Storyline 1

“Lady Merielle, your husband has been missing for over a month now. It is time you faced reality and considered your future.”   Lord Grul’s booming voice filled the hall. “His ill conceived expedition entered the Dead King’s lands and no one has heard from him since. You have said yourself that none of his men have returned, and there have been no magical messages from the wizards and priests. It is time to set aside your grief and attend to your lands. Your borders are weak and unprotected with his disappearance. Who will defend you when you are attacked…. by barbarian raiders, bloodthirsty humanoids, or even the Dead King’s plaguewalkers. ”    Grul had an ominous, almost threatening tone. Lady Merielle understood the double meaning behind his statement. Indeed, who would protect her should someone decide her lands were ripe for conquer? He glowered at her, his wiry black beard bristling, his wild untamed hair like a halo about his head, his huge ham hands balled into fists as he stood over the table. He sought to cow her into obedience. His habit was to rule by fear, and his propensity for violence off the field of battle was well known.

“I take your suggestion would be that I should wed again. What if my husband has been captured? We need to send a search party,” countered Lady Merielle.

As Lord-Vizier Sluris cleared his throat, the phlegm rattling disgusted her. “Lady my seers have clearly divined that he is no longer alive, you know as well as I that the Dead King does not take prisoners. It would be a fool’s errand to send more men into the blighted lands. You must consider other options. “Lord Vizier Sluris’s bulging bloodshot eyes peered at her from under his hood, his jaundiced skin pulled tight over his skull like a mask. His tongue wriggled like a worm back and forth over his rotten peg like teeth and tried to dampen his perpetually cracked lips. His bony fingers, long, almost talon-like, shook with palsy as he circled spots on the maps spread over the table. “Your lands border ours, and should your lands fall to invaders, our realms are threatened. You must consider our positions as well. To do otherwise makes a poor neighbor”. Sluris hunched back, his shriveled hands steepled over his concave chest, resting against a blanket of with amulets and talismans.

Another voice picked up immediately. “As my fellow lords astutely noted stability of the region is threatened. It would be calamitous for a barbarian or humanoid horde to descend upon us.”   Lord Lavrin drawled, restating what the other two had said. Stroking his long drooping mustachio, he was sweating and his greasy hair shone in the light of the braziers and enchanted torches. “Much trade passes through your lands to my ports; the damage would be far reaching if that was interrupted. The merchant clans and twelve families would be most displeased.”   Damage to your coffers, thought Lady Merrielle. That’s all slimy Lavrin cares about.

“I will discuss this with the king. I don’t need a new husband to protect my lands.”   Her dark eyes blazed with a slow fury.

“Lady, the king and other sovereigns have spent a generation forging alliances through marriage and oaths of fealty to bring stability to the five kingdoms. His advice to you would be the same,” continued Lavrin, his head turning to and fro as he addressed her and the other two lords, his jowls jiggling against his starched collar, stained with sweat and oil. The sickly sweet perfume Lord Lavrin always wore could not mask his stench.

“My son Dravidius is of marrying age,” croaked Sluris hollowly. “Surely the joining of our families would be a blessing to us both.”   His voice was forced as he wheezed with each breath.

   “We know your son’s dabbles in the dark arts Vizier,” roared Grul. “These lands need a strong warrior to keep them safe!”   His huge fist slammed the table, making the goblets of wine and ale vibrate and nearly topple. “Each day you delay locked in your castle tower, puts us all in danger. If you do not act soon, someone will. What will you do without an heir? Your family line is at an end.”

“Do not threaten me!”   Lady Merielle rose. “Even now I carry my husband’s heir in my womb. The line will not end. I do not need to remarry. Be gone from my hall all of you, I will hear no more of this talk!”

The three other lords took pause for a moment, briefly stunned by the news. As each took the information in, Grul was first to act. “Bah!”   He swept up his helm and stormed from the hall. “A suckling babe cannot defend your lands, this is not the end!”

Lord Sluris’ eyes peered at her more intensely. If he were anyone else, she imagined the eyes would have narrowed dangerously, but his bulging eyes seemed incapable of being contained by his paper thin eyelids. She wondered how he slept, or if he ever did; she could not recall ever seeing him blink. “These are dangerous times Lady, a healthy birth is never guaranteed.”   His lips smacked as his voice trailed off, and he stood, supporting himself on a twisted staff of blackened iron and charred wood. The effort sent him to coughing and hacking, spittle frothing at the corner of his mouth. She could see his veins bulging under his thin skin. As Sluris swept from the hall, his feet seemed to not move beneath him, it was as if he almost floated, though his robes were so long it was a mystery whether he even had feet or legs to carry him.

Lord Lavrin was the last to rise, taking several attempts before he gripped the table and poured himself to his stump like legs from wide bench he was seated on. “My lady”, he drawled, his grey watery eyes, seemed to weep, adding to the sweat and grease that oozed from the man continually. “You are unwise to spurn the friendship of your neighbors. We only seek to help you.”

You mean help yourself to my lands, she thought but said nothing. Lavrin rang a small silver bell, and several valets came from outside the hall to assist him in returning to his carriage, a short walk that would leave him panting and dripping.

Once the repulsive lords were gone, her advisor Shotok stepped from the shadows where he overheard the whole discussion. “What do you make of them Shotok?”

“M’lady they are very dangerous mean, they mean to have your lands. However, they must contend with each others’ machinations as well without tipping their hand. This will be one small advantage, but there is some truth of what they say, we must act somehow, if only to discover the fate of your husband and his party. We must also consider the safety of yours lands, from all sides. We need swords.”

She considered and then nodded, “Shotok, then raise me up an army. We must train new warriors from our own people; we need new patrols and guards on main roads and rivers and guarding the walls of every watch tower and fortress. We need to train them quickly.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“As you wish my lady, I will see to it personally.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“No, I need you for another task. Send riders to the Five Kingdoms, I want a crier on every street corner; I want sell-swords, adventurers and freemen, soldiers, mercenaries, and mages. I want you to interview them and bring the best to me. For a select few, I have a special task…..”

<p class="MsoNormal">“It will be done.”

<p class="MsoNormal">