Princess Lucia walked into the banquet hall where her father, King Appius had gathered not only her but the other country’s representatives. She was dressed in a classic Alsenian Commander’s armor. However, it had been fit to her size and altered to make it more maneuverable. Her golden hair was tied up haphazardly like her mothers usually was in order to keep it out of her green eyes. The armor she wore was colored with flat green and gold colors to make it harder to see her in the plains. Along her waist were two sets of daggers and a longsword with a fairly worn down hilt.

Despite being out of place among the many political stand-ins in the room, she had no problem blending in enough to make her way to her father. Beside Appius was the Grand Mage and the boy who had framed Nero. none of them looked happy which made the guests that were waiting a bit concerned. Even Lucia was concerned as to why her father had summoned her here among so many important people.

“Well, now that everyone is here. I have some announcements.” the king said with a depressed look. He paused for a second and let out a deep sigh before continuing. “The summoner of the Hero has been found. It seems that he was an Alsenian mage that was banished to the swamps of the Empire over a month ago.” The King finished.

Each of the representatives began murmuring among each other. Some were discontent with the idea of an Alsenian being the culprit while others were happy to hear that it had nothing to do with their own countries. Though, this new revelation induced some rather unfortunate questions. Where was the Hero? And why had they not convened as to what to do with the summoner yet?

“If I may ask, Where are the summoner and Hero?” Macsha, the representative from Paslone asked.

“It seems that the summoner and Hero overpowered the soldiers that were retrieving them. They did so as a stampede of Hontobi charging at their transport. The two then stole the horses and escaped to the north.” The king said with a disappointed look.

Murmuring continued among the representatives. Even Lady Akatsine began speaking among the others about the issue despite her aids discontent. The Grand Mage couldn’t help but chuckle. Though she covered it with her hand and only the King himself noticed.

“If the Alsenian troops are so ill-suited for such a task then perhaps Paslone should take over. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind allowing some of my nation’s soldiers to inhabit a piece of Alsenian land.” Macsha continued.

“I shall have none of that!” the King nearly yelled as he slammed his fist into the arm of his chair. “If you believe that you can use this situation to place your military within Alsenian soil then you’re awfully mistaken. I will not have my country end up in shambles due to your government’s horrible leadership interfering with my own!”

The room went silent from the King’s outburst. Not only had he denied the Paslonians any chance to provide aid but he had also called out the representative’s entire governmental system. An act that could very well lead to war. However, none of the representatives looked as if they wanted that to happen. The silence was eventually broken when Thomas, the representative for Lesable raised his hand.

“What do you wish to ask, Thomas?” Appius asked.

“Perhaps I’m being a bit nosey but may I ask as to what the summoner’s name was? Why were they banished? And what do you plan to do next?” Thomas asked.

Rather than the King, the Grand Mage stepped forward to answer the questions. “The summoner’s name is Nero. He was banished for the act of necromancy. However, after an investigation, it seems that he was framed for the act. The one who should have been punished is right here.” the Grand Mage said before pointing to the boy beside her.

“Wait, I thought you wanted me to come here to show off my magecraft and impress the representatives! Why are you suddenly telling everyone that I committed a taboo?” the boy stammered out with a scared look.

“Oh, my? You’re barely capable of basic magecraft. For what reason would anyone ever want to show you off? That said, you were still able to partially summon an undead so I guess you’re not too bad at it.” The Grand Mage said with a haughty air as two guards seized the boy from behind. The representatives watched as the boy tried to break free. However, the grip of the guards was too strong for him to muscle out of.

“Due to your crimes, you shall be banished from Alsenia as well as any nations whose representatives are in the room. You shall also have your title of nobility revoked and you shall be branded not only with a brand of banishment but also a brand of false accusation. May the gods have mercy upon you.” the King said to the young boy before he was dragged off screaming.

Those in the room watched uncomfortably. Thomas and Lady Akatsine especially couldn’t hide their discomfort at the thought of what may happen to him once he had been removed from the room. Once he had been taken away they all returned their attention to the King.

“Now, to answer Thomas’ last question. I shall send my daughter Lucia and a select team of her finest troops northeast to Islandhand. The Grand Mage has predicted that Nero and the Hero shall be making their way there. She shall bring him back to Alsenia.” The King said.

“I know that you’ve thought this out before announcing this but Islandhand is not a part of our alliance. If Lucia were to be captured then Islandhand would undoubtedly use her against you and perhaps the whole alliance. To top it off there is the chance that they may team up with this Nero to attack Alsenia as an act of revenge. Do you really think that this is a good idea?” Otto asked.

“No, I don’t think this is a good idea. However, I can’t exactly sit idly by when such a powerful foe escapes to possibly enact revenge in the future. I have the Grand Mages’ word that she shall be safe and that this Nero would not aid Islandhand.” King Appius said reluctantly.

“I see. Then I shall trust your judgment.” Otto said with a nod before turning to the others in the room. “And what of the rest of you? Do you all believe it would be wise to do this?” Otto asked them.

Just like before they began murmuring among each other. None of them seemed content with the idea but none of them knew how else to deal with the situation with the information they knew. Many of them nodded in agreement but some didn’t give an answer at all. Though, it was the majority that agreed which made the King feel a bit more relaxed about the situation. Appius looked over at his daughter which was standing in the corner watching the situation. Once she realized that those in the room were compliant she walked over to King Appius and stood at attention.

“Father, I shall do as requested and retrieve this Nero as well as the Hero he summoned.” Lucia said with a salute before walking towards the door. The Grand Mage, Octavia followed behind her to give her the information about Nero that she would need.

* * *

Sasha and I rode up into the dense forest lining the edge of the mountains. Both of us were tired from the long ride and wanted to stop. However, the looming dark rainclouds flashed with lightning every so often behind us. Even with the Norhs running at full speed it was catching up to us. we couldn’t stop until they found somewhere safe to camp. However, if the storm caught up to us before then we may be forced to stop. It would be far too dangerous to travel through mountain terrain with such a large storm.

“Nero, do you know if there is any shelter in these mountains?” Sasha yelled to me as they rode onto a beaten mountain trail.

“There should be a small village somewhere within this mountain range. I have no clue how far away it is though. The fact that we found this trail is a good sign.” I yelled back to her as the two Norhs galloped up the trail as best they could. With the loose rocks underfoot it made it difficult for them to find proper footing.

Charging up the path, the Norhs’ human hand-like feet grabbed onto the rocks below and practically threw them behind them. Their elongated faces looked from left to right as they went to get some kind of idea of their surroundings. Even with their forward-facing eyes looking in multiple directions at once, the speed at which they traveled made it difficult to gauge their surroundings.

I could feel his Norhs’ two hearts beating against his legs. Knowing that they couldn’t go much further at this speed I became even more worried. However, the Norhs knew just as well as us about the storm behind them. Even if they wanted to stop the Norhs would keep running until they found somewhere safe. Even if it killed them in the process.

Once the two of us made it up the trail to the top of the first small mountain in the long continental mountain range we could see the small village in the distance. It sat on a small plateau-like flatland on the side of the mountain. Between us and the village was a valley with a decent-sized river running between the two mountains.

Looking behind us we saw that the storm was only an hour or so away. Getting to the village before the storm arrived was not an option. Despite that, we charged down the mountain as fast as we could. The slope made it difficult for their Norhs to properly gallop down the mountainside. Once Sasha and I reached the river we saw a small cottage on stilts at the end of the path. Beside it in the water was a raft big enough to hold a carriage with two long ropes planted into the ground on either side of the river to hold it in place.

“Is anyone here? We need to cross the river! There’s a storm coming!” I called out as the two made their way to the cottage.

A few minutes later an old man in his mid-forties walked out of the cottage and looked down at us from his balcony. His grumpy-looking face became more grumpy when he saw us. I could feel that he didn’t want to help us but walked down the stairs anyway. His short stature and long beard made him look like a dwarf but anyone could tell that he just had a hunch.

“You want over the river then it will cost you.” the man said without an introduction.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a gold coin. “This should be more than enough.” I said as I threw him the coin. He caught it and began looking it over.

“Yeah, get on the ferry. I’ll take you over.” he said before climbing onto the ferry.

Once we had climbed aboard with our Norhs the old man began cranking a pully system that dragged the ferry across the river. As the ferry was slowly dragged along the ropes to the other side of the river we started feeling rain dribbling on our backs. Looking up we saw the edge of the dark gray clouds. Sasha gave me a look of dread just as a large flash of lightning struck somewhere beyond the mountain beyond us.

Fun random facts from the author: Norhs are large horse-like creatures with human hands instead of hooves and more muscular legs. Their eyes are forward-facing as they are a predator and they have two separate hearts to help circulate blood. Usually found in the plains of the southern part of the continent. These creatures will sneak up on their prey, get on their hind legs and wrestle them to the ground where they choke them to death. In order to tame them, humans would challenge these creatures in the wild to one on one wrestling matches. Once dominated, the Norhs would then be loyal to any human they come across for the rest of their lives.

Norhs training families (like the one Queen Vita comes from) are rare but are considered more powerful than most specialized soldiers in hand-to-hand combat as they have their children wrestle young Norhs for fun. At one point Norhs wrestling was a specialized sport where suplexing the giant beasts was commonplace. It fell out of popularity though after Norhs boxing was introduced. However, this was accidentally introduced when the Norhs realized they could just sucker-punch the humans instead of climbing on top of them. Most martial arts are tested on wild Norhs in order to test their usefulness.