Remus and the group stood in stunned silence as they realized the full extent of the boundary's protection. It not only shielded the Southlands but also the Eastlands, a fact that Arch-Maester Pompey found particularly fascinating.
The gears in his head started to turn and a plan began to take shape.
Arch-Maester Pompey cleared his throat and addressed the room, "Your Majesty, I suggest we send a messenger to Duke Tyranus, Duke of the Eastlands, asking for troops, supplies and Eastland iron and coal. Remus could use these materials to build us an army of automatons to combat the Shadar-Kai."
King Belsarius leaned forward in his chair, his eyes narrowing as he considered the idea. "And what guarantee do we have that he will send us what we need?" he asked.
Pompey cleared his throat again. "He will most definitely send it once he learns of the Shadar-Kai invasion."
Remus nodded in agreement. "I don't like him very much but we really need troops and resources. Duke Tyranus is just the Duke of the Eastlands, and you are entitled to his support. He would give it to you but would never give it to me willingly even if I begged," Remus said.
"May I ask why?" King Belsarius asked.
"I outmanoeuvred him once," Remus said. "I'll spare you the details. Long story short, he wanted to rule both the Eastlands and the Southlands and but I foiled his plan."
A messenger was dispatched with a message from the King and a Royal standard to prove who it came from in case there was any doubt.
King Belsarius sat in a makeshift war strategy room, anxiously waiting for news from the messenger he had sent to Duke Tyranus.
Finally, after a few days, the messenger arrived, looking weary and disheartened. He bowed deeply before the King and handed him a letter. Belsarius tore open the seal and began to read, his face growing darker with every passing moment.
"What does it say, your Highness?" Arch-Maester Pompey asked.
"The Duke still doesn't believe that the message came from the King and is requesting my presence," Belsarius said.
"I will go with you," Arch-Maester Pompey said.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Andrea said.
"What could possibly happen?" Annabelle asked.
"Uh-oh," Remus said. "That's a jinx. You jinxed us."
"I don't believe in such nonsense," Annabelle replied.
After a few more days, another messenger was sent this time from the Eastlands addressing Remus personally.
The messenger handed him the letter without a word. Remus quickly read it and his face turned pale. He then gave the letter to his father, Duke Acquitane.
"Heavens, it's worse than we thought," the Duke said, his voice solemn. "Duke Tyranus has kidnapped King Belsarius, declared the Eastlands as an independent Kingdom, and he has declared war on the Southlands."
"Did I jinx him?!" Annabelle asked. "I should've kept my big mouth shut."
Andrea slammed his fist onto the table, her anger boiling over. "That fat, selfish fool! He cares nothing for the people of the Eastlands, only for his own power and wealth!"
"What should we do, Remus?" Annabelle asked.
"We cannot let him get away with this!" Andrea said, her voice seething with anger and hatred. "We must prepare our armies and march East. That rotten excuse for a leader deserves what he gets."
"Hold your horses," Remus said calmly, "the Eastlands are made up of mostly mountains and fortified positions. Duke Tyranus has a well-trained and well-armed army. We can't win without a big army and even if we did, it would cost us too much. I hate to announce even more bad news but it seems that the Shadar-Kai are throwing everything they can at the barrier."
"Will they be able to break it?" Annabelle asked.
"I can't say for certain but the amount of impact they're having on the barrier is not nothing," Remus said. "We may have years, months, weeks or even days."
"What do we do?" Andrea asked.
"I have a plan but you're not going to like it," Remus said.
That same day, Remus as well as all the people of the Southlands packed anything they could move and retreated to the swampy forests in the western region of the Southlands where the movement of troops was almost impossible. Whatever they couldn't move was burned down and razed including entire towns and farmland.
"Duke Tyranus can follow us but he won't find any grain or resources he can use," Remus said. "This has become a war of attrition and our goal is to outlast the Eastland armies and hope that the Shadar-Kai doesn't break through first."
It was easy to say but trying to build settlements in the swamps was incredibly difficult. The ground had the consistency of oats, insects were plentiful, false ground and sinkholes were everywhere but still, they persevered.
"The first step is to gather wood and stones," Remus said. "I'll give that job to the men while the women should bring me cotton plants and edible mushrooms."
"We didn't bring axes with us," Julius, Remus's father, said.
"Bring me sticks and stones and I will build axes and pickaxes to gather wood and stone even faster," Remus replied.
One of the first things the Southlanders had to do was to clear the forests before building stilted wooden houses with tree covers above the roofs to shield them from discovery above.
Remus then built hundred of dams to run water mills. Each dam extended from valley edge to valley edge and created a sizable step in the landscape. A series of dams created large "staircases", which drained the marshland water out of the valleys.
At the same time as building the dams, the settlers were also clearing the tops of the hills for agriculture. This released soil which gathered in large deposits behind the dams.
The Eastland troops finally crossed the border of the Southland and they were met with mile after mile of razed land with not even a soul to be found. They ran out of food within seven days and had to abandon the captured land and retreat within three weeks.
It was a humbling loss masquerading as a victory for Duke Tyranus.
"You've bested me again," Duke Tyranus said to himself.