The Ninth Prophecy

Few days had passed since Yon’s departure and the failed attempt of reconciliation. Most of this time Faris spent in training with Ratana under Axion’s tutorship. He was preparing for the attack on Karos, still few believing that he would actually do it. Faris was still shaken by the losses of Darion and Sheda. He seemed tired, but determined. Preparations were interrupted by an arrival of a Karosian messenger. Faris welcomed him in his private chamber, since the man demanded secrecy. After a courteous introduction, the messenger spoke: “Lord Faris, you brother, king Yon, sends me to speak in his name. No one knows of this visit, not even the head Interpreter.”

- “All right. Hopefully, you come to offer Yon’s repent and surrender.”

- “On the contrary, sir…I do come here in good faith to ask for your surrender before it is too late. Your brother is making this last offer before he cuts you off from all sides. He says that he will not stop you in coming to Karos, but he asks that you reassess your position one more time. Unlike you, the support for your brother grows by day. Senicore is the only place of significance you control, but everything else in the realm is loyal to the king, even most of the southern villages and towns…”

- “You may leave now and tell my brother that I am disappointed. I hoped that he would realize that what he did was wrong, how he overtook the throne. The throne is not his to be. The darkers will not prevail and they are prevailing with Yon as the king. I will not allow it.”

- “Please, lord Faris, think it over. You don’t have to make up your mind right away.”

- “I made up my mind long ago. My brother should know better. Send him my greetings and tell him that I will come to claim the throne. No Koprite, argorite or Septor will stop me. Go and tell him so.”

The messenger left without saying anything more. The next few days Faris spent mostly in solitude. He fully devoted himself to training with Ratana. During one of his training sessions, he was interrupted by a personal guard: “Sir, we have a messenger. He wants to see you.”

- “Oh, he comes from Karos?”

- “No, my lord, not from Karos.”

- “Senicore?”

- “No. He’s not from Baan Senicore either. He comes from Venegor.”

- “Venegor you say? All right, bring him in.”

The messenger cautiously walked in. Ratana sniffed him and walked away. The poor man was petrified.

- “Speak up, messenger of Venegor,” Faris said authoritatively while petting Ratana, not even looking at the man.

- “My name is Koal. Administrator Legan sends me. The administrator offers you a business proposal.”

- “A business proposal, you say?!”

- “Yes,” the messenger spoke in a firm voice, “he offers you a unique opportunity, one that could turn the tables in your favor.”

- “Oh, is that so?”

- “Yes, it is. You see, our administrator has great personal relations with the layun. He has done some business with them in the past. For the right price, he might be able to turn them away from your brother and have them fight for you. Besides that, he offers the service of the Venegor port militia.”

- “And what exactly does he ask for in return?”

- “He wants you to recognize his lordship over Venegor, which would from here on be inheritable. You are to declare it upon your victory over your brother, no sooner, so that the enemy wouldn’t be aware of the alliance. It would be for the better of both sides.”

- “Both sides, you say? I didn’t know Venegor - or Legan - is a side in this conflict.”

- “Well, technically, we are not, we can’t be. We have to remain formally neutral and in service of the realm. However, extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures and for extraordinary men to join hands. Administrator Legan told me to remind you of his mercifulness towards you when you came to Venegor the last time.”

- “His mercifulness…Your offer is…inviting. You can go back to administrator Legan and tell him that he will have my answer within days.” The messenger bowed and left in a hurry.

- “Guard,” Faris called, “I want you to go off and collect my councilors.”

Faris decided to summon his council one more time. They all waited for him in the chamber.

- “I have made up my mind. We will march on Karos in two moons lengths.”

- “What are we going to do in the meantime, build siege weapons?” Hadera asked for instructions.

- “No, there’s going to be no siege. We’ll march on the city and take it.”

- “That’s a bold thing to claim. We do have the horions, young lord, but your brother knows of them. They can do only so much. We don’t have the advantage of the element of surprise anymore,” Axion pointed out the downsides.

- “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to surprise them somehow. It might be the last breath I take there at the gates of Karos. I don’t want to leave without settling the score even with those I have a debt to. What I want to do will take us some thirty nights.”

- “And what would that be?” Dokal was eager to hear.

- “I think we should go a bit more south before we go north.”

- “Spit it out already,” Hadera pleaded.

- “We have some unsettled scores with certain Daors’s bitch in Venegor. He still remains in power, and his power grows in war,” Faris provided the key hint.

- “I like the way you are thinking!” Geren exclaimed enthusiastically.

- “Hold on just a moment,” Hadera calmed the spirits. “What do we need Venegor for? We are not to interfere. They have the right to elect their administrators.”

- “Really, Hadera? Do you really think Legan was elected impartially? If it wasn’t for Daors, Legan would never have become the administrator. We might not need Venegor, but we need what is there. We must send out a message. Legan sent a messenger few days ago, offering his services and soldiers. He said he could even turn the layun against my brother.”

- “He offers you an alliance and you want to kill him because of it?!” Geren spoke, failing to make sense of Faris’s words.

- “He offered the same to my brother, I am sure of it. That’s why my brother had sent his messenger earlier. Venegorans are hesitant to appoint a lord, but Legan is more than eager to become a warlord. He provides Karos with weapons, supplies and information. The snake would make the same arrangement with us, too. He grows very rich and powerful in return. His plan is to weaken us both in this conflict, to drain us and then he would be the most powerful man in the kingdom.”

- “I see the logic in that. So, when do we leave?” Geren asked eagerly.

- “Tomorrow morning. I promised that I would send Legan my answer soon. I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

- “I am still not sure if that’s the proper course of action, but it is up to you. Even if you do take Legan down, they will appoint a new administrator who would probably be at least as bad as him,” Hadera concluded.

- “Don’t worry Hadera. We’ll see that it doesn’t come to that. You will stay here with Raavi and Sethon to supervise the preparations for the attack on Karos.” Raavi just tapped Hadera on the shoulder.

The following day Faris left for Venegor accompanied by Axion, Geren, Dokal and tenths of Noxian soldiers. He decided to leave the shadow people out of this affair.

After several nights, the party reached Venegor. When he was informed that the party from Nox was coming, Legan laughed. He was sure that his plan was working. The smile was wiped off his face as soon as he realized that the party from Nox was more than numerous. He alerted his militia, but Faris was already at the gates. The few militiamen who went out to welcome Faris and ask him to enter the city unarmed were scared off by the horions. Legan was horrified to see the beasts. The horions didn’t seem to think the best of Legan either. Apparently, they remembered their stay at Venegor, and it was no good memory.

- “Lord Faris, you are more than welcome to our city. You don’t need all this army following you. Please, join me in my tower,” Legan tried to bluff his way out of the situation, as the horions were hissing at him.

- “Administrator Legan, I am well aware that I am welcome in this city of the realm. Your approval is not needed. The question is: Are you sincere in welcoming me?” Faris said, dismounting his horse and taking his gloves off. Legan was insulted and angered by Faris’s words, but he was not in a position to say it openly. “What do you mean, lord Faris? I offer you my assistance and I get such accusations and insults in return?! What did I do to offend you?”

- “Where should I start? Maybe with the fleet, our fight, you harboring the horions…which do you prefer?

Legan was starting to panic already and it could be read from his face. “I…I did what I had to do. Those were different circumstances. That’s why I offered my help, in order to make amends.”

- “Did you really? Why did you then offer a similar agreement to my brother? Do you think I am stupid?”

Now Legan found himself in a rather unfavorable situation. Now he played on the authority card: “What do you think? That you can just come here with your soldiers and spit out such preposterous allegations?! I am the administrator of Venegor! Every citizen here is a soldier. You won’t get out alive if you keep insulting me like this!”

- “Wait a minute! Legan, so this is true? You were negotiating with all on behalf of Venegor without consulting the benefactors? You wanted the spoils of it for yourself!” one of the benefactors at Legan’s side spoke.

- “Not only that, his idea was to become the lord of the city!” Faris added

Legan knew he couldn’t wiggle out of this one easily. “It was for the common good! Look, may I offer to pay my way out of this? You all know how rich I am! I can make you all rich!” Everyone just stood there and looked at him. Faris spoke once again: “There is nothing to give. I hereby strip you off your property, which is to be used for the defense of the realm against the darkers and my brother who leads them. If I understand the code of Venegor correctly, you will be trialed for treason, misuse of the city funds and mutiny. You know what the verdict will be – bottom of the sea.”

Legan was desperate. Wherever he looked for support, he found none. He pulled out a dagger from under his belt and charged at Faris. Before he could make the second step Ratana breathed her icy breath at him with all her might. Not only did Legan freeze, but he fell apart and practically turned to ashes. The benefactors were stunned by the violent act they had just witnessed. Faris seized the opportunity to claim his right: “From now on, Dokal will run the city as its administrator. You, the benefactors, are to serve him as most loyal subjects of the realm. If anyone objects, your destiny will be that of Legan. The city may be yours, but the citizens are yours no more. They don’t want to see destruction and annihilation of their homes. They want safety and safety I will provide. You will conduct your business as usual, except that all trade with Karos is banned. One of the horions will stay here with Dokal for security reasons.”

Nobody objected. Nobody dared. Geren ran off to the docks immediately to inspect the fleet. Much to his liking, the ships were not even scratched. Practically, the fleet was in a better condition than when he had left it. Now, for Faris, there was only one more matter to be resolved, a family dispute of paramount importance to all, to the realm, to the straightwalkers’ kin.

* * *

The news of Faris’s conquest of Venegor travelled fast. It wasn’t too long before it reached Karos. Yon was inspecting his troops when he was handed a small sheet of paper on which a simple message was written: Faris controls Venegor. Legan is dead. He didn’t ask the messenger much about the content. It was all clear to him. He looked at Gul and Thrax before addressing the troops. “Soldiers of the realm, we have just been given news that my brother, Faris, has taken over Venegor!” The soldiers didn’t react and Yon continued: “This now means one simple thing: lord Faris has started an open rebellion against his king! He is to be treated as a traitor therefore! Once you get a chance to do your duty - and the chance will come soon – do not hesitate in fulfilling it. Defend the kingdom and your king! Do so and one thing is certain: we will remain the only army standing on the last day of this campaign. We will win and we will write the history, the history which will recognize your heroism, dedication and loyalty! You will be written down as the greatest sons of our kind and of all kinds!” The soldiers cheered. Yon then signaled to his arrow’d officers to take over, as he was to call a meeting of his council.

The councilors were awaiting Yon anxiously. As Yon walked in energetically, the room was filled with a sense of anticipation. No one dared to speak. Wago the Interpreter spoke first: “Our dear lord, what is this we hear about your brother executing a coup in Venegor?”

- “It is true. Faris has taken over Venegor!”

- “Shall we ride on Nox now?” Thrax asked

- “No, we shall, not. Faris controls the Devil’s Tooth. Although he has declared free passage, that might change.”

- “But still, we are ten times as strong!” Thrax pushed on.

- “I know how strong we are! I will not lose any more men then I have to. I can’t afford to weaken my position before other lords now! Faris is overconfident. He promised to attack Karos and he will do so. We will wait for him here and crush him. He won’t make it to the city gates. Needless to say, from now on he is to be considered an outlaw. There are no constraints in punishing him accordingly, either on the battlefield or upon his capture!”

- “My lord, your brother openly denies the truth, he denies your God-given right to rule. Maybe we should attack him first,” Wago supported Thrax. Gul of the Koprites just groaned.

- “No! I will wait for him here and I will defeat him here, before my gates. The triumph will be a good message to all the lords. Besides, we don’t have time to waste. We have to dig through the tunnel. I don’t want to leave the city open and vulnerable, along with the hole. That just might be what Faris is expecting. Instead, we will fortify ourselves additionally. Faris won’t make it past the front gate. We will crush him here, in the north, where it all started. Here, he has only one option of attack, from the front. He can’t pull off any surprises. If we leave Karos and march on him, there is no telling what nasty surprises he might have prepared for us. I will finish it all here and prove my worthiness.”

After the councilors complied to Yon’s wishes, the king went out for a walk accompanied by Wago. He was to inspect the works at the tunnel of Red Rock. He found Goras picking up rocks and piling them up outside the mine. “Goras, my friend, I find it that you still don’t want to change your mind.”

- “This is not a matter of opinion, Yon. It is about what’s right and what’s not.”

- “I agree. It is you who decided to disobey my order. You shouldn’t have done that.”

- “So, you put me in chains and displayed before all of Karos to see me humiliated?!”

- “I did you a favor. Death is the proper penalty for treason. Instead, I allowed you to live. Others of your tribe don’t even see the daylight. They spend their days and nights in the mine. You are here, out in the open. You are fed properly, just like all other Dabors.”

- “That’s not why you put me out here in the open. You didn’t do it because of me. You did it to send a message to all others who might dare to oppose you. You display me here as a reminder. But, mark my words, day of your doom will come, and I will be watching you fall.”

- “My dear Goras. There’s no need for such harsh words. I understand your bitterness. However, I did nothing wrong. You gave me no choice. What was I supposed to do?”

- “You were supposed to hear me out. Instead, you’ve enslaved my people who were at your side and you’ve put me in chains, too. You have chosen those ass-kissers you call the Interpreters to be your closest advisors, to nod to your every demand.”

- “Blasphemy! Blasphemy!” Wago spoke out bitterly. Yon calmed him down.

- “You better continue working, Goras. We wouldn’t want our Koprite friend, your supervisor, to whip you. Don’t worry, it will all soon be over. Once the tunnel is broken through my reign will be undisputable.” Yon said and walked away. Goras grabbed a pebble and hit Wago in the back of the head. Wago scratched himself and wanted to turn around, but Yon grabbed him under the armpit and, with a smile on his face, ordered him to walk on. They could hear the laughter of the Dabors as they walked away.