"We can wait no longer," Queen Shana announced. "How ready are we to move?"
"As per your command, I have a thousand men ready to follow you," General Nakhim answered. "However, I still caution restraint, don't go out there."
"My people are in danger, what would you have me do?" She said firmly. To the soldiers and even the General listening, her image rose considerably. However, he still lamented. The Queen's orders were insane. It was as if she did not intend to come back.
Nakhim was breaking down now. "Then allow me to follow you. I made a promise to your father before he perished, that I would look after you and your mother ..."
"A promise well kept," Shana interrupted with a smile. "However, Uncle, this is something I must do myself."
"Look after my palace, and my people while I'm gone," It was said as an afterthought, but this was same as naming him the leader in her absence. It was a wonder she could confer powers so easily.
Meanwhile, in a different part of town, a few old men were seated together. Unlike before, Masila did not call everyone, just a few like-minded individuals.
"Did you hear, the Queen sets off to battle," One snickered, wondering how daft the woman could be.
"If someone had designs and plans, that would make things easy," Another said. Everyone turned to look at Masila, since they knew this is why they were gathered here. However, the man still seemed to be spaced out.
"When she leaves, who's left in command?" Another asked, perhaps trying to dispell the tension a while longer.
"Who else, if not that old fool Nakhim," The banter continued.
"Sl**ping with the previous Queen seemed to have paid off."
"And he claims to have been the King's friend. I think he probably wanted the King to die, just to take his place," there were rumors flying about this sort of thing.
"I am sorry, but I can't! Masila, we need to act!" Suddenly, an elder banged on the table, startling everyone. "You told us to withhold support, we did. If that b**ch comes back and is somehow victorious, we are goners!"
"With barely a thousand men?" Masila finally spoke up. "Even if the Mother Goddess came down and fought herself, could she save the stupid broad."
"Why would she go out now, is she giving up? Is this an act of suicide? What could she hope to achieve?" Masile muttered, almost to himself. "However, you are right, we must act now. Not because we are goners, but to safeguard our people."
Just like that, chaos was about to descend on the once peaceful city.
...
After hearing the gunshots, the hordes had considerably slowed down, even taking time to eat. As they did, the commander, Maraga, seemed to change tactics.
First, he sent out a group of scouts. No fool would walk their entire army after hearing suspect behaviour. None of the scouts returned. Juani's bow was quite useful, taking down the scouts without arousing suspicion.
Next, he had the horde actually settle down, stop moving and eat their provisions. He seemed to have realized that this was not going to be a walk in the park, and he needed his people strong and rational. The previous tactic was reserved for walk overs.
In a sense, it was as though he was daring whatever was out there to come in and attack, if it could. Jim seemed to understand this, and was struggling to make a decision.
If he confidently went in and attacked, he could succeed, but he would put his people in harm's way. If he held back, the horde would continue to look down on them, which could have an effect on the soldiers' psyche.
"I think we can take them," Jassim spoke. He too was looking at the group. His fighting spirit was fired up. Jim was still weighing the pros and cons of attacking.
"All of them, without any survivors?" Jim queried, causing Jassim to pause. He had the confidence to win this fight, but to exterminate the group, not so much. The commander seemed to have more sense than the previous group, and these ones numbered on the thousands.
"Everyone, take out your provisions, have some food and water, I need to check on something," Jim answered before leaving abruptly. None followed. They were used to him suddenly rushing off.
The visor on his person could not be exposed, so he went to a secluded place and pulled out a tablet. First thing he saw was Shana's notification letting him know that she'd set off. He quickly pulled out a map to check her location.
At first, he'd been hopeful, but seeing her location, he realized she was still days away from the border. That would mean that they were on their own.
Jim had decided to err on the side of caution. There was also something else he had planned. He'd called the Queen out to witness a victory, not to mop up after a battle. She and the thousand men with her were crucial to his future plans.
As for the horde, he was in no particular hurry. They were going nowhere, so the best thing he could do was whittle them down. By the time the army got here, they would have reduced from thousands to hundreds.
Jim pulled out his drone feed to observe the horde, since he had a number of them hovering in the clouds above them. If he wanted, he could rain shells and end this fight, but that would not be according to plan.
He had to commend the commander for adapting quickly to the situation. Some fools would have charged in, but this guy held back. As Jim observed, he noticed the sentinels and the makeshift structures. It would seem these guys were settling in.
"Perfect!" Jim thought as he rubbed his paws together. He then wrote a quick reply to the Queen before switching off the communicator. He too took out some provisions and had a snack, waiting for the sun to go down.
As dusk slowly gathered, a boy tore through the forest at a steady pace. He was one of the runners of the horde, used to transmit information. It would take him several hours to get to his destination.
The Zithilite King had just received some piece of news. The Queen herself had left the city and gone off to the battlefield. He was beside himself with laughter, wondering what prompted such a stupid decision.
Already, the assets he had in the capital were on the move, and they were the ones passing information. The kingdom was crumbling from within as well.
"What of Maraga?" He asked, still with a smile.
"A runner has just arrived." The adviser said, but paused, wondering how to proceed.
"Well? What did they say?" The King demanded.
"There's something in the woods," The adviser answered, "and then they collapsed."
...
In a boardroom, a group of well dressed and professional people were seated, staring at the screen. The person at the head of the table held a tablet in his hand, as he reviewed the information.
If Jim was present, he'd be shocked to see his face at the top of the document. Matter of fact, this entire document was a record of his whole life, a dossier of who he was. It contained everything the corporation knew about him.
"Are we expected to believe this person is some escaped criminal seeking refuge?" A female voice demanded on the other side of the boardroom screen. On it, was another boardroom, much like the one they were in, only, the people on the other side were not really humans.
"Believe what you want, this is the truth," The man at the table answered back. "You can have your people investigate if you doubt us."
"We will definitely investigate," The female on the other side fired back. "And what do we do about this? We agreed, no interference from either side!"
"We have not interfered," The man answered with a smile.
"This person discovered the planet through unknown means, and somehow managed to plot a course to that place. Yet you claim to not have interfered," The female was infuriated. She felt as though the man was taking her for a fool.
"This person, while a common criminal, has proven themselves to be quite resourceful," The man answered, still quite calm. "He elluded capture multiple times, and had we not been focusing on this planet, he would have remained unnoticed. Do you not have resourceful criminals on your side."
"Regardless of how we got in this mess, how do we solve it? Walk us how you will go about extracting the man," A different voice, definitely male, and definitely gruff.
"Extraction?" The man seemed shocked. "Why would we do such a thing? Didn't we agree no interference?"
"Isn't this man's presence interference?" The voice demanded.
"I feel as though this conversation is beginning to go round and round," the man muttered, looking helpless. Deep down, he was sniggering.
None of this had been planned, but how could he not see the potential in all this. If this new variable could give him the upper hand, how wonder would that be. However, he did not plan on showing his hand just yet, all he could do was hold back the other side from acting.
He then clicked on the screen to change his view. From deep in space, the satellites there could see all the details of everything that was happening on the ground.
Despite all the surveillance, they had somehow missed Jim's entry, and even failed to notice him entirely. Had he not taken action, produced forbidden tech, the satellites never would have flagged him.
The best part, now he was heavily ingrained into the game, and he could not be easily removed without either side showing their hand, and this was an absolute no-no! This is what prompted this conversation.
Looking through the tablet, he caught Jim as he was recording a video to the Queen. As he listened in, he couldn't help smiling at the budding love between the two. Either that, or the boy was pulling all the stops to get to his desired goal. His money was in the latter, but he was impressed by the boy's creativity.
All this was like a soap opera, and he wondered how it would all end.