Chapter Nine:

Life moves on, and we learn to find new routines. I continued my inspections at the Kadeshi border, but I found my attention drawn toward our border with Sendar. While the wall at our border had kept peace, at least during my lifetime, it cut us off from the happenings behind it.

It appeared that Sendar would not be controlling the wall for much longer. The Hrum Empire was on the move, and had their sights set on Sendar. Not immediately, as their current conquest was a neighbor of Sendar. There was scare intelligence on the Hrum empire – what I had gathered wasn't good. They had conquered nearly every single country in their path. Sendar would be an easy target – and there was little doubt in my mind that Farsala would be next. I did not want to be another soft target – but as I looked around at the deghans in my command, I realized it would be up to me. Bringing this threat to their attention would cause our own internal troubles as each house sought to better their position with the gahn through shows of personal devotion or preparedness. Their actions would not present the united front that we would need against such a formidable opponent.

There was an even larger problem – I didn't know what it would take to defeat them, for we had virtually no spy network on that side of our lands.

That, at least, I could control. I needed information and I had the means to collect it. I sent out spies, sending them into the heart of the Hrum Empire to find out how they thought; sending them into the countryside to find out what their people thought of their rulers; sending them to watch how their army trained and how they moved.

It was slow work to build a picture from so far. Farsala has always been lucky in her ongoing war with Kadesh – we knew our enemy, and our spies mostly reported on the numbers they were sending to the border.

I was consoled by the fact that I had discovered the threat early. Farsala would be prepared.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Jiaan was promoted to aide when he turned fourteen, just as the other pages joined the ranks of those who served me. He still was not trained to be a swordsman, but he did well with his other tasks. He was level headed, and analyzed his tasks before he completed them, as opposed to many of my aides, drunk on their own youth and power.

I hoped to name Jiaan my heir soon. Perhaps, under cover of the approaching Hrum, when attention would be turned elsewhere. Soraya was doing wonderful – she was a joy to train even if it drove her mother to her wit's ends. And she was still the only child I had with Sudaba, and unable to inherit my title.

So I planned. Planned for Farsala's defense, and to right the wrong that had been created so long ago.

Even when we plan – things can go terribly wrong.

A/N: Cliff hanger - cue dramatic music. Sorry it's so short, just a quick glimpse into the future. Hope you keep reading to find out what goes terribly wrong!