Chapter 11 #2
“My point, Your Majesty,” Vannesh said. “Is that my spies provided accurate information about this man, the intent of his presence here, and the timeline of his arrival. I was alerted to his impending presence early yesterday, and my team was able to intercept him before he was able to get within three miles of you. He had several vials of cyanide on his person.”
Everyone muttered their concerns at the drop of that bomb, and I ground my teeth together.
“My point is,” Vannesh continued, “the network I have carefully constructed over my tenure as the Master of Spies of Nalatria is one of reliability and accuracy.”
“I fear we’re getting bogged down in minute details,” Queen Laylia said. “This evidence is plenty for my husband and me to believe the trustworthiness of Master Vannesh’s network. Shall we move on?”
Palchur motioned silently for his soldiers to remove the corpse from the meeting, and then he and Vannesh took up positions beside my queens and me once more.
“We can all agree Khorr is a threat to our countries, yes?” Queen Laylia asked.
She took a moment to scan the circle as she waited for any objections, but no one spoke out.
“Excellent,” Laylia said. “Shall we move on? What do we intend to do about this man?”
“I agree with the honorable Queen of Kestran,” King Manolito said. “This threat cannot be ignored. Enemy soldiers have pushed north into Zall’s borders.”
Queen Lucita nodded emphatically beside her husband.
“They have ransacked two villages just beyond our border,” Manolito said. “This man, Khorr, cannot be ignored. We have stationed our forces at the southern border to protect our citizens, but the enemy forces seem undeterred.”
“Even in the face of our masterful ranks,” Queen Lucita added.
So Zall did use their soldiers without much hesitation, at least within their own territories. Manolito’s words confirmed my theory that their army was highly trained to protect their people, whether they joined outside conflicts or not.
“What do you propose?” King Giles asked.
His wife turned to look at him, and she leaned in to say something, but it was much too quiet for me to be able to hear her voice, let alone discern her words.
Giles seemed to ignore his wife, and he kept his eyes steady on the King of Zall.
King Manolito heaved a deep sigh, and his wife reached over to take his hand.
“We must take a proactive approach to this threat,” Manolito said.
“Hear, hear!” Horus raised his voice in agreement.
“I don’t see how you have much stock in the issue,” Queen Sybil quipped at the King of Kestran.
“What?” Queen Laylia demanded. “Every one of our nations is under the shadow of this threat.”
“Hardly.” Sybil rolled her eyes. “Kestran is so far north. There are two other nations between you and the Haktorian Empire. You hardly have anything to worry about.”
“That’s a foolish stance to take,” Prime Minister Eriz said.
“Are you calling me a fool?” Sybil snapped.
“If Kestran chose to remain neutral in this issue,” Eriz said, “and Khorr conquers our nations, then the threat to Kestran would be even more dire in the future. Ignoring a problem doesn’t stop it from existing, and in my experience, it often makes it much worse in the long run.”
Horus nodded like it was the most obvious series of facts.
I couldn’t help but stare at Queen Sybil as I tried to figure out why the fuck she would take such an insane stance.
Maybe she was desperate to find a way to keep the war at bay, and keeping us from fighting was her only idea.
Maybe she was locked hard in denial. Either way, I couldn’t see what she was thinking. None of it made sense in my mind.
I rose from my seat and took a few steps forward to address everyone.
“I fear we’re getting off track,” I said. “I don’t think any of us would say Khorr isn’t a threat. Am I correct in that assumption?”
I scanned the faces of the royals and leaders all around me.
My three queens were watching with loving concern in their eyes.
Doria and Enken nodded emphatically while the King and Queen of Kestran nodded, too.
King Manolito and Queen Lucita held hands as they gazed at me with agreement at the direness of the situation plain on their faces.
Queen Sybil leaned back in her throne with a stern and unreadable expression on her face, but her husband, King Giles, was gazing at me like maybe I could save the entire continent from the devil himself.
Prime Minister Eriz stood up and walked over to join me in the middle of the circle.
“You are correct, King Kenneth,” Eriz said.
“I was elected by my people to lead, guide, and protect them against all threats, and this is the greatest threat we have ever seen. Khorr was able to silently collect enough power to overthrow the royal family. Even if the laws of Haktoria allow for this behavior, that doesn’t give him any grounds to stand on to invade our nations, which he has already begun attempting to do.
I see no reason to assume he will let us be.
We would be idiots to underestimate the danger he poses. ”
Hepper’s words must have struck a chord or two with the other leaders. Their nods became more certain, and several of them began chattering among themselves.
Eriz turned to me with a slight smile at one corner of his mouth.
“It’s good to officially meet you, King Kenneth,” he murmured to me. “I apologize for not making introductions last night.”
“It’s no problem,” I said. “I’m glad to meet you, too, and please, you can just call me Ken.”
His smile grew wider, and he nodded at me.
“I’d be honored, Ken,” he said.
Eriz Hepper was a charming and likable guy. I could see why he’d been elected by his people. He obviously cared a great deal about doing his job well, even if he faced opposition in the process.
“So what do we do?” Queen Lucita asked.
I already knew what we had to do, but as the newest, and by the looks of it, the youngest, among the group of leaders and monarchs, I wasn’t certain if it would be better received coming from someone else.
“I see the plan churning in your mind,” Eriz murmured. “Speak.”
“I’m not sure–” I started.
“I feel certain you’re thinking what the rest of us are,” he said. “Your bravery in voicing it will be recognized.”
I looked around at the kings and queens gathered around us, and I realized they were all staring at me like they were waiting for me to lead them. Never in a hundred years could I have reasoned out why they’d chosen me as some kind of leader among leaders, but Eriz was right.
So I took a deep breath and stepped a little further forward.
“We need to band together,” I announced. “Khorr certainly has either a very vast or very skilled army at his back. The Haktorian Empire is a large country–”
“With many assets,” Eriz added.
“Exactly.” I nodded my thanks to him. “We’re already at a disadvantage against him, and the only way forward that I can see is to work together. Pool our resources, send the best of all our best, have them work together, on a united front.”
“Some fresh eyes could be the key to unlocking the tangle of mystery around this man,” Vannesh spoke up, and then he turned to me. “If I may, sire?”
“Please.” I gestured for him to speak.
“Queen Doria,” Vannesh addressed her directly. “I understand your spies are the most skilled. My top agents speak with reverence about the tiniest bits of what we know about your network.”
“Thank you,” Doria said. “I would be happy for our people to work together. We have some… items that are quite useful in stealth practices.”
It didn’t escape me that she’d chosen very vague words to describe what she was offering. That told me what she had was very effective, and she wanted to keep it that way. Spy tactics didn’t work if everyone knew what they were.
“We don’t have many capable spies,” King Horus added. “But we have a strong army and a host of ships we’d be happy to lend to the cause.”
Palchur hurried forward to whisper in my ear.
“Ships would be an enormous asset, sire,” he said. “Being able to launch an attack from the Rehnill Ocean could be the deciding factor in this war.”
My stomach churned at the mention of war, but Palchur was right. Nalatria didn’t have any ships, after all, we were a landlocked country, and the Haktorian Empire had thousands of miles of coastline.
“Thank you, King Horus,” I said. “That will be an invaluable asset.”
“We have ten thousand men,” King Manolito offered, “who can be at the border within three days’ time.”
“Ten thousand,” Eriz murmured in an impressed tone.
Manolito nodded. “And ten thousand more who can reach the border within a fortnight.”
“Thank you, King Manolito,” I said. “That’s a generous contribution.”
“Please,” Manolito said. “You may call me Mannie.”
I nodded and smiled my gratitude.
“We should begin preparations immediately,” I said as hope flared in my heart.
It was working, it was actually working. The other leaders were following my plan before it was even fully formed. I could hardly believe how easily it had been decided.
“I suggest our Masters of War, or other advisors of such capacity, meet this afternoon,” I said. “They can discuss plans for our armies to begin working together across the empire’s northern border–”
A shrill laugh broke through my hope and left a sour taste in my mouth.
“Is there an issue, Queen Sybil?” Eriz asked in a sharp voice. “Do you have an alternative plan you’d like to suggest?”
“There will be no need for other armies to enter my kingdom,” Sybil said. “My forces are quite capable of protecting our borders.”
“Sybil, dear,” King Giles started. “Perhaps we should…”
But Sybil didn’t seem to give a shit about what her husband had to say because she started speaking right over him.