Distant Memories – Evil Plans
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I don't own these characters, countries or anything. I just added in a few extra character's to make things exciting.
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The final part of the festival would take place that evening and then it would all be over. Or just the beginning, as Hilam thought.
Tonight would be the night in which Jorge would choose his Tortallan bride. To help the peace treaty. The Tortallans are fools not to see what is right before their eyes, Hilam thought as he went over his plans one last time.
How can they not see that this marriage could be turned against them? That is where having a Peace Keeper as a King gets you; in trouble, with not much hope of getting out.
Finally everything would be put to action. All those weeks of plotting, planning and not to mention organizing would not pay off. The nights of filled of doubt were long gone and the past few days of fear were forgotten. Now came the time of triumph.
What could possibly go wrong?
Surely the Tortallans had noticed the lack of guards, perhaps they took it as a sign of peace, the fools.
Tusaines armies were on the road, that very minute, traveling to Corus. The town would be taken by surprise by the attack. With most young knights here at the festival and no one to control the few warriors left at the palace, the town would be almost helpless.
Of course there were the commoners to consider, but without time to organize any kind of army, what trouble could they be? The armies of Tusaine would out-do Tortall's last minute scramble.
By the time the nobles and Knights had word of this, Hilam planned to have destroyed the commoners to bits, or so he thought. Afterwards a few Knights wouldn't be to much trouble, would they?
Hilam wasn't expecting any trouble from the rogues; in fact the thieves would be in luck. Free to loot anything which hadn't already been taken by Hilams' army. The Duke had told his men they could take whatever they found as their reward for service, and in this case, he meant to stick by what he said.
And if his plans should fail, Hilam would have something to bribe the Tortallans with. The prince's personal squire, who at present, was in a special dungeon. It was different to the average dungeon, for Alan of Trebond was a noble, was he not?
After the night's events, Hilam would also have a young, Tortallan noble lady to use as a bribe also. Surely the Peace Maker would object to the cruelty which would come to her if she stayed in Tusaine. Perhaps that was all that was needed to make the oblivious King of Fools crack.
But the plan went deeper. The force of the attack would not all hit at once, or not from the same direction. Hilam had cunningly split his army into three. Each would take separate routes to Tortall's capital.
The first squad of troops would have an easy path, The Great Road East. They would travel straight through, from Tusaine to Tortall. The only trouble would be in disguising themselves, which is why the troops would travel by moonlight only. They would take refuge in any mountains or hills they could find during the sunlight.
The second squad would have a longer path to follow. They would take The Great Road North. By traveling to the north of Tusaine they would then cut through a corner of Galla. There they would proceed to The Great Road North, meeting it just before Barony Olau.
The third and final squad would take The Great Road South, perhaps the easiest of the three paths. They would be traveling through Hill Country, just above The Great Southern Desert. Although the troops would have hills and mountains to struggle through, it would give them more cover and less chance of being seen.
Count Jemis, who had wanted to avoid the social gathering, was acting as War Commander. Hilam, feeling satisfied with his efforts, relaxed. Soon Tortall would belong to Jemis and himself.
It wasn't fair that Ain would rule the lands of Tusaine and be the one mentioned in the books of history. Why was he crowned King, when he was the weakest of the three brothers?
Hilam would never betray his own brother, but he would have his own country to co-rule. Why shouldn't they be kings when they already practically ran Tusaine for Ain, but don't receive any credit for it.
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The last of the festivities would take place in little under an hour, a midnight ball. All women attending were to wear purely white, including a mask to conceal their faces. The men, on the other hand, were required to wear black, again, including a mask.
The midnight ball was tradition in Tusaine, to be held only on the night of an eclipse. The royal astronomer of Tusaine had predicted a total solar eclipse. Just a few minutes before the setting of the sun.
At the beginning of the Midnight Ball the woman would stand in a line, facing the men. The men would then approach a woman of their choice and present them with a single red rose, as was the custom. The Lady would then be his escort for the night.
The men were not to know which woman was which. This was to bring mystery to the night.
Alanna stood in line with the other women. Even though she was dressed in white from hair ribbon to shoe, she felt naked. She hated having to compete against the other women like this. While she knew she was no hag, she wasn't a beauty either.
A slight breeze passed making Alanna shiver. Why couldn't the ball just be held inside like any other? She wondered. As the purpose was to see the eclipse, the Midnight Ball was traditionally held outside. Never had Alanna seen such a beautiful garden.
The trees were decorated by what seemed to be hanging candles, though they were not real. Alanna had seen the mages preparing them beforehand.
The tables formed a circle around the dancefloor. Musicians stood at one end of the floor, ready to play while the men stood at the other end.
Even though all the men were dressed the identically, Alanna couldn't miss Jons' royal blue eyes, just as he could not miss her sparkling purple ones, despite the fact that they both wore masks.
Jon approached Alanna and offered her a single red rose. Alanna accepted the rose with a curtsy, and then let him lead her to the dance floor.
It wasn't long before the song had finished and the couples were asked to be seated. The eclipse was only moments away.
As the moon began to cover the sun, total darkness came over the land.
The sneezes hit her, five at once, blinding her momentarily. Alanna had to bite her tongue to stop herself from swearing.
As she wiped her watery eyes, Alanna noticed a tall hooded stranger stood before her, though everyone else was oblivious to the strangers her presence.
Slowly the hooded figure began to remove the cloak which concealed the strangers face.
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Well here's yet another chapter, there's not many to go now!
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Madame-S-Butterfly
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