Ruins Raiders: Book Two
Chapter Nineteen, Flames of Battle
By Relm
"I'm bored!" Naga exclaimed for the hundredth time. Since she was the collateral for her time traveling companions Naga had been left behind in Bnxqo. This would have been fine had Lina and company not taken the rxna with them. If King Po-kota had the stone then he and everyone else would be able to understand her. Since he couldn't and nor would anyone else King Po-kota had no choice but to keep the tall woman in hiding.
Stuck in a secluded part of the pyramid (the very room she and the others dined in earlier) Naga had little to do but sit around and wait. And since King Po-kota was concerned with Naga being discovered he ended up having to sit around and babysit the time traveller.
"If you're not going to entertain me then you should at least make sure I have a drink in my hand!" Naga made a gesture with her hands that in her mind resembled holding a glass full of wine in her hands.
To King Po-kota this gesture resembled one of the more absurd insults you could give to someone. He knew that Naga wasn't meaning that but he was at a loss as to what she was wanting. He had had much food and drink brought to Naga so as to get the woman to shut up but nothing seemed to be good enough. It was as if she was a queen herself demanding more than a kingdom could give her.
Naga glared at the King. He had no idea what she was talking about. She just shook her head and paced around the room. On the large table were some glasses that did at one point house a dark reddish purple liquid. When Naga had seen them she eagerly drank them each in a gulp. Her first though upon seeing the dark liquid was that it was some sort of local alcohol. She nearly spat the liquid out in disgust once she realized it was just ordinary juice. Tasty but not a drop of booze in it.
"That little red headed twit actually called these people intelligent?! Ha!" Naga exclaimed bitterly. "If they were smart they would know the difference between wine and juice!" She sneered at the king.
King Po-kota wasn't stupid. He knew that whatever displeased the woman had to do with the drinks that had been provided to her. He remembered from their conversations earlier when the stone was still the room that Naga had been miffed about not being able to drink with her meal. At the time that had baffled the King. There had been more than enough water and nectar for them to drink. Naga had mentioned an odd word that he didn't understand. 'Wine' was it? Yes 'wine'. He might have blamed the stone for the translation but King Po-kota just assumed that there was no word in his language for 'wine'. Obviously it was a drink but one his people didn't have.
'Why is having something specific to drink such an issue for this woman? Is water not water, nectar not nectar? A drink is a drink after all.' King Pokota thought to himself. He also pondered the idea of trying to find a way to communicate with the woman but he felt that would most likely be foolish. Had it been the red headed one he was sure he could have found a way, that one was at least intelligent after all. But this one? No, that was beyond his and her abilities.
"OHOHOHOH! And if you were actually smart then you would know how to speak properly and not some ancient tribal hand gesture muck." Naga went on.
Since there was little King Po-kota could do he just decided to ignore her. The more he tried to help the situation the more agitated she got anyway. But this was boring him too. 'They'd better hurry up and get back soon.'
...
"I'm actually surprised he hasn't woken up yet." Zelgadis mused as he, Val, Lina and Filia sat around the still unconscious Xellos.
"Why? Is he usually up quicker when he gets knocked out?" Lina sneered at the unconscious man. She didn't haven't too many interactions with Xellos as it was but she was having to fight the urge to give him a good swift kick to the ribs.
"Well I wouldn't know. I've seen him get punched and hit many times but it's never been enough to knock him out before." Zelgadis admitted.
Val snorted. Though it amused him that he managed to do what so many people had failed to still having Xellos knocked out cold was inconvenient. "He usually has his eyes closed as a norm anyway so how the hell do we know that he isn't already awake and just faking it? We should kick him or something to see if he's awake."
"Seeing how it was violence that got us into this little mess I don't think more of it will help the situation." Zelgadis dismissed Val's suggestion despite it sounding like a very attractive one.
"He really should have woken up by now. What if Val hit him too hard? What if he's got a concussion or something and needs a doctor?" Filia nervously fidgeted in her spot.
"Don't tell me you are actually worried about this idiot?!" Lina exclaimed. "You're the one that was trying to kill him before Val punched him!"
"I wasn't actually going to kill him!" Filia protested. "I was just going to beat him up a little bit. I'm not a murderer!"
"So you do care about him!"
"No! I don't care about him! He can rot in hell for all I care!" Though Filia said this she still looked at Xellos when concern in her eyes.
...
Queen Amelee smiled as she walked the streets of her kingdom. People smiled and greeted her as they all went about their day-to-day life. Vsvle was a happy and peaceful kingdom and had been for many years. Though this peace wasn't new to Vsvle it wasn't one that rooted in its history.
Long ago Vsvle was at war. No one was sure who had started the war but the players were well known. Vsvle's neighboring kingdom was Bnxqo and it was almost exactly the same as Vsvle in every way. There was no reason for one kingdom to want to overthrow the other as they were pretty much equal. No one was sure why this war had started but things were peaceful now and Queen Amelee was determined to keep it that way.
In a way the war wasn't really over. It was just at a stalemate. Both sides agreed to keep to their sides of the line and that would be that. Any small act of aggression on either side was sure to reignite the flames of battle. Queen Amelee might have been a pacifist by nature but if push came to shove she would put the needs of her people first. She wouldn't lay down and let someone else take over her home and enslave her people.
Thankfully Queen Amelee never had to experience that growing up. Her father was always so good at keeping the people calm. He had always told her that though they couldn't control the actions of others they could control the actions of themselves. He believed that if Vsvle gave Bnxqo no reason to be threatened that Bnxqo in turn would do the same. There were times where Vsvle's people were skittish and ready to 'act first' against Bnxqo and those were the times that Queen Amelee's father prevailed.
When Amelee's father died and she was made Queen, Amelee was afraid that her people would lose faith and do something rash to cause the war to start up again. It hadn't been easy but Queen Amelee managed to keep her people calm. She knew she was walking a thin line which is why she was thankful for the support of her family.
Throughout everything Queen Amelee's greatest support came from her uncle Anidor. Any time Queen Amelee felt like she couldn't do something or needed advice her uncle was always there for her. She had come to greatly trust her uncle's words.
Walking the long steps of Vsvle's pyramid Queen Amelee found her uncle going over one of his many maps in his thinking room.
"Amelee!" Anidor exclaimed once he saw his niece enter the room. Quickly he put away his maps into a pile and motioned for her to sit. "Is something wrong?"
"No Uncle, everything is fine."
"Are you sure? You don't usually come see me like this unless there is a problem."
Queen Amelee frowned. "Yes I guess I do do that a lot don't I? That's not very nice is it? You are my uncle and yet I only seem to come to you when there is something I want. That's not the way things should be. I should be coming and saying hello or bring you good tidings."
Anidor chuckled. "So I guessed correct. What is troubling you my niece?"
Queen Amelee let out a big sigh. "It's about Bnxqo. This war between our two kingdoms has gone on long enough."
"It had Amelee. There is no war right now."
"Right now you say. That's the truth and not at the same time. We may not be fighting right this moment but we very well could be. Any moment one of our people or one of theirs could do something to tip that delicate balance between our two kingdoms."
"So what are you thinking my dear? You wish to make a pre-emptive strike against our foes? We would have the element of surprise."
Queen Amelee shook her head. "No, no, no! That's not what I meant Uncle. I don't wish for war at all. I just hate this threat looming over our heads. I want our people and Bnxqo's people to make peace with each other."
"You want to negotiate a truce with Bnxqo?"
"Yes yes! I want go over there and talk with their leader. Show him or her that they have nothing to fear and-" Queen Amelee started off but Anidor waved her off.
"Let me stop you right there my dear. Need I remind you what lessons your father taught you as a little girl? He taught you to keep your ground and never let your enemy have a reason to fear you. If you go over there whether it be in peace or not they won't see it that way. They will assume it's a trick and will take it as an act of aggression. There will be war." Anidor was quite firm on this point.
"But there has to be way to get through to them. We could have peace between our two kingdoms." Queen Amelee insisted.
"No. Amelee if you want Vsvle to remain peaceful then you must give up on this silly notion of trying to mend ties with Bnxqo. They started this war after all. They are savages."
"You have no proof that it was them that started things." Queen Amelee protested.
"I know our people Amelee. They are good people. And good people do not start wars, they get sucked into them."
Queen Amelee let out a deep sigh. "Yes I suppose that's true. Thank you for helping clear my head. As always you seem to steer me on the right path."
"It's not hard to steer you when your heart is always in the right place my dear." Anidor smiled at Queen Amelee as he watched her leave. As soon as she was out of sight that smile turned sour. "That girl is more trouble than she is worth." He sneered.
"Boss is she gone?" One of Anidor's men whispered from his hiding place behind a tapestry hanging on the wall.
"Yes. No what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Anidor looked to his man in annoyance. With Queen Amelee not in the room he had no reason to pretend to be nice.
The man was Peddz, Anidor's lead underling. He had been in the room with Anidor about to tell him something when Queen Amelee approached the room. He had hidden before she could see him. "I have news to report. Bnxqo has sent spies."
"Are you sure of this?"
"A group of four were discovered outside Vsvle this morning. We couldn't understand them at first and as we got closer we were able to get a sense of what they were saying. It was almost like they were visitors from a foreign land and we could only understand them when we got close. Like if they had a rxna stone in their possession."
"That makes no sense. There are only two of them, the one we have and the one Bnxqo has."
"This is why we assume they must be spies."
Anidor shook his head. "And to think Amelee wants to make peace when them. Stupid silly girl. Keep an eye on the strangers. I want to know as much about them as possible."
Alone once again and his maps laid back out on the table Anidor went back to work. Some of the maps he had were current to the geography of the land. Others were what he intended it to be once he took control of Vsvle and Bnxqo. "I will rule this land and take over the rest of the world!"