Prince Javindar attempted to frown. It was natural for him to project an aura of displeasure at being served by anyone other than those of his caste. For one it maintained his aura of superiority and to reinforce his position in society and secondly it was natural that the comforts he enjoyed were of a higher quality than those that were beneath him. Even an Admiral of this barbarian state should be subtly reminded that he was in the presence of the highest tier of nobility so it was natural for Javindar to express his displeasure.
But…try that he would to follow his people's social customs, Prince Javindar couldn't help but smile at the haunting tune that Admiral Edmund's personal minstrel played while he awaited Aurum's return in the Captain's cabin. While overhead the two fleets about to engage in battle, Javindar spotted Admiral Edmund aboard his flag ship and an idea struck him. It took a bit of convincing, first to Rina then to Admiral Edmund, but they were left aboard the flag ship while Aurum took a petition to Prince Vleda. Nahbob and the Admiral were busy with their preparationsm, and Javindar didn't care what Rina and the drunk were up to.
Meanwhile Javindar was given free reign to the Admiral's quarters, a drab and very stuffy cabin, that had no redeeming characteristics save that it was impeccably clean. The whole thing was intolerable save of course for the entertainment.
The bard was pretty enough, long dark red hair, golden skin, but her build was a bit too lean and her features a bit too angular for his taste. She looked like she hailed from Thyatian stock but he wasn't sure. What really set her apart from the literally thousands of entertainers that had performed for him in the past , was her haunting voice. It was nearly in tune, but not quite, though in such a fashion that the Prince found its disharmony strangely appealing. Also, the singer seemed to really put her heart and soul in it, as if everything depended on it, and Javindar appreciated that level of dedication.
Not that he could blame her. While they were aboard the Admiral's flag ship, the Grommish vessels paled in comparison to the war Kaylons facing off against them. If his challenge did not work and battle was joined it was very conceivable that this might have been the bard's last song.
"Are you scared?" asked the Prince uncharacteristically as the bard finished her song and took a sip from a flask. A few months ago talking to even Nahbob left a bad taste in his mouth, but living with these foreigners and sailors for the last few months must have raised his tolerance to those of the lower castes.
The woman paused and looked at the Prince with her strange amber eyes and shook her head. "Not for myself, but for my daughter. She's in danger, and I'm not sure how I can help except being here with the Admiral."
Javindar nodded knowingly. The entire city was in danger if the Khanians attacked. Even though there were only a half dozen of the ships, each could hold a company or two of the horselords. Fierce warriors that took Javindar's father and all of Vinraj to stop before they made their truce. While their numbers were too small to conqueror Grom City, the stories that the Prince heard of their ravages were too terrible to believe. Piles of skulls, rivers of blood, mutilations of the men and the raping of the women. It made Javindar shudder to understand why his father made peace with them at all.
As Javindar was about to reassure the woman, Admiral Edmund returned back to his cabin.
"Whatever Lord Aurum did worked," said Edmund with a sigh of relief." While my boys and I are ready to scrap, we prefer a more...contained solution. Luckily the Khanian vessels have stopped their charge and assumed a line formation. I would take that as a sign that he has agreed to your terms."
Javindar nodded confidently, though he wasn't sure if the old man still had any sway left with Vleda. From what he had gathered, his Khanian counterpart was furious at his advisor, blaming him for losing the Khanian's Black Scroll, and knowing Vleda his rage would not be easily satiated. Still, Vleda was a man child at best, and his anger could easily be distracted if the right…incentive was placed before him.
"If he agrees to my terms, I shouldn't delay him any longer," said Javindar confidently. His spirits lifted, and the fatigue and stress from the last few days washed away by his rest. "I thank your musician for her services."
"Musician?" asked Edmund, clearly confused.
Javindar glanced back into the cabin, and to his equal confusion, the woman with the amber eyes and the slightly off voice was no longer there. He was about to chide the Admiral for his jest, but Vleda was waiting and he had more important things awaiting him.
Thankfully Nahbob did not take long. With his magic he had hurried back to port and had commanded the Golden Eagle to set sail to their location. Javindar was unsure, if his own War Kaylon would send the Khanians into a frenzy sparking fears this was all a delaying action to gather more ships, but the Horse Lords held firm in their position, confident that one more enemy vessel would not tip the tide if it came to battle.
Javindar was just happy to have command of his own personal flag ship. Not that it gave him a tactical advantage but it did improve his social presence. It would not do for Prince Javindar, Bey of Ghata, and Champion of Puranas to present himself to his Khanian rival in a Grommish scow. If he would meet with Prince Vleda, let it be as an equal.
Finally with his crew and the Golden Eagle at his command, he broke formation from the Grommish flotilla and sailed towards the Khanian fleet.
His crew was uncharacteristically nervous at their departure, having faced the Khanian fire weapons before, and from his briefings Javindar knew they were at their mercy. Though the Golden Eagle was armed with catapults and ballistae, they were severely out classed if the reports were to be believed. If they wanted to, the Khanians could launch their thunder cannons, or whatever they were at a thousand feet and destroy them in a single volley. Even with a full complement of mages and gurus, they could only counter attack at six to seven hundred feet a best, and they didn't even have that in their arsenal. They had just as much servants and maids as they did marines aboard this supposedly diplomatic voyage. The Golden Eagle was originally planned to ferry Prince Javindar, and Holy Sampada's bodyguard Whelp to Grom to retrieve the Black Scroll, they were not prepared for a full scale fleet on fleet engagement.
Javindar paused at that thought and chuckled to himself. Whelp. Holy Sampada. Giraffe woman. They were all in the same. If there was a chance she was alive, he would find her. He should be mad at her for the deception, but in retrospect he was at peace with it. She needed the secrecy to avoid the assassins and Asuras hunting her head, and she probably didn't share this wit him ….well mainly because he was a bit of a blow hard. Though the aristocracy valued arrogance in Vinraj, the Prince had come to realize in his journeys that it might put some people off. Regardless, that was a thought for another day as the lead Khanian War Kaylon sailed forwards to meet them.
Judging by its battle damage, Javindar identified it as the Silver Hawk. A proud vessel that had bested many sea serpents and pirates when it was commissioned under Ghata. It made him seethe slightly to see it in the hands of Vleda and his barbarians. He was against selling the Horse Lords their old mothballed ships, but it was the Sultan's belief that it was foster trade and trust between the two peoples. While Javindar seldom questioned his father's decisions, save for making peace with the Great Khan, he relished the thought of recounting this tale to him. That is if he survived.
When the two vessels neared each other, the oars were raised and massive planks were dropped from both ships onto the other. Having been designed for this purpose, the planks eventually interlocked after some fidgeting with the crew and formed a large platform connecting both decks. The non essential crew of the Golden Eagle backed off, leaving only a few marines and Nahbob visible on board. Rina, the drunk, and the rest of the crew were hidden in the castles of the ship watching safely from arrow slits, or below decks ready to lower the oars at a moments notice. The Khanians however took a different approach, and hundreds of the swarthy Horselords were crowed on the rails, castles, and parapets to watch the pending confrontation.
Javindar strode past his sailors while Vleda walked forward with Aurum in tow. The Prince noted that the old man in the yellow robes looked downwards, as Nahbob often did when he was chastised sufficiently. Despite all the talk of him being a millennium spanding guardian, he was still a servant at heart. He wondered where his loyalties ultimately lied? With his old mistress Rina, or with his enemy Prince Vleda? Not that it mattered, he had defeated this old man before on the island with Red Flight and he could do so again if they came to blows.
"And to think, I was enraged all this time because I thought some trick shooting merchant and his wife had stolen my father's scroll. When all this time it was you, my nemesis," chuckled Vleda. "It is fortunate that you showed up, for I would have burned down this entire city and half the countryside to vent my rage."
Javindar shook his head, even as Aurum walked between them. The old man with a wave of his hand produced an elegant but simple table with two stools. Javindar did not hesitate and sat down, even as the old man produced a tea set and began setting the table.
"I would have thought you would be eager to test yourself against me. That is why you sailed all the way across the world, why you ambushed my ship, and why you threaten innocents? All to settle accounts with myself?"
Vleda smirked but nodded." There will be plenty of time for that. What is the kill without the hunt? But seriously, you have had this coming for a long time. How dare you embarrass me on my day of triumph."
Javindar knew exactly what day he was talking about, the grand archery competition, but he could not understand why. Vleda had won while he was shamed before all of Vinraj, all under questionable circumstances. If anyone should be angry it should be him, not Vleda.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but if my memory serves me, YOU won that competition. Not I. My life was almost ruined because of it, and I was forced into the army to redeem my honor. In fact, I was so eager to prove myself worthy of Ghata after that defeat, I lead my troops recklessly on several campaigns and almost died in the process."
Vleda snorted loudly, horked up a large gob of phlem before spitting it to the side. A very un-Vinraji thing to do, whether you were from the lowest or the highest caste.
"Spare me your pleas of innocence. To this day my 'victory' has been marred by claims that I had cheated by using wind magic. You might have dishonored yourself, but the popular opinion is that you've regained it a long time ago, while I still sit with this nefarious tag hanging like dark cloud over me. I should have been praised throughout the land, instead I'm seen as some sort of underhanded villain. If you were more man, and demanded another shot this would never have happened. I would have won cleanly," said Vleda as Aurum began pouring them tea with a shaky hand.
Javindar's anger rose with him. He was the victim here not Vleda. He was the one that lost, if anyone should be mad it should be him. He was about to do rise, and perhaps throw the tea into Vleda's face, but the Prince calmed himself. He was a holy warrior of Puranas not some young stripling Prince anymore. If anything his loss had made him stronger through his military and personal trials.
"I understand your frustration, but perhaps it is too much to pursue me across the world and threaten tens of thousands of people for a trivial competition that was almost a decade ago?"
Vleda nodded. "Perhaps it is. I'm not here because of that competition, but it was something I need to get off my chest. The original purpose of my voyage is because, my father, the Blessed Great Khan, has ruled you an enemy of my people. You thwarted his plans at the battle of the Holy Temple, and he sent me to punish you."
"Wait what? " said Javindar shocked that Vleda agreed with him. Then when he realized the admission of treason, the Prince became even more confused. "WHAT?"
Vleda grew bored and waved towards Aurum. "Aurumgar, explain it to the Bey. I tire of this, but I assume he has a right to know why he is to be killed."
Aurum straightened and turned to Javindar. "While the Khanians are resistant to the effects of the Black Scroll, they are not immune. The scrolls lead the Khanians to victory over the warlords of Wa and the Emerald Throne. It eventually lead them to Vinraji where it convinced the Khan that the only way to defeat the united nations of Vinraji was from within."
"The battle, the delay in the flanking maneuver, that was on purpose? To watch the demons rip us apart before he gallantly intervened, striking both sides down while preserving the bulk of his troops? So…it had all been a ruse. The peace between our people a sham to turn on us later?" asked Javindar in shock.
Vleda shrugged. "Most of my people welcome peace, even more so after a decade of it, but it was all father's plan. Well, father and that damn scroll's plan."
"Wait…you know of the scroll's power?"
"Talking scroll that speaks to you in your dreams and fills your head with nonsense? Aye I know of it, but I do not value its advice. Father has grown weak following its siren lure. If you ask me, we should have stayed in the lands of the Emerald Throne and lorded over them instead of the so called Impossible Kingdoms. The food and women are both nicer there," laughed Vleda. "I will be happy to rid myself of that thing once we return back to Vinraj."
"If you know of the scroll's power and dangers, why do you seek it out?" Unless it already has you in its grip thought Javindar.
"I care not for it myself, but my father does. He gave me the scroll to guide me on my journey but I've pretty much listened to my own counsel. I care not for what some old parchment, or even an old wizard like Aurumgar's supposedly sagely advice. I don't even care about what the mighty Great Khan says. I have enough support to overthrow him if I please. It simply suits my purpose to be here, hunting you down across the world. I'm my own man, I make my own key choices. Besides, the scroll is mine by right, a treasure of the Khanian people, and I suffer no thieves. I will have it returned or spill a city worth of blood to retake it as a matter of Khanian matter. It is a trivial thing, but I enjoy the sport."
Javindar wasn't sure if he should respect Vleda's conviction or be abhorred by his blood lust.
"I did not steal your scroll, but I am currently guarding it. It is too valuable a thing to surrender to you," said Javindar as he finished his tea.
Vleda grinned widely. "Oh, to save the world for your pretty Holy Sampada back in Nashput. Or to have more praised heaped on you by the simple people that loves their Bey but hates that Khanian cheater? While my father's wishes mean nothing to me, his goals do align with mine for once. Also, as valuable as it is, let's forget the scroll, and get down to the real reason why we're both here. We are both the paragons and champions of our people, but we're pretty much polar opposites. I represent the Khanate, freedom, and the meritocracy that has brought all the great empires of the world to its knees, while you represent repression, outdated castes, and rules that say that a starving man will become unclean for eating a fish. A god damn fish. I spit on your rules and I spit on you. "
Javindar was about to debate him on the grossly misrepresented points that Vleda had raised, but before he could the barbarian Prince had his cutlass drawn and made a wide overhead slash towards his head.