Divided Nation

The March To War

Harold escorted me out after his little speech and showed me to my room. I noticed that although the centre island was mainly large chambers and seats for debating and all that parliament stuff, there was a substantial section that was dedicated to living quarters.

     "It's for foreign ministers," Harold explained, "We usually get people from the Yellow Kingdom, White, and others to come and change up trade and stuff like that."

    This made sense, but as we walked past the doors, there was barely any rooms that had people inside. And the ones that did have people were all from either the Yellow Kingdom or the White. Not a single Regime or Bay soldier or minister was seem.

     "Well," Harold said leading me to a large room where my friends were waiting for me, "This is your room. Let me know if you need anything else."

     With that, Harold turned and walked away, his metal boots making echoing noises against the narrow hallway.

      "What's happening?" Kyxio asked me, and it occured to me that they didn't even know the war had started.

      "The Regimes mobilized faster than we thought," I explained, "They're attacking the Sands now as we speak."

      "My god," Alexia said, startled, "Then that's it. The wars done already."

     "Harolds got a plan," I explained to them, "He's planning to trap the majority of the Regime army away from their homeland by attacking the Outpost. We've also got a strong alliance with the White and the other kingdoms might join the war as well."

      "We need to help them," Alexia said, rising from her bed, "When are they leaving?"

     "Tomorrow," I replied with a sigh," Harold won't let me go, but I'm not sure about you guys. Besides, it should be easily taken. The Outpost is pratically empty right now and Harold's bringing the main part of the Sea States Army. It'll be an easy fight."

      "King Louis isn't that stupid," Alexia said, "He'll likely have men posted at the Outpost, he knows that he risks encirclement if he had made such an aggressive move."

     "He probably does have a second army in reserve somewhere in Crown's End," Kyxio said, "But it can't possibly be bigger than the combined forces of the States and The Rivers."

     "Let's just all get some sleep," Alexia suggested, stifling a yawn, "It's been a long day."

       We all murmured our agreement and climbed into bed. Alexia blew out the candles and the room turned pitch dark. 

     After about a couple of hours, I gave up trying to sleep and crawled out of bed. I knew that if I slept, those terrible visions would come back to me. I put on my boots and decided to walk around the place for a while. 

     Unsurprisingly, the castle still had lots of action, even at this late of an hour. Guards walked around the walls and patrolled around the hallways. There were still boats coming and going around the huge harbour at the base of the castle, some still carrying last bits of soldiers off and some just carrying supplies in. 

     However, most of the castle had been deserted as a large portion of the soldiers had already begun their voyage to the Outpost. I found a balcony somewhere up a couple of floors that had a breathtaking view. The ships that sailed on off from the harbour had white and blue sails that nearly blended in with the sea. 

     Suddenly, a large war horn made me jump about a meter into the air. I reached for my sword, but noticed that none of the other guards looked concerned. I realized that the war horn had came from Sea States soldiers and sheathed my sword back into the scabbard.