Thunder boomed in the sky overhead. Frightening clouds so close to the ground occluded the light the full moon above them was offering, and even if they hadn't, the lush canopy of the forest would have. He was only half glad that the forest would offer some cover for him, because his mission would be moot if his pursuers on horses were to get ahead of him and prevent him from reaching headquarters. Yet, there was almost no progress from him. The dense undergrowth was difficult to navigate, and it would soon get wet and dangerous. And to make matters worse, the fortress was more than a mile away from the forest, so he would be in the open and exposed. A small village of hunters was the only thing between the forest and Unterlet Castle, his destination. He knew it was imperative that he reach the castle and inform the commander, otherwise, the resultant damage would be irreparable. His pursuers had overrun his outpost in an ambush and killed 36 fighting men, and captured the rest of the bunch, 140 men. He had been lucky to be in the rum store when the attack began, but then he had been spotted trying to escape on a horse, and now here he was.
The voices behind him were getting louder, and their owners angrier. One man was shouting that he couldn't believe a foot soldier could elude eight men on horseback. The men chasing him were carrying torches, but he couldn't see any light, so he thought he was still ahead of them some distance. But as soon as he wobbled through the undergrowth onto a clear path, he landed right in the path of a horseman, and almost died of fright. The bastards had split up. He had failed. The surly Goldoran quickly drove his horse past him and drove a sharp sword deep into the flesh on Zorgin's back. Zorgin landed on the earth in pain, letting out a mighty scream. With his eyes still closed, he heard the Goldoran invader hump off his horse, and his boots come close to him. He hadn't turned around to look up at his pursuer when the bully mercilessly kicked him in the face with a muddy boot to make sure he stayed flat on the path. Now Zorgin's scream had attracted the Goldoran's friends, and when they showed up and filled the path, the one who had caught him was yelling at him,
'Where are the others?'
Zorgin's mouth was full of blood but that was the least of his problems now, not to mention the blood gushing out of the wound on his back and sliding down his spine under his shirt. Zorgin spat out the blood in his mouth, but not to answer the man's query. Zorgin hated the savages. All Provincian men like him did, and much more so his comrades in the Moon Province armed forces. Zorgin figured that his life was over either way, so he said with a bloody mouth,
'Go screw yourself.' One of the other men scoffed, and said,
'Typical separatist scum.' He squatted on the ground next to Zorgin and lifted him off the earth to a sitting position. He said, 'well, punk, the joke's on you. Now we're going to take back our land, and there is no Korazite king to stop us.' Then he, too, whacked Zorgin across the face. When he stood up he said, 'bring him. We will send him to his destination with our own message.'
'He's about to die,' said another man.
'Well, that will be a better message.'
They first dragged him back to the outpost in the rain, and by the time they came to its gate, Zorgin was already a corpse covered in muck and blood. Their comrades opened the gate for them, and the lead horseman yelled at them in the rain to stuff Zorgin's body in a wooden crate. He then jumped off his horse under the roof, and one of his men took it with him to the stable on the left end of this building. The outpost was a small compound. It was a barracks with a capacity of 300 men, commissioned with looking out for any Goldoran activity in the Trout Channel in the valley below the ridge it was on. It was now the tenth year since K'rar von Caspar of Korazin fell thanks to an elaborate plot by the Goldorans and his own military generals. The Province had from the start of that crisis known that if the coup succeeded, Goldora would immediately launch a program against the Province. Yet to their surprise, no such program was launched, and after about seven years of increasing military alertness to the highest level, King Elkaan had let down his guard by reducing the forces near the Trout Channel despite strong opposition from his government. But he'd been vindicated when there was still no unusual or suspicious Goldoran presence in the channel. Until now.
The lead horseman stormed into the entrance of the main shack, and threw off his wet cloak to hang it on the cloak room next to him. Some of his comrades there were drawing lots over a handful of female prisoners, three of whom they had with them in the room. One comrade was masturbating another female prisoner whom he had won. Hadad was disgusted, and he spited them,
'Go and do that in the barn across. Must you announce your indecency?'
The culprit quit what he was doing quickly. Hadad was the lieutenant of their garrison, a superior officer. Still, the culprit dragged her away stark naked as she wept, and took her out in the rain. Hadad scoffed, and continued his stamping across the wooden floor to a staircase. Two landings later he was at the door of his own superior's room, which had belonged previously to the General's Provincian opposite number. He had been killed already too, and along with the messenger they had just captured and killed, the Goldorans would send their bodies to Unterlet Castle. This move was a trademark for Goldoran troops. There were two men by the door when Hadad came, and they let him in. General Amavi, the overall commander of the Trout Channel Plan, was writing a letter while another female prisoner stood next to him, serving him Provincian tea. Hadad did not want to speak with her in the room, but General Amavi said,
'Don't let her bother you. Did you succeed?'
'We did, sir. We can take Unterlet now.'
'Excellent. Send a man to Shemah's camp. They should be here after dawn. Prepare our own men to march on Unterlet in five hours.' Shemah was the other general in the Trout Channel operation. When added together, their armies numbered up to 13,500 men. The ten years of silence hadn't been for nothing. King Tao had desired more than just the Provincian twin islands of Urites. He had changed his plan to a total invasion of the Moon Province. And 13,500 trained warriors were enough to strike down the Province's smaller but spirited standing army, which was estimated to be more than 7,000 men but not more than 9,000. Their entire force was dedicated to defending against Goldora.
Chaldea, Korazin. Prince Deng-Dau of Goldora and his convoy of 40 men was arriving at Chaldea's southern gate. This was Deng-Dau's third visit this year, and it was not by choice. It was clear that King Garrera was feeling too comfy or too presumptuous to Goldora's liking, and right at the gate, waiting for him, was the living proof of that fact. There was an entire squadron of mere constables, rather than the native Goldoran General Kaputska, who was, by power of a pact signed by Garrera himself, the man in charge of receiving Goldoran delegations. Now the crown prince of Goldora, the Crown prince, was being greeted by a Korazite constable, and he was about to figure that it was worse than that, because the man in navy blue uniform, surrounded by his cronies in grey, bowed to him in the door of his carriage, and said,
'A warm welcome to you, Your Highness. I am Deputy Superintendent Asher, City Constabulary. I have been assigned to…'
'Deputy? You're the deputy constable?' he turned to look at his aide and personal guards next to the carriage in disbelief. The aide, a slender, talkative 50-year-old with shaved sides stepped down from his horse. He disdainfully looked at Asher from head to toe, but Asher had been ready for this, so he remained indifferent as the aide spoke,
'Deputy, this is the Crown Prince of Goldora. How dare you…'
'It was not by choice, manservant,' Asher was a confident chap, and he didn't like Goldorans, no one did, 'General Kaputska had to attend to important matters pertaining to the safety of his men. Goldorans. If His Highness doesn't wish to use the protection of the constabulary, he may travel to the palace by himself.' The aide's look could kill the deputy chief, but he capitulated, and whispered to his master to do the same. Besides, the matters about which they had come outweighed the triviality of this welcome.
Garrera had not changed the exterior of the palace by much, but that which he had was really conspicuous. Anyone coming to this palace for the first time in Garrera's reign could see that the flags flying on top of the gate and on the twin towers of the main building had been changed. Rather than the sky blue flag with the emblem of an eagle, the flag was now scarlet with the emblem of a golden crown. In the interior of the royal residence, any sign of the old dynasty had been removed and either burned or stashed away somewhere in the palace's dungeons. The halls of the palace that had portraits of the old kings had been kept away, but not replaced by Garrera's own face. He thought it made no sense to have just a single family or king on the wall, and believed that his posterity would restart the tradition. And Garrera had posterity. He and Kishra had two children. A ten year old princess and a seven-year old crown prince. Also, the light blue carpets in many parts of the palace were replaced with the new scarlet color. When prince Deng-Dau arrived, he got another shock that no one was in the compound to receive him. Garrera should have been waiting in the wide courtyard with his own men for him. He stopped in the compound for a moment and once more glanced at his aide, then at Asher. Having nothing to say, he scoffed, and went on following the deputy chief into the palace.
Garrera wasn't in the room where he ended up. Queen Kishra was. Asher bowed and turned to leave, making sure to shoot the aide a condescending look. Queen Kishra said,
'Welcome, Your Highness. Please, take a seat.'
The 28-year old prince didn't move a limb. He was on the verge of exploding.
'Where is the king?' he said.
'I will be pitching in for the king. He is currently dealing with other matters of state.'
'Other matters of state, other matters of state,' Deng-Dau mimicked, 'I came here to speak to the king. The matters concerning Goldoran people in this city are not befitting of a woman who holds no political office.'
'Then,' Kishra had also prepared herself for the obnoxity of the prince, but not to let it pass without getting angry herself, 'the king should have come to Chaldea himself. You are not the king of Goldora, Your Highness, are you?'
'So that's what this whole charade is about,' the aide said. The queen was about to spit at him too but he didn't let her. He went on, 'need I remind you that this nation's internal peace is being kept by Goldoran troops? You already tried to reduce their number. Perhaps we should return them to Goldora after all.'
'Of course,' Kishra wasn't humbled, 'that will go a long way in ensuring the safety of the thousands of Goldoran merchants currently living in this city, won't it, Your Highness?'
'Are you threatening me?' Deng-Dau said.
'Is that how you feel? Threatened?' she poured herself a cup of red wine, sat down again, and said, 'you still haven't said what brings you here.'
The prince now made a beeline for the chair across the table from Kishra. He dragged it insolently to sit on it, and stick his index finger into the wood to mark down the threat,
'There will be consequences for this incivility, Your Grace. But you are right, I haven't said that for which I came, but seeing as you are not the king…'
'Your Highness. You are the crown prince of Goldora. Perhaps I should have let my seven-year old son speak to you, his equal, hmm?'
'Those who bite the hand that feeds them are bound to go hungry.'
'Those who are biting have hands to feed themselves now. Your hand is not required anymore. When you return to Tyrne, tell your king that the king wishes to reduce Goldoran presence to only the garrison in Chaldea. There is no more need for extra troops in our other major cities. We can protect our own people.'
'Has it occurred to you…'
'That will be all Your Highness,' she stood up and adjusted her burgundy robes over her arms, if you still wish to speak to the minister, I will have him sent here.' Goldora and Korazin had signed a pact three years prior to usher in better economic relations, apparently to better their existing military relations. As a result of this pact, thousands of Goldoran merchants visited Chaldea to tap into its economic prowess, while only a small number of Korazites went the other way. The border was now very porous, and many customs offices on it had been rendered moot, as there was free passage of goods. The offices were simply for registering identities. Per the provisions of the pact, Korazin was also required to appoint a minister for Goldoran foreigners in Korazin, especially Chaldea and the Reideland district. This was a ruse to tap into Korazin's riches after the payments to Goldora for their help in the coup were completed. Things had fallen from bad to worse since the appointment of this minister, and Garrera's plan to reduce Goldoran forces backfired on him. The native forces in his command were not nearly enough to consolidate himself. He had had to keep Goldorans, and also pay for them, although Goldora had reduced the fee.
'I will meet him in his chambers myself, thank you.'
Kishra looked back at the prince, who was still in his chair, and shrugged before leaving him with his aide by themselves. The prince slammed the table with both his hands.
'I can't believe father sent me to deal with this intransigent nation.'
'They need one more lesson, Your Highness. I think it is time to execute the Reideland scheme.'
'Not yet, Ormir. We have sent men to retake the Province, and we can't sustain a conflict that would break out if we did that. He would go to bed with Shona immediately. Still, we can't let him carry out that threat.'
'What are you thinking?'
'The minister will help us. That's why I need to speak to him.'
Thermos, Shona.
Queen Rukh-shana was a troubled woman. For the past ten years, she had replaced Korazin as the defender of the weaker nations, especially those neighboring or near Goldora by sea. After all, Shona and Korazin, before the treachery of Garrera, had been the quintessence of peace in all of Moab with their excellent relations, so Shona was expected to take on the fetters controlling Goldora from her sister, Korazin. The queen had had no choice. She had been chosen both to mediate between them and the mighty Goldora, whose 160,000-strong military was larger than the militaries of Moon Province, Rabier and Ziv combined. Since, Moon Province had enlarged its military and now had 11,000 fighting men, but Goldora had been so confident and complacent that they hadn't complained or done anything in response, because their focus had been on Shona as soon as Korazin was in bed with them. The arrogant King Tao had nothing to worry about. All he had had to do was to threaten the nations' relations, not with Goldora, but with Korazin. He only had to move a few hundred soldiers on Goldora's border with Rabier and then tell Garrera to threaten sanctions against Rabier if it sided with Shona. Korazin was the strongest nation economically in all of Moab, so it was easy to imagine the disastrous consequences of having neither military nor economic power from Korazin, but also to have Goldoran fighting men at your backdoor. Once a deal was cut with Gaixa of Rabier, Goldora had secured safe passage of troops if a confrontation arose with Shona in which Arioch and Ziv sided with Shona, and the kings of those nations had been appraised. Then in the name of peace, the king of Goldora had married off his daughter, Amine, to the prince of Arioch, uniting their families and their countries at large, ostensibly at least. The wedding had taken place in Chaldea to send a stern message to Shona. So Shona had been left only to deal with Kai Island and Tamar in response to her new mantle as the one who stood up to the bully, but Kai was a far off northwestern island without much Goldoran anxiety. They didn't even trade with Goldora as the other nations, but they did trade with Korazin and Shona, and their trade was just fine regardless of the geopolitical crisis on the mainland.
Yet, despite all of these facts, the queen had still been approached by the nation that was most severely alarmed by the events ten years ago: Moon Province. There were eight Provincian emissaries, eight of them, in the room behind the one in which she was sitting by herself, thinking about what they had just told her, that Goldoran warships had, almost four weeks ago, crossed the one and a half mile Trout Channel from nowhere, and had already destroyed one defensive castle, Unterlet. That they now had 15,000 soldiers preparing to march through the mountainous country. She had reminded them of her own dilemma with Goldora. Goldora did not even have to share borders with her to squeeze her between a rock and a hard place. Arioch to the west was ready to rally troops at the whims of Goldora thanks to the sham wedding. To the east, Goldoran and Korazite troops were always ready, and Shona wasn't even sure that all they were doing there, by militarizing several miles of frontier, was to keep her at bay and not to attack any time soon. But the Provincians were not leaving. They still had much to say, and Rukh-shana had come into this room to take a breather from a bombardment of fervent pleading. Once she had taken more than a few sips of black tea, she sighed and beckoned to one of her men standing in a corner of the room, and said,
'Bring the Provincian woman we saved from the sea. She lives with Lady Esella in Kaggan Palace.' This was Rubio, sailor on the Provincian ship carrying the rightful king of Korazin when the Korazite war fleet sunk it. She had refused to return to her home country because she had failed it, and was now living here in Thermos at Kaggan, the former main palace of the Hone monarch before the family moved to this new location, Hamdeok. Kaggan was two compounds away within the same overall perimeter, so Rubio was brought quickly. Rubio lived at Kaggan with two other women who had been with the last true king of Korazin in his final days, Lady Esella and her servant, Pithadia. There had been a man, Kanga, who once served K'rar too, who had returned to Chaldea, knowing he would not be hunted down as K'rar's other guards were already in prison and the matter concluded. She had joined the local city Constabulary, being a trained soldier. She was already a high ranking officer.
When Rubio was brought, she had no idea she would be meeting her compatriots, so when she was escorted into the room where the queen had returned to attend to her guests, and saw their faces, she almost ran back outside. Two of the emissaries recognized her immediately.
'Is that Rubio?' one of them gasped, pointing.
'You mean Captain Rubio, Chief of the Tax Office Unit for the Constabulary,' said the queen. Rubio bowed to that, and said,
'You summoned me, Your Majesty?'
'I did. As you recognize these men already, they are here on behalf of the Moon Province. They say 15,000 Goldoran troops have crossed the Trout Channel and will march on Aquillah very soon.' Aquillah was the Provincian capital. It was known as the city of the moon as it was situated on a mountain, as were many locations in Moon Province. Rubio had stayed out of her nation's affairs for all the time she had been in Thermos, but this news, whereas it was not so surprising, shook her. Still, she decided to look the other way, by saying,
'I failed my country long ago. I have no input that can help.'
'No, you don't. It is the same with me. Shona is in no position to help. Nonetheless, the emissaries are saying that it will not be long before Goldoran aggression infects the whole continent like a cancer. The more we sit back and wait, the more confident Tao becomes.'
'That is what I thought many years ago,' Rubio said.
'And that is why I summoned you, Rubio. I should have pitched in when I had the chance. But I sat back, and now they have me cornered between Korazin and Arioch,' the queen arose, 'I am sending you back with these men to defend your country.'
'My lady, I am not a soldier, and I even failed in my mission to…'
'When I look at you I see a soldier. I see a woman who risked her neck to sneak into Korazin knowing that her nation's own safety depended on keeping the king of Korazin alive. I see a woman who will not sit back and cook porridge while men fight for her. I see a patriot,' she turned to the emissaries and said to their leader, 'Ser Ajax, what about you. What do you see?'
The man was not only the leader of the delegation, but was also the most diplomatic. He knew that his answer would influence the queen's decision to help his nation, so he said almost immediately,
'Captain Rubio. You were King Elkaan's dear. He was gutted when he heard that your ship went down in the Azlan Sea. Your spirit was buried among the nation's heroes, and yet you lived. It will be an honor to have you back, Rubio. You did not fail your nation even once.' Many of these things were Ajax's own invention, and Rubio didn't miss them. Still, King Elkaan would now learn that she was alive the whole time, and that she had ultimately refused to serve her nation in such a critical time.
'I will come with you,' she capitulated.
'Very well, then. Once we do this, terrible things will happen one after another. There will be no turning back.'
'Your Majesty, terrible things are already happening,' Ajax pointed out.
'Rohr,' the queen called out, and Rohr walked into the room. She ordered him, 'Summon the War Council.'
'Ma'am?' Rohr wanted to absolutely be sure of what he had heard. The queen said,
'Do it. And while you're at it, bring me Minister Nazir. I need him to go to Tamar and also sail to Kai.' Tamar and Kai had not been wooed by Goldora.