The Union

With the salty yet breezy wind of Greenwater ruffling his auburn hair, Ryon rode towards the west.

In his hand was a letter. A dreadful letter from a dreadful man.

He clasped the paper. Inside him was a storm of feelings. He was furious. He was anguished. He wanted to scream.

The Marquis is dead. The person he had served and respected for many years was no more. Betrayed by treacherous mercenaries and executed like a common criminal.

To rub salt to the wound, it was their enemy, General Rickard, who informed them about the Marquis" death. It was just plain mockery.

Unforgivable

The deed was unforgivable. Detestable beyond imagining.

He was riding towards Knightsend, alone and without help. It was foolish. It was unreasonable. Nevertheless he was. All he wanted was to grab General Rickard by the neck and squeeze every bit of life out of him.

"Prefect!" somebody called.

He looked for the voice and saw a few dozen of his men approaching his direction. He tugged the reins of his horse, pulling the animal into a halt.

"Go back! I"m just practicing my riding."

"With your rucksack filled with provisions of food?" a soldier said and pointed towards his swollen rucksack.

Ryon sighed. "You can"t stop me. I will avenge the Marquis. I will have him. Do you know what General Rickard said in the letter!?"

He showed them the rolled paper that was delivered by a pigeon just a few hours ago.

"He mocked him! He said that the Marquis died while pleading for his life. He said that Marquis Benedict p.i.s.sed himself! He said that... that.."

Ryon couldn"t continue. He doesn"t want to repeat the lies included in the letter. He knew that Marquis Benedict was a true warrior, a respectable man. Destroying that image is a sin.

"We know Prefect. We know. Contents of the letter has spread throughout the city. We share your sentiments"

"Then don"t stop me. This is my decision. I will face any charges of deserting my post later." He said and lowered his head. He knew that if his men were to stop him, then he couldn"t do anything but to go back to the city.

The soldiers approached him. They then saluted.

"We will follow you Prefect. We will also avenge the Marquis"

Confused, Ryon looked at the men. He then noticed that all of them were carrying rucksacks too.

"Go back. Greenwater needs its defenders" he said

"A couple of deserters wouldn"t undermine the defense of the city Prefect. The Vanadian navy is more than enough to defend Greenwater. I mean, have you seen how big those galleys are?"

Ryon clicked his tongue. These people are hard-headed.

"You will be executed. You will all face punishment if you follow me" he warned.

"So be it. We will get punished together."

Seeing the determined looked on their faces, Ryon had no choice but to accept. It would be cruel to rob them of their right to revenge.

"Fine. Don"t blame me if you die. I did not force you"

"Alright. Let"s go Prefect. It"s a long way to Knightsend"

"No." Ryon shook his head. "Knightsend will not be our destination for now."

Ryon tilted his horse a little to the northeast.

"We need to meet with King Timothy first."

**********

Nirvana, Eastern Castonia

Leopold lay idly on his bed. The day was still young yet he was awake already.

He shifted his body towards the left side of the bed. This was Margaret"s side when she was still alive. In the past, he would enjoy looking at the beautiful face of his wife. Sometimes he would kiss her forehead, careful not wake her up.

But Margaret had left him. Despite what she did, he still loves her- even now. Leopold had forgotten her scent and her warmth. All that remained was an empty side of the bed.

A knock sounded from the other side of the room.

"Your Majesty, Braun wants to see you. I"m sorry to disturb your sleep but he said that it"s important." Rupert said.

"It"s alright. Send the Baron inside"

The door opened and Baron Braun entered. Leopold slid off the bed and went to the seat by the fireplace.

"Sit" he offered Braun the other chair. Braun took his offer and seated himself in front of Leopold.

Leopold rubbed his two palms together. The coldness of the morning was biting through his flesh.

"So how are you doing Braun? Other than your report when you came back, you never visited me. Not even once."

"Knightsend has fallen" Braun said.

Leopold stopped rubbing his hands and looked at Braun.

Braun then handed him a rolled piece of paper. The broken seal was Benedict Connel"s and the wax was red.

Leopold took the letter and read it. The letter was written by General Rickard and he was showing off his victory at Knightsend. Rickard revealed the details of the battle in the letter including how Marquis Benedict died. He put heavy emphasis on how the Marquis pleaded for his life.

Leopold crumpled the letter. "He dare call Benedict a coward. It was like a worm mocking an eagle"s wings. I know Benedict. We may not see eye to eye but he is a great warrior. He doesn"t deserve to be mocked like that."

"Yes, yes. General Rickard is a despicable man. Of course. But we must focus on Knightsend. I"m sure Timothy will avenge the Marquis and will make a mad dash towards Knightsend. What should we do? I personally recommend laying siege on Solon while Timothy is away. After that, we will then proceed to Knightsend. If our two enemies can fight, we can just come late and defeat the wounded victor. We can end the civil war and the invasion with one move."

Leopold shook his head. "No Braun. We will not do that. Benedict is dead. Executed like some lowly criminal! Do you understand? He is dead and we will avenge him."

Leopold paused to calm his heart. "Call the cohorts and raise the banner of the royal family. Also, order Skall to a.s.semble his army. If he refuse, you have my permission to do everything. Drag him. Threaten him. I don"t care. Tell him that I will break the alliance if he did not cooperate."

Braun"s face showed signs of surprise. "Your Majesty, may remind you that we have just suffered a defeat from Timothy? The men are on the verge of desertion."

"I don"t care" Leopold said. "If they desert me, so be it. They will desert to Timothy"s side anyway. We need to crush that monster Rickard. Got it?"

Braun did not respond. The Baron was left staring at the withering embers in the fireplace. "Rickard is baiting us Your Majesty. That"s why he"s mocking Marquis Benedict"s death. The snow season is coming. He wants us to come to him. We will be in the open and we will suffer attrition once the snow seasons arrived."

"I know Braun. I know."

"And yet your decision is still the same?"

Leopold nodded. Killing a Marquis just like that is unforgivable. This move will put him at risk of being defeated by Timothy but that would be better compared to letting the Tulosans do what they wanted.

Braun gave a long sigh."You are starting to sound like Timothy."

It occurred to Leopold that the Baron was right. His decisions in the past were solely governed by logic. But now he was using both logic and emotions in making decisions. Just like Timothy.

"Is that bad?" Leopold asked.

"No" Braun shook his head and smiled. "It"s not bad"

**********

Solon, Western Castonia

Lucia stirred the cup of tea. She then offered the cup to Timothy who was sitting beside her. Timothy took a sip and smiled at her as approval of the taste.

"You realize that we will depart tomorrow right?" Timothy said as he turned his head towards the other three men who were sitting on the other side of the table.

"But we still need time Your Majesty. A few centuries of cavalry from Canton are yet to arrive" the representative of Canton said.

"As for us. Our soldiers are afraid that the snow season will catch us" the representative of Hadea said.

"The Republic of Inkit wants to support you. But we expected fighting King Leopold, not the Tulosans." The Inkish Magistrate said. From what Lucia knows, his name is Chen. Her spies told her that Magistrate Chen vetoed Inkit"s decision to support Timothy.

"Honorable allies" Lucia gave her sweetest smile. "Let"s make haste in helping King Timothy. Vanadis has long been ready to help him. You should too. Or else maybe one day a rumor will spread among the people, yours and ours. That you"ve been dallying your support. It wouldn"t be pretty for your reputation. "

"Your Highness" Magistrate Chen also smiled. "You must take into account that your father is here. That"s why you were able to act fast. We, on the other hand, has to answer to our leaders. I myself still have to..."

"Let"s not waste words here" Timothy said while frowning. Lucia knew that Timothy had already lost his patience. "Tomorrow I tell you. Tomorrow. Marquis Benedict needs reinforcements as soon as possible. We march to Knightsend tomorrow. If you are still not ready by tomorrow, then we will kick you out of the city and break our alliance with you."

The three representatives were all taken aback by Timothy"s demand. All of them started to sweat.

"I...I"ll try convincing my men."

"Yeah. I"ll talk to mine too"

"We will try Your Majesty"

Faced with Timothy"s determined declaration they agreed although Lucia could still see their reluctance.

"Good!" Timothy said. "You may go honorable allies. You still have some convincing to do right?"

The three nodded and hastily excused themselves.

Lucia sighed. She couldn"t believe how half-hearted their allies were in contributing to this war.

"The more powerful you look, the more reluctant they become" she said to Timothy.

"We"

"Huh?"

"We" He smiled at her. "They are afraid of you too. They view us as a single ent.i.ty."

Timothy then chuckled and pinched Lucia"s cheek. "And what"s with that smile earlier? How can you smile as sweetly as that while threatening them?"

"I"m just annoyed. We gave them quarters inside the city and we are feeding their armies. But they won"t cooperate with us?"

She grabbed Timothy"s unfinished cup of tea and forcefully drank from it. The tea was bland. She discovered that Timothy smile earlier was just to increase her self-esteem. Her annoyance was melted by Timothy"s actions.

"Yeah. Those allies of ours. I want to borrow the Spectator"s cane and hit them with it" Timothy joked.

Lucia laughed. She then finished the bland cup of tea. "Well, I hope they will be more cooperative. We need them Tim"

"Yeah"

The door flung open and James came running towards them. "Your Majesty, pardon my sudden intrusion. A red-sealed letter just arrived."

Timothy stood up and grabbed the letter. He then opened and read it.

Lucia could see the pain in Timothy"s expression while reading the letter. A single tear fell from his eye. She knew that something must have happened.

"He"s dead" Timothy said.