darkwolf687

You are sitting in the back of a cop car with the avatar above... (Game)

"So, Ronald finally called the police eh?"

Reboot - Prized Bride

Zakroti slowly folded his arms as Miry began to speak to him, talking of Gemmnites being cowardly and weak with no wish to fight, equating herself to them. He couldn't help but break a smile, for it was either extremely brave or extremely stupid of her to have taken him aside to presumably ask him to give some form of aide to what was now officially his foe, there were a few was she could have gone about this but apparently he decision was to speak to a warlord known for brutally slaughtering people... Amusing.

"For someone who says they can't fight for what they believe in, you're doing an awfully good job of it so far." He commented wryly before letting her continue

“B-but s-some of my people… th-they’re d-different. A-Asta is d-different. She… W-when we were l-little, a-all of our c-cousins got t-taken as p-prizes. E-every s-s-sing-gle o-one of them, a-as soon as they were o-old enough. A-and we s-saw how i-it b-broke th-their f-f-family. A-and A-Asta got m-mad, y-you know? A-and she m-made a p-pact with s-s-some o-of the boys i-in the town—She’d a-always b-been f-fri-iends with t-them, m-more than a-any other g-girl—T-that they w-would f-f-fight back a-against the L-Lords who c-came to take t-their s-sisters a-and c-cousins and f-friends.”

He deliberately wiped the smile from his face as he listened to her story about her cousins being taken, nodding in understanding at her story. But it all sounded irrelevant. Asta and these 'boys' were certainly not soldiers and none of them had the experience of the Drakken under their belt, especially not as many Drakken had lived several lifetimes of Gems spent in war and on the battle field.

”S-she was-sn’t the o-only one w-who, w-wanted to do s-s-somet-thing ab-bout it. B-but she was the m-most o-organized, a-and the m-most w-well-prep-pared. B-by the time she was f-fift-teen, she h-had a n-network of sp-pies and f-f-fight-ters, a-all through o-our kingd-dom. Y-you k-know the G-Gemminites d-don’t really h-have a milit-tary, a-at least, not more t-than our R-Royal G-Guard. B-but A-Asta made an u-undergound one, for j-just something like t-this.”

When Miry looked up towards him, she would see a face which was half in pity and half in amusement at the thought of an army of youth trying to fend off the berserking forces many of the other Drakken warlords had, and even if they managed to miraculously defeat the more disorganised there were always those who trained their soldiers professionally and had them fight in organised ranks to contend with.

“The o-only thing I a-ask is t-that you l-let me w-write l-letters. L-let me w-write t-three l-letters a-and e-ensure they a-are del-livered. Y-you d-don’t have t-to do a-anything, y-you can d-deny a-all a-attachment. J-just l-let me w-write t-three let-ters. O-one to R-Ridian Anar-rin, b-because h-he c-can get word to e-everyon-ne i-in the p-palace. One t-to Iral a-and Id-dasu Tyridur, b-because they w-were A-Asta’s c-closest f-friends. A-and one to P-Princess Annaveya, bec-cause she is m-more likely t-to bel-lieve me t-than her p-parents.”

The princess! The Princess was going to try and stop a Drakken invasion! He couldn't contain a chuckle as he approached her slowly, speaking to her in a slightly amused tone that clearly carried doubts about the possible effectiveness of this course of action

"First, I am in no way mad with you." He gave her a friendly smile as he said that that clearly indicated we was entirely unperturbed by the request, but it quickly faded and his face became steely "Miry, how many of these gems have fought in a war? The Drakken hordes are not some inexperienced invading force, these are hardened warriors each with decades if not centuries of warfare under their belt, each one is capable of taking on a dozen Astaelins single handedly. How are their leaders? How many of them have defended keeps, held mountain passes from hordes of monstrous creatures, destroyed their enemies on the battle field in an even fight or even when outnumbered? They have no power to stop the Drakken, they will merely get themselves slaughtered by the bucket load. How many have stood on a battlefield as crossbow bolts, arrows, fireballs and rocks fly towards them, ordered to stand in position to wait for the right moment even as their friends are cut down around them? Do they even have a figure to lead them, one who is not just skilled in commanding armies but inspires such loyalty and has such a presence that their underlings will not flee from the field mid combat? Have they established supply lines, bases, watchtowers; Have they forged armour and equipment and trained enough to have competent archers, pikemen, swordsmen, cavalry, crossbowmen and artillery all capable of fighting as an effective unit? If the answer to any of this is 'no' then you would not be giving them a fighting chance you would be sending them to their doom. Your Kingdom is not just assailed by the Drakken but by all manner of monstrosities which the Drakken had been holding back at the cost of their own blood. What makes you think this army of youth have any hope?"

Zakroti paused for a moment in consideration as he thought about his own plans and how this bride might be more of a boon to them than he had first expected after all. He smiled again and took a step in advance towards her, kneeling down so that he was level with her and speaking in a hushed tone to her. "I know what its like to be the weak, small one being assailed by strong and large foes- and I know how to beat them off. Tell me everything you know about these rebels and we'll see about sending these letters- and maybe more."

***

Kzaar stalked his way through the crowds, knocking several nobles aside with a growl as he did, eyeing everyone in the crowd up until he at last found the girl he was looking for, with her unkempt hair and flawed skin. He placed a big, armoured hand onto her shoulder and turned her to face him, noting that her eyes were staring at him with a burning dislike.

"Lord Unalim commands that you follow." Kzaar grunted as he returned her glare, moving his free hand down to his sword, ready to submit her if she resisted him. She did not act on her annoyed look, however, and he led her from the banquet hall and down the corridors and up the winding stone staircase into the chamber, nodding to the blackguard by the door to the balcony who opened it up to let the pair onto the balcony.

Zakroti turned his head to glance at them and gave a quick nod to the pair to acknowledge their arrival, which Kzaar returned.

Reboot - Prized Bride

Saw this and thought of you Potato,

@my Lalia

Would fit the syllable structure better if it is "'Taters gonna 'tate"

Reboot - Prized Bride

"Also Asta is being unhelpful in the grand debate over how Edoric should act. So insight time: She'd love to see the Drakkens go to war against Gemminia just so that she could see how well her Stars fared against them."

Now I want to see the Drakken go to war just to see the rebels get crushed like the rebellious children then are xD

Reboot - Prized Bride

Zakroti followed Miry carefully with his eyes as she stepped forward to help Kzaar rise to his and listened to her as she made her request.

”Y-yes… M-my lord, I f-forg-give him. B-but… I-if I may make a r-request? P-please don’t make a-anyone kn-kneel bef-fore me, e-ever ag-gain. I-I’m not w-worthy o-of it.”

Zakroti gave her a smile and a friendly nod. He no real wish to harm Kzaar for doing his duty faithfully and was pleased that Miry had not held a grudge against him. Indeed, Kzaar must have seemed more like a monster to the Gems than a person given that he stood so tall and was fully capable of cleaving men in half with a single swipe. Many Gems harboured an innate hatred of the Drakken after so many years and he could only assume they would be quick to jump on the opportunity to have one harmed and yet here Miry was, helping a Drakken warrior to his feet.

"As you desire, Miry, I will ne-" He began in a polite tone, but suddenly cut off as he saw her scamper away from his side and launch into a sudden dash across the room. He reached out in an attempt to seize her arm before she could get to far in fear for her safety but failed to grab her before she made it out of reach. He traced where she was racing too and saw Astaelin in thick iron chains, Miry wrapping her arms around her sister.

With the clank of plate metal boots another of the blackguard, a 6'7 Drakken by the name of Gaikus, stepped forwards and placed his hand against his sword, glancing over to Zakroti and waiting for him to give the order, more than willing to throw himself hopelessly at Edoric and his men if his master gave the command.

Zakroti paused for a few moments in consideration of his next command, glancing towards Edoric and noting that his attention was far too preoccupied with his Goats... Still, it would cause a scene if Zakroti decided to have his men storm Edoric and seize his girls... And then all the Drakken would probably start trying it and the place would become a bloodbath. Too chaotic. It was better to observe and act only if Edoric made a move to harm Miry.

But perhaps...

Zakroti's line of thought was interrupted when he noticed Astaelin was shooting a harsh glare towards him. He merely looked straight at her eyes with his usual blank, emotionless look. No. The girl would be more useful to him in Edorics position anyway; He had to be pragmatic for this to work, he could not risk his life rescuing a bride simply because he felt sorry for her and her sister.

Then, Zakroti heard Krones voice make an announcement, declaring that this would be the last peaceful reaping. As Zakroti has expected, peace between the two nations had finally broke down and he had no reason to believe the Gems were well prepared for this. He glanced over his room and gouged the reactions of the gems. Many were solemn, many were terrified but others seemed to be completely unfazed... He couldn't understand why.

At the heart of this entire declaration, after all, lay the question of exactly what the Drakken would do to the Gems. In fact, with the beginning of a war with the Gems the brides would likely find their value greatly diminished. After all, they were provided by the Gems as part of a peace agreement and with this agreement gone the Warlords would take it upon themselves to take any girl from the towns they invaded at will. Concordantly, the brides were treated like goods and when there is a sudden increase in supply without an increase in demand... Well, every no name warrior in every no name warband was about to have a sheath for his dagger, so to speak.

This was not to say Zakroti actually found this abhorrent. Zakroti had been a slaver for many years and had dealt with the trafficking of females for the sexual pleasure of certain... individuals. This was nothing new to him by any stretch of the imagination, with everyone campaign he had been on he had returned with a wealth of slaves. He usually split them up into several groups; There were the Prizes who were usually young and pretty girls who would be auctioned off to various Drakken lords for sexual gratification or to act as servants, there were the Labourers who he would set to work in mines and construction or sell them off to serve and then there were the Warriors who he either press ganged into military service or sold off to certain more blood thirsty nobles to fight in their fighting pits or arena's.

It was a very profitable business and he had found, in his experience, that slave warriors were ironically extremely loyal once they had been broken through a strict training regime. Indeed, those who were survived and freed usually offered their services as paid officers for the slave legions instead. This slave army supplemented his more standard forces of Drakken warriors and the results had been very pleasing thus far.

He heard someone approach him and, given that his blackguard had not demanded they halt, it must have been one of his. He turned his head ever so slightly so he could catch a glimpse of the man out of the corner of his eye. The Drakken held a letter in his raised hand and approached Zakroti as he raised his own corresponding hand to take the letter. The servant quickly backed away and Zakroti broke the seal on the letter reading over it. After a few moments of reading he quickly whipped out a parchment and quill, Kzaar placing an inkwell down beside him. Quickly, he dipped the quill into the ink and began to scrawl a letter out in cursive, before folding it over and handing it to the messenger. He repeated this action many times, writing more and more letters which were slowly accumulating in a pile in the poor servants hands.

Orders had to be given! Now was an opportunity like no other.

Despite his joy at the prospect of the riches that might soon flow and be his, he managed to keep his face like stone with little emotion conveyed on it what so ever. He wanted to appear composed in order to appear more dangerous, even if it meant he would have to wait to crack a smile.

His timing was nearly perfect; As he finished and folding the last letter, handing it off to the servant to be taken away, Miry came down beside him and spoke in a quiet voice that would almost certainly not be audible to anyone further than five feet or so away in this racket... Given that she had just been talking to Astaelin and there had just been an announcement for war, he guessed that she probably wanted his assistance in some way or at least his assurance that he would not invade. A word in private? Fine. He needed an excuse to leave anyway, he wanted to be away from here before any more 'excitement' broke out. He turned his head towards the now standing Kzaar.

"Kzaar; Find Amaryllis. I think we've had enough time among the 'folk of quality ' to last a lifetime, nevermind this night. I have no doubt she too will be pleased to get away from this rabble." Zakroti ordered, to which the hulking Drakken warrior simply nodded and headed back towards the banquet to find the Bride, a black head towering above the crowds. Zakroti turned his attention back towards Miry and motioned for her to follow him, the blackguard filing in around the pair in a triangle formation with Gaikus at the front.

He led her through the winding stone corridors, noticing the corpse of a Drakken down one of them and sighing weakly as they pressed on until they were back in the Chamber where he had met with Nastaki earlier (His grandfather was thankfully absent from the room) and pushed open the doors to the balcony, stepping past the massive ballista and quickly peering around. There were now two weary looking Drakken leaning against the war machine, entertaining themselves by having a rather vulgar conversation about which brides they would have a 'night of pleasure' with if they happened to find them alone, though given the contents of their conversation that the group could overhear before the two Drakken realised they has company and wisely quietened down, it was entirely clear that the pleasure would be very one sided and certainly not consensual. Zakroti motioned for the pair of them to leave while giving them a glare that would of been fitting on the face of Krenta himself and although the pair needed no convincing to accept a dismissal from their ice cold post, he motioned for Gaikus to draw his sword to throw a scare into them anyway, causing them to half walk half run back into the wroth.

The blackguard set about checking over the edges of the balcony and in the alcoves by the door. Once Zakroti was satisfied that there was nobody eavesdropping, he motioned for the blackguard to close the door to the balcony and in response Kilio took up position in the far side, blocking it off. As they did, he felt the icy grip of the mountains but did he best to ignore it. Now was no time for complacency based on a desire for personal comfort, he would rather that none outside of himself, Miry and his blackguard would know the details of the conversation that would follow...

"Your sister is in chains, Krone announces war and you want to speak with me in private. I am going to assume you want my assistance in some way, correct?" He asked in a serious and somewhat solemn tone as he turned to face her, his face grim and more serious, the glow from the moon light caught his face in such a way as to make him appear more solemn than he had intended as he spoke.

Reboot - Prized Bride

Hurry up with it then! XD

Jk love ya :p

Reboot - Prized Bride

Or you know, the armies marching back through the lands of the Gems to come home to begin the invasion (For some reason... I'm guessing the Drakken King just became terribly sporting and was just like "It just wouldn't be cricket to order the soldiers defending the gems from the blighted lands to havok at will!") If the Gems didn't notice THAT they deserve to die xD

Reboot - Prized Bride

No problem Aria :)