Walking in unison without rest and breaks, under the midday sun and under the full moon, despite the heat and coolness of the night, a huge army of five-meter stone warriors, with an iron tread, walked towards its goal.
Divided into one hundred squads, each of which numbered a thousand golems, they crossed the desert of death in just a month, passing through it in a military parade, with the flags of the empire raised high.
And having reached the official borders of Hordnok, the army of stone giants, having broken into a thousand detachments of a hundred warriors, stretched out along the border, frozen like statues.
* * *
Hordnock. Thirty-three board meeting:
"What is it all about," the newly elected chairman raged, "why such a large supply of healing powder to the dark kingdom was disrupted, how is this to be understood?
"The fact is that the Republic of Karus is now at war with the barbarians in the east and is suffering heavy losses, and we have provided them with much-needed help for them now," said the head of the leading faction, Long Feng, calmly.
"Besides," intervened his brother, who also held the post of gene. Secretary, - thanks to this invaluable help, the markets of this republic were opened for us, which promises Hordnock a great economic growth.
"We have a military alliance with the dark kingdom, and one of the main points of this alliance is the uninterrupted supply of healing powder from Tai-Lon, at a price agreed upon by both parties. Moreover, in the contract that we signed, it is written in black and white that our country undertakes to sell to our allies 90% of all supplied powder, no matter how much we can get. And you violated both conditions at once. What are we going to do now, who dared to violate the contract with such an important military-strategic partner, this is real sabotage!
"Enough, we all know that already," one of the board members spoke, "we made an extremely lucrative deal with the republic, and sold it the powder for four times more than we could sell to the kingdom, with which we have, under a contract, a strictly fixed price. All the heads of the factions and the council of thirty-three supported this decision, in a general vote.
"But how...
"You need to think about how to resolve the current situation, and not lecture the board, chairman.
- That's for sure.
Yes, this is your task.
"That's what a chairman is for.
Looking at all this bunch of degenerates, Fung Zhen wanted to kill them.
So that's why I was put in this position. They covered up this supply problem so thoroughly that I didn't even know it until yesterday. I knew something was not clean with this appointment, but that's it! Do they really think that they can blame everything on me and the dark kingdom will slow everything down? Are these traders completely brainwashed?
Here, suddenly, an assistant to the general burst into the meeting room, out of breath, barely taking a breath. secretary.
- What's the matter? Shino immediately reacted to the appearance of his subordinate.
- An urgent report from the frontier post. On the border, from the side of the sands of death, an army of an unknown state was seen.
There was an uproar in the boardroom.
—What nonsense?
Are we being attacked?
- Who is this?
— Dark Kingdom?
- From the side of the sands there are no states!
- Everybody shut up! the chairman shouted, "calm down and let us hear the report to the end, there is no time for panic.
After waiting for everyone to calm down, Fung Zhen continued.
"What kind of troops are concentrated on the border, where they came from, their numbers," the cold tone of the chairman inspired awe in the assistant secretary.
- All data is preliminary and subject to clarification, but at the moment we have information that the army came from the desert, it consists of huge five-meter warriors in steel armor, armed on the principle of a sword and shield. Approximately fifty thousand.
There was a deafening silence in the hall...
"They came from the side of the desert, giants, several tens of thousands…" the chairman fell silent.
"Don't tell me that the stone giant kingdom that is so rumored about has decided to attack us!" - from what was said, the secretary himself turned pale.
There was a real panic among the board members.
"Urgent, urgent, contact the dark kingdom, they are our allies, let them send an army!" one shouted.
"Chairman, give the order to evacuate to the board of thirty-three," the second one yelled.
"It is necessary to declare a mobilization, we will gather all who can fight, men, women, children, and send them to defend their homeland, let them hold back the enemy until the troops of the dark kingdom approach. And we need to evacuate.
- Prepare the wagons, you need to withdraw the gold from the treasury.
- Shut up! Fung Zhen yelled with all his might, "I will personally hang anyone who dares to leave the city."
- Yes, who will allow you upstart, you are not a decree for us!
- We appointed you and we will remove you.
"Go and die for your country, it is your duty as chairman. And the board must continue to lead.
- Exactly!
"According to clause five of the third amendment, when martial law is declared, the orders of the commander-in-chief, whose role should be occupied by the chairman, have priority at the highest level!" - Fung Zhen, blushing with anger, gnashing his teeth, refreshed the memory of the hysterically screaming members of the board.
- And what? Only the council of thirty-three can declare martial law, so if we don't vote, you won't have that kind of authority, Mr Zhen. Ha, scared.
"Let me remind you, according to amendment four, paragraph five, the city-state of Hordnock can ask for military assistance from allies only in cases where there is direct military aggression, which in the legal field manifests itself in the form of a declaration of martial law.
After these words, everyone fell silent.
"Well, colleagues, we don't want to ask for help anymore," Fung Zhen continued with a forced smile.
"So that's it," said the silent head of the faction, Long Feng, "we vote for martial law, ask for help from the dark kingdom, and along the way we are reconnoitering the situation on the border." Do you agree chairman?
— Yes, completely. I also want to add that I will personally go to the border as commander in chief.
OK, let's vote...