Chapter Five
Unlike the previous day, there was no friendliness in the room now. Each leader stood in the room with their most trusted advisors nearby.
Duncan, standing with his, took in the room, suddenly realizing the sheer gravity of what he had set in motion. He had set it all up, but it just now struck him as to exactly how real it all was. He glanced towards his daughter who was waiting expectantly at the edge of the room. Panic momentarily gripped him as he realized that one day she would be the one who would have to lead these meetings, provided the alliance worked. His ripple effects were just now sinking in as well; this was perhaps one of the most historic moments in Araluen history.
Everyone else was watching each other, wondering who would speak first.
Duncan took a deep breath, steadying himself, before breaking the silence.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to what I hope will be the first meeting of a very long friendship between countries. I have asked you all here so that we can discuss, and find a way to stop, the invasion of the Temujai. As we all know, they have been conquering countries faster than anyone thought possible. Countless people have lost their lives and their homes. The Temujai aren't going to stop until they conquer every country in our world. Until they have taken control of all our land."
"That's horrible, no one will deny that," Fausto spoke up quickly, "But how exactly do you plan on stopping them? Their army, I've seen it myself. It is massive."
"If we all band together, join our forces, our armies, into one, we'll have the numbers to rival them." Duncan said patiently. He knew that Fausto could be a nervous man, but could be swayed with enough logic. "In this room we have representatives from countries who all excel in a particular form of fighting. If we combine those skills, I believe that the Temujai will fall."
He took another deep breath before elaborating, "The Temujai are riders. Archers. Yes, they are decent with a sword, but THOSE are their real strengths."
Duncan held a hand out, pointing to each delegation as he named them, "The Skandians have the best navy the world has ever seen, not to mention that they have turned combat into an art form."
The Skandians smiled proudly at that, Erak puffing up his chest.
"Arrida had the best cavalry, beating the Temujai by leaps and bounds when it comes to fighting on horseback."
Atanyan smiled as well, giving a humble nod.
"Toscana has the fastest training method, not to mention the ability to turn any man into a capable foot solder. A defensive and strategic fighting technique no one has seen before."
Fausto shrugged, brushing away the looks of admiration he was receiving.
"The Senshi from Nihon-Ja are some of , if not the best, swordsmen there are. They start training at nine or ten years old, until it's second nature."
The Emperor bowed his head deeply, accepting the praise with a smile of his own.
Duncan gestured to himself and his advisors, "Araluen had the largest force of ready trained archers, not to mention a special force of Rangers, unique to our country. I see no reason that we shouldn't be able to join together and drive the Temujai back to the Eastern Steppes. We have a common enemy, one who would not hesitate to kill us. Our countries need us to unite to stop them."
Every person in that room was silent, looking around at everyone else, trying to judge their reactions.
The leaders of each country met each others' gaze and nodded.
Then the negotiations truly began.
It took weeks.
Every point was discussed. Every statement countered. Every possibility contended. Every nuance argued.
Barely anyone got any rest. There was always one more thing they had forgotten to debate. People would run in and out of the room, carrying messages back and forth to whoever wasn't there.
Not every advisor or leader would be focused on the same points. Crowley would be debating communication laws with Nihon-Ja while Halt and Pauline handled the trade agreement between Arrida and Toscana, all while Duncan was negotiating with Skandia about a deployment of archers in a third room.
Even though Halt was originally meant to be a background advisor for the king, he quickly became the 'go-to' man for battle plans against the Temujai. His history with them, which he tried to delicately skip over whenever it was brought up, was proving crucial during the peace talks. He may not have wanted to admit that he was a horse thief, but he knew the best ways to mount a defense against the riders. Duncan had never been more grateful for the old grizzled Ranger.
There were four major things that were covered in the negotiations.
The first was the Skandians' raiding. This subject took two weeks by itself to be debated and agreed upon. None of the other countries wanted to be raided at all. Erak was willing to agree to no more massed invasions, such as when they worked with Morgarath, but wouldn't budge on anything else, claiming that it was the only income for his country. He also pointed out that, even if he wanted to ban it, no self respecting skirl would obey and stop raiding. Hal, Svengal, and Thorn could only nod their agreement.
The Toscan Senate members turned around and claimed that this meant they couldn't trust the Skandians, that they shouldn't have to guard against their own allies.
Everybody had something to say about the matter, until no one was listening to anyone anymore and Gilan finally got frustrated and simply yelled out, "Then just pay them not to raid!"
The group took it as a very poor joke until Crowley threw his support behind the idea. After expanding on it, the debate turned into pay agreements for the wolfships to become a police force for most of the countries there. While raiding wouldn't technically be banned, Erak planned on keeping each ship so busy they wouldn't have time to think about it anymore.
The second point came from Shigeru. He explained that his own country was verging on civil war. He was trying to give more rights to the non-Senshi class, but it was proving to be a very difficult process. One that the Senshi weren't happy about. There had been two attempts on the Emperor's life since he had started fighting for the non-Senshi. Horace had foiled one of them on his visit to Nihon-Ja, which was part of why he had earned such a place of respect with Shigeru.
The Emperor explained that he wouldn't be able to commit any troops to fight the Temujai until the situation was resolved.
This took another few weeks to figure out as well.
If Shigeru sent any troops to fight, he'd be leaving his country vulnerable to those who opposed him. He was fairly certain that the attacks against him were all due to one Senshi in particular, named Arisaka. If they could find a way to stop him, Shigeru was certain that he could help his country. If Shigeru simply tried sending Arisaka and his supporters to fight the Temujai, then the traitor would use that as a platform to try to usurp Shigeru.
The other option was to contact the Hassanu, a group of people living in northern Nihon-Ja. Their leader, Lord Nimatsu, was loyal to Shigeru, but there had been very little contact between them as they were very introverted and didn't reach out to people very often.
It ended up being Will who solved the problem. When he was going over the whole situation with Horace and Halt one night, he voiced an idea that he had been toying around with. Together, the three of them were able to flesh it out a bit more before Halt presented it to the delegations.
Will's idea was to train the non-Senshi class to be warriors. Using the Toscan's training techniques, it should be able to work, that way Shigeru could prove that the non-Senshi class were worth just as much as the Senshi themselves while also defending his country when he sent troops to fight the Temujai. Arisaka wouldn't stand a chance, mainly since the non-Senshi class outnumbered his troops easily.
Halt also suggested that they find a way to contact Lord Nimatsu. It might take a while, but the warriors he could bring would be invaluable in the war.
The Toscan Senators agreed, deciding to send one of their most trusted generals to train them, on the condition that troops be sent to the Toscan border first.
Which led right into their third point of major debate. The battle plan against the Temujai.
Everyone agreed to strengthen the Toscan borders first. That would be one of their next targets, right after Gallica and Iberion. They also made plans to meet the Temujai in Gallica, try to stop them from taking the country in the first place.
Considering that the Toscans had brought news of the Temujai already being at the Gallican border, there wasn't a lot of hope of stopping them. Duncan had received word from King Henri of Gallica. While he hadn't been able to join the treaty, he had agreed to letting them wherever in the country they needed to go to try to stop the Temujai. Gallica wasn't the most well run country, but the threat of the Temujai has scared them into accepting outsiders' help.
Erak stated that with archers from Dunan and some ideas from Hal, they would be able to stop the Temujai at a pass in Skandia. It was the best, and usually the only, way into the country, other than by boat.
He did mention that there was another way into the country that they might try, even if it was a small chance. A small river with massive rapids that came from a mountain. Erak planned on sending the Heron brotherband to investigate as soon as they made it back home. Gilan quickly volunteered to join them. If the Temujai were attempting to invade there, he'd be able to get close to their camp, find out what he could.
It was also decided that Will and Horace would go to Nihon-Ja. There, they could help deal with Arisaka and contact the Hassanu.
Halt would go to Toscana and Gallica, leading the first attack against the Temujai as soon as they had enough troops.
Finally, after just over two straight months of debating and negotiating, it was done. It was the night before the treaty would be signed and their plan would be set in motion.
And that was when the fourth and final major point of the treaty demanded to have their attention.
Duncan, Erak, Fausto, Atanyan, and Shigeru were in their final meeting, ironing out the details and reading through a draft of the treaty that would be signed the following morning. It was mostly a formality, making sure they hadn't forgotten anything, but everyone wanted to be sure. This kind of alliance had never been attempted before, which made everyone determined to stop any possible mistakes or loopholes.
"Looks fine to me." Erak finally huffed, "I'll be happy to sign it tomorrow."
"I'm inclined to agree." Fausto said quietly, "I don't believe we've missed anything."
Shigeru nodded as well, eyes scanning over the last few paragraphs, "It does seem to be complete."
Duncan was about to voice his agreement when Atanyan spoke up.
"I'm afraid I can't say the same."
The others all looked at him in shock or confusion.
"What do you mean Emrikir?" Erak asked, "What did we forget?"
The Arridi leader sighed, putting the papers down and leaning back in his chair so he could look at them all, "I understand how this would look finished to all of you, but I cannot, in good conscience, sign this for Arrida. Not without asking how it is to be sealed."
"S-Sealed?!" Erak sputtered, "We're signing the blasted thing! Is our word not enough for you?! You couldn't have mentioned this in the last two months we've been here?!"
Atanyan held up a hand to silence the outraged Skandian.
"I trust your word Oberjarl," his gaze slid over to meet Duncan's, "It's his I'm suggesting we be wary of."
The king let out a soft groan to himself; it seemed like his past mistakes would indeed haunt him here.
The others had fallen silent, eyes widened with sudden understanding, watching the two rulers to see where this would go.
"Your Excellency, I swear, this will be nothing like our last treaty. Araluen is not going to break off from this. I'm personally responsible for the history between our countries and I would gladly do anything to repair that relationship."
Atanyan's eyebrows went up in mild surprise, "I'm glad to see you accept the blame. It took many years for my country to get over the death of our previous Emrikir."
"He was a great man." Duncan nodded in agreement.
"That he was." he whispered.
"Emrikir-san," Shigeru spoke up, using the man's title to address him as he had begun to do for almost everyone, "I also extend my regrets over the past. I know it must have been hard on your country. But, as you have said yourself, we have to look at what is best for our people now. What would make you agree to sign? What can we do?"
Atanyan's eyes never left Duncan's, "Did you mean what you said? That you would do anything to repair the bond between our countries?"
Duncan nodded immediately, "Of course. Anything within my power."
The other man was silent a long time, thinking over Duncan's words, before finally responding, "I want Araluen to agree to seal this treaty with more than just words on a page. With something so ironclad, so unbreakable, so sacred, that even Araluen wouldn't be able to back out of it."
No one spoke for a moment, trying to figure out what he was alluding to. Then, Duncan's eyes widened as it clicked into place.
"You want this alliance to be cemented through marriage."
The Emrikir nodded, silent.
Duncan turned to look at everyone in the room. Shigeru looked shocked that anyone would suggest such a thing, probably thinking of Cassandra and her young age. The Emperor had spent a lot of time around the princess while he was here and had grown quite fond of her. Fausto was glancing back and forth between the two men, waiting to see what would happen. Being fairly skittish, this look didn't surprise him. It was Erak that caught him off guard. Erak was glaring at the Emrikir as if he thought that looks alone would be enough to kill him. It was obvious that, if it were up to him, this would never happen and Duncan was fairly certain that he was just a few seconds away from yelling again, which might destabilize their new alliance.
It made sense when he thought about it though. Skandians had never practiced arranged marriages. It was mostly done in Arrida, Hibernia, and Gallica, with some exceptions in Celtica. The tradition had fallen out of practice years ago in Araluen, mostly because Duncan's grandfather had fallen for a young girl in the village and refused to be married off to anyone but her.
And yet, Duncan couldn't blame Atanyan. After what happened with the last treaty between their countries, he had every right to ask for this.
But, his little girl? His Cassie? Putting a foreigner on Araulen's throne, as Prince Consort? As the future King?
Looking up he saw that Atanyan was watching him with a very even expression, patiently waiting for his response. His face gave nothing else away.
Duncan took a deep breath, cutting Erak off before the Skandian could start his enraged screaming about the request, and then asked, "How much do you know about the Rangers?"
Thank you to North-Peach for beta reading this chapter!