Story:Kings of Strife/Part 33

Part Thirty-Three
“So tell me, what made you think this was anywhere close to a good idea?”

“I told you that I would be taking my plans forward. This was a natural response to actions being taken by my enemies.”

“Yes, but to dash right into the enemy country and literally broadcast your location and goals to the entire world? How is that anything besides suicidal?”

“It was bold, boisterous, and impossible to overlook. Just what I wanted.” Vainia stood overlooking the view from the window in front of her. She and her companions were on the airship that had rescued them from the Inusian Communications Association headquarters, and from her position on the bridge of the small aircraft, she could see city of Empiria slowly getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

“I thought your goal was to lay low for as long as possible, until you could reasonably take on Inusia.” Constantus Veit, Vainia’s sole and sovereign Knight, stood in front of the captain’s chair in the airship’s bridge. It was he who had commanded the airship to save Vainia, and he who held strict authority over the small crew of the small ship. In the atmosphere surrounding the airship, explosions and screams burst into constant existence. Despite the tense yet peaceful air of the bridge, there was a very real battle occurring around the airship as it attempted to escape Inusian airspace.

“The situation has changed; so have my methods. There are more resources available to me now, and more ways the future can unfold. To predict, I must be unpredictable.” Vainia’s arms remained crossed and her expression serious.

“Trust me, Sir Veit,” Baron Tasshon el Divrus pitched in, “None of us expected her actions, either.” Around Vainia sat the three members of the Revolutionary Council she had taken with her; War, Governance, and Foreign Affairs.

“I’m disappointed in you the most, Tasshon,” Veit spat at the Baron who sat in the warm embrace of a blanket. “Not only did you allow this foolishness, but you failed to remain awake and diffuse the situation when you were needed. My training has been worthless, apparently,” stated the Knight. He was clad in black armor over red undergarments; his long red hair was pulled up and back into a bun of sorts that attempted to give some organization to the messy mane he sported. The Baron of War, stinging from his insult, lowered his head.

“That’s quite enough, Constantus,” Vainia said with a look backwards. “Focus on getting us back to Shorekeep safely and you will have plenty of time to critique my methods.” The Knight scoffed at this and returned to his practice of yelling commands throughout the ship’s bridge, and these commands were replied to with yelps and replies from the Shorican men.

“I didn’t know the Knight knew how to command airships,” Kamanus stated with a hint of a smile. He was the only Baron standing, and was leaning on the railing that overlook the aerial view, close to Vainia. Unlike her, he was facing the bridge and not the outside world.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about him,” Vainia replied curtly. Kamanus gave her a silent look; she ignored it and continued to speak. “Out of all of you, I must give my thanks to Jütenas, especially,” the princess mentioned. She turned slightly and looked down upon the Baron of Foreign Affairs, who responded to her appraisal with a stunned gaze. “Despite the intense situation, you continued performing your job and made sure my message was delivered uninterrupted. You have my highest gratitude, my Baron.”

The councilmember being spoken of simply lowered the brim of their hat and crossed their legs tighter. Jütenas sat the closest to Vainia, and now had to resist an urge to scoot closer and hug the short girl’s legs. “Thank you, my Queen. I try only for your sake.”

“That’s not exactly fair, y’know,” Kamanus interjected. “Tasshon and I cleared the remnants of the enemies you didn’t kill, and the ones we couldn’t take on were way out of our league.” He appeared so flustered and angered at the slight against him that his reaction could have been seen as forged – comically over exaggerated, even. “And after Tasshon went down, I hope you really didn’t expect me to have any chance at fighting without getting slaughtered.”

Tasshon looked up to Kamanus silently and with a face of slight confusion. His gaze was not reciprocated.

Vainia replied calmly and with collected thoughts. “I have said all I will say on the subject; the matter is concluded.” She crossed her arms in front of her and stared out the expansive bridge window. Dangerously close to the speeding airship, a cloud of smoke drifted from a nearby explosion. Cannon fire and missile launches rocked the foundation of the relatively miniscule craft, and remaining standing on the wooden floors took some admirable balance. The explosion of surface-to-air missiles being fired brightened Vainia’s face as she spoke again. “Our savior – has he awoken yet? Go see for me, please, Tasshon.” The Baron of War grunted in accommodation and left the bridge with haste.

“Lady Vainia,” Jütenas meekly probed after an extended moment of silence, “what exactly endeared you to this stranger so?”

The princess tilted her head slightly, as if slightly confused by the phenomenon herself. “You’re right in suspecting it wasn’t simply out of the goodness of my heart. Rather, I have a use for him, if he can be convinced to perform it for me.”

“A use…?” Kamanus’ brow furrowed in thought. “I wonder… What could you have to discuss with him?”

At that moment, Tasshon returned to the bridge of the airship. Behind him walked Vik Hyusei – Vainia’s captive – on shaky legs. This was the first time that Vainia and the Barons looked at the man in full, and it was clear just how rugged his state was.

From the few days he had gotten to train with Cidolas Teftah in their solitude, Vik had gone through a lot of battle training, and as a result, the clothes on his back – only the basic colored rags given to him as a recruit beneath Vainia’s rule in Shorekeep – were ravaged and barely clung to his muscular body. He had thrown on a provisionary outfit of black rags accentuated by the flowing strips of Vainia’s regiment, and on his wrists were handcuffs broken from his escape. Oddly, now that he was in Vainia’s captivity already, there were now two pairs of handcuffs around his hands, only one of which that actually bound his movements.

“So he’s awake,” muttered Kamanus. “This should be interesting.”

Vik looked at the small group standing at the railway from beneath his eyelashes. His gaze was steely, his hands clenched into tight, vein-decorated fists. Despite his safety from the hotbed of Inusian troops that Empiria had become, Vik couldn’t help but be stricken with indecisiveness, considering that his savior was Vainia Sestrum. She was doubly his only means of redemption and his sworn object of protection. With this in mind, he struggled between the two possible choices he could take in this situation, but decided on neither of them. The airship rocked with another blast of artillery fire.

“Well,” grunted Vik. “I saved your life, you saved mine. Am I going free when we land, or what?” He already knew the answer to that question.

Sure enough, Vainia responded with icy neutrality. “You already know the answer to that question, sir.” She looked at him with a hardened expression, but her eyes were not of particular bite. “You cannot be allowed to go free. Now that I have you in my grasp, you are either mine or oblivion’s. There is no messenger between two such forces of destruction.”

Vik found himself chuckling. “For such a short little girl, you sure have a way for intimidation.” In that moment, Vik felt a shiver run through his body, and he involuntarily ducked into a protective, crouching position. Right in front of him stood Tasshon, his foot in roundhouse kick position, mere inches away from Vik’s face. The soldier’s hands were raised in front of him from reflex, but even so, his eyes were wide with surprise from the sudden movement.

“Lady Vainia will be referred to with her proper respect,” growled Tasshon. The tall man had a face of completely serious concentration mixed splendidly with the visage of righteous fury; the look didn’t suit him.

“That’s quite enough, my Baron,” Vainia stated with eyes closed and arms crossed. In response, Tasshon dropped his foot and stepped back behind his liege’s form. Vik stood, slowly, and with eyes still wide. “As you can see, there isn’t much of an option for you to resist me,” the woman stated as she opened her green eyes and stared at Vik with icy calculation.

“So you think I can’t beat that guy?” Vik couldn’t help but smirk at his bold words. His statement was too foolhardy to be considered a fluke, considering everyone in attendance of the small-scale symposium probably knew just how exhausted he was merely from looking upon his face.

“That’s beside the point,” Vainia dismissed. It was becoming more and more clear that she wasn’t in the mood to be bothering with petty talking and distractions. Her gaze returned to the window and the destruction beyond it. The skies were beginning to clear, but there were still a few airships trailing theirs. “I have a use for you, sir, but only if you agree to work for me and my kingdom.”

“What if I said I’m already affiliated with another nation?”

Vainia chuckled, but still kept her eyes focused on the skirmish in the atmosphere. “Although I would be curious as to which country you speak of, I would have to remind you of the two options that were given to you. There is no place in those for old loyalties.”

“Old?” Without noticing it, Vik’s face became drawn and his shoulders tensed up. “I… I will always be loyal to my home. I could never betray my people… even if it meant I had to die.”

Now Vainia looked over Vik with a raised eyebrow. Her eyes looked over his form and met his frost blue eyes for a full moment before replying. “By your complexion and features, I assume you hail from Nneoh. Is this correct?” Vik replied only with an agape mouth. “I take your silence as acceptance. How convenient, then, that my mission for you involves a return to Nneoh. But, if you would claim your loyalty, I suppose you can be put to death relatively quickly…” She looked away again without an ounce of remorse within her countenance.

“Wait!” Vik cried. He dropped to his knees mere inches away from Vainia’s person, and raised his handcuffed hands up into the air in order to reach and plead to the queen in front of him. “What do you mean, go back to Nneoh? I’ll do it! Please, I… Reconsider. If it means I get to return, then I suppose I can abide…”

“I need no simple abiding. I seek to change the world and rule over all of it. In order to do so, I need agents who are willing to die in the name of my causes. If you cannot claim that, there is no use for you beneath my command,” Vainia spat. Suddenly her visage of pleasant manipulation had shattered, replaced by a hard, unfeeling grimace of fact. “Can you claim that for me? Would you die for the name of Vainia Sestrum, and would you follow my command even if it meant you would be ripped into pieces?”

Vik looked down and noticed his hands shaking. “I…” He hesitated once again, despite his mantra. This was no matter of personal courage or determination; this was a moral issue in a magnitude of which he had scarcely before experienced. In order to give up his loyalty – his honor – his country… he would effectively be giving up everything he had fought for so far. He would be giving up all those times Cidolas had met an awful death, just for this girl in front of him.

Could he really do that? 