[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Third Person POV
Loc Muinne.
...
...
The room was in complete silence at first, while Madara and Ciri stood patiently at their podium, like the other kings.
There was no way not to look around the hall, all the kings had their eyes on them, studying them, analyzing them and drawing their own conclusions in their minds.
Geralt and Yennefer stood behind the two like guards and even advisors, and they could also notice what was happening there.
Ciri and Madara were the center of that place, at the same time Madara and Ciri were also looking at each of the occupied podiums.
Under the banner of Temeria stood King Foltest. Imposing, hands resting on the hilt of his ceremonial sword. At his side was his queen and behind him, military advisors and two court mages exchanged discreet murmurs.
Foltest did not seem hostile. But his eyes were fixed on Cintra's podium. He had no idea that Madara and Ciri had been in his kingdom in the last moons, staying in Ellander, which is not far from the Temerian capital and the king's seat.
Under the standard of Redania stood King Vizimir II.
At his side, Queen Hedwig of Malleore, maintaining a rigid posture and a calculated expression. A little behind them, observing in an almost unsettling way, was the young prince Radovid.
Among the advisors, two figures drew attention. Sigismund Dijkstra — the spy who looked at both Madara and Ciri, as well as at everyone else, observing the reactions of the others. Philippa Eilhart was another figure there, she had an overly serene expression, analyzing Madara and Ciri with cold interest and certainly having her own thoughts about it, her eyes sometimes fell on Yennefer, sometimes on Tissaia.
Under the banner of Kaedwen stood King Henselt. At his side, his queen, behind him, famous generals and knights. But there was also the court sorceress, Sheala de Tancarville, along with others.
Henselt was more uncomfortable in that place, everyone had heard of the power Madara wielded and everyone there was afraid, but Henselt went beyond that. After all, he knew very well what that monster could do.
When Henselt had racist ideas against non-humans, he did not hesitate to attack Kaer Morhen, he did not hesitate to order the massacre of non-humans living in his kingdom, wanting to expel them or even exterminate them.
He had also received contact from one of his advisors, a sorcerer who had contact with Vilgefortz at the time, what he did not expect was that the information about Madara being in Kaer Morhen was, in fact, true.
What he had expected to be an excuse to cleanse his lands of mutants ended up becoming his worst nightmare, after all, Madara acted soon after. He beat him night after night, removing him from his bed and beating him, then erasing his memories and placing him back in bed as if nothing had happened. He would only wake up in pain and his wife screaming at him, all bruised from the beatings and without knowing what was happening, only that he had been cursed in some way.
It was terrifying that he, a king of one of the greatest kingdoms of the North, could be killed so easily if the man who beat him wanted to end his life once and for all, Henselt was horrified after all the chaos Madara caused in the castle and in his life.
He swore he would do nothing, even so, besides suffering a kind of pain he had never felt in his life, always having his life of royal luxury, he lost a good part of the kingdom's knights when Madara interfered in his plans for the non-humans of the realm.
He had submitted without thinking twice, at that time, Madara placed an illusion in his mind that would summon the complete Susanoo and destroy the capital and Kaedwen with a single movement of the sword.
It was a bluff at that time, but enough to know that the king was nothing compared to his power, and it was true that Madara could simply kill him without Henselt being able to do anything.
"Are you well, my king?" one of the advisors asked, seeing Henselt break into a cold sweat.
"I am! Just a little tired, but I am fine, do not insist on it!" he demanded immediately, he was very afraid, Kaedwen had had two places attacked, without knowing that Kaer Morhen had as well, but only Madara and the witchers knew about that.
He needed to know about the strange things happening in his kingdom, about the dragons, about the organization called Akatsuki, of which there was no doubt that it was Madara behind it and also about the strange giant forest that appeared in the south of the kingdom, after a fire that drew the attention of the entire region, the giant trees are there to this day.
These trees were made at the time when Madara fought the mother-unicorn and killed the ancient witchers with chakra easily.
In any case, Henselt tried to remain firm.
'He cannot kill us here, correct?! He signed the non-aggression pact and the sorceresses ensured that this place would not become a bloodbath!' He was debating this the entire time, while keeping his eyes on Madara, although always looking away when he saw the black eyes meeting his own.
Under the colors of Aedirn stood King Demavend III, also more restrained and cautious. There was the woman at his side who could be called the queen of Aedirn.
There was a kind of diplomatic council and a mage with a nervous expression, clearly less confident than the others present.
Demavend himself seemed worried, Aedirn exchanged glances with some kings as well in a possible communication through looks, but so poorly done that Madara mocked it upon seeing it, even Geralt and Yennefer could see it.
Under the golden and blue standard of Lyria and Rivia stood Queen Meve, she had no king consort.
Even at a meeting, she did not wear clothing like the others, but rather partial armor beneath the royal cloak. Sword visible. A famous warrior.
The military queen did not seem impressed, nor intimidated. She maintained a firm expression, no matter the kind of monster before her.
Her eyes met Ciri's with something different from the others: recognition. Perhaps even respect. Which impressed the holder of the throne of Cintra.
Under the silver coat of arms of Kovir and Poviss stood King Esterad Thyssen, at his side was Queen Zuleyka.
They liked to flaunt, after all there was woven gold in their garments, visibly wanting to display such wealth before all the kingdoms of the North.
Kovir was not famous for wars — but for financing those who won them. The men behind the king and queen, together with the heir to the throne, were more merchants than generals.
There were even rumors that they were financing Nilfgaard in its first military campaign to the north, conquering Cintra, but not advancing past Sodden. And many had their suspicions about that.
Esterad observed like an investor evaluating a new business. His eyes were on Madara and Ciri the entire time, his mind working silently.
Under a smaller standard, representing Caingorn, the kingdom of the far north, beside Kovir, and as king, stood King Niedamir.
Discreet, almost overshadowed by the presence of the others. But attentive.
Another smaller banner was Brugge, which had its first problem with Madara as soon as Cintra fell, because at that time, Calanthe thought they could capture Ciri, with a group of sorcerers, what they had no idea of was the power Madara possessed. The rumors of what he did on the battlefield in the south of Cintra were nothing more than mere gossip to them, no one truly took seriously that a 13 or 14-year-old teenager could really massacre an entire group of sorcerers.
Which ended up happening as soon as they began hunting the princess of Cintra.
Madara not only killed almost all of them, but placed a sorcerer under a genjutsu and tried to kill the king of Brugge with a direct attack, Tissaia herself intervened and saved the king, who fell to the ground in fright.
It was not for nothing that the king of Brugge himself was there, restless, he might be the smallest kingdom of the North, being mocked and even intimidated before the kings, but his fear of Madara was greater than all the kings combined. He, like the king of Kaedwen, was worried that this meeting would turn into a bloodbath, because no matter how many sorcerers or knights were there, they could not truly deal with this man.
Because even though he seemed to enter the northern political game by becoming the king consort of Cintra, he could dominate all the kingdoms of the North if he wanted to do what he did in the war, a little after the attempted assassination of the king of Brugge.
Beside Cintra's podium stood Sodden's podium. Thorne had a calm look. But he maintained an expression of someone who was in control, even among the smaller kingdoms of the North, he did not bow his head.
And everyone knew of his presence at Madara and Cirilla's wedding, a publicly declared ally, for all to see. While the kings and queens sent noble representatives with expensive gifts, Thorne gave land from Sodden and personally went with his family and court to Skellige to witness the wedding.
There were still three empty podiums. The banners of Verden, Cidaris and Skellige, which are, in fact, neighbors.
They had not yet arrived, and the place was in complete silence, the only thing to be heard were whispers, taking care not to be too loud, while eyes fixed on the new players in the Northern political game, while Madara and Ciri continued keeping their gaze on the other kings.
Madara then moved, he took something from his pocket and placed it around Ciri's wrist, fastening it while she looked at it curiously, despite saying nothing. Her eyes turned to Madara with a questioning look.
'This is something I took from one of Vilgefortz's hideouts.' Madara said in a way that sounded inside Ciri's head, making her widen her eyes.
'What is this?!' she asked, still surprised.
'This is a small enchanted gold bracelet, perhaps made in the era when the elves ruled the Continent. Vilgefortz seems to have found it or stolen it from someone, I found it in one of his hideouts in the middle of the mountains. I tested it with Triss in Novigrad. It allows us to communicate through telepathy, as long as we both wear it,' Madara said, showing his own wrist, where there was a gold bracelet engraved with runes.
'This is incredible. So we can remain discreet while exchanging thoughts,' said Ciri, turning her attention forward again, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
The look between the two did not go unnoticed, but no one knew exactly what they were doing, much less that they were communicating.
That bracelet was ancient and there seemed to be nothing similar in this era, like a lost technology. It was true that sorceresses could communicate telepathically, but there was no device like this, that even ordinary people could use.
In any case, the door finally opened.
"The kings and queens of Verden are finally among us. Please, enter," announced Hen Gedymdeith, the sorcerer responsible for the presentations.
Two groups entered wearing crowns. Ciri made a small grimace upon seeing the royal family of Verden, Madara also cast a curious glance.
Ciri had been promised to the crown prince of Verden when she was six years old, shortly before meeting Madara. It was then that she fled before being taken to the capital of Verden, entering the forest of Brokilon, where she met Geralt for the first time, though already bound to her by destiny since before the princess's birth. It was there that she also met the dryads, who tried to keep her there.
It was a little later that Madara met Ciri for the first time, when she had already entered Cintra, traveling through the forest to reach the capital faster, Madara prevented Ciri from being attacked by necrophages.
In any case, returning to the meeting of the kings, there was nothing noteworthy between the king of Verden and the king of Cidaris. The kings and queens went to their podiums under their banners, accompanied by their advisors, while they analyzed the other attendees.
Their eyes also fell upon the banner of Cintra — the only place there that did not currently possess real territory among the kingdoms of the North, since Cintra had been conquered. Even so, there was caution and fear when observing the figures beneath that banner, especially Madara.
Ciri was no longer looked at with mere curiosity. Many had seen her image through Yennefer's memories years ago, when there had been a scar on her face, made by Madara to mislead any gaze from the real Ciri. They did not fail to be surprised when seeing her now, clearly beautiful and without any mark.
There were also the rumors spread, mainly by Bran, who never hid what he witnessed during Madara's and the others' stay in Skellige, commenting that Ciri had matched her husband in many of the battles they fought on the islands.
And, speaking of Skellige, it did not take long for the sorcerer to announce:
"The king Bran and his queen, Birna, are here with their council." The door opened, and Bran entered with a small smile on his face.
"So this is where the damned kings hide?" he exclaimed loudly, making several monarchs grimace at the wild roar of the king of Skellige.
He signed the book like all the others, and looked at each banner until resting on Cintra's, before opening a smile upon seeing Madara staring at him and Ciri returning it with a brief smile.
"Ah, there you are… and you have not changed at all," declared Bran with a grin, as he advanced to the podium under the banner of Skellige, which stood beside Cintra's.
"It has not even been a year, Uncle Bran. How could we change?" said Ciri.
King Bran burst into laughter.
"That is true. Wait, that is... you are not wearing Calanthe's crown!? You look so much like her… I am certain she would be proud if she were seeing this right now."
Ciri gave a more timid smile. "Thank you," she murmured.
Tissaia stepped forward. "Well, now that we have the last podium filled, we may begin. All the kings and queens of the North are finally gathered in their first official meeting after almost one hundred years," she declared.
Indeed, all the Northern realms had not gathered for nearly a century. The meeting that occurred four or five years ago did not count, since not all the kings and queens had participated to discuss the war of Sodden at the time.
But now it was different.
Officially, all the greatest powers of the North of the Continent were gathered there.
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Raccoon Here:
I wanted to make this chapter as a presentation and tell a bit more about the characters in the story.
And I do not know whether the meeting between all the kings had truly taken that long to officially occur, but I placed it here as almost one hundred years, if I am wrong, correct me.
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