War Room

There were three mighty Walls and three mighty Gates within the King’s City. Behind the first wall there was the Outer City, quarters for the low-born, inns for visitors, markets and stables and the common life. Behind the second wall there was the Inner City, homes for the high-born, Guild-places, shoppes and eateries and the noble life. Behind the last wall there was something quite unique - the wide expanse called Battlement Green, the long bridge that spanned the deep moat, and the grounds of the Palatine. Here the King had everything he needed; stables, riding yards, archery fields and combat arenas, smithies and workshops, abodes for fletchers and tanners, the offices of the King's quartermaster, his supply rooms and guarded vaults, as well as the Royal Apothecary's white tiled hospital house. Within the grounds of the Palatine all of the King's arsenal lay at his disposal and, in this time of war, it was a place of encampment and planning and strategy.

The war had been going on for far too long, the granaries and storehouses were far than comfortably full, refugees from the south had long ago made the Outer City their new resting place, but there had been so many that a squatter’s plain had grown too outside the First Wall.

Worrying about those unprotected people, as well as all the people of Allaria, was the King. He sat in his chair within the Castle Palatine. He was a small man dwarfed by grand battlements and tall towers of thick stone which rose up like a tremendous, jagged mountain from the green covered ground; magnificent balconies overlooked lawns and courts, and in the bright sunlight, innumerable panes of colored glass twinkled and flashed from a thousand different windows. This was the Great Castle, the Great Redoubt of the High Lord and King of Allaria, the pinnacle of the might and the splendor and the majesty of the court of King Wise.

Yet the King wondered if even his thick-walled garrisons and towers would save him and his people, he wondered how soon the battle would be brought home, as it had already come to the castles of his southern dukes and lords. Some still stood in the south, but most had been breached, their inhabitants killed or taken prisoner.

King Terrence Wise sat on his chair and looked to the west; the golden- domed House of Lords rose high, though not as high as the Castle Palatine. Flags and banners of duchies and lordships waved in the breeze that was blowing this morning. He saw how fewer flags there were this day in comparison to even only a year ago.

To the west of the King’s Castle stood a daunting spire that rose up like a mighty spear. Built of giant green blocks and overlaid with walls of dark mahogany, this was the Tower of Ganthet where the wizards of the White Hand had plied their magicks. But early in the Amazon War they had failed the command of the King, they had fallen to a surprise assault of hexes and spells. The Tower was now home to but the few magicians that remained, poor, weak, and unable to do much of anything after that demoralizing attack by the one now called the Traitor of Kamiro. The King since had only the might of mortal men on his side, a might that was slowly, inexorably slipping away.

King Terrence thought of all the good lords and knights lost to this war. The Duchies of Hindsight and of Hillton (both laying along the western march of Allaria next to the open plains of Gelda) had been overrun three years past. The House Hindsight was completely obliterated while only a twelve year old boy remained of the Family Westmore. Further east and north of the Shreken the Duchy Suffex was now nearly taken whole by the enemy, only a hillock and its Tower stood against the hordes of amazons. As to the House D’Honaire – Duke Dredrik had perished and his family was slaughtered as an example to others. Only the son Fred was not killed by the amazons, and only because he was not present at the fall of Montefort, the death of Bannock. It was about four years ago, perhaps a month after being sent forth as King Exultaine’s Dragon-Hunter that the amazons made their bold attack against the southern reaches of Allaria. Lord Fred had entered the Shreken, and he was never seen to come out alive. But few even remembered the knight, they had the pressing matter of the vicious women-warriors with which to contend.

King Terrence sat in his chair, he was dressed in robes of ermine and sable, the very embodiment of regal grandeur and power, yet he felt a keen lack of power. He thought of the old Royal House, of King Emry Exultaine and Queen Sovay, and their children, Prince Exeter and Princess Eryn. Their brutal end - at the mystical hands of the Traitor of Kamiro - was a shock to all but chaos had been stopped quickly by the new king, Gerald Pick. Terrence’s thoughts quickly passed over that distasteful man and his own untimely demise. And so the King’s thoughts came to rest upon his very own person. He was the King after all. And he had a duty to protect his people, to save what fields and crops still were salvable, and he had a duty to repel the invaders. But he had to stay alive and had to stay smart to do it. And so the gathering.

A bell alerted the King that the advisors had arrived. They were let in and soon King Terrance was surrounded by men trained in the arte of war: Nim, Rod, Edgar, and his brother Allen were older advisors from the council under King Emry, Birk was the only advisor Terrance trusted from the council of King Gerald, and he himself had picked Travis and Cray. With these men were the military leaders not engaged in combat for the present: Lord Cannon, Master Pierce, Sir Wil of the House Rodham, and Sir Flint Locke (who once had been attached to the House D’Honaire).

The holding of the southern line was to be discussed as was the continued amassing of knights, soldiers and peasants in various farming areas. Food needed to be protected and towns were expendable - anything that could give advantage to the amazons was being destroyed before any town's evacuation. There were oddities to this war: the amazons were not quick in their advance northward, and no one knew why. They refrained from some attacks even when it was militarily in their power to succeed. The amazons did not use any major magick in their campaign but for the initial betrayal by the Wizard of Kamiro - and he had not been seen since. Even the use of wild beasts was limited, and the rumor that the Dragon of the Southern Caves was their pet remained only a rumor as, but for the attacks during the months prior to the amazon attack there had been no reports of any dragon, flying, breathing fire, or otherwise. Why the amazons did not march directly for Caemlyn, no one really understood - they were thankful, but puzzled. These last four years had seen a slow take-over of land accompanied by much bloodshed and terror. No one imprisoned by the amazons ever escaped, it seemed, and so the King had no news of what the women-warriors were doing with the booty, with the land, with the prize of their conquest.

1. the Council convenes...
2. back at that Tower within the lands of Suffex...

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