“The gall!” King Baldur snapped. “You do not respect the crown I wear; you torture my emissary and steal my enchantress. You have no honor. I know you’re primitives but you cannot expect to behave like this in affairs of state without reprisal.”
“Threats of intimidation, preposterous demands and righteous bluster may be how you conduct business in the Northlands but you are no longer in the Northlands,” Lahn replied (again in Korwahk).
King Baldur shifted angrily in his chair before he cried, “This is outrageous! The woman who sits beside you belongs to me!”
I tensed but Lahn leaned forward, forearm to knee, not aggressively, just casually and returned, “My golden queen does not know you, how can she belong to you?”
“She lies!” King Baldur shouted with a hand pointed in my direction and Ghost growled, pushing up on her front paws to sitting, her blue eyes not leaving the king.
“A caution, fat man,” Lahn said in a low voice and King Baldur’s face went red with fury when the words were translated, “do not insult my queen.” He opened his mouth to retort but Lahn kept speaking. “This man at your side is no emissary. He is a spy. In the Southlands, these activities are dealt with harshly. He has been among us for many years. He knows our ways. His actions were foolish and his punishment swift. If he has run crying to you like a girl then he should not have boarded the ship that would cross the Marhac Sea that would bring him to the dust and stone of Korwahk.”
Okay, cutting someone’s tongue out was harsh but Lahn was not wrong. You know the rules, you play the game, you lose, you pay the price.
Still. Yikes!
“Your actions are barbaric, including you seizing women and forcing them to be slaves to your cocks, one of these women being mine and she sits by your side. If you wish to keep her at your side, I will have restitution!” King Baldur yelled.
“Do you threaten to steal my queen?” Lahn asked.
“You do not pay then you must be prepared for what happens, all that will happen, when my soldiers ride,” King Baldur shot back, the armored men at his back straightened attentively and Lahn sat back.
What he didn’t do was speak.
This silence lasted a long time and was clearly more than King Baldur could endure for his eyes flashed to me.
“Circe, come to your king this instant!” he ordered. “You serve me.”
“I’m telling you, sir, I do not know you,” I replied, he jumped out of his seat and the instant he did, Ghost gained all four of hers and started growling.
“Do not lie, you stupid bitch!” he boomed. “Come to your king!”
“Sit,” Lahn ordered in English and King Baldur’s gaze snapped to him with both anger and obvious surprise at his use of Baldur’s tongue.
“Do not, you stinking, savage animal, dare to command me!” King Baldur clipped.
“You sit or I’ll force you to sit by cutting your legs off at the knees,” Lahn told him in English again and I tensed because I knew he could do this and would. He was not armed but I suspected he could be, if he wanted, in less than a second.
“The insolence!” King Baldur shouted. “You cannot attack a king during a state visit!”
“You are in the Southlands, fat man, I can do what I wish. Now sit on your fat ass or your nation will lose its king. Your son, who is weak and prefers to have his cock stroked while he accepts his lover’s through his ass, will succeed your throne. Which means, since he is weak, his lover will rule your nation.”
King Baldur snapped his mouth shut, a telling sign that this was true. His eyes widening told the tale that he was surprised Lahn had this information.
“It is unfortunate,” Lahn went on, “as there are many men who prefer this, that your son is not the kind who is strong. But you know, fat man, that he isn’t and his lover is greedy, manipulative and foolish. If your son sits on your throne and allows his lover to pull his strings, your own people will revolt to reunite with their sisterland of Lunwyn or Fleuridia or even Hawkvale as well as Prince Noctorno will ride on Middleland to seek vengeance for your years of gluttonous follies and they will succeed. Middleland will cease to exist as they cut up pieces as their glory.”
King Baldur glared at him then proclaimed, “We are done. We will ride,” and he started to lift his hand but Lahn warned, “I would not do that.”
At Lahn’s low, rumbling, severe tone, King Baldur’s hand arrested in mid-air and he continued to glare at Lahn.
When he did, Lahn shared, “You know of our plans to ride on Maroo. You know when we plan to ride on Maroo. I would hope you are not foolish enough to think you and your soldiers have crossed my land without my knowledge so you also know I would prepare to ride against you to defend Korwahn.”
King Baldur said not a word so I guessed Lahn was right, he came through Korwahk fully knowing Lahn knew he was coming which was a bizarre thing to do.
Lahn went on. “What I know is, to have your tantrum and try your hand at taking our treasure, for, do not think, fat man, that I suspect for one moment you wish more to have your magical one back but instead you wish to return to your throne with trunks of our riches. Your play centers around increasing the wealth of your throne, not your nation. Your throne. So you think that, if I were to refuse your demands, while I am otherwise engaged in defending my city, you will unleash a plot to kidnap my queen. This means you would sacrifice thirty thousand of your soldiers to my warrior’s steel for a tantrum and for greed. Nevertheless, you undoubtedly have an escape plan so, as your warriors fall, you can safely return to your homeland and continue your tyranny at the same time demand ransom in return for my golden bride.”
He paused, King Baldur made no sound or move and Lahn continued.
“What you do not know is that we have allied with Keenhak. They have sent forty thousand of their warriors to aid in our campaign against Maroo. And as you blustered before me, feeling safe in the knowledge that your soldiers are lined behind you, Keenhak warriors took formation behind them. You lift that hand, I lift mine and your soldiers would be cut down before they took their first breath of Korwahn air and I, fat man, nor my brethren, would have to lift a blade except to cut down the metal men at your back.”
King Baldur’s hand stayed lifted, his lips started to curl and Lahn finished.
“And, you should know, your archers who took their positions an hour ago were dispatched before my queen reached Korwahn’s Majestic Rim. Not one of them lives.”
Geoffrey took a step back. King Baldur’s face paled and his hand dropped. I tried hard not to smile. Ghost sat down on her ass.
“Now,” Lahn went on, “you will leave with no trunks filled with Korwahk’s bounty in your greedy, fat hands. What you will leave with is your life and the knowledge that if you ever carry forth a plot that threatens my golden queen, you will die choking on your own balls and you’ll do it while staring in my eyes.”
King Baldur visibly swallowed. Geoffrey took another step back.
Lahn grew impatient. “I am savage so you must recognize I am being generous with this offer. Therefore you also must know your continued presence is making me impatient.”
Geoffrey shuffled back quickly, losing himself in the sea of Korwahk warriors behind him.
King Baldur gave Lahn one last, long glare then shifted his substantial bulk around and barked at the men behind him. “Bring me my mount!”
And I sat silent beside a silent Lahn as his mount was brought to him and we watched as it took two tries for him to heft his substantial weight in the saddle while his armored soldiers deftly mounted their own steeds and then, with some haste, they were away.