From Peasant's to Kings

[Roughneck]

Bristol

" Yeah it seems he's awake, maybe Trianna can get some information from him."

Bristol dismounted and looked about, " We'll set camp early today, allow the men to rest, but we will break camp early tomorrow morning. If that pass isn't to hazardous, I'd like to push the men through there, that forested river valley could be an ideal place to hide the men."

Bristol turned and looked at Dolson, staring deep into the mans eyes. What did Dolson think of him, he seemed so eager to please, but was he scared of failing. Bristol knew that inside he was scared, scared of what the future held.

" You do excellent work Dolson, I am truly blessed to have a friend such as you." Bristol pated Dolson on the shoulder, giving the man a warm smile.

He turned an eye to Trianna, and could see she was in conversation with the strange masked man. He wanted to know what was being said, but also knew that if there was anything of concern, Trianna would inform him.

Again he pated Dolson on the shoulder, " I think I will rest awhile Dolson, my spirit is strong but by body is weak. I think you can handle the tasks at hand, If not I'm sure you'll figure a way about it."

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Sir Lance Kerall, Minister of War, buried his head in his hands.

"...how could we be losing?"

The rest of the Ministers of Occlo, stationed in Greensoar, had nothing to say.

"Your Majesty," whispered Lance, "I hope you return soon..."

<<--->>

The discharge of energy... intense.

A white miasma of pure Consciousness.

From death... to life.

Pure necromancy at its ultimate form.

...resurrection...

"GIDEON!" screamed Balron. "GIDEEEEOOOOOON!"

And he blacked out, falling to the ground.

<<--->>

What only seemed like moments later, but might've been an hour or more, someone was shaking him.

"Nammil! Hey, Nammil!"

Balron blinked and opened his eyes. "Who...? I'm not..."

A man in dented, rusty armor, yet with teeth gleaming, blonde hair, and a devastatingly handsome face, smiled down at him softly.

"G... Gideon..."

Gideon nodded softly. "Hello... Nammil. Or... whatever you call yourself."

Surprised, Balron began to get to his feet, but in a flash, he found the blade of Gideon's sword at his throat. Even more astonished, Balron slumped to the ground, staring up at Gideon in horror.

"You killed me, Nammil, or Balron, or whomever," the blonde warrior continued. "Killed me just as if you had by your own hands. For greed, and power. Why?"

"I... I had to sacrifice," Balron whispered. "For the sake of the planet... I have to rule. I have to bring eternal peace through eternal destruction..."

Gideon watched him quietly. "You sacrificed me? You made that decision? About my life?"

"And you could make the same about mine," retorted Balron, now angry. "We're all worthless."

"Are we," said Gideon softly. "Very well." The blonde swordsman stepped back, and Balron rose to his feet gracefully.

"Why did you bring me back, Nammil?"

Balron bowed his head. "I want... forgiveness." He paused, but Gideon said nothing, so he continued. "All our physical contents are worthless, Gideon. Only Consciousness, if anything, matters. For what is there? We choose either emptiness in Consciousness, or a disguised emptiness in the physical reality, where we live in sad denial of the meaninglessness of life." He shook his head. "But I couldn't expect you to know that, Gideon. That's why I want to apologize..."

"...kill me if you wish, Gideon. I'm not that important. My child, however, will be..." He looked up this time, meeting Gideon's gaze. "I will aid the physical world as King. And then, when the time is right, we will transition into pure spirit... and the eternal feeling of contentment will be ours. Because emotions are an elusion... all we search for is a place to be happy, yet we cannot define happiness... so Consciousness is the place for us. So we can all be one."

Gideon's expression still hadn't changed.

Balron looked up.

SHING!

CLINK!

Gideon smiled grimly.

Balron looked surprised, but gritted his teeth.

Their swords were crossed.

"Not bad," murmured Gideon. "You've gotten better."

"You knew I'd see that," snapped Balron. "What are you playing at, Gideon?"

Gideon hopped back, and twirled his sword. It looked surprisingly similar to the way Balron had twirled his sword before the fight with Camlaan.

"Fight me, Nammil..."

Balron blinked, surprised.

"...and earn your place in this world!"

CLINK!

They circled, blades matched.

And the dance of death began.

 

[IDreamofBunnies]

At the Hause de Meldama, tenday from the Malhambrian/Magincian border...

LuFaux looked at his gathered comrades, the remaining members of the Marquis. Three had been slain by LuBasque at Ten Points and one was leagues away, hindered from speedy travel by an astral shield that emenated from Ten Points. LuBasque had maintained control of most of the army but the Marquis had managed to retrieve some of their own knights giving this rag-tag resistence a humble army of a few thousand. Not enough to assault Ten Points, barely enough to defend the Hause if LuBasque turned his attention in their direction.

"This is unreal," LuGranz of Malachi said in disbelief, "There is no hope of victory, LuBasque has sent out over two thirds of our armed forces. They are caught in some supernatural bloodlust and will not listen to reason and even if we could escape to a neighboring country there is nobody who would believe or trust us!"

Some of the others nodded. LuFaux, master of the household seemed grim as he looked out the window. His beautiful estate was being torn apart and being turned into a crude fortress, the orchards were pulled down to make fortifications.
"I would never have dreamed of this dark an hour, what could drive our Pontifex to such insanity?"

LuXen of Marconetti's mask was ashen, beneath it he was blanching, "He had mentioned spending a great deal of time in other planes, perhaps some alien intelligence has siezed our beloved leader. Or maybe..."

LuFranz of Morgan-Chau cut him off, he had said little he had been recently struck blind and was still in shock, "No, it is the star of changing colors. The star is the cause of all of this, there is more to it than you know. I have seen it, yes! I saw it, the last thing I saw!"

The others turned to their blind comrade, "If you know something man, out with it!"

"The Unmasked King, the Perfect One, it is Saaa...."

Above the Planet

The mass of fetid proto-matter and cosmic fleshy debris that was Savout groaned again sending waves of concussive magical force across time and space. One of the planet's moons was forced to change orbit, creating ghastly storms and fluctuating tides. It's primal intelligence, it's base urge wanted so badly to descend upon the earth and resume eating for it was so hungry, it had been pushed forth from the Consciousness from which it had suckled for millenia.

Soon, yessss....

Half a day from Puritian

The 9th Grey Masks marched ahead of the Margarittan knights, eager to rend Puritian. They had no true quarrel with the place nor had they ever but some unknown force urged them on, making them eager to stain their weapons.

The knights on the other hand seemed a little more reluctant, their Marquis LuRoe was very close perhaps only a day or two away, his own aura was countering this vile force.

"To Meldama," it whispered to them, "Defend the Marquis, prepare for our stand against almighty Ten Points!"

The knights turned and rode back towards Holy Malhambria, the Grey Masks seethed at this percieved treason but thier eagerness forbade them to attack the knights. As they were this close the city could hear the dull boom..boom..boom.. of the ten-thousand men of the 9th Grey Masks. The battle would be a bloody one and time was running out for the city to arrange it's defenses. It's only blessing at the moment was the Sacred Band's withdrawl. Their only hopes were an alliance and the return of Bristol.

 

[Mistress]

Iris

She removed her silken cloak and let it fall to the floor, then with a cautious glance towards the wall that Gunther sat behind she eased her self down into the tub. A low sigh escapes her as the warmth embraces her travel bruised body. She closed her eyes and shivered as she felt a familiar tug pull at her mind. It was there….she could feel it, dancing about in the shadows of her mind, the power he some how unleashed into her. She knew it was all his doing, somehow he had planted it into her, and there was no way she was born with it. No one in her family had such a gift of magic; magic was evil to her people. If what he said was truth then she would have never been born for her family line would have been burned out long ago, magic was not accepted where she was from. It all had to be a lie; it all had to be some hex cast upon her by him in order to tempt her, in order to disillusion her from the world she grew up in.

Another sigh left her lips and she licked them, chapped from the sun’s rays, she got the feeling of being watched and she turned looking about but saw no one within the room. Raising an eyebrow she shrugged and dipped down in the water wetting her long dark hair, then slowly rose out of the water. Grabbing her cloak she ignored the towel and wrapped the red silk around her damp form. Turning the corner and entering the room where Gunther was she slightly smiled at his surprised gaze.

“I’m…I’m a bit lonely without my Sara around, would you mind sitting in my room as I soak and talking to me? If it is too much to ask I understand, I’m just, I just don’t want to be alone.” She stuttered not looking him in the eye as she stared nervously at her feet. “You have no need to sit near me just maybe at the door, out of sight but...but still there?”

She looked up at him and then turned abruptedly, “I’ll go on back now, and if you chose to come in I would be grateful.”

She hurried back into her room and once again dropped the cloak and quickly climbed into the tub scooting down until only her face could be seen above the water. At a moment’s thought she sat up and blew out the near by candles in order to make the room darker from his sight. Then calming herself she moved back into position, listening for his foot steps.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Uhhm... what would my Liege say?

Scratching his head nervously, Gunther looked up at the door, a bit flustered.

Well... as long as I'm still keeping an eye on her but not bothering her, things should be okay... and his Majesty should be back soon...

He opened the door and closed it quietly, his booted feet making obvious noises against the wooden floor. He pulled his leather cloak around himself self-consciously, absently worried that his gleaming scale mail might intimidate her. As an afterthought, he removed his cloak and began to unbuckle the straps. He froze suddenly, and blushed, embarassed.

"I'm, uh, just taking off my armor," he managed, quite embarassed, hoping he hadn't alarmed her. "...my Lady."

He finished removing the armor of overlapping plates and placed it carefully on a nightstand, reminding himself to polish it again, even though he had already done so twice while waiting outside. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, his handsome face appearing puzzled. I really don't know what to do... but if I ask her it will probably embarass her, and I'll feel stupid!

"Umm... w-would you like me to talk about myself, my Lady?" he stammered, intimidated by the prospect of engaging in conversation with his King's future wife.

 

[Mistress]

She sighed and smiled, “Yes that would be nice for a change, someone new...something new, and nothing evil and magic. And Gunther I was not alarmed by the fact it appeared as if you were undressing.” She chuckled slightly and splashed a hand about in the water out of boredom. Turning over onto her stomach in the bath she raised up, her arms supporting her face upon the rim of the tub as she strained to see him in the darkened room. “I think learning more about you may be interesting, such as why you choose to be where you are in your life.”

She noticed the nervous look on his face and she smiled warmly at him in order to ease his nerves. “I do not bite Gunther; I am perfectly harmless when it comes to brute strength as well. You have nothing to fear with me, I have no reason to do harm onto you, even if I could.”

Tilting her head to the side she frowned, “If anything, you’re as much a prisoner to Balron as I am.” She flipped back over again and sat up grabbing at her wash cloth, “Now, speak to me about your life. Maybe even your Childhood, I will try not to interrupt often for I am a very attentive listener.” As she scrubbed the rag with the bar of lavender soap she waited for him to start talking, undaunted by the fact that he was in the room with her.

 

[IDreamofBunnies]

Puritian

Five minutes ago, Carl the Baker was a well-to-do gentleman with his own shop. Now he was trapped in a cloud of dust, his life's work crushed under a giant stone hurled by catapault.

The Grey Masks had attacked upon their arrival, giving no terms, no chance for surrender or parlay. The soldiers at the gates had never seen the sheer ferocity of the masked warriors, never dreamed of the terror they inspired in their foes. They held the gates, but just.

Greensoar
Thousands of White Masked soldiers patrolled the streets as they lay seige to Castle Ocllo, many of the people had managed to flee to safety but all who were found were put to the sword. Malhambrian fists, clad in steel pounded upon the gates to the castle, it seemed as if all hope was lost for the ministers and noblemen trapped within.

Rizele
The Magincian wizards fared only slightly better than their neighbors, fending off the Malhambrian legions with spells and summoned beasts but all too soon the Archmagi were sending off their apprentices with tomes to precious to be lost to the masked warriors scouring flames...

Hause de Meldama
The Sacred Band made it to the manor and declared their intent to defend the Marquis to the last. The few Malhambrian warriors not tainted by the Pontifex's bloodlust waited here for the inevitable.

Almighty Ten Points
This sacred city, seat of Malhambrian might was nigh unto empty. Soldiers marched down it's streets like clockwork gears but none of it's hundreds of thousands of citizens would be found here. And in the center of the city loomed the ten pointed star, the...

Fortress at Ten Points
LuBasque's black masked face looked to the heavens from the highest spire of the fortress, there in the endless blackness, his lord and master Savout was almost upon the world. His bloated emminence would sup on the bones of a million unmasked and his dreams of ascendance would be realized!

Above the Planet
Savout grew impatient waiting for the order, it did not know who was giving the order or if it had been ordering itself around but the pain of hunger was too much to bear, surely a little taste...
A massive appendage, flesh set with scale, feather, and bone reached onto the earth and clamped on with a number of yellowed teeth, each the size of a large horse...