The King And His Queen Warrior

1-Knights and Kings

Duck left, avoid his punches, punch lower ribcage, tackle down, and give him a good smack in the head. As he lunges towards me I did what I was thinking a second ago and in 5 seconds he was down and I emerged victoriously. I was enjoying my soldiers cheer when the King's attendant called and told me that he's holding an emergency meeting. I expressed my annoyance in a series of sighs and hand gestures that hopefully never reaches the King's eyes.

I put my armor back on my body and nested my swords on the hips to look appropriate. It was quite a long walk from where I am to the King's tent as the rowdiness of our enjoyment in this God-forsaken land was, of course, too loud for his ears and probably bad for his heart too. He's quite old.

The ground is solid, scarce from plants. I hurried my steps to the comfort of the tent and away from the scorching weather. The smell of rust, sweat, and blood slowly transforms into perfumes and foods. There were only a few steps left when I felt a tingling sensation on my neck, a sensation of being watched, not just a glance but the feeling of an intent glare. Disturbed and alarmed, I turn my head to the source but there was nothing there, perhaps it was just my feeling but then again they were rarely wrong.

The knights guarding the tent let me in and instantly every pair of eyes were on me. My King's, his generals, the councilor, and they stared at me for a bit longer than usual, odd I thought. Something's wrong and it's involving me, I didn't recall any mistakes nor irresponsibility. Are they having second thoughts about me, about my abilities? My skill? But that can't be it, I led the last attack and it was a success. But something is wrong because the King's fidgeting unusually and some of the generals look worried but some are oddly smirking. Damn. I continued my steps to my chair and sat on it. Like a boss, if I might add.

"Evening gentlemen" I nod, hoping someday I get the chance to say 'ladies' in this meeting.

The King clears his throat, he was old with lots of white hair. I have no more words to describe him as he will probably be dead anyway. I poured myself some wine to relieve my parched tongue.

"As we were discussing before, the Tallies outnumbered us, we cannot win against them" the King spoke and I took a sip, the sweet taste tickled my senses. "They have marched and surrounded our capital city with about 150.000 men while we are fighting here, fending the invaders. One wrong move and they will set our home on fire" he took a quick nervous glance at me before looking at Commander Kairon, my mentor, and when he turns his gaze to me, I know something bad is going down.

"General Valeryie, the Tallies have requested a truce, they are offering an alliance between our Kingdom"

That was not what I expected but every eyes were on me. The Tallies are known for their military power and prosperous land. Their large number is a threat and we cannot win against them as we are now so an alliance between us is good news since we have bigger problems such as foreign invaders to take care of, and dead men do not fight wars.

Myhtica, the country I was born in and now serves is located on higher grounds, summer is hell and winter is even worse. Our army is strong but our numbers dwindle. The Tallies know they could win this fight by sheer manpower but we were not to be trifled with, if we're going down, we go down with a fight. They brought an awfully large number of soldiers to surround the city to form a truce. Why Myhtica though? If they want a truce or a deal that will benefit both countries, why go through all the trouble of imposing war?

The men were getting restless in their seats waiting for a response and I'm just outright confused by the Tallies motives and frankly, the council's concern about a piece of perfectly good news.

"That's...good right?" I looked around and some had the audacity to pop a smile, what the help is wrong with them? Did I hit my head in the spar earlier?