Sweet Waters Throne

So, the next day reality hit when a note sent by a raven arrived to the capital. Lord Aubrel was the one who read it first, and then he delivered it himself to the king.

King Castellan was seated comfortably at the dining hall having lunch with Katarina, Lord Gandalf, Lady Aryan and Amabel. Four of them seemed to be getting a long much better than anyone expected, laughter could be heard across the hall.

Gandalf welcomed Lord Aubrel to the hall “I was starting to be scared that you have abandoned me” he said charmingly. Then he took a huge slice of roasted beef and chew it “Do sit down my lord” he said still holding a knife and a fork.

“I... I received a note” said Lord Aubrel.

“Do sit my lord” insisted King Castellan.

Lord Aubrel pulled up a chair and sat down. He gave Castellan the note and then he sighed, it was as if he just released a huge burden which was bringing him down.

When Castellan finished reading the note, he passed it to his wife Katarina who read it shortly and then she passed it to Lady Aryan, and then finally to Lord Gandalf who read it with an amusing look on his face.

.....

“What an impeccable timing! We should start moving first thing” said Gandalf.

“They have two hundred thousand men. Has the king declared his support to House Horriss?” asked Castellan.

“No, I think Artemis is having cold feet” replied Lord Aubrel “Or perhaps he’s smart to know Mithandir will fail”

Gandalf didn’t hesitate to speak out “Oh he will fail, I can assure you that. We will crash his miserable house to the ground once and for all” and then he continued eating with a smile.

Out of all the people sitting in that dining hall, it seemed only Gandalf was the one who was not worried about the war. He was constantly smiling and sure of himself, not only did they have enough men but they also had lions.

Back to the camp in Lord Aethelind land, Lucian Mithandir’s loyal advisors which were Lord Hubelet, Cardinal Topher and Duke Rayness noticed some disturbing things even before they started moving towards the battle field.

It was first the Duke who had weird feelings regarding this rebellion, and he spread this to his friends who had started with Lucian Mithandir since the very beginning. They were the ones who placed their trust first in Lucian even before everybody else, before the team grew huge.

“Without the support of the crown and other seven houses of Maldonia, we will lose this rebellion Your Grace” warned Duke Rayness.

Lucian Mithandir was stunned “Lose the rebellion? This isn’t a rebellion Rayness, this is my birth right. I am the true king of Prophis and right now as we speak, the son of the man who murdered my brother is sitting on the silver throne which is mine”

“We get it Your Grace...” Cardinal Topher tried to explain.

“Do you Cardinal? We went from having two thousand men to raising two hundred thousand men... and yet you say we will lose the rebellion?”

Lord Hubelet corrected him “We are saying it’s not enough” he said and then he sighed. “It’s not enough to go against a whole kingdom of Prophis, we may have the fifty thousand from general Haul but think about the rest...”

“With exception of the Squires and their lions, Prophis alone has almost two hundred thousands men...”

Lucian Mithandir interrupted “And we have the same number of men” he said without even thinking.

Duke Rayness continued “I said with an exception of the Squires” he insisted. Then he cleared his throat “If you add the one hundred and fifty thousand men from the Squires, that will close up to three hundred and fifty thousand men, plus the lions...”

“Mighty huge lions Your Grace, one can tear up to five men in the battle field, I wonder what ten will do” added Lord Hubelet.

Even though facts were presented right in front of Lucian Mithandir, he was still blinded by Lord Aethelind assurance that they will win the war. He kept on denying his friends’ facts and he fed them the same lying hopes that he was fed by Lord Aethelind.

However, Lord Hubelet, Cardinal Topher and Duke Rayness knew the worst was about to come. Each one of them was just waiting for the perfect time to leave the camp.

At first light in a cool Thursday, the whole army fighting for Lucian Mithandir started to march towards the battle field. The war was scheduled to be fought outside of Maldonian soil since the crown wasn’t supporting it.

The place was picked up by Gandalf and it was at the border line between Prophis and Maldonia, almost five hundred kilometers existed between Maldonia and Prophis hence it was perfect to put up with all the men from the both sides.

Lucian Mithandir, Lord Aethelind, King Vaith and Prince Ambrose were the ones leading the men. They were on their horses riding slowly followed by all of their two hundred thousand men who were split up into four groups.

Each group had fifty thousand men and was lead by one general. General Haul of course led his men from Prophis, the slaves who were bought from the Liberty Cities joined up with other forty thousand men and they were led by another general and so forth.

All the groups carried a House Mithandir sigil high above to show who they fight with, and all the villages gave way for them to pass through as they gawked at the amount of men and amount of horses.

Not all of the men were on horses, just the first fifty thousand and the rest marched like real soldiers. They even sang songs along the way to praise Lucian Mithandir, and this motivated the others to join them especially the ones who knew the history of the Mithandirs.

Along the way King Vaith started a conversation with Lord Aethelind “I guess it’s a no from your nephew” he said.

“He’s a coward, just like his father”

“Or perhaps you haven’t persuaded him enough”

“I will persuade him when I take the crown” said Lord Aethelind and this shocked Vaith.

“Take the crown?” he asked quietly as if not wanting Lucian or Ambrose to hear. “What do you mean by that?”

“Once we take over Prophis and sit a Mithandir on that throne, my nephew better be prepared. I shall crush him to the ground with that whore servant of his”

“That is... unethical, you can’t just take the Sweet Waters throne. You are his uncle from his mother’s side not his father’s...”

“Watch me Vaith!” warned Lord Aethelind. “I will sit on that throne and place his head on a pike, he left me all alone... I sent him a letter to reconsider his position and support me but he remained quiet. He is a coward and too weak to rule Maldonia, just like his namesake”

Even though Lord Aethelind was wroth with his nephew, still Vaith thought he would be unreasonable attacking Maldonia after they win the rebellion. At that point, Vaith wasn’t even sure if they will win the rebellion but that’s something he didn’t say it out loud.

But wars have a reputation of surprising men, Vaith himself won Santagar and declared it free from Doha when he last expected it. He had fewer men when he stormed the capital but he was smart enough to get a hold of the Seyyida in time for him to surrender.

On their side, they had a rogue young lord with ten mighty lions and a huge army. Perhaps Vaith didn’t know the ways of the Maldonians or Prophisians but he did sure have experience in the battle.

Wars speak only one language, and that is “Whoever has many men, wins the war” and that’s it. There was no magic nor voodoo strong enough to win the war, when the fight is intense it’s only the men who will make sure to stay put and fight.

Did team Mithandir have enough men against team Castellan? The answer was plainly “No” and even though Lucian Mithandir chose to not see it, he knew it that he was walking towards a tough journey but he sure believed in himself and his men.

So they rode slowly towards the battlefield with hope that in week time, a Mithandir will sit on the silver throne and they can all go back to their wives and children.