The group looked at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a casual question given by a ruler. Finally, Suzanne spoke up, "It has been wonderful so far, your Majesty."
The emperor chuckled. "Good, good. You may have wondered why I called you here. It has come to my attention that you are from Aliahan."
"Yes your Majesty," Suzanne replied.
"If I may ask, is the seal on your land lifted? This is the second visit we have received in the decade," the emperor asked.
"It has been lifted, but only a week ago," Suzanne explained. "Aliahan still has no plans of coming out of isolation, but we are here on a mission."
"Allow me to guess," the emperor said. "You have come to gather information on the Archfiend and serve as a sort of diplomat between nations."
Suzanne nodded. The emperor went on, "Has Aliahan decided to become a peacemaker between nations? That is the exact mission of our last visitor of Aliahan."
"That man was my father," Suzanne explained. "Although the king has allowed both myself and my father before me to leave the land on this mission, this is still a personal mission not given by the king."
"Interesting," the emperor said. "Then I shall tell you what I know, which admittedly is not much. The Archfiend resides on the southern side of Tarasia, a continent to the south. It lives south of the kingdom of Isis, an ally of ours. Before it moved in, the region was home to many city-states and nomads that did not belong to any larger nation. Rumors say that all humans have been eradicated from those lands."
The group gasped at the emperor's last statement. Thomas was first to speak, "All humans? Eradicated? How could this have happened?"
The emperor continued his story grimly, "It seems impossible that the Archfiend could have become so powerful so quickly, but all the signs point to this being fact. Mind you, we have sent no official scouting parties to verify this fact as it seems that such a mission would be suicide. However, many neighboring lands have received a large number of refugees. According to recent reports, some have even come to the empire."
At this point, the emperor became more cheerful, "Which is why a person of my position is so willing to work with you, who will be treated as mere outcasts in any other land. If a lesson can be learned from the fall of southern Tarasia, it is that the Archfiend will have no trouble conquering independent human lands. Although they were quite small compared to the empire, even we will not be able to stand alone against the Archfiend soon enough."
"Excuse me your Majesty, but may I ask a question?" Suzanne interjected. The emperor nodded. "You have yourself stated that we will be no more than outcasts in other lands. Some might even accuse us of trying the manipulate the nations into another Aliahan Empire. So, even with what you know of southern Tarasia, why are you so willing to work with us?"
The emperor chuckled. "You will note that I am quite young compared to most rulers." His statement was true. The emperor looked to be in his mid-30's, with a head of blonde hair that did not show a trace of grey. He had a boyish face and his tone and manner of speaking were relatively informal compared to the king of Aliahan.
The emperor continued, "Excluding the queen of Isis, I am the youngest ruler that I am aware of. I know of at least one that actually fought in the Second Great War, fought against the Aliahan Empire. However, I do not have any memories of those dark days. That is not to say that I have not heard the curses uttered against your country, specifically those by the older generation. It does mean that I see no reason to hold a decades-long old grudge."
The emperor chuckled again and went on, "However, I am not about to offer my cooperation without a price. Do you see the crown I have upon my head? What do you think of it?"
"It looks quite marvelous, your Majesty." Suzanne replied.
The emperor shook his head. "Marvelous for a duke or some sort of lesser noble, but not for an emperor. No, my true crown is ten times as glorious as this silly hat! But unfortunately, it has been stolen from me. Not just my crown, but my pride and honor have been stolen. Over a month ago, I was ambushed by thieves to the north of here."
"Now the leader of their foolish band, a man named Kandar, wears the crown atop his head, and claims the western parts of the empire to be his! Worse yet, some foolish towns have agreed to follow him! This is where you come in. I cannot bear to send my troops against my own people. They are tricked by this knave's words and his possession of my crown. Being so far away from the castle, they have hardly ever seen my face, so it is no wonder their allegiance is so easily taken."
"So, I want you to get my crown back," the emperor stated. "However, I forbid you from striking any of my people down unless they should first attack you. As for Kandar and his band, you may deal with them as you see fit. But do not hurt the innocents. Do this for me, and I will grant you a great reward that will highly benefit your cause. Are we all agreed?"
"This seems like a great mission, your Majesty. We will do this for you," Suzanne agreed.
"Well then, you are dismissed. I wish you luck in your journeys."
Before heading to bed that night, the group decided to take a look at a map of the Romaly Empire. They had been given the map from a scholar in the castle library, who had also marked the territory where Kandar was setting up his reign.
"It looks like they have quite the mountain range here," said Ron, pointing north of the castle.
"According to the scholars, they have numerous paths through the mountains that should not be too hard to traverse," said Suzanne.
Thomas spoke up next, "I hope we don't have to fight our way through another mountain ambush."
"Your concerns are valid, apparently monster activity has been increasing in the mountains. They've had to drastically increase the number of escorts to traveling caravans going through the mountains," Suzanne replied.
Ron decided to change the subject, "Hey, have you guys been by the equipment shops here? The stuff they sell here is a lot better than we ever had in Aliahan!"
"That's not surprising," said Thomas. "Part of our exile included having to give up all our arms from the war. Combine that with the lack of trade and goods from Aliahan are probably inferior in general."
"Well, we should make sure to equip ourselves before we go," suggested Ron. "We're going to need all the help we can get on this mission by the sounds of it."
"That sounds like a good idea, but how expensive is the equipment? We need supplies as well," said Suzanne.
"We have gotten a large amount of money from selling all the monster parts we've gotten," spoke Alice. "We should be able to afford a good amount of gear. That is, if genius here didn't spend it all on booze and women."
"Hey, that ended up helping us! Besides, I only spent my own money!" Ron protested.
"Cut it out you two!" Suzanne interceded. "Ron's right, we should be better equipped. We'll all go to the equipment shop and see what they have for us."
When the group went to the local equipment shops, they found they had enough money to buy chain mail and bronze shields for Suzanne, Ron, and Thomas. After that, they had little money left for weapons, but they bought a chain sickle for Thomas. They also bought supplies needed for the road. Ready for the road, the team headed to the north.
After two days of traveling, the team made it to the base of the Rashal Mountain Range. The mountains covered a significant portion of the center of the continent. Towns and villages were sparse in the mountains, but the team planned to take a two-day journey up the mountain to a plateau on the northern side of the mountains. On the plateau was a village called Kanave where they could rest up and restock. The first day was tiring, but fairly routine. The four decided to head to bed a little earlier on account of fatigue. The next morning they set out again.
"After this, I never want to see another hill for as long as I live," said Ron.
"Yeah, this is a lot steeper than the hills in the eastern wilds," replied Suzanne.
Alice did not seem deterred, "Well according to the map, Kan
ave is about as high as we have to go. Once we get there, it's all downhill."
"Until we have to make a return trip to Kanave," said Thomas.
Alice shook her head and said, "Actually, some of the people in the castle told me there's a waypoint in Kanave. Once we get there, we get just teleport back there whenever we want!"
"Incoming!" yelled Ron.
Ron pointed further up the hill. Coming up fast were three huge green bees.
"My gosh they're moving fast!" exclaimed Ron.
"Stay together guys!" Suzanne said. "Watch each other's backs!"
Within seconds, the bees had come upon the party. Two of the bees immediately made a pass at the party. Suzanne and Ron positioned themselves in front and struck back at the bees. Ron landed an excellent attack that killed his, though the bee managed to sting him on the arm. Suzanne blocked her bee with her shield and managed to land a strike, but the bee lived and flew away. Suddenly, Ron dropped his sword and shield.
"What the! I can't feel my arms!" Ron shouted.
"Damnit! Form a triangle around Ron, keep those things away from him!" Suzanne ordered.
The bees were circling the party now, looking for an opening. Unfortunately for them, Alice had been chanting a spell and now completed it. A line of fire streaked through the air, burning both bees. The wounded bee dropped dead while the other managed to survive. The bee tried to make an attack on Alice but Thomas stepped in front of it and killed it. After that, Thomas tended to Ron.
"What is this!" yelled Ron, afraid at his own condition.
Thomas examined Ron's arms. "I read about this back at the castle. Those bees have some sort of nerve agent in their stingers meant to disable their foes. According to the books, it lasts for a couple of hours but doesn't do any permanent damage."
"That's a relief," said Suzanne, "but we better be careful for those hours. We'll be in rough shape if we get into a fight and our best warrior is out of commission."
Luckily, the four managed to avoid confrontation until Ron had the use of his arms back. From there, the team made it to Kanave without much further incident. It was late at night when they arrived, and they were all exhausted, and so they immediately went to the inn.
The next morning, after buying some more supplies, the four went around gathering as much information as they could on Kandar. In the evening, they met back at the inn to discuss what they found out.
"We've got some good news. Everybody here knows who the emperor is here and everyone is loyal to him," said Suzanne.
"It seems Kandar has set up a blockade on the land to the west," Ron began to explain, "The land is separated from the mainland by mountains and a river. Unlike the mountains we passed to get here, these are impassable. The river has only a single bridge going over it. There aren't many towns or villages over there, so apparently they didn't think they needed another. Bottom line is that there's only one good way in or out."
"Some people have been trying to escape too," Alice said. "Not everyone who's following Kandar is doing so of their free will. I talked to some people here who escaped from the region. They said many have been killed trying to escape, whether it be in trying to brave the river or being found by Kandar's men. They say he extorts money and forces the people to make him weapons. There's even been rumors of fortifying the tower to the west. It seems that's been his hideout since before ambushing the emperor."
"How does he maintain power over the people if he's so terrible?" Suzanne asked.
Thomas started talking now, "He claims to be a Duke. The western lands are somewhat isolated, so they haven't seen their Duke often. His possession of the emperor's crown makes a very convincing case. Since he has such a blockade over the region, he probably hasn't allowed any government officials in to discredit him. The people would have no reason to believe he's not actually a Duke."
"I also heard that some of the emperor's own knights in the region have sided with him," Ron cut in. "This would go further to validate Kandar as a Duke."
Suzanne was surprised, "Some of the emperor's knights have joined him?"
"No doubt they are getting some fine privileges as Kandar's henchmen," Thomas said grimly. "More power than they had as enforcers of the law. Kandar probably allows them to do whatever they wish."
"So if we can break the blockade on the bridge," began Suzanne, "and remove the crown from Kandar we should be able to break his reign over the region."
Chapter 5: Kandar
"Ron's late," Thomas observed.
"You think we don't know that Tom!" Alice shouted back at him.
Suzanne sent a glare at the two of them to quiet them. Thomas went back to reading a book while Alice failed to calm down. She began to pace back and forth around the small room they were in.
Tempers had been high since the group had infiltrated the land Kandar held. Alice seemed to snap at anyone who did not bring good news. This constantly put her at odds with Thomas, who could not help but bring up every negative event that came to pass. Suzanne had almost given up trying to keep the other two from each other's throats, it was enough work just to keep them from alerting every person in camp as to what they were doing. Suzanne found that her mood had been sour for the past week as well.
Getting into Kandar's land was not too difficult. The group had decided to ambush some of Kandar's soldiers who strayed from the area. Thomas put the men to sleep and the others would disable them. When the men came to, the group interrogated them. The men were little more than a collection of rogues, it was easy to get information from them. The group then sent the men to the castle in order to be tried in court.
Luckily, the men had come from the bridge itself. Now the four had all the information they needed to get past the guards at the bridge. The plan had Ron posing as one who wished to join Kandar while the others snuck through. It was customary to test a new recruit through fighting and every man at the bridge was eager for a good fight. While Ron proved his worth, almost every guard at the bridge went to watch.
Ron was immediately posted to guard duty on the bridge. Having proven himself to be an exceptional fighter, they put him where there was most likely to be a good fight. Meanwhile, the rest of the group took up residence in a nearby work camp. They could not just stay there idle however. Thomas was pressed into doing work for Kandar's men while Suzanne and Alice laid low throughout the day. Many people found the two, but most were villagers who had no urge to betray them. The two easily defended themselves against any of Kandar's men that found them.
The group decided to keep Ron working for Kandar. His position was a vital source of information the group needed to put together an assault on Kandar. For the most part, Ron's job was pretty routine. The men would do some building during the day, or test any new recruits that would happen to arrive. After the shift, the men would often go drinking. This was where Ron found most of his information. Then Ron would go to the others and give a report on his day. The only difficult part of his job was trying not to hurt any innocents without giving himself away. Several times a week, Ron would tell the group of a close call in which he helped a poor civilian escape without alerting fellow guards.
The night progressed and the group eventually set up their look-out shifts. As they were in hostile territory, they slept similarly to how they did traveling. But now the group had to switch things up to account for Ron's absence. Thomas and Alice went to bed first while Suzanne was kept on watch.
It was only a couple of hours before sunrise the next day when Ron turned up. He came into the tent with a great smile on his face.
"Well, someone's happy," Alice snarled at him.
"And so will you three, when you hear what I've got to say," Ron responded, undeterred by Alice's mood.
Alice was not convinced, "Really now? It better be good, considering how late you are. And it better not be that you scored with some girl."
Ron chuckled softly, "You won't be disappointed. But for now, I think I'll head to bed. Good night."
/> Alice just about lost it. She opened her mouth to yell at him when she remembered that she was to be quiet, and instead hissed at him, "No you will not! We've been keeping watch for longer hours thanks to this stunt of yours. I think you should keep watch now."
Now Ron started getting angry. "I haven't slept all night and I've still got a shift tomorrow! I didn't try to stay out later than usual, I just couldn't get away! I'm sure you got at least a little sleep in!"
"A little bit less now that you two are going at it," mumbled Suzanne as she sat up.
"I'm sorry Susie, I was trying to be quiet," said Ron, glaring at Alice.
"Don't pin this on me! This is all your fault!" Alice retorted.
"Enough!" hissed Suzanne. "Since I'm up, we may as well wake Tom so you can tell us what is so wonderful. I have no clue how he can sleep through all this."
Suzanne started shaking Thomas awake. "He's always been a heavy sleeper," Ron observed.
After some doing and a few grumblings from Thomas, Ron began speaking, "Okay, we have our opportunity guys. Kandar is apparently an arrogant bastard. It seems that some people have gotten wind of his scam and there have been a few uprisings against him. In order to quiet these uprisings, he's planning some sort of parade through the land the show everyone his crown and warn against taking action against the Empire. It's planned to occur in exactly one week and preparation begin tomorrow. I'm actually being pulled back to the Tower of Shanpane to help out."
"That's interesting, but he'll likely station a heavy guard around himself. Even if we did manage to take him out we'd have a time getting the crown. Without the crown, one of his men could just step up and keep going," Suzanne said.
"But he's going to open himself to attack right before the parade," Ron continued. "He's going to send the almost all his men in the tower to nearby towns in order to make preparations right before setting out. If we attack then, we'll have a decent chance of getting to him."
Dragon Quest Novel Page 5
