**sorry it's been a while, here's the next chapter!**
CHAPTER 5
"Is it always this beautiful here?" I ask Raoul as we walk towards the stables, my friend and lady in waiting Jennifer following, escorted by the Prince, unfortunately.
"Mostly, except in the winter; although the winter snow is quite lovely if you're warm enough to appreciate it." Raoul frowns while looking in the stables.
"Snow?!" I question and stop in horror.
"Yes, it's white and" the Prince begins.
"I very well know what snow is Highness!" I grit my teeth in aggravation, balling my hands into fists by my side.
"You don't like snow? And by the way, is this really your horse?" Raoul asks in amusement and awe.
"I don't like the cold, and snow always comes when it's cold, and yes this is my horse." I answer matter-of-factly.
"It's a war horse." Prince Jonathan states. "Why do you have a war horse?"
"All graduates of the tower get to train their own war horse." Jen answers for me sensing my annoyance at the prince.
"The tower?" Jonathan asks.
(Anime style faint) "Don't tell me you haven't heard about Solarus tower!" I state in shock.
"I do know about Solarus tower, but it takes people ten to fifteen years to graduate from there." Jonathan snaps back.
"Well, it just took me six years." I answer in arrogance. (I'm usually not arrogant like this, however Jonathan just gets on my nerves so I try to look down upon him like he's a bug that needs to be squashed.^^ )
"Well excuse me my lady! Please except my deepest apology." The prince answers in sarcasm and a mock bow.
"Would you two cut it out? You both are acting very immature." Jen steps in, preventing me from blowing the prince up.
"Behave yourself Kat; you don't want to be charged with high treason by blowing the prince regent up!" Roaul states in good humor, making Jen giggle behind her hand.
-.- Upon returning to the palace I run to my room and take a quick bath in moonflower oil then tie my hair back while changing into a maroon velvet day dress which had no seams in the front and a cloak like veil in the back. The sleeves puffed on the elbow and ended in a 'V' shape along the top of the hand. Grabbing my intrigue pieces I run out the door while trying to put my shoes on.
"Ah, Lord Gareth. This is a very nice board you have here." I state while admiring the crystal game board and his ruby playing pieces.
"I hope you don't mind, I like playing with the ruby ones. If you would like though, you can use them."
"Oh that's alright, I brought my own pieces." I smile while sitting down and taking out my sapphire pieces. "Shall we?" I ask while our character pieces move forward and salute each other before stepping back.
The game is more like a simulation of real life. The amount of pieces and type of them depend on the players. The king in chess is really the person playing in intrigue, so my 'king' is a figure of me. Jen, Renee, Thor, George, the battalion I commanded along with three other mages, the bazhirian tribe, a large group of amazons, and the naval force I commanded when I was still in Leaness.
The board itself turns into terrain on each side according to what is preferred before the piece types are shown. If we have spies we can set them aside and the other player has to reveal one piece for each spy. Lord Gareth has two spies and sets them aside while two of my pieces are randomly shown. My bazhirian shaman is shown along with Jen.
I prefer wooded terrain while Lord Gareth chooses an island. Not a good choice on his part since I have a navy. (But he doesn't know that yet)
The pieces are then all revealed. His ruby pieces form into shapes; very recognizable ones. Lord Gareth has the King of Tortall as an ally (eek), along with what looks like the King's own, his navy, what looks to be a very powerful battle mage, a powerful healing mage, and a group of three other mages. He also has a group of archers, which may pose a problem for me, and a funny looking tree? Weird, but it must serve some purpose.
Lord Gareth looks in astonishment at me. Obviously he didn't expect me to have such a lethal force beside me and my navy clearly caught him off guard. From the looks of the setup however, we are pretty evenly matched. It's all up to what we command the forces to do now.
I immediately realize what the tree is for, it's a power tree; one the mages can draw power from as the tree gives off a glow and the battle mage strikes, barely missing one of my own mages. At the range he's at though, it would be impossible; however the tree gave him more power, so it was possible. I'm in trouble.
Quickly I make some important mental calculations. The only way to counter this would be to unite the amazons and bazhirians, but that would be difficult. Using a turn I negotiate with both the groups. Lord Gareth only sees it as me taking a defensive stand, not me negotiating so he doesn't know what I'm up to. He's not able to see on my side, as I'm not supposed to be able to see his side. (I had cast a visibility spell however, enabling me the vision to see his pieces for three turns) He brings out the navy and uses four turns on his part to load the boats with the king's own. He's going to attack.
This means I have five moves to make on my turn. Using two of them, I get the amazons and bazhirians to unite. Using two more I move my battalion to join the bazhirians and amazons to the forest edge, positioning some in trees and some under the ground. The one move left I have myself cast a weather spell on the water between us. This buys me three more turns next round.
"Hm." Is all Lord Gareth muses while furrowing his brow; thinking hard. Finally he moves all of his mages except the healing one to the boats, arranging one per ship. He uses the other half of his turn to cast a counter spell on the water. This is where we find out who has the stronger mage. He uses his weather mage against my character. The weather mage fails against me and faints, making her useless. Lord Gareth quietly removes the mage from the board; still deep in thought. He has one move left now, which he chooses to reorganize his men onboard. From the looks of it he is making small attacking forces and a larger main landing force.
I have to be careful now. Using the amazons I line them all up in the trees as archers. Using the bazhirians I line them up at the tree line, all battle mages in their own right. Four turns left; since my spell was effective last round. I use one turn to have one of my mage friends cast a clearing spell on half of the forest in back of my characters. I use another to move the battalion back into the clearing. I use another to move a mage to each boat. Then my last move I move the navy into a battle formation. Taking a deep breath I look up, indicating the end of my turn.
***ohhh, what's gonna happen?! REVIEW and maybe you'll find out.***
CHAPTER 5
"Is it always this beautiful here?" I ask Raoul as we walk towards the stables, my friend and lady in waiting Jennifer following, escorted by the Prince, unfortunately.
"Mostly, except in the winter; although the winter snow is quite lovely if you're warm enough to appreciate it." Raoul frowns while looking in the stables.
"Snow?!" I question and stop in horror.
"Yes, it's white and" the Prince begins.
"I very well know what snow is Highness!" I grit my teeth in aggravation, balling my hands into fists by my side.
"You don't like snow? And by the way, is this really your horse?" Raoul asks in amusement and awe.
"I don't like the cold, and snow always comes when it's cold, and yes this is my horse." I answer matter-of-factly.
"It's a war horse." Prince Jonathan states. "Why do you have a war horse?"
"All graduates of the tower get to train their own war horse." Jen answers for me sensing my annoyance at the prince.
"The tower?" Jonathan asks.
(Anime style faint) "Don't tell me you haven't heard about Solarus tower!" I state in shock.
"I do know about Solarus tower, but it takes people ten to fifteen years to graduate from there." Jonathan snaps back.
"Well, it just took me six years." I answer in arrogance. (I'm usually not arrogant like this, however Jonathan just gets on my nerves so I try to look down upon him like he's a bug that needs to be squashed.^^ )
"Well excuse me my lady! Please except my deepest apology." The prince answers in sarcasm and a mock bow.
"Would you two cut it out? You both are acting very immature." Jen steps in, preventing me from blowing the prince up.
"Behave yourself Kat; you don't want to be charged with high treason by blowing the prince regent up!" Roaul states in good humor, making Jen giggle behind her hand.
-.- Upon returning to the palace I run to my room and take a quick bath in moonflower oil then tie my hair back while changing into a maroon velvet day dress which had no seams in the front and a cloak like veil in the back. The sleeves puffed on the elbow and ended in a 'V' shape along the top of the hand. Grabbing my intrigue pieces I run out the door while trying to put my shoes on.
"Ah, Lord Gareth. This is a very nice board you have here." I state while admiring the crystal game board and his ruby playing pieces.
"I hope you don't mind, I like playing with the ruby ones. If you would like though, you can use them."
"Oh that's alright, I brought my own pieces." I smile while sitting down and taking out my sapphire pieces. "Shall we?" I ask while our character pieces move forward and salute each other before stepping back.
The game is more like a simulation of real life. The amount of pieces and type of them depend on the players. The king in chess is really the person playing in intrigue, so my 'king' is a figure of me. Jen, Renee, Thor, George, the battalion I commanded along with three other mages, the bazhirian tribe, a large group of amazons, and the naval force I commanded when I was still in Leaness.
The board itself turns into terrain on each side according to what is preferred before the piece types are shown. If we have spies we can set them aside and the other player has to reveal one piece for each spy. Lord Gareth has two spies and sets them aside while two of my pieces are randomly shown. My bazhirian shaman is shown along with Jen.
I prefer wooded terrain while Lord Gareth chooses an island. Not a good choice on his part since I have a navy. (But he doesn't know that yet)
The pieces are then all revealed. His ruby pieces form into shapes; very recognizable ones. Lord Gareth has the King of Tortall as an ally (eek), along with what looks like the King's own, his navy, what looks to be a very powerful battle mage, a powerful healing mage, and a group of three other mages. He also has a group of archers, which may pose a problem for me, and a funny looking tree? Weird, but it must serve some purpose.
Lord Gareth looks in astonishment at me. Obviously he didn't expect me to have such a lethal force beside me and my navy clearly caught him off guard. From the looks of the setup however, we are pretty evenly matched. It's all up to what we command the forces to do now.
I immediately realize what the tree is for, it's a power tree; one the mages can draw power from as the tree gives off a glow and the battle mage strikes, barely missing one of my own mages. At the range he's at though, it would be impossible; however the tree gave him more power, so it was possible. I'm in trouble.
Quickly I make some important mental calculations. The only way to counter this would be to unite the amazons and bazhirians, but that would be difficult. Using a turn I negotiate with both the groups. Lord Gareth only sees it as me taking a defensive stand, not me negotiating so he doesn't know what I'm up to. He's not able to see on my side, as I'm not supposed to be able to see his side. (I had cast a visibility spell however, enabling me the vision to see his pieces for three turns) He brings out the navy and uses four turns on his part to load the boats with the king's own. He's going to attack.
This means I have five moves to make on my turn. Using two of them, I get the amazons and bazhirians to unite. Using two more I move my battalion to join the bazhirians and amazons to the forest edge, positioning some in trees and some under the ground. The one move left I have myself cast a weather spell on the water between us. This buys me three more turns next round.
"Hm." Is all Lord Gareth muses while furrowing his brow; thinking hard. Finally he moves all of his mages except the healing one to the boats, arranging one per ship. He uses the other half of his turn to cast a counter spell on the water. This is where we find out who has the stronger mage. He uses his weather mage against my character. The weather mage fails against me and faints, making her useless. Lord Gareth quietly removes the mage from the board; still deep in thought. He has one move left now, which he chooses to reorganize his men onboard. From the looks of it he is making small attacking forces and a larger main landing force.
I have to be careful now. Using the amazons I line them all up in the trees as archers. Using the bazhirians I line them up at the tree line, all battle mages in their own right. Four turns left; since my spell was effective last round. I use one turn to have one of my mage friends cast a clearing spell on half of the forest in back of my characters. I use another to move the battalion back into the clearing. I use another to move a mage to each boat. Then my last move I move the navy into a battle formation. Taking a deep breath I look up, indicating the end of my turn.
***ohhh, what's gonna happen?! REVIEW and maybe you'll find out.***