Maxis rode quickly alongside Edelweiss, the cold midnight air blowing against them and causing their cloaks to flow in the wind. A courier informed the two that they were called to the King's Palace after word of a christian army preparing to cross the Cochise river. He and his partner rode through the forest, the open fields outside of Middle Tahl, and finally through the eastern gate of the city. They rode as quickly as they could through the streets to the palace and dismounted their steeds as they arrived. They hastily walked through the well decorated hallways of the palace and navigated their way through the huge building. They made their way to the war room of the Palace and were met by Wivven, Owaine, Sir Hetfield and several other prominent members of the army of Middle Tahl including general Leonidas of The Knights of Middle Tahl, Captain Gawaine of the royal guard and King Skinner himself.
Maxis walked into the room and towards a large rectangular table in the center of the room. In the room there was a fireplace that burned, two cushioned chairs with a small cup table between them to the right side of the room, four full bookshelves to the left, and to the opposite side of the doorway was a huge map of Middle Tahl and its neighbors. On the war table sat a map of eastern Middle Tahl, where the Cochise River lies as well as the mountains on the west side of it. King Skinner walked towards Maxis to speak with him as the other members of the council continued to converse with each other. "Good to see you could make it, Max." The King said with a smile as he reached up to put a hand on Maxis' shoulder. "Of course. So the army is on the eastern side of the Cochise River?" The Grandmaster asked as he walked around the room with the King. "Yes, an army anyways." The King responded.
"An army? What do you mean?" Maxis asked, concern in his voice. "What I mean is there could be multiple forces. We only know of one army on the border, but it is quite possible there are more armies or units elsewhere that we have yet to find."
"I see. Have you sent vigils out to the other borders to check?"
Not yet. After this briefing, I will, though." Maxis nodded and took a seat at the table in the center of the room. All the members of the council continued speaking to each other, creating a loud buzz of cabinet members rambling about the current situation. Wivven noticed Maxis and concluded his conversation with General Leonidas to go speak with Maxis. The Baron walked over to Maxis and sat next to him. "Hey Max." He greeted, scooting his chair closer to his friend. Maxis looked over and smiled. "Hey, why are you here? Frostgrad isn't under attack."
"King Skinner insisted that I come. He wanted to talk to me because the Hospitallers have a headquarters in he wants to know if I had anything to do with this." Wivven responded, sounding a little angry at being called by the king for questioning as if he had something to do with the army on Middle Tahl's doorstep.
Edelweiss walked over to a bookshelf and selected a book to read, he made his way to Maxis and sat next to him. "Hi Wivven, how come you're here?" He asked, sitting his book down in his lap. "Skinner thinks it has something to do with me." Wivven said, slight anger and frustration showing through his words. "How come?"
"Because the Hospitallers, who are currently one of the armies on the border, have a headquarters in my city, his thinking must have been that because they have a headquarters in Frostgrad, I must have authorized or ordered them to go with the Templars and Teutons. Boy king really connected the dots there, didn't he?" Wivven snarked, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Ohh. I'm sorry, I'm sure you two can talk it out." Edelweiss said reassuringly as he opened up his book and began reading.
King Skinner walked over to the back of the table and called for everyone's attention, and began speaking. "Thank you all for coming. This is the first major threat that Middle Tahl has faced under my reign and will hopefully be the last. Now, based solely on the information our indian scout, Tos-Que, has told us, there are about two hundred men total on the border."
"They expect to advance into Middle Tahl with only two hundred men? The indian surely must have gotten something wrong." General Leonidas remarked, approaching the table. From the corner of the room, the Indian emerged to stare the general down. He had a blue and red blanket slung over his shoulder, dark leggings, and a breechcloth with red lining, moccasins with elaborate beadwork, a necklace with bear claws and earrings made from silver coins.
"Now, now general, Tos-Que is a competent warrior and scout. I doubt that he'd lie about the enemy's numbers to us. He is from the Kiowa tribe, allies of Middle Tahl, so you have nothing to worry about. Tos-Que continued staring the General down, towering at least a foot above him. Tos- Que backed away as Leonidas scoffed and sat back down at the table. Maxis stared at the warrior from his seat. Something was off about Tos-que to Maxis. He didn't seem Kiowa. His name wasn't even Kiowa. It was Tonkawa, and Tos-Que meant "apache man". Maxis knew something was strange but bit his tongue. "My current plan is to send a detachment of Faithful Vigils to the river to try and intimidate them. Maxis will lead a detachment of his knights and will take command of the forces there when he arrives." The king said, trying to ease the tension. "Oh, please, that won't work. If you want to intimidate them, march out there yourself with four times their number, and see how that works out." Wivven snapped. The King glared at Wivven. "Wivven, I have not even begun to question your involvement in this matter."
"Oh really? MY involvement? That's rich comin' from you. Where were you when Frostgrad was besieged? You were out partying and celebrating your coronation a MONTH after it happened! My people were at death's door, and you did nothing."
"I will no longer tolerate your tongue, Wivven. You are dismissed from the meeting. Leave." The King snapped, glaring at Wivven. The baron glared back for a while before finally getting up and stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Everyone looked around at each other, and the atmosphere was tense and awkward. "Excuse my outburst, gentlemen." The king said, taking a deep breath before sitting down on a cushioned chair in the corner of the room. "The Faithful Vigils are to set up defenses on our side of the river. Owaine, you have my permission to fire upon the christians if they do not leave."
"Yes my liege." Owaine bowed his head obediently.
"Maxis and Leonidas, your heavy knights will wait behind the rangers and assist them if the crusaders begin closing in." Maxis and Leonidas nodded and rose from their seats. Maxis tugged on Edelweiss' shoulder to shift his attention from the book to himself. "Come on, love, we're going now." Maxis said quietly, helping his partner up and leaving the room with him and Leonidas. "Everyone else is dismissed, I will notify you if you are needed." The King declared. The other attendees of the meeting all left, leaving only King Skinner and Tos-que in the room. Skinner sighed and walked over to a drawer at the end of the room that was next to one of the bookshelves. He pulled the drawer out and took out a bottle of wine, and walked back over to the table, picking up a wine glass that rested next to the map and filling it with the rich colored wine.
"Tell me, Tos-que…" He spoke, beginning to sip from the glass. "Why do you want to be a scout? Or, I mean, why did you decide to be one?"
"Tos-que is seeking revenge for his family. The Christians took away Tos-que's family both when he was young and when he was mature." The Indian spoke. The king noticed his peculiar way of speaking before but recruited the man anyway. "They took away your family? The Crusaders?" The King inquired, turning around to look at the scout. "No. A militia came to Tos-ques village one day, and after a talk with Tos-ques father they killed him and began killing the other indians in the village. The next time they would come was when Tos-que was married and had a child. They spoke with the new chief and then killed him and many others. That is why Tos-que helps the King." The scout said, looking the king in the eyes as he spoke. "Tos-que has already killed those responsible, but he will kill any christians like them." He continued, a deep hatred in his voice and tone.
"Well we don't need to worry about any other christians right now, just the ones about to invade." The King said, trying to calm down his scout. "Well… you can go now, I don't have anything else I need to speak of." The King continued, finishing his glass of wine. Tos-que left the room without another word, leaving only Skinner in the war room. He sighed as he poured more wine into his glass, pulling it up to his face to look through. He swished his drink around and watched how it made the glass wobble before taking a sip of the dark wine. He walked around the table and looked at the map in the center of it before deciding to sit down in one of the cushioned seats away from the table. He sighed and thought to himself as he sipped on his beverage. "Why the HELL are they on our border now? I can't believe this, not even a year into my reign, and I already have to fight a war." He thought, leaning his head back and massaging his temple in irritance with his free hand. He knew that two hundred men was not enough to conquer Middle Tahl. He also knew that wasn't their entire force, that there were far more to the Crusaders numbers. He thought back to his outburst at Wivven earlier and felt bad about it. He didn't like to get mad at people or to raise his voice when talking, as he was a very quiet individual. He always worried that this attribute would be his downfall.