Tyrant of the Ruined Sun-Chapter 200: The Quest of Crowns 2
I finished my words just as our carriage stopped in front of an impressively large tent, that was tinted in a shade of obsidian black and littered with various iconographies of obscured silver suns, and dragons devastating once populace cities.
Obviously being our prepared lodgings for the coming ten days, I immediately dismounted the carriage, leaving my brothers to their thoughts for a while, so that they may digest what I had told them at their own pace, as I and the rest of the guard then inspected our new temporary residence.
With the first thing we realized upon our inspection of this so called tent we would inhabit for the coming event, being that it was not one but seven cloth domes, with all seven of them interlocking with one another in a semi-circular formation and only separated by sheer curtained doors, and only accessible through the main tent, which not only stood in the centre of them all, but was also the largest of the lot, as it functioned as a sort of common area for the residence, as it was covered in decorative animal hides and grandiose black flags, while a massive dark wood table dominated the centre of it, which could easily accommodate a dozen and a half guests at once, all the while keeping the contents of the other tents hidden from prying eyes.
And similarly, the other six also possessed a specified function as well, such as the one directly next to the main tent's entrance on the right, as it was clearly readied as the kitchen, which was fully stocked with ingredients to brew any number of refreshments one could ever ask for, as well as a wide selection of other materials to create several hearty meals, mostly pertaining to breakfasts, which made a great deal of sense, since dinners and lunches were going to be held in the camp's heart, and the hunters, who were slightly more than half of the the overall participants of the event, would be gone for most of the day anyway, only requiring to eat a meal before leaving in the early hours of the day.
The second of the cojoined tents, whose door was directly opposite of the kitchen's entrance, was obviously designed with the servants and guards quarters in mind, but despite that, it was still carefully made, with the staff's comfort and ease taken into account.
Meanwhile, the remaining four tents were fashioned as bedrooms for all of us of higher rank than the others, primarily constituting myself, Eve, my brothers and Darius, while all the rest, such Isaac, Abraham, Horus and Leonid would simply remain without sleep for the coming days, having decided since yesterday to remain vigilant in this increasingly unfamiliar terrain, a small task for their ascendant martial rank bodies, that had long since abandoned the mortal need for regular sleep to maintain both health and keen competency.
"What a scandalous assembly." Eve's voice then coldly echoed out next to me, as I passed through the final fabric door to inspect my own room.
"What do you mean?" I asked with a small smile, having heard the subtle hints of humorous intentions in her tone.
She and I had grown far closer in the last few days, especially as we spent nearly all the time of the Joust of Jewels in each others company, and though I still understood that she didn't yet truly love me, I could confidently say that reality was not far off; especially as her frigid mask, the one she didn't lower before anyone, even with her own blood, she now does with me, even if not completely yet.
"The two doors on the right are clearly made with Cyrus and Nizam in mind, meanwhile the one on the left will undoubtedly be for the respected Grand Vizier, which only leaves your room, all but stranding me in your impure clutches." She said in a helpless tone, as though she was a mere fragile fawn abandoned trembling before the drooling jaws of an avaricious predator.
I couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped me then, as I teasingly replied while taking a step closer to her "Then I must thank the Astrappi king for this favour."
She too then smiled, before a wave of rippling shadows rushed from beneath her long black dress, that dragged on the floor behind her, mapping every mark and feature of the surrounding room, giving their beloved mistress a perfect mental image for her to effortlessly be able to traverse the room with little effort.
"Your power is growing stronger." I meaningfully commented, as I slowly reached her side and naturally slipped my fingers in between hers.
Her smile grew ever so slightly wider then, as she adorably tried to hide her giddy self from my staring eyes, which easily saw past her impromptu defences, and onto her barely restrained grin, that imperceptibly trembled at the edge of her cheeks, that were struggling to hold back any further movement of her lips that were filled to the edge of overflowing with pleased satisfaction, at both her advancement in her gates, that was growing tantalizingly closer to the second gate, as well as my own words of commendation at her minor achievement.
So enchanting was such a sight before my eyes, one that she had never shown me before in our past lives, that I had unconsciously begun to move closer to her, wanting to sip a kiss from her luscious red lips, when a guard's sudden voice echoed out from behind the drawn curtain doors, saying.
"My lord, an urgent message from the empire has just arrived!"
A low growl, one that rumbled in my throat with an annoyed rhythm sown roughly with a vindictive edge to it, echoed out in the silent room, as my mad filled eyes pulsed with a garish hue of displeasure; one that was only appeased when the sudden, but brief, sensation of Eve's cold lips pressed themselves on my cheek, before she then simply said "It sounded dire."
She then extricated herself from my arms, as she made her way to the desk in the corner, already claiming it as her own, leaving me only to think 'She's becoming more and more like the Eve in my memories with every passing day.'
I then exited the room, only to behold the guard bowing to Darius, as my Grand Vizier held the supposed urgent letter in hand, prompting me to ask "What happened?"
"A second raid in the south." Darius grimly replied.
My eyes instantly went wide, as my madness that was just soothed by Eve's touch once again ignited with a stinging rage, as I demanded in an inhuman voice "Explain."
"Approximately fifteen thousand men. They crossed into our borders eight days ago, and attacked another fort a few leagues from the last. Hamilcar was ready for them this time, and they failed. We lost close to four hundred men, while felling a thousand from theirs. They retreated soon after." Darius quickly and efficiently told me, as he handed me the letter.
"Was it another rogue general?" I questioned as I accepted the letter, sceptical that another incident like last time would occur, which much to their word, both Isaac and Darius before even ten full days had passed, came to me with the announcement of the end of their investigation, determining that the disaster that struck us in the south was due to a defeated general's greed, who attacked and looted our fort of all it's worth to mitigate the blow of his incompetence before his superiors.
"Unlikely." Darius instantly rejected the possibility, shaking his head.
"Then the war between the Murathicus clans is growing more desperate." I coldly concluded then, as my eyes swirled with pools of jubilant bloodlust and detached machinations, all the while my mind pounded with the tyrant's roar.
"Exceedingly so, and far faster than we predicted." He gravely affirmed, his eyes flashing with the thickening strings of intrigue that were quickly wrapping around both us and the Murathicus Tribes, threatening to choke us both.
"I'm sure that a part is due to the pressure we have been putting them under for the last three years now." I lowly muttered, knowing that we were to blame, in no small part, for the quickly escalating violence in the south, as they were undoubtedly becoming anxious by their increasingly weakening positions, and the strengthening of ours.
"How long till Hamilcar's preparations are done, and he is able to begin marching south?" I asked, my mind churning through a melding current of bloody strategies and the future knowledge of the rise of the fifth great empire, and the fact it's birth would undoubtedly be sooner this time.
"Knowing him sire? He can depart the moment you give the word." Darius confidently replied, as a smile found it's way to his aged features.
Nodding, I command "Then send a missive to the Grand Marshal with our fastest couriers, tell him to immediately finish up his war preparations, and begin his invasion with the Fifth and Eighth Armies as soon as possible. Time to teach those Murathicus dogs nipping at our heals that the price of such crimes can only be repaid by the complete subjugation of their blood drenched soil."
"Understood, but what of about the Ninth Army, my liege?" Darius questioned.
"The Ninth Army is currently without a satisfactory general, and merely under the temporary command of a Murathican Patriarch named Baraffin, which might have been fine while the army was within our territory and simply tasked with hunting down roaming bands of wannabe rebels, but to advance into the middle lands of the Murathicus lands would require more than what a second rate martial artist can handle, regardless of his promised talent and future." I coldly said.
"So the Ninth Army is to remain as a stabilizing force during the war?" Darius then asked with furrowed brows, worried that Hamilcar might be stretched thin with only two hundred thousand men.
"Yes." I nodded, furthering the bowing of his brows, before suddenly announcing "Until I make my way there and take command of it."
"You will be joining the war, sire?" Horus, who has been listening quietly this entire time, exclaimed.
"Yes." I unhesitatingly answered, as my heart began to beat faster at the thought of returning to war after three years of sword dulling peace.
