Chapter Fifteen Yamueto
Chapter Fifteen
Yamueto
Yamueto studied the map of the world while his advisors bickered around him. He had his usual team: his masters of ships, swords, coin, spies, hammers, and current high priest, as well as his graying son Antallo, fresh from his victory over Tlaphar. He leaned back in his chair with bloated arrogance.
“Did you have to kill the entire royal family?” the master of coin groaned. He was new. Yamueto couldn’t remember his name. Was he a grandson or great-grandson?
“I didn’t,” Antallo defended. His obnoxiously-orange armor was polished to a near-blinding shine. “I kept the daughter for myself, as is my right as conqueror.”
“You should have given the daughter to the emperor.”
“She’s not a witch, nor is she descended from one,” Yamueto cut in, not lifting his eyes from the map that spread out across the entire table, focusing on the kingdom of Divaajin, its coastline, and it’s so-far impenetrable mountain border. “Antallo can do whatever he likes with her, so long as whoever he left in charge of the kingdom does their duty.”
“I placed my own son on Tlaphar’s throne,” Antallo said proudly. “He’s more than happy to keep the peace in your name.”
Yamueto nodded. Antallo almost glowed with it. Then the boy went and ruined it: “We should continue to press our advantage further south.”
“We’ve barely managed to get Tlaphar under control,” the master of swords argued. “We need to solidify our claim on it before moving further.”
“The mountains will prove a sizeable obstacle as well,” Coin added. He glanced at Yamueto. “While I’m certain we could expand our borders further, I do not believe now is the right time.”
“It’s the perfect time!” Antallo snapped.
Yamueto cleared his throat. Antallo gulped and shrank in his seat.
“Divaajin has held the land south of the mountains since my grandfather’s day,” Yamueto said. “A land assault is impossible in winter, difficult in summer. Navy would be best, but I hear they have quite the fleet.”
“They do, Your Excellency,” said the master of ships. His white hair was see-through around his spotted scalp. Yamueto idly wondered if he had barnacles on his aged skin. “While their numbers aren’t as great as ours, their ships are smaller, faster, and more advanced. If we were to throw our entire forces at them now onto the open sea, we could win, but it would be of great cost. And that’s before the land battles and harsh winters.”
“They don’t even have witches,” Antallo argued. “They see us as ‘bad luck’ or some other such nonsense.”
“Tlaphar did the same thing. Yet they lasted a good long while and took a toll on our resources,” Ships countered.
Yamueto hummed. Divaajin was an incredible prize. Not for its resources, but its status. Nobody from the north had ever conquered that land. Yamueto intended to be the first. He had sacrificed so much in the name of conquest. It was the only thing that truly gave him joy anymore. He would have the entire world under his control.
One day.
He was immortal. He had all the time in the world to make that happen.
He was just about to order his men to focus on securing Tlaphar, to save Divaajin for another generation, when his master of spies spoke: “Not necessarily. Divaajin does have a witch guarding its borders.”
“Just the one?” Antallo scoffed.
“There are a few in the major cities along the coast,” Spies elaborated. He smirked at Yamueto. “But I was thinking of the one in Pahuuda, a town tasked with guarding the mountains. She’s a foreigner, apparently a Reguallian refugee.”
Yamueto straightened in his seat. “Physical description?”
“Small. Dark skin. Black hair. Arrived just a few months ago.”
Khana.
He’d kept his promise to the captain of the guard and had executed a soldier every day since she’d escaped, ending it only after reaching a hundred to avoid the hassle of re-hiring an entire staff. Their bodies decorated his walls until the stench got too bad. The master of spies had promised to keep an eye out, but at that point they’d agreed that she was probably dead, killed by something in the jungle.
Apparently not.
“I want war strategies for conquering Divaajin within a month,” Yamueto said. “The sooner the better.”