Into the Forest of Light: Trying to Enter the City

[Tarfuss]

30 Melora XV pf

Tarfuss rode slowly down the path at the head of a manus of his men. He was glad that Eyvind had suggested taking a manus - beautiful as this forest was, it was spooky too.

He could hear the clink of the armor on his men and the heavy horse that carried them. He was cursing Eyvind in his mind and calling down vexation on all the little vagarans he might father for generations to come for landing him here. He was a soldier and now he was an errand boy. At first it had sounded sort of fun, the way Eyvind had described it, but now... Maybe not so much. This was just... Spooky.

[Aqua]

A few months earlier, this particular task would have ended in disaster for Tarfuss. The pathway to the Esh'lahier city of Ethgan'tor had always been guarded by the forest, and those of human or light elven blood tended to disappear into the Forest of Light without a trace.

Now, however, the edges of the path shimmered with arcanic energy. The road was being kept open now, deliberately, in order to get needed supplies to Ethgan'tor. Even so, it had precious little traffic, and Tarfuss and his men would find the pathway eerily deserted.

Indeed, the first sign of civilization was the looming outline of the city gates. There was a massive wall of white and pink marble, and in the center, a huge opening with gates that, if Tarfuss' eyes did not deceive him, were made of pure adamantium, something so rare as to be almost unbelievable. The city skyline could be seen above the walls, dominated by an enormous white tower that was probably five hundred meters high -- though the top was shrouded in clouds.

A pair of uniformed guards were standing in between the open gates, and one of them held out his hand, examining the men before him. Both eyebrows raised in a gesture that might have been sarcasm, though his voice when he spoke was level.

"What do you want, human?" There was a measured pause here. "You don't look to be traders, and your kind are not welcome here. Why have you come?"

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss was glad to get out of the forest, but that feeling of relief was overshadowed by the awe the city inspired. Of the cities he'd traveled to thus far, this one was the most impressive. It was also the most inaccessible.

Tarfuss dismounted out of politeness.

"Serale. Veduie", he said, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. "No. You are correct. I am no trader. I am a messenger with a message for the ruler of the city - the Governor or Thane or the equivalent. I am Spear Deakin Tarfuss of the 9th Imperial Legion. It is simply for the purpose of delivering the letter I have been entrusted with that I seek entry to the city." He waited, looking at the Esh'lahier gate guard with an impassive face, neither hostile nor friendly. The face of a messenger.

[Aqua]

The guard looked calmly back at Tarfuss. "The Queen? I don't know that she'll be able to come here instantly to accept a letter. But it's her place to make that decision, not mine."

"A runner will be dispatched to her," he said. "In the meantime, I'm afraid you'll need to wait outside the gates." This was not delivered as if it were a punishment, simply an unavoidable fact. This was a sort of a delicate situation, but the guard knew he would never be excused should he let Imperial Legionnaires into Ethgan'tor without the Queen's explicit approval.

The guard towers above the gates had numerous openings for archers, and it wasn't completely comfortable to sit there in front of the gate and wait. It didn't seem, however, that Tarfuss and his soldiers had an awful lot of say in the matter.

OOC: I'm PMing Laroa to let her know about this thread

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss nodded, a little disappointed at not being able to enter the beautiful city, but he knew that there were ... issues. He ordered his men to move a way off and to go ahead and take it easy while they waited. He placed two men on watch for form's sake and out of habit.

Stretching out on the ground, his back against a tree he thought about what the guard had said - Queen. He'd never met a queen before and it made him nervous. He took out his pipe roll and relit a pipe he'd half smoked the night before, but hadn't finished. Sometimes they tasted even better after sitting he thought.

If nothing else they were out of the forest and he was relieved about that. He'd grown up near the Dolwood, but it was nothing like this place. He shivered slightly. It was an odd place indeed, and he didn't fancy the ride back through it.

[Laroa Linalantava]

The queen’s arrival would be hard to miss. Laroa had decided to accept the letter and accept it in person. A human at the gates was a rare enough occurrence that it had triggered her curiosity. And if the message turned out to be of importance, she did not want anybody else to have the opportunity to read the letter. Of course it would cause a few raised eyebrows, a few confused looks if she lowered herself to talking personally to such a creature, but she could live with that. Before she had come to Ethgan’tor, she had relied on others too much, and it had nearly cost her life.

She arrived in style of course, not in the carriage since getting the carriage ready for such a short journey seemed impratical, but on horseback, surrounded by about half a dozen of her guards. She was dressed in a pale grey gown today, and a thin veil was draped across her face to protect her sensitive eyes against the sunlight. Her guards stopped first and dismounted. They stood left and right of her, and she walked in their middle, as if she were walking through a corridor of sorts. If somebody decided to attack they would have to go through them first. In their middle she was safe.

“I have been told you have a message for me, legionnaire”, she said to Tarfuss. That was all. Her voice was neither friendly nor unfriendly. She did not know how she would deal with him and those that he was serving yet. It all depended on the contents of the letter.

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss was chatting with one of his men as the Queen and her entourage rode up. He'd never seen a queen before and had no idea what to expect or what to do. He felt very much a farm boy out of his depths. He walked over to the Queen and gave a stiff nervous bow.

As he rose from the bow he looked at the Queen for the first time and was struck by a familiarity. Tilting his head and narrowing his eyes he tried to place the sense in his mind, but her face was masked by gauze and he couldn't get a good enough look to really recognize her. Obviously he had seen someone who looked similar. Where would Tarfuss have possibly met a queen?

Clearing his throat with a slight cough he said, "Your Majesty. I am Spear Deakin Tarfuss of the 9th Imperial Legion, and I bear a letter from Provost Eyvind Redbeard Avormagor Bjornsson, if you would have it."

Tarfuss took the document from a case and handed it to the Queen.

To: The Ruler of the Sacred city of Ethgan'tor.
From: Eyvind Redbeard Avornmagor Björnsson, Provost of the Ninth Imperial Legion.
Ref: The New Kingdom

Serale Your Excellency. I hereby come to, in the most humble of ways, ask for your help without however not offering help and promises myself.

Refering to the title of the letter. I will be direct and honest, I don't like the idea of seeing the Empire disappearing to give place to the appearance of a Kingdom ruled by creatures coming out of myth and legend. Who are the Ancients to proclam things in an Empire they abandoned long ago? Who are they to nominate the Regent their representative among mortals? Yes, that is what the former Regent, Milo L'Evienne, was nominated to do, even if it wasn't said or refered to in the Herald. Every Kingdom needs a King, thus the name and if the former Regent is a Prince then only one of the Ancients can be the King, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.

As I said, I stand for the Empire and above all for the People and I will not allow strangers who abandoned the People to rule again, be it with help of mortals or not. I come by this mean to ask for your alliance with the Empire, to stand by its side to the end and once we vanquish this evil from the face of Telath, Ethgan'tor will be offered whatever gift it wants, be it independence from the Empire or other thing.

I am aware that the Empire itself can be prejudicial to a portion of the People, that is why once this threat is finished all those who want it will be granted freedom.

P.S.: Excuse my manner, Your Excellency but I am but a rude soldier who seeks the best for all.

Signed,
Eyvind Redbeard Avornmagor Björnsson, Commander of the Black Shields.

[Laroa Linalantava]

„Eyvind Redbeard is known to me“, she revealed, but she did not say more. She did not remember Tarfuss – if they had ever met, it had likely been briefly – but she recalled Eyvind, a tall, red-haired human, barbarian compared to the elves of Ethgan’tor, but not a bad man altogether. They’d met in the Crown in Prime. There had been a brief adventure, an expedition that she had left early. He’d seemed honorable enough for a human, but she had had no idea of his exact position in the Empire until now. And had Eyvind ever realized that he had travelled with the future queen of Ethgan’tor? When he had written his letter, had he been aware that he knew the woman he wrote it to?

She read the letter, not bothering to turn away – she just made sure that nobody could approach her from behind and look over her shoulder. She furrowed her brow. Was Eyvind aware of the problems that Ethgan’tor was currently facing, the drought, the famine, the fact that its protective barrier was weakening? Why was he turning to Ethgan’tor for help? Why did he not seek it among his own people? Surely there had to be a few that shared his opinion, that disliked the Ancients just as much as he seemed to. Was it because her city was weak, because he knew that the offer would tempt her, that it might solve some of her problems?

And did Prince Milo in his palace in Prime know what Eyvind wanted to do? She had never cared about the Ancients – they had never been part of her world, the underground cities of the vysstichi had been far removed from the politics of the Empire – but now she could not help but wonder … did they still have a right to make decisions? How had he come to those conclusions? And why should she bother? Was it worth it, involving herself with this man and his ideas when the Ancients were so much more powerful than this human could ever dream to be? If it weren’t for the fact that Ethgan’tor was suffering, she would just send the letter back … he seemed slightly insane … and her interest in all that talk about kingdoms and empires was marginal at best …

She turned to Tarfuss again. “I wish to speak to Eyvind Redbeard in person”, she announced and carefully folded the letter and put it away. “I am afraid I cannot answer this sufficiently in a simple letter. Tell him to meet me here.”

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss stood a comfortable distance away while the Queen read the letter. An itching in his brain trying to sift through the cluttered flotsam and jetsam there to figure out if he'd met her before, but with out a better look at her face, he could not. She did, however, know Eyvind. Eyvind was such a social butterfly - of COURSE he knew a queen. Tarfuss' inner mind's eye rolled upwards as he entertained that thought.

When the queen had finished he gave her a slight bow and said, "I will relay your," He thought about what it was he was relaying - request? Order? Queen she may be, but not over a member of the Imperial Legions, so request it would be, though he guessed that Eyvind would no doubt hop on the nearest pony and ride the poor thing out here as soon as was he was able. He continued, "request to Provost Bjornsson. Do you require anything else of me or my men, your highness?" He doubted that a queen would need anything of any of them, but he was trying, in his rough edged way, to be polite.

[Laroa Linalantava]

Request? Order? No, it was just a simple invitation for Eyvind to talk to her. Or maybe not so simple, since the Provost was human, and some people would not like the presence of a human in the White City, even if there was a definite purpose to it, and he would be guarded all the time … things were changing, Ethgan’tor had to change in order to survive and become closer to Aelyria, but people and their views changed more slowly than the world around them. They clung to their traditions, as if they’d die if they gave up on them, as if the world would end.

“No, that it is all, Spear Daekin Tarfuss”, she told him. “Please tell Provost Redbeard of my wish to meet him.” This was the sign that their short meeting was over, and the queen and her guards would turn around and ride back to the palace unless there was something else that Tarfuss wished to say.

[Tarfuss]

Tarfuss was familiar enough with dismissals to know one when he heard one. He looked at the Queen and said, "Thank you for your time, your Highness. I will tell him." He waited for the queen to leave before turning to his men.

He glanced at the impromptu camp they had set up and said, "Break camp and prepare to depart, we'll be leaving as soon as .... possible." He had been about to curse them in standard NCO fashion, but thought twice about it. He didn't want to make such a demonstration in front of the home city of a people that seemed to think Humans and all their workings to be crude. He shrugged inwardly - even if it was pretty much true..

When the camp was broken he got the men quickly into marching order and set off back the way they had come. Now it was time to find Eyvind.