Chapter 6: Valis and celebrations

Deedlit, Slayn, Ghim, Wood and Abathur rode down the road escorting Princess Fianna in her wagon back to her city. It had taken some time to get her to trust them. Thankfully the princess had woken to see them fleeing the Marmo back to her home city, and the fact they were heading back in the same direction as the capital Roid made it much easier for her to believe their story.

The travel had been easy and surprisingly whatever Xapferey had done had removed any pursuit, that's not to say they weren't extremely worried about the dark haired man.

Last night when Deedlit had been on watch, she had heard a horse galloping in the direction they were traveling, but the rider had not stopped and the night had been undisturbed aside from that one event, so Deedlit felt that it was unnecessary to raise the alarm.

The group quickly returned to the road and continued, off to the side, Deedlit noticed a traveler resting against a tree on the side of the road. Deedlit gasped in surprise as they got close and she recognized Xapferey napping against the tree and ran to him. The group stopped as they saw Deedlit run to the man under the tree but smiled when they recognized him as well.

As Xapferey stirred Deedlit gently kissed him which caused him to open his eyes to meet her green and her smile.

"Xapferey why must you always cause me to worry?" Xapferey shrugged, not having an answer for her as he rubbed his eyes, not having slept much in the past few days, to which the group agreed to take a short break, but princess Fianna was kind enough to allow Xapferey and Slayn to rest in the carriage as they moved towards Valis' capital Roid.

The pathway was smooth and well paved which allowed Xapferey to catch up on some sorely needed sleep; this was an environment where he would need all his wits and to be fully awake in an environment where caffeine was sorely lacking.

Upon arriving at Roid, the group had received a hero's welcome in Valis, Nethalus and the others had not arrived yet, but king Fahn greeted them, and despite Abathur's frightening appearance, the guards left the Zergling alone.

"You six brave souls are truly heroes, come now and raise your heads up high," Fahn encouraged.

"No your majesty, we cannot do so," Slayn replied modestly.

"Fianna's return has awarded me a strategic advantage in this war, please allow me to look at you" The group raised their heads and stared at the elderly king as he studied each of the six before him. Getting in to see the king was very easy, being the saviors of his daughter; and in Xapferey's mind he found that the anime did the man no justice whatsoever. Fahn exuded majesty and radiance; he had an aura of command that no king of Earth's past could hope to match.

Fahn had kept the welcoming simple, heartfelt thanks and a basic welcome, though when he said Parn's name Xapferey could see the hidden emotions in his eyes because his future knowledge.

After the group was dismissed, Xapferey was surprised to run into Jebra and nearly collapsed when he heard that Jebra had assembled a total of 3500 volunteers to form an army under the 'Draconic Knight.' Xapferey realized that Jebra was speaking about the gold Dragon emblem on his armor and nearly hit Nethalus upside the head when he jokingly said.

"So much for avoiding military commission huh Xapferey?" Xapferey sighed and rolled his eyes, being a Juyo master (or as close to one as he could be without Force powers) Xapferey was hiding his true feelings, and he wanted to scream. But Xapferey was also debating how to deal with his army and train it properly.

Forcing his frustration back under control, Xapferey began immediately taking stock of what he had to deal with, although he was also very aware of the upcoming ball he would be attending and unlike Parn, he was not going to ignore Deedlit in favor of adulation of the king of Flaim.

Xapferey then began taking stock of his army, he would take combined arms tactics to the maximum, and he had hopefully enough time to prepare his secret weapon 'The Linebreakers.' Now he had to break down the glory seekers into an actual army.

'How the hells did you manage father?' He grumbled mentally as he went to relax. As he rested in the room provided for him when a beeping noise came from his pack. Reaching in, he found his laptop was the reason for the beeping noise and opening it he found a message on it.

Accept video chat from XAS… Yes? No?

He clicked yes and soon the face of his benefactor appeared on the screen with his lips pursed to keep Xapferey quiet.

"So your plans are advancing," it was more a statement then a question.

"Yes High Lord."

"XAS is fine, what you're suggesting can be done… sadly you don't have the resources to pull it off here."

"I do have resources back home."

"And I suppose I could play banker for you, make it so that your monetary funds are converted are ready for you, and I will make sure what you need is either available through a one-shot spell or through another 'convenient' merchant."

"That was you wasn't it? I thought something was fishy about that merchant."

"I do hope you are not comparing me to a fish," XAS said with a playful smirk.

"Fish, no… seaweed yes."

"Seaweed?"

"Well you are being very kelpful," XAS let out a pained groan at the horrible pun and gave a mock glare at Xapferey.

"Fine, fine everything will be arranged for you, I shouldn't have to say this next bit do I?"

"Let Deedlit stew? Nope, though how you deal with the palace dressing I'll never know."

"UGH… Ok, enough, good luck, you'll need it and remember Abathur has uses even if he's only one Zergling."

"I know, be well," Xapferey closed the chat after XAS waved good-bye. As promised, XAS had came through with Xap's requests and with some logistical aid from king Fahn, Xapferey had arranged for his army to be fully equipped, leaving enough time for Xapferey to ready himself for the ball.

Xapferey dressed in a black doublet with split sleeves with silver edging, black trousers and thigh-high black boots and left his chambers after magically concealing his other gear in his bag of holding. The bag itself was heavily warded to only allow himself, Deedlit, Abathur, Nethalus and Pirotess to open it, much less access the gear within.

Xapferey also hid one of his Glocks in his clothing to deal with the upcoming 'problem' that would interrupt the ball sometime through, he also attached a laser sight to the pistol just in case he needed it before he left to meet Deedlit. When he arrived, Deedlit had just arrived and gave a graceful little spin for Xapferey to show off her borrowed dress.

"Well?" She asked Xapferey with a joyful smile on her face.

"You look lovely my dear," Xapferey said as he took her hand to escort her.

At the ball, Etoh and Slayn were talking as they watched the nobles socialize and mingle; the king was on his chair at the head of the room after he had saluted the room with his raised goblet. Fiona stood near her father as she looked over the room before coming to join her rescuers.

"You'd never expect we were about to go to war," Etoh was saying to Slayn.

"A traditional way to raise morale, I am saddened to think how many will now be coming home," Slayn said as Parn joined them and Etoh gasped drawing their attention to the stairs where Xapferey and Deedlit were descending, both of them were smiling

"Xapferey, Deedlit."

"I'm not used to such fancy clothes, well? Deedlit asked.

"Oh Deed you both look so wonderful," Fiona said, "I only wish dear Etoh had changed as well."

"But, but… Princess I'm a cleric," Etoh stammered.

"Is that what they really teach you? Never take off your priestly robe?" She mock questioned. An hour later after a bard began playing a song about the six heroes Fahn, Beld, Neese the high priestess of Marfa, Flieve the Dwarf king, Wort the great sage of Moss, and an unnamed hero. As the song ended the main doors to the hall opened and a man dressed in high quality armor and escorted by two guards entered the hall.

"Oh my, it's king Kashue," somebody said which caused a wave of appreciative murmurs to move through the hall and Parn to take on an admiring look while Xapferey answered Deedlit's question on who the newcomer was.

"That's Kashue?" Deedlit asked and Xapferey nodded. The ball progressed with Kashue leaving and returning after changing from his armor and traveling gear into clothing more suitable for the ball. Xapferey had stepped out for a bit of air while Deedlit socialized with some of the ladies of the court, but returned not too long after to see Deedlit excusing herself from the group of noblewomen to join him with a joyful expression.

"Oh boy what a bore, it's tiring to be laughing at nothing all the time," Xapferey had a slight smile playing about his lips as he looked at Deedlit.

"I wouldn't know."

"Ugh, I can barely move in this gown… I can never understand why you humans like getting dressed up all the time."

"Sometimes I don't either," Xapferey replied as he eyed a couple of envious male nobles and restrained a very Draconic growl at the two eyeing Deedlit. Deedlit however did not notice and moved to Xapferey's right side.

"I'd say my regular clothes look much better, right Xapferey?"

"You look beautiful regardless my love," Xapferey said with a loving smile, his eyes flickered slightly as he sensed Karla, she was trying to mask herself and doing a pretty decent job of it, but considering Xapferey was being alert and Slayn had retired for the night, there was nobody paying attention to locus's of power. Deedlit giggled as she watched Etoh be pulled into dancing with Fiona, but brushing it aside, Deedlit pulled Xapferey gently to the dance floor.

Xapferey let Deedlit lead slightly, but he was still a very graceful dancer, one of the skills his mother had gotten him to learn when he was much younger and a skill that had applied to help his later martial training. The two continued dancing until they bumped into someone that turned out to be king Kashue.

"Oh, I'm sorry your highness," Xapferey apologized.

"Ah our brave hero, I have heard much about your skill in battle."

"Makes me wonder how much of my skills are exaggerated," Xapferey replied with a small smile

"Am I wrong? But didn't you come here to fight?"

"I came to help protect the people of Lodoss and if I have to fight to do it, then I will."

"Ah such wisdom, I look forwards to seeing your prowess as a fighter and a leader."

"In time your highness. But please excuse me your majesty, I have a lovely lady on my arm and it would be rude of me to neglect her."

"Of course," Kashue said with a smile as Xapferey bowed to him then he and Deedlit went to the balcony to get some air and they noticed Ghim standing there in a funk.

"Oh Ghim," Deedlit murmured before a crash of pottery and a woman's scream caught their attention. Xapferey caught sight of the man he knew Karla enchanted to attack Kashue, and the man was far larger than a normal human now. As Naba, the enchanted man advanced on Kashue, Parn was tossed a sword by Woodchuck. Then, as Parn was moving to help king Kashue with Naba, the room was deafened by two thunderous cracks.

Naba swayed and crashed to the ground, missing the back of his head and the room turned to see Xapferey holding a strange weapon with the end smoking. Deedlit was holding her ears and glaring at Xapferey for using the gun so close to her.

Holstering his sidearm, Xapferey muttered a spell which allowed him to view magic and muttered "her again," loud enough for Kashue to hear him.

"Her who?" He asked Xapferey.

"The sorceress that captured princess Fiona, this spell cast on this man smacks of her magical signature, I recognize it after the last time I saw her.

"Ah."

"I agree, we should be very wary if she can strike in the city itself."

"Indeed."

"Please excuse me your majesty, I have a few things to attend to."

Kashue nodded politely to Xapferey as he escorted Deedlit from the hall to her chambers. Leaving Deedlit to change or rest, Xapferey went back to his own chambers to change, his magical senses casting about for Karla, but if she was still nearby, she was hiding herself very well, too well for Xapferey to spot.

Growling to himself, Xapferey began patrolling the corridors until he ran into Deedlit.

"Much better right Xapferey?"

"Yes my dear, but I still say you looked lovely in that gown," the two spent some time walking about before they retired to their rooms for the night, for tomorrow Xapferey would begin training his army.