Enlightened Empire

Chapter 465: Final Outcome

"What happened?" Lord Gratidia mumbled when he opened his eyes, shortly followed by: "What is this place?"

When the confused lord rose from the bunk with the soft bedding, he found himself in a dimly lit room, with a crackling fireplace in the corner and dark night outside the windows. After a fierce fight with the attackers, he had already expected to wake up in the underworld, but his aching head told him that he was still very much alive.

Before he could gather his thoughts, he spotted a figure moving in the darkness on the other side of the room.

"Who is there!?" he shouted, but when he reached for his axe on instinct, his hands grasped nothing. Both his weapons and his armor had been taken at some point.

Of course they were, fool. You are a prisoner.

He would just have to make do with his fists then, was what he thought. However, the lord's vigilance was misplaced this time. The dark figure proved to be an ally, rather than an enemy.

"Lord Gratidia, you have finally awoken," the smooth voice of a young man replied the lord. "This lord has been quite concerned," the voice said as the figure came closer.

When he entered the light around Gratidia, the lord saw that his fellow prisoner wore expensive, red warrior's robes. As he approached, he was still tugging on his robes to make sure they fit well around his shoulders. Clearly, he had only just gotten dressed. Though more importantly, this man was clearly of high status, either a lord or a high-ranking warrior.

For a moment, Gratidia stared blankly, trying to remember the identity of his opposite. He certainly had seen the young man somewhere before, but he simply couldn't remember where.

He has to be a warrior. What lord would be this young? Gratidia guessed, and directed a critical gaze at the boy who looked no older than twenty. However, the young man soon proved him wrong.

"Atoc Rubria, Lord of Yakuharra," the lord introduced himself and sat down on a bunk next to Gratidia's. Only now did the lord look around and realize that their cell wasn't looking too bad. Apart from five bunk beds with barely adequate bedding, there was also a wooden floor and the warm fireplace which created all the light in the room.

After a few seconds, Gratidia realized that he had failed to reply to his fellow lord. Instead, he had distractedly stared around the room like a fool.

This is no time to be confused. How can I embarrass myself in front of a junior?

"Ah, of course," Gratidia strained his mind to remember where he had seen this self-proclaimed lord. "We met..."

"During the last northern meeting of the lords for the end of the war against the central kingdom, yes," Rubria smoothly helped out again. "Of course, it would have been understandable if Lord Gratidia did not remember this lord. That meeting must have been some three years back, after all. At the time, this lord did not yet carry the name 'Atoc', as he was not of age."

Finally, Gratidia connected the face in front of him with the stubborn young man who had looked even greener, and had struggled to hide the deep unease on his face.

"The young Lord Primu Rubria, ah yes," Gratidia smiled, and finally bowed in greeting, before he made an excuse for his faux-pas. "Please excuse this lord's poor memory, Lord Rubria. This headache is quite the trouble."

Finally, Gratidia remembered this unfortunate young man, whose father had been assassinated during the Succession War.

"Not to worry, Lord Gratidia," Rubria waved away his apology. "We should simply be happy that we survived tonight with nothing more than headaches and bruises."

Gratidia nodded, but he had only half-listened to the youngster's explanation, since he was already focused on the room again. If they wanted to escape from this prison, he needed to make a plan first.

This chair could make for a makeshift weapon in a pinch. It could also be used to smash in those large windows. Though it is an obvious point of escape, so there are surely guards present outside. Maybe the dressing screens could be used as shields, they seem to be made of sturdy wood. Who knows, there might just be a hidden room somewhere behind those bookshelves as well. Though the door itself looks flimsy, maybe it could simply be kicked open.

The more the lord looked around the warm, inviting room, the stranger he felt. What sort of prison was this? Were their captors tempting them to escape, for an excuse to kill them? Since he didn't understand, he once more asked for support.

"What happened? Where are we?" Gratidia asked a second time, this time to his fellow lord, rather than to himself. Unsurprisingly, he received a much better answer this time.

"While this lord can not fathom where exactly we are at the moment, we should still be somewhere within Challwala. We were not transported for very long, no more than half an hour. If nothing else, we should be safe, for now."

"So then we have been kidnapped indeed. What a humiliation," Gratidia concluded. After seeing the room, he had hoped that he had been saved after falling unconscious, but it seemed like the masked figures from before had been the ones to bring him here.

"Not exactly," Rubria said, who looked a bit embarrassed when he spoke. "Last night, two forces apparently attempted to catch all northern lords in Challwala, and it appears as if we have been caught by the righteous of the two."

"Two forces?" Gratidia asked, as his nervousness made him scoot forward in his seat.

"While this lord might not know where we are, the purpose of our presence is more than clear," Rubria explained. "While the men who attempted to kill us were sent by the scholars under King Amautu, the ones to catch us were the ghost warriors of the southern king Corcopaca. We have been brought here for the meeting of the northern lords, organized by the southern kingdom."

"What!? Then why did they attack me!?" Shocked enough to even forget his proper address, Gratidia finally jumped from his bunk, which prompted another migraine attack. Before he could compose himself, he received his answer, though not from Lord Rubria.

"This servant fears that our circumstances made such measures inevitable, Lord Gratidia." The sudden voice made the lord's head swerve around. Again, the headache came back, but Gratidia did his best to suppress it. Despite the lord's vigilance, the door had opened at some point and a middle-aged woman had entered without his notice.

"Who are you!?" he asked through clenched teeth to combat the pain in his head. This was no time to consider his health. Although the arrival was just an old woman, she was clearly a dangerous assassin. How else had she sneaked up on his undetected?

Thus, the lord took a stance, ready to dodge a sudden knife attack. However, the woman didn't seem to care about his vigilance. In accordance to the customs, she simply bowed and introduced herself.

"Greetings, Lord Gratidia. This servant is Antaya di Pluritac, one of the the organizers of this meeting of the lords."

The spy queen of the south.

This was a name even the uninformed Gratidia knew.

Again, Gratidia was baffled by the development of events. Before he could gather his thoughts about this strange visitor, Rubria jumped off his bunk and ran up to the spy.

"Lady Antaya!" the young lord shouted, while grinning like an idiot. "How fortunate for us to meet here!"

In response, this lady Antaya smirked at the young lord.

"Not so much, Lord Rubria, for our meeting in this place and at this time had been planned long in advance," she said. Gratidia had to frown, Did that mean that this woman had always planned to kidnap them? Yet once again, Rubria preempted him.

"Lady, this time you were too naughty," he joked. "If you had planned this long in advance, you could have at least told us."

Entirely inappropriate for a prisoner who was talking to his captor, he sounded like the spy queen had organized a surprise dance party for him, rather than his kidnapping.

"Of course we would have loved to do everything in good order," the lady replied with a sigh, while Gratidia was still baffled by their interaction. "Unfortunately, security considerations did not allow the ghosts to do so, and the enemy's swift response forced us to act before we were fully prepared. For such inconvenience, this servant apologizes."

Again, the woman bowed, this time even deeper. Rubria was stepping ahead to hold her up by her shoulders, no doubt to perform some more coquettery with her. However, Gratidia had finally regained his composure. What were these two people doing here? This wasn't a pleasure walk in the gardens!

"You say you are not the enemy, woman, but then why did you attack us!?" he jumped between the two and shouted at the spy to disrupt their nonsense. He had been fighting for his life, and these two were playing games!

"Unfortunately, Lord Gratidia is too brave, and too powerful a fighter," Antaya explained without flinching. "Since the brave warrior lord of Rhodanos presented our men with hostility upon meeting, we could only incapacitate the lord to suspend his resistance and carry him to safety."

Again, Antaya bowed like a servant. At least her explanation made sense.

This lord must have looked quite ferocious while fighting to the death. No wonder those little spies were scared.

Even so, the lord was still unsatisfied with the excuse.

"They should explain themselves then!" he shouted. Had these people identified themselves as allies, Gratidia would have never been humiliated like this.

"Unfortunately, there was little time," Antaya said, while retaining her bow. "Out on the streets, we had to assume that enemy reinforcements would arrive at any moment. Furthermore, we did not expect our enemies to wear similar masks and robes to our own, which created undue confusion and made any explanations in the moment difficult."

Since her words just sounded like more excuses, Gratidia was still frowning. Though for now, he failed to come up with more accusations, so he remained silent. While Gratidia was still thinking, the little lord next to him took the chance to woo with the spy again.

"Are those... things are still out there?" With hesitation, he at least asked a proper question this time.

Reminded of the recent battle, Gratidia had to shudder as well. Those assassins sent by Amautu hadn't been human. If they were still out there, he would surely die eventually under their relentless attacks. Maybe, he thought, it wasn't so bad to be stuck here. At least he would be safe. Rather than complain again, Gratidia decided to remain silent and observe his new allies, for now.

"Indeed they are," Antaya confirmed the worst fears of the lords. "We still know little about the new troops of the scholar king, but their appearance signals a new escalation of the conflict. They are as powerful as warriors, but large in number, and apparently expendable, or they would not be used in such a manner. We cannot fight them head on, at least not in Challwala. Thus, it was unfortunately not possible to get permission from the lords before moving them to this meeting place. Once again, this servant is inconsolable."

Again, Antaya tried to bow, but this time Rubria finally took the chance to hold her up by her shoulder. For a second, she returned a stern gaze, until the young lord awkwardly let go and took half a step back.

"Not to worry lady, there are many ways to make good on your mistakes," he finally managed to squeeze out after a lengthy cough.

"Oh? What does Lord Rubria have in mind?" the woman asked back, now all smiles.

"Would Lady Antaya maybe honor this lord with her presence over dinner?" the nervous young lord asked.

"This servant would be delighted," she replied, though her tone was formal. However, she thought for a second, before she added in a more relaxed voice: "However, this servant can only agree if she can bring along her daughter Inti. This servant would love to make Lord Rubria familiar with her, a beautiful young lady of great decorum, who is far more capable than this humble woman."

Just as Gratidia once more wanted to interrupt the incessant courtship dance between the two, the door to the room opened once again, this time loud enough that all three of them turned their heads in unison.

"So this is where you were, Lady Antaya," Brymstock the merchant said as he entered. "I have been looking for you. How did the mission go? Were there any problems?"

Although the merchant was outwardly confident, his eyes flitted around the room nervously, before they landed on the two lords next to Antaya.

"Ah, is it fine to tell me here?" he added, presumably worried about bad news which would make the southern kingdom look weak.

"No need to worry, Minister Brymstock," the spy queen alleviated his worries with a smile, before she motioned towards the two lords. "As you can see, everything went quite well. All the lords who have come to the capital could be retrieved successfully, before 'Terminus' could catch them. Only two representatives who had come on behalf of their lords were killed, since their safety was a lower priority. However, for the meeting we managed to save at least one warrior capable of representing their lord from every northern estate. Although there have been some losses, the mission has been a great success overall."

As he learned more about this operation of the ghosts, Gratidia's eyes widened in shock. Somewhere just out of his sight, a giant battle had been going on between King Amautu and the forces of the southern kingdom. And apparently, the southern kingdom had won.

Although Lady Antaya's vagueness about their losses indicated that they had been quite heavy, defeating the king's forces in the king's capital still proved the strength of the southern kingdom. While Gratidia was still mulling over his future relationship with the south, the merchant continued their conversation.

"In that case, I will have to thank you, Lady Antaya. The reputation of the spy queen is truly well-earned," Brymstock flattered, before he turned towards the lords.

"Dear lords, although this minister would love to spend some time socializing, it appears there is little time," he explained, and bowed towards them like a merchant eager to sell his wares. "The Chutwa scholars have long lost all decorum, and they will only turn more ferocious after tonight's failure. Thus, it is necessary to hold our planned meeting of the northern lords as soon as possible: Right here, right now. Please, take some time to get ready. A servant will soon come to take you to the prepared meeting place."

Thus, Brym bowed again, before he ran off without waiting for an answer from Gratidia or Rubria. Most likely, he was off to send out the same invitation to all the other lords the woman's ghost warriors had kidnapped tonight.

Soon, Gratidia stood behind the screens on the other end of the room, and fixed his robes in front of a full-length mirror. In the meantime, Rubria was still fooling around with the woman who looked old enough to be his mother.

While he looked at the lord who was socializing with the spy master of the southern kingdom, Gratidia thought back to the events of tonight, and couldn't help but think that all of this had been far too convenient for the southerners. Though even if all these events had been planned out by the ghost warriors, it only proved their power, which just gave Gratidia one more reason to side with them against Amautu. Surely, most other lords would think the same.

It appears this meeting will go down far more smoothly than previously expected. Maybe this lord would have been better off staying at home, he thought, and turned back to continue fixing his clothes.