Web of Lands 2

by Brent Tyman

  We had replaced most of the servants of the palace with slaves from Frostburn, since they were more loyal to us than the natives, for now at least. I received no shortage of salutes as I walked through the hallways.

  The palace had been a mess before, during our siege of it. After we had won the battle, everyone had let loose and looted everything not nailed down. It had been cleaned up a tad during my coronation, but now it had returned to the state I had seen it during the battle. Although without all the blood and corpses littered about. The only places that were untouched were the king’s room that I stayed in, as well as a few others such as Eliandra’s and Lunara’s bedroom.

  I reached the entrance to the throne room, where there were far more soldiers standing guard outside. They saluted me as I neared, and I motioned for the doors to be pulled. The doors slid open with a slight creak and I headed inside.

  The hole in the ceiling had been repaired since I last entered here, and the colors of Frostburn hang from every column. Fulgrem’s previous coat of arms was a creature in mid sprint, colored in red, but we had taken every single instance of that design from the nation and burned it. Now, we displayed the cold blue symbol of Frostburn on practically every street corner, at least from what I could see from my window in my room. Our coat of arms was a spear tipped hand gripping a skull in its palm. I remember once there was a debate amongst the truth sayers on whether the hand was trying to crush the skull or clutched it for protection. I had always thought of it as a pointless argument.

  The throne room had undergone a change since my coronation. Several chairs were placed in front of the throne itself, facing towards the entrance. I believe Eklis and Flavious both had taken charge on matters of state, where they would represent us when dealing with the natives.

  I was glad of that. Even with my new position, I had little interest in working out farming laws and how much grain must be sent to us before the farmers can keep it. That was best left to the other truth sayers, who loved to bicker over that when they weren’t deep in research.

  I spotted Flavious first as he conversed with a few truth sayers that surrounded him. He stroked his beard as he listened to whatever was being said to him. A smile formed on his lips as he spotted me, his wise eyes taking in my full measure.

  Eklis was seated nearby, nearer to the throne itself, and he leaped from his seat to greet me. His black hair fell over one side of his head, as it always did when he moved and I stopped just short of him.

  He looked me up and down, grinning all the while.

  “I don’t know what has happened, but the Gods have favored you. Has the sickness passed?” he asked, and I wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

  I supposed it was best to keep it simple for now, like with Tessa.

  “Yes, my mind has cleared and I feel ready for anything. We should discuss if I need to wear this royal garb, I don’t think it suits me, truth be told,” I said with a smirk.

  “Nonsense, nonsense,” Flavious said as he drew near me. He had been sitting before, but had somehow appeared by my side in an instant. The old man was fast.

  “It suits the king of both Frostburn and Fulgrem. A king that will lead us to greatness as we sweep aside the opponents on our path,” Flavious continued, and he snapped his fingers.

  Some slaves quickly gathered up more seats and placed them in a circle around us. I sat down as well did both Eklis and Flavious so we were all facing each other. The guards had backed away and now surrounded us, facing outwards.

  “I trust that your… illness has subsided for the time being?” Flavious said, in a way that once again, definitely confirmed that he knew far more than he had let on. I would have a talk with him alone soon.

  “Yes, I do not believe that it will return for a while,” I said, choosing my words carefully. Flavious nodded at this while Eklis scratched his chin in confusion.

  “Right. Anyway, we were just about to discuss today’s agenda, so your timing is good. Care to start Flavious?” Eklis said to the old man. Flavious nodded at this and looked at me.

  “Yes, yes. Things have not turned out as we hoped in your absence. The local humans have started to resist us outside of the capital walls and we lack the manpower to suppress every rebel from speaking out against us,” Flavious said.

  It was exactly as Tessa said; the natives were getting less and less scared of us, it seemed.

  “Is it something we need to address now?” I asked, and both men shook their head.

  “Not really, ever since the second royal army was defeated, the natives have lost their appetite for violence, at least for now,” Eklis said.

  “But we must be wary and find an effective way to deal with the problem once it rears its ugly head,” Flavious said. I nodded at this, and the old man continued.

  “Now, now. There are other matters that require a more kingly touch. The Dunarans have all left to their newly gained territory in Fulgrem, all except for Lunara naturally. There was little we could do to stop them. Lunara was convinced that her parents would allow for an extension of their presence here, perhaps for some local gold coin from the treasury. That did not dissuade them, and we are left here by ourselves. Perhaps a visit to their capital would rekindle their cooperation,” Flavious said as he stroked his beard.

  “It's shameful we even needed their help to begin with,” Eklis muttered with a scowl. “We sweeped aside most of the first royal army in little time, the orb being the primary factor for our success. At least that was what the reports showed, and what the damage tells us. We could have easily taken the capital without them,” he said.

  Flavious shook his head at that, and I shrugged. The dark elves were a key part in our siege of the capital. There was no mistake about it.

  “You try taking a capital city with only a third of the troops as the enemy has. If we didn't have prime magic on our side, sieges would require more attackers than defenders. That orb was nothing but trouble, even if it gave us a huge advantage,” I said to him and Eklis studied my face for a moment before sighing.

  “I meant no disrespect, but I hate that we are still on the precipice of losing it all,” Eklis said. "Many things can go wrong, and where would that leave us? Our people are happy to be living in the capital, even if we had to kick out all the nobles, merchants and serfs to house them. Some now want to leave to live in the countryside, some want bigger houses, some want us to kick out every native in the city so we can live as we did in Frostburn. It’s a mess we should have accounted for.”

  “Indeed, my friend, indeed,” Flavious said as he stared at the ground.

  “It seems we need to consider integrating the native peoples into our society,” Flavious said. I quirked my eyebrow at that, I never imagined we would have this type of conversation.

  While Eklis’s face contorted in shock as expected, I saw the guards near us grumble amongst themselves. I clicked my tongue at that, and they quieted promptly. I knew Eklis would reflect exactly what every one of my people would say to that.

  “Outrageous,” Eklis said with a snarl. “It’s one thing to rule over cattle, it's another to treat them as fellow predators.”

  “Eklis, you must cast aside these preconceptions,” Flavious said. “We have tried to recruit the natives into our armies, but it has been slow and only the lowest of the low join our ranks. Any native that would join us is immediately shunned by their people and by us. If there were more of us, then perhaps we wouldn't need to entertain such ideals, but the reality is that we must adapt if we are to stay in control.”

  The truth sayers were always the ones for radical ideas, but this one did indeed invite discord. I enjoyed Lunara’s and Eliandra’s company, perhaps my feelings for them was love itself, but my people had a different view of others. They accepted Eliandra for voluntarily joining us and Lunara was an ally in war, which was honorable to everyone's eyes. But since we had already fought the Fulgremians, and since we see the resentment on their faces, the only way we would get along now wo
uld be to enslave the lot of them. Trying to rule a nation as we were doing now was very new to us.

  “The men are shunning the Fulgremians that join us because they are wary. They think anyone that enlists will take our weapons to fight against us later,” I said. Eklis and Flavious gave me their attention.

  “The men have fought against a foe and now live in that foe’s home. This is new to them and they don’t wish to turn their backs, lest a knife ends them. Centuries of raiding and returning to Frostburn can’t be undone in a few meager weeks. Once the men feel safer, either with more manpower or with more allies, it will go a long way to stabilizing relations between us and the Fulgremian recruits,” I said. The pair considered my words.

  “What of the rest, the rebels and the dissidents? Our tolerance will only spread so far,” Eklis said. I turned my head slightly to the side as I looked at him.

  “What we always do, we demand that everyone get in line and shackle the rest. It would be wise to maintain things as they are for now, to keep distant farmers in check, before we impose our own culture onto them,” I said. Flavious smiled at me.

  “Ah yes, yes. I see my lessons in your youth have borne fruit. A strict hand for everyone while telling the people that their lives won't change for the moment will ease tensions,” Flavious said.

  “I still don't like this integration talk, neither will the rest of us,” Eklis started. “But stability is paramount, especially as our future is at stake.”

  “Let me guess,” I said, as a thought occurred to me. “The past through weeks, it’s been an argument between either enslaving all the natives, killing all the natives or integrating them,” I said. The pair looked at each other and I knew I had hit the nail in the head.

  “No, no. Killing all of them was taken off the table, so to speak. It would not do to foster even more resentment from the other humans on this planet,” Flavious said.

  “I was of the mind to enslave everyone, but Flavious insisted it would drag us into further problems. The reduced manpower is a recurring theme in any proposed solution,” Eklis said as he crossed his arms.

  “But we will try it this way, and see what comes of it,” he said.

  “Good, was that the only problem on the agenda?” I asked, but they both shook their heads.

  “No, there are two other things. We can handle what we just discussed but what comes next requires your direct attention,” Eklis said, almost forebodingly and I quirked an eye at that.

  “Oh? Let’s hear it,” I said.

  Eklis turned to Flavious once again and nodded to him. It seemed they had coordinated how to approach me with this subject beforehand.

  “Ordan, you remember that you threw the chaos orb away from the capital?” Flavious asked, and I nodded. It wasn't something I would forget easily.

  “Well, it seems the orb went directly north of us, inside the borders of a nation called the Korodo empire,” he said. Eklis shook his head as he let out a breath.

  “A nation filled with these so-called lizardmen. They call themselves Korodans, but that’s all we have learned,” Eklis said.

  “Do they know that we are responsible for..” I started, but Flavious already knew what I was about to say.

  “No, no, goodness no. The last thing we need is another war, and in fact, the previous king of Fulgrem barely paid them any mind so we have not officially spoken to their royalty or representatives,” Flavious said.

  “What’s the problem then?” I asked. Flavious paused, perhaps to consider what to say.

  “There is talk of a crisis within their nation, following the orbs wake. The scouts we sent to find out the final resting place of the orb have yet to return, and rumors have circulated of foul magic. Whether they mean the orb or some other entity, I have yet to determine but it seems that this trouble will affect us in due course.”

  I thought about Flavious’s words and wasn't sure what to make of it. I had sent the orb into this Korodo empire, filled with lizardmen and chaos seemed to have followed. I suppose the orb was doing exactly what it was meant for, but Flavious was right. Another war this soon would be devastating.

  “Seems the only thing we can do is to build up our forces and see what happens with these Korodans. We can send more scouts in due course, and if that fails, I can personally go there for information,” I said. Flavious gave another nod at this while Eklis looked troubled.

  “What is it?” I asked him. He looked away for a moment before meeting my eyes.

  “There’s one more thing on the agenda, and it’s not clear what the best course of action is. Me and Flavious can handle affairs here, and the Korodans can wait. But this last problem needs your attention now. Perhaps we should have tried to tell you sooner, but here we are,” Eklis said.

  I wasn’t entirely sure what he was getting at, and even Flavious looked uncomfortable. If I remembered anything from my childhood, it was that you acted this way when trying to confront someone after they had done wrong.

  “Ordan, my king,” Flavious said, almost out of sorts, coming from him.

  “We require you to go to the Fancern forest as soon as possible, to take control of the situation,” he said.

  The Fancern forest? That name had a familiarity with me, I was sure I had heard it before.

  “What situation? Stop trying to stall and just say what you mean to say,” I demanded, perhaps a little too loudly.

  The pair looked at each other again, and some sort of communication passed between them. Finally, Flavious looked me in the eye.

  “I remember your report on the creature you helped escape from Croydra, a Zegari, as the Lestia mage you met called it. It has consumed most of the forest over the past few weeks, and we had no choice but to abandon the territory. Now we fear it will move west towards us and we need you to stop its advance,” Flavious said. Eklis made it a point to not look at me at all during this exchange, and I couldn’t blame him.

  The creature I had helped was now on its way to destroy us.

  Shit.

  Chapter 2

  “When did this start?” I asked, mostly to get rid of the silence that loomed more than anything else.

  “Around a week after your coronation,” Eklis said, although he still didn't look at me. More at the floor.

  “There were first reports of strange creatures attacking the human loggers in that forest. Then reports of villages being destroyed and a mass exodus of farmers traveling west, away from it all. We had sent a large part of our army there to clean up the remnants of the second royal army after their defeat with the Vulenchians, but only a few deserters trickled in. The rest of the army never appeared,” Eklis explained. Flavious took some time to let that sink in before he spoke.

  “We believe,” Flavious said. “That the Zegari creature killed them all. It has the uncanny ability to breed its children, of sorts, with the corpses of its victims. Based on your reports and the information you received from Lestia, it has likely bolsters its number significantly, as the second royal army would have been broken from their defeat. They wouldn’t have put up much of a fight against such a.. deadly foe.”

  I didn’t really know what to say to that. What could I say? I had inadvertently put our people in jeopardy and from the looks of their faces, there weren’t many solutions to this, if any.

  “Fuck,” I said, as I ran a hand through my hair. “So what now? There should be mages at the border, trying to keep that thing in check, but I assume they have perished?” I said, and they both nodded.

  “Quite so, quite so. The mages that Lestia mentioned have either retreated to their council or become sustenance for the creature’s brood. We can either hope for it to head further east towards the Vulenchians or make enough of a stand to deter it away from us,” Flavious said.

  “We already have a plan in place but it revolves in us sending enough troops east and killing every creature we come across,” Eklis said with a sigh.

  “We need someone capable handing this…” Eklis s
tarted, but I raised my hand.

  “Right, I got it. I’ll go, how many troops can we spare?” I asked.

  “Around five thousand.” Eklis answered, and I quirked an eyebrow at this.

  “If the creature has wiped out the second royal army, then it would have at least ten thousand bodies, if not more. I remember Tessa mentioned that number to me once,” I said with a frown. Eklis nodded, and I tried my hardest to not be disheartened at the odds.

  “Ten thousand or more strong, if not more. We need you to hold the line if you can’t outright win. We can send more troops once the situation in Fulgrem has stabilized,” Eklis said, but I barely paid attention.

  My mind whirled with ideas on how to sort this problem.

  The easiest solution would be to get more troops than the enemy. I wasn't too far behind the creature’s numbers, but it seemed I always ended up in situations where there are more of them than there were of us. I doubted the dark elves would help us while they had the other half of Fulgrem to turn into their own.

  I had to find a way to fix this. It was my mistake.

  “Hmm, very well,” I said. “I’ll leave for the east over the next few days and see what I can do.”

  The rest of the meeting was more of the pair informing me of more domestic matters. These were reports of various incomes that were trickling in as we got settled. Gold, ores, metals, wood, all of it had to be noted and accounted for. I had little interest and knowledge on these types of matters, so it wasn't long after that I bid the pair farewell and headed out of the throne room.

  It was strange that they referred to me as the king now. They couldn't say my name on its own, only with my king added on at the end. It was one of the many things I just had to get used to.