Legend

One Foot In

The Empire's soldiers started to surround the walled city later that day. The king had attempted to send messengers to neighboring kingdoms, but they had been slaughtered by the blockade. Trade caravans were also being raided and used by the invaders. The bloodlust was unquenchable.

Inside the city, fear strangled hope with a noose. Nobody knew what was going on, why the Empire had decided to attack them after many years of peace, or even what the plan was. The blockade was going to strangle this kingdom if not wipe it out. New Haven was caught severely off-guard by the ambush.

As Emily watched the massive discussion in the keep of how to solve the crisis, she felt that fear wasn't a very accurate term for this. It felt more chaotic and paranoid as naturally calm and collected men broke down.

"How on heaven and earth are we supposed to beat THAT," one of the nobles cried. "It's impossible! Merzog would have at least given us the chance to prepare!"

"Merzog would have gutted us either way," Emily heard her father's voice reply. He was a nice man, but he was serious when it came to business. "Are you saying you would prefer to be butchered by one rather than another? You're getting cut up either way."

"Of course not," the noble responded, flabbergasted at such a response.

"Well, you'd be a prized porker if they did," another noble spoke up. The room seemed to light up in fury and frustration. No one knew what to do and no one had any answers.

After a few moments of argumentative chaos, a new voice yelled, "SILENCE!"

The court, now silenced, turned their heads to the source of the voice, King Thomas. He looked like he was losing years at the end of his lifespan since he had returned from the negotiation. He had been very open with what had happened during the negotiation. Of course, this was nothing new to Emily. She had watched the whole thing with Nalazak next to her.

Speaking of Nalazak, she turned around to see if the foreigner was still there. He was, albeit looking extremely uncomfortable. He didn't want to be there and had tried to avoid coming here. It was too late now. When he saw Emily, he gave her a shy smile. She smiled back.

Nalazak had an aura of wonder and mystery around him. He was pretty supportive of her and pretty vocal about some things and she was thankful for that, but he seemed to seal his personal life up like a bank vault. It was very hard to get him to talk about home. On one hand, it was a little concerning, but on the other hand, Emily loved a good mystery.

"We already have an army outside our walls waiting to kill us," Thomas' voice shook her back to reality. "I don't need clever insults doing the job for them. I know we do not have a lot of options, but we need ideas, anything that can help."

"We could try reaching out to Riverside or even Brookhollow," one voice called.

"We haven't spoken to either of those kingdoms in at least five years," another noble replied. "I doubt they would jump at the opportunity to help us."

"We can still try," Thomas replied. Turning to a group of men in tan leather armor, New Haven's messengers, he ordered, "I want some carriers sent out tonight. Send them in groups at random times."

Nodding, the men left the court. Their work was boring, but saved lives in times like these.

"Anything else," Thomas asked, desperation stealthily entering his voice.

"Raids on the camp," another noble asked.

"Lose too many people," Lord Allison replied.

"And their soldiers are insane," Thomas added.