A/N: The format's a little weird on this one to make it work for a self imposed challenge. I hope you like it anyway. (For the record, there aren't specifically eight Medes, but there are eight sections, and this was for a Twelve Days of Christmas challenge, so . . . )
"Well," Eddis said when the Mede delegation had left the room, "we are the only only country on the Peninsula they haven't tried yet. We should have expected this."
"I suppose we overestimated their sense," the Minister of War said dryly.
Eddis smiled. "Keep them away from the wagons. I'll handle the rest."
"Attolia has grown hungry, Your Majesty," the ambassador said. His voice was as oily as his beard. "And with Sounis under its heel, your upcoming marraige will only feed their ambitions."
"My choices are limited."
The Mede's smile grew smoother. "What if I could offer you another one?"
The wagons trundled down the mountain along hidden ways. The people walked beside them.
Their scouts steered them around the Mede soldiers the ambassador claimed were for Eddis's protection that were slowly marching in.
"Give me the funds as a sign of good faith, and I will remove your traitorous cousin," the Mede urged.
When the queen finally nodded, the Minister of War turned and walked out of the room.
Costis crouched by the body of the last assassin and tried to get his breath back. The men foolish enough to attack his king all laid dead on the ground.
The dagger of the one beside him looked odd. He picked it up, frowning.
He froze.
"Anything interesting?" the king called.
Costis would rather have done anything in the world than turn and offer the Eddisian dagger to the king.
The Minister of War's son, the one who made watches, carried an armful of scrolls from the library. He stopped and watched the Mede ambassador go by with distinctly cold eyes.
Ever more soldiers were housed in the city. They never asked how the Eddisians found room.
The Queen was not in the throne room. She was not in the palace at all. Nor the city.
Nor were the rest of the Eddisians.
The Mede ambassador ordered a search.
The Eddisians were just settling into the plague vacated lands of Attolia when the mountain erupted with the Medes still on it.
The assembled monarchs read the reports gravely.
Then Gen turned to Helen. "My job would be a lot easier if everyone would send me notice letters before sending assassins."
"I just knew you would need all the help you could get," she said archly.
Gen managed to fake looking hurt for only a minute before he laughed.