of water drawn from the stream for domestic use, so that they didn't have to go down to fetch water all the time. The compound was already busy with their daily work in the cold morning. A good number of children were moving this way and that, some taking millet porridge. Most of the people there were female servants. There were men in the home, but they were either inside or taking care of the animals or running errands. Everything stopped when Merab and her boyfriend returned to the compound, followed by a party of ten people, most of them armed. That silence fished out whoever was inside, so that two men came out and joined in spectating.
'What is going on?' the one who asked this was obviously someone of high esteem in this place, perhaps a son.
'We had gone down to…'
'That looks like the boy in the flyers,' the second man said. That he was the other man's brother was very obvious from their looks.
'He's not just a boy,' said Terrer, the man who had brought them up, 'he is in the flyers because he is the king, and the usurper wants him dead.' He had learned this from K'rar on the way up. Another shockwave moved the dust particles on the ground. One of the brothers raced back inside the house to tell his father. The one who stayed out wanted more corroboration.
'How do I know that you are the king?'
That was easy. They had lots of items with them that could identify him. K'rar had with him the real king's robe, his signet ring, a stash of a special coin used only by the royal family, and many others. But anyone could make something like that even though it carried a heavy penalty, so K'rar pulled out his crown. That was enough to make everyone in the compound to bend their knees in obeisance. K'rar could now lay his plan in motion. He had sent Mongoose to the hill to tell the garrison there that he was at the farm. The motive was to extort a good amount from them and to shift their attention to the east. They wouldn't give him the price for doing so, since the bounty on the king was active only in some western locations, but they would give him something. Only Ashdud and Lady Esella's funds were sustaining the group, but the king's money had either been redirected or taken directly by the usurpers, despite the existence of a secret fund belonging to the dead king Caspar VII, whose whereabouts K'rar knew, but were impossible in the moment to retrieve. Meanwhile K'rar had to make sure the story was plausible, and Ashdud knew just how. The trick lay with Lady Esella. She would be the one to stay back and be seen by the horde of soldiers who would pay a visit. K'rar simply had a little chat with the master of the house, and then went his way, leaving behind Kanga, one of his men, with her. He and the rest of the group planted themselves in the bushes along the road going up to Kedesh-minor and lay in wait. The results were good. Close to 30 men rode past them at full pelt, and Mongoose was with them. He knew that K'rar and the others would be somewhere nearby, so he was tailing just to look around and confirm.
Old Chelah's home was in shock once again when the horsemen stormed into his compound, shouting orders to surround the place and search it. Their team leader turned to Mongoose and sternly declared that bad things would happen to him if he was leading the hunters on a goose chase.
The men were shoving people and children this way and that to round up all of them into the compound. They were Goldorans, hence were deliberately malicious in doing this. It was not long before old Chelah stepped out into the compound himself, flanked by his sons. The older son was hot-tempered, so he let out a piece of his mind first,
'What the hell are you playing at?!'
The men ignored him. The squad leader jumped off his horse and approached the old man.
'I'm told you are a respected man in this place,' he said in an austere tone, 'is that right? I'll cut to the chase. Bring out the boy or we will bring him out ourselves, which will cost you.'
'What are you talking about?' the old man took the tough route, but he was no match for the Goldoran.
'Last chance,' the man drew his sword and put it on the neck of the talkative son, 'don't toughen up, old man. Look around you.'
'The king has already left,' Lady Esella popped up from the main house, 'and he left a message for your usurper king.' She held up a paper with the message on it.
'Bring her,' the team leader ordered his men concerning Lady Esella. Kanga immediately drew his weapon.
'I am not under arrest,' Lady Esella said. The Goldorans were still awaiting a second command to confirm whether they should snatch her.
'What are you babbling about?' the team leader spat at her.
'You don't believe me?' she said, 'I can confirm by telling you a bit about my husband. He has a concubine named Kishra. She is obviously going to become queen, now that they painted me unfaithful, so send her my hateful regards. They had this affair for a long time, in the manor at the Southern Frontier. The plan to oust my king began about two years ago. You planted moles in the palace guard, and you had that traitor Hatto prepare to ride south under the guise of helping against a Goldoran assault at the border. You had friends, spies within, like that traitor judge Maldab, who is now the Chief Administrator. He almost caught us when we escaped from the palace under a secret tunnel, but our men were too good for his. Shall I go on?'
All she had said was known to the Goldorans, but it was too accurate that some of them were actually confirming what they thought were rumors. On the other hand Old Chela and his household were even more stunned that she was the usurper's official wife.
'Blimey, you are indeed his wife,' said the team leader, 'but that is more money for us if we take you…'
'Don't be silly, soldier. If my husband wanted to kill me he would have done it in the three years he was fucking that wench. I am no part of his plans, but I am still his wife. If you take me alive, I will cause more problems than solutions. This message contains my deal with him to stay out of my life as I plan to stay out of his quietly. Make sure you get it to him.' One of the Goldorans came and took it, 'tell your king that mine doesn't need to get to Shona to enlist their help. Tell him that Shona is not the only option, and tell your own king Tao the same. We will come for him one way or another.'
The team went right through Kedesherad without inviting any attention. They became talk of the town very quickly, and it was positively affecting everyone's mood. Mongoose had got his small pay, and they had obtained new horses to continue on their journey. They paused their run on the edge of a high ridge almost half a mile from the city, where Kedesh-minor was discernible in the valley. Lady Esella was sad. Ashdud was pokerfaced. K'rar was a mixture of both. It was approaching the end of the first month since the invasion, and the look of the city brought back dark memories as well as some threads of hope.
'Will it work, Ashdud?' he said.
'Your Majesty, you are the king. You are the only thing standing between the land and its desecration. Everyone is crying out to you.'
'Then let us answer.'
'Yes sir. Pliny and Mongoose will stay with us. Ossus, you will ride east and scour the place for friends of the king who can raise fighting men or who can raise money, or any who want to fight on behalf of our nation. Let them pledge their loyalty to the king who is alive and well,' he produced a pouch from which he picked six sealed letters, marked by a sketch drawing of a watchtower, an old sigil of K'rar's family. The recipients of these letters would not understand it at first until at least two of them got to meet. Garrera's men, it was hoped, would never understand the gist if these letters were intercepted.
'Kanga will come with you,' said Ashdud, continuing his transmission to the one named Ossus. Ossus was well learned in the ancient martial arts, and had been teaching K'rar at his request, 'the rest of you will do the same, travelling to the west and the north and the south. Find warriors of the land whom the enemy would wish to wipe out. Remind them that their king is still alive, and their king requires them to rise up in arms. Find them, and bring them to the location as discreetly as you can. This might or might not work, but the king does not wish to abandon his subjects. As we cannot dwell on the help from outside completely, we must do something ourselves, and perhaps friends across borders will be moved to offer a helping hand. Go now, soldiers, and bring back a good report.'
The remaining group stayed put until the messengers disappeared back down the road. They would separate from Kedesherad to go to the different directions they were assigned. K'rar had chosen a new strategy. He was not going to run anymore.