[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Loc Muinne.
...
...
It didn't take long for the sorcerers and other nobles and knights, who were outside the main hall, to enter the place.
They would remain in a neutral space, being allowed to participate in the meeting as long as they were authorized by Tissaia, who would act as the mediator before all the monarchs present.
"As you know, this meeting serves for us to discuss the future of the North and the problems that exist within it. No one is authorized to physically attack or threaten the life of anyone here. Perhaps this is the most important gathering we have had in the last hundred years to discuss matters of interest to everyone..." Tissaia began in the middle of the hall.
Many of the sorcerers and even nobles gathered in a corner. Even Coral approached Triss, while Tissaia continued to lay out the rules of the meeting.
"I heard that you came along with the two of them. Given how close you were to Yennefer, it's not surprising that you're with them," Coral said in a tone of interest, while Triss stared at her with a dark expression.
"What do you want, Coral?" Triss said. She narrowed her eyes. She didn't like that woman very much, known for being greedy and having been involved in questionable situations. She had already slept with Geralt and had even tortured her apprentice because the witcher had shown more interest in the young apprentice than in Coral at the time.
"I'm just a little surprised. I heard you received an offer to accompany King Henselt, but it seems you completely severed your ties with the court of Temeria... which is even understandable." She then looked at the podium with Cintra's banner. "Anyone who saw those two knew that, even without lands or an army, they held the greatest power in the North. Especially the boy..." she said, opening a slight seductive smile as she pressed her lips together.
"Always trying to bite off more than you can chew, Coral. I thought you had given that up," said Triss.
"I behaved at their wedding. Obviously, I wasn't foolish, but if I could have him for myself..."
"So you still have certain intentions? Know this, if you try to hurt either of them, it will be the last thing you ever do. I can do everything to try to stop you, but know that those two are not easy targets. They are far more dangerous than anything you have ever faced. Remember that," Triss growled.
Her gaze returned to where Madara and Ciri were. Yennefer looked at Triss with a gleam in her eyes. Yennefer sighed. She already knew exactly what might be happening there, seeing her friend with Coral speaking maliciously at her side, while Triss grew angry at the other red-haired witch's comments.
"...That is why every sorcerer must announce themselves when a king wishes to speak about any matter," Tissaia continued dictating the rules.
All the most prestigious sorcerers on the continent were there, with the exception of those who had allied themselves with Nilfgaard or who had been practically expelled from the courts of the North. Francesca, who no longer held much standing with the North—especially because of the problem the Scoia'tael were creating along the trade routes between the kingdoms—was not present. Fringilla, a known supporter of Nilfgaard, was not there either.
Obviously, they had even tried to enter the meeting, but were prevented for obvious reasons.
"Well, then let us begin our gathering today. I invite the first to speak." Tissaia finally announced.
"Let me speak first!" King Bran said, striking the wood of the podium and immediately drawing everyone's attention with his already well-known savagery, earning many looks of disgust and hostility from several kings and queens.
At his side was his wife, wearing an arrogant expression, while behind him stood his eldest son, who seemed somewhat insecure. Mousesack was also there, having greeted Ciri and Madara moments earlier when they arrived. As soon as Bran and the others settled in, there were still other familiar loyalists beside him, along with the druid and some warriors of Skellige among them. Crach was there as well, greeting Ciri, Madara, Geralt, and Yennefer.
"Proceed, King Bran of Skellige," Tissaia said. Although she had also frowned at the king's outburst, she maintained her professional composure.
He took a deep breath. "I first want to tell all of you—or at least most of you—that you are a bunch of... cowards!"
He simply pointed at all the kings and queens, who reacted in different ways: some growled irritably, others looked offended and made faces, while a few merely mocked the situation.
"Coward? You dare call me a coward, savage king?" Henselt roared.
"Why do you say that, King Bran?" Meve of Lyria and Rivia asked openly.
The king of Redania wore a curious look, while the king of Kovir could not stop mocking the situation.
Bran looked at Meve with more respect than at the others. He saw in her a true warrior, regardless of her sex—unlike many there, who wore expensive cloaks, golden crowns, and displayed enormous bellies from lack of exercise. If one was to have a belly, it should be from beer celebrated after a battle, holding an axe. Bran respected only that.
"I am saying that, about five or six years ago, you cowered before the threat of Nilfgaard. Calanthe might have been arrogant, but no one sought to help Cintra. Quite the opposite. Only Skellige fought alongside Cintra to resist the Nilfgaardian advance, and we lost. I lost my brother and many men in that fight, while all of you were comfortable on your thrones. It was only after Cintra had fallen that you suddenly tried to act, when the army of the Black Knights was already invading Sodden."
He pointed once again at the others.
"So tell me: did you not hesitate for a moment when those damned Nilfgaardians invaded the North? I lay much of the blame on you," Bran said. "Do you know why? Because I am certain that the desire of many here was to tear Cintra apart to claim it for yourselves. I know that none of you liked Calanthe very much—you did not like her arrogance, her harsh way of acting and speaking. And because of that, you almost had your own kingdoms invaded. After all, someone stopped them at Sodden, did they not?"
He stepped back after finishing pouring out everything he had been holding in for years.
They could have united, they could have helped Cintra, but instead they wanted to take advantage of the situation with the fall of the kingdom.
Madara remained calm, listening to everything in silence. He looked at his wife, who clenched her fist each time she heard Bran speak. Her eyes were fixed on the kings. She had never thought deeply in that way. She understood that Madara had not been powerful enough, before the fall of Cintra, to stop the invasion, since his abilities had only blossomed when they spent moons fleeing through southern Temeria.
'Calm down, Ciri,' Madara spoke telepathically.
Ciri tightened her fists a little more before sighing and nodding.
'You may blame the greed of those kings, but Calanthe also did not want to listen about the invasion at the beginning, when I mentioned my suspicions. She could have prepared better, but she was arrogant. She is your grandmother, but she had her flaws,' Madara said in an even stern tone.
Ciri wanted to protest, but in the end she could not say anything. How could she know how her grandmother would have acted? Still, Madara was right about Calanthe's stubbornness.
"You speak as if Calanthe had made things easier." A queen mocked.
"This matter has nothing to do with today's discussions. Only a fool would look for someone to blame now. I know you lost a brother, the one who was king consort of Cintra, in that battle, but there is no need to point fingers," said the king of Kovir, in a very diplomatic tone.
"If that is all you have to say, Bran, then we may continue. After all, we have other matters to discuss here," said the king of Redania, looking at Tissaia, who nodded before beginning to mediate the next topics of the meeting.
"Well, there is something I would like to speak about regarding the war again. I want to ask Madara," King Henselt raised his voice, watching him.
Everyone present also fixed their attention on the young man beside Cintra's banner. Even the sorcerers and soldiers who were in the lower part of the hall stopped whispering about the first argument and completely shifted their focus to it.
Tissaia looked at King Henselt and then at Madara, who nodded.
'What is that fool going to ask?' Ciri grumbled mentally.
'I believe it is about the war. These kings held an emergency meeting when I unleashed the Susanoo for the first time. So expect a question like that,' Madara replied calmly.
Henselt turned to ask his question. "Do you admit that you summoned that blue giant during the Battle of Sodden?"
Before everyone's eyes, Madara answered calmly: "Yes. I am responsible for the appearance of that giant who split two mountains."
Whispers began to echo throughout the hall. Some frowned. Even though they already knew the answer, hearing it directly unsettled many there.
"In light of that, the question I ask you is: what are you?" Henselt asked openly. "The war reports state that you advanced alone against one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, shouting that you would face them by yourself and that no one should interfere. You ran into the battlefield and began causing destruction, using various kinds of unknown magic, moving faster than any Nilfgaardian soldier could react, cutting through their armor as if it were paper."
The general who had been on the battlefield and commanded the forces of Temeria—the largest force sent to Sodden—who had been present that day of the war and now stood behind King Henselt, could not help but frown as he looked at Madara at Cintra's podium.
What he saw that day had marked him forever. It still appeared in his dreams. Even before that giant emerged, he had been beside Thorne, king of Sodden, watching the fight as Madara, alone, devastated the battlefield amid the flames. He simply dodged and cut men down endlessly, as if it were nothing, as if he had complete dominion over the field, moving in a way the general had never seen anyone fight.
One man in the midst of an entire army, while no one could wound him. What he left behind was a trail of screams of pain and death.
And after the appearance of the Strangers, when the North retaliated by fighting the black soldiers alongside mages and sorcerers, Madara was still in the middle of the enemy army when those men emerged with powers that could rival his. For the first time, he seemed to be at a disadvantage, being surrounded by them.
That was until he completely changed the battlefield.
No one had ever truly seen him serious, but everyone felt that something shifted. His presence, his pressure, was different. Then he raised an entire forest in the midst of the Nilfgaardians. Blue giants appeared fighting those strange men, and afterward he summoned a giant that surpassed any other, the size of a mountain, destroying the Nilfgaardian army with a single movement.
How could any man—be he king, sorcerer, or soldier—forget what he saw that day?
"My powers are none of your concern, King Henselt," Madara replied calmly.
The man frowned. They wanted information. Madara was still a great mystery, a variable they did not know how to handle.
"You cannot—" An arrogant noble did not like Madara's answer.
"Shut up!" the general himself interrupted the noble who was about to shout at Madara. "I know we have a non-aggression pact, but understand one thing, you idiot: if that boy acts, no one here can stop him. And we will only be able to await our death," the general said.
Henselt was not satisfied with the answer. "Even if you use strange magic, can you at least say what you are? Because no human should have as much power as you possess. And we also want to know who those people were who had powers similar to yours. There are reports that others with the same abilities appeared during the dragon attack in Kaedwen. Can you at least tell me that?"
Ciri looked worriedly at Madara while speaking something telepathically, but he merely shook his head.
'They want to know? Very well.' He turned his attention back to the kings.
"About those people, there is nothing to say. But if you want to know who I am, then let me tell you."
He paused, becoming the center of the greatest concentration of political power in the North.
"I am human. But, unlike you, I am the last of the Uchiha. A clan of powerful warriors who were extinguished more than 300 years ago."
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