P. Power - Knight Esquire

This was really not what he had in mind when he suggested the thing, but it would serve. Now all he had to do was lie his behind off and hope that what he said made enough sense to not seem insane or like he was a total moron. That probably wouldn’t be happening, but he could try. Trice caught his eye, sitting only about ten people down on the left, near Rolph actually, just above him. The hierarchy of this table was greatly skewed. He was being seated at the top and the heir to the throne nearly a quarter of the way down? The Queen was four people down and Burks was across from the King, at his own left elbow.

“Right. This meeting is about coming up with new ways to make war. I don’t care how strange an idea is, as long as it works. This isn’t a strategy session, though some of you here are in on that kind of thing too. You can give the rest of us guidance as needed.” Tor bowed and held it, standing straight on to the room, which should indicate he was including everyone. After a full half a minute he stood.

“All here are honored. Let anyone speak if they have something to say. Now, to get the ball rolling, I want to start a new project to defeat that death dust. Nanos?” This was addressed to Burks who nodded but didn’t interrupt.

“For the immediate future, we can hand out air chokes which will keep them from spreading until others have a chance to step in and deal with them, however that gets done. Soon I hope to have things out to stop that from being used against us again totally.” That said he asked if anyone else had an idea to share.

The general consensus was that taking the war to Austra, which hadn’t been done yet, was probably the best plan. For that they needed a navy and a way to protect it. Traditionally the Austran air ships had kept the Noram navy from being effective against them at all. They’d just sink the boats as they got close. But now they had their own air ships, so maybe…

This went on for hours, with Tor mainly just taking notes with a pencil on slightly brown, handmade paper. People got restless after a few hours, so a small break was called for, but just as Tor made the suggestion of a recess, a Royal Guard ran into the room with a message for the King. Everyone waited patiently while he read it. Tor could see that… the Royal Guard only ran when things were important, at least around the top royals, so it was already note worthy.

Then, taking a deep breath Richard passed the paper to Burks who looked at it for a few moments, and just nodded. It got passed to Connie whose eyes flew open and then, for some reason it was passed to Tor. Probably just because he was near the top of the table he realized. Part of the tradition. The words stunned him.

The message was from Count Ward, but signed by both him and his Countess. It was a proclamation of war against the kingdom of Noram. It was either the stupidest thing to ever exist, or Ward and his advisors really thought they could win. If they thought that, then someone was helping them. Probably the Austrans. Because in traditional arms, County Ward wouldn’t last a day against the King’s army, especially with what Thorgood, Printer, Ford and Ross were going to be able to bring to bear in a few weeks time. Tor stopped for a second and nearly grinned. Plus Thomson and Lairdgren too as well as anyone else with people willing to take up arms for the kingdom. Not knowing what else to do Tor passed the message back to the King, who stood.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Counts and Countesses. Worthies all. This message saddens me to no end, but is unavoidable at this point. Count Ward and his County have declared not only their sovereignty, but war upon us all. Preparations must be made now. All forces need to rally and prepare to remove him and his forces from our shores. No matter the cost.”

Ursala stood, chair clattering back, tipping behind her.

“No matter the cost.” She said, her voice firm, carrying across the room in an echo that resonated inside Tor’s chest a little somehow.

Holly stood next, and screamed it so loud her voice broke a little.

“No matter the cost!”

Everyone else that could stand or yell did. Even the palace help.

Tor nodded and stood himself, then without saying anything, walked back to his room.

He had work to do.

Apparently cost wasn’t a factor anymore if the chanting could be believed.