| Paladin Assassin - Chapter Fifteen
By Charles Moffat
"What?" cried Willium. "That's impossible, he's the Emperor's brother!" "Not really, Willium. He did hire Pothax to kill Nebonex and he did hire another for the assassination attempt on the Emperor's son. He also tricked the Empress into declaring war on Athex, so why couldn't he also be an Crime Lord as Waytorn says? it could be that everythings connected to some master plan of his," argued Victoria. "But-" "Think Willium. If Kobalix wants to conquer the world, wouldn't it make a bit of sense that he might want to conquer the underworld too?" said Victoria impatiently. "And now that I think of it, wasn't that Hitlot's plan as well?" "Would someone please tell me what's going on?" asked Waytorn, looking hopefully at Elexenia. "Don't look at me!" cried Elexenia. "I may be a Queen, but I don't have a clue when it comes to politics! I let my husband take care of that!" Waytorn stared in response. He decided he'd have to shout to get some answers. "Shut up, before I have you all removed!" Victoria and Willium fell silent. Elexenia hid behind Willium. "Victoria, that's your name isn't it? Please explain and the rest of you," his eyes fell on Willium and Elex huddled behind the King. "Shut up!" he ordered. He placed his hands akimbo. "Kobalix is the former Emperor's brother. He tricked the Empress into declaring war and he had the former Emperor assassinated," Victoria explained, pausing when he raised an eyebrow questioning. "He wants to rule the world, apparently that includes the crime world," she said, noting Waytorn's interested look. "A traitor obviously," smiled Waytorn. "He overcrossed the boundary when he had the Emperor killed, that's an unspoken law here. It would count as a declaration of war on my territory, which might explain that 'rule the world' business." "Would you like the details?" Victoria asked. "I'd love the details," replied Waytorn. "May we sit down? This will take some time." "If you wish," said Waytorn, motioning them to sit in some comfortable, cushioned chairs.
Waytorn stared at Victoria in silence, somewhat dumbfounded, but hardly surprised. Blinking, he stood and stretched. "Perhaps I should with you and your fellow people. Since Kobalix is a threat to both of us, we can work out an agreement." "Could you come to the palace tomorrow morning? We'll tell the guards at the gate to expect you," said Willium, standing up and yawning lazily. "Don't bother. I never use gates," Waytorn said with a smile. "Oh."
"Okay men, put your backside into it. I want all the large trees cut down and hauled back to the soldier's barracks," shouted Sir Dillard. The Arthian and Colnic commanders saluted, and repeated the order to their men. A tidal wave of axe blows against wood reminded the knight of thunder and wondered if it could be heard miles away. Soon there was shouts of 'Timber', as giant Arthian maples and scattered copses of oak trees began to fall to the ground. Almost immediately, men fell upon the trees, hacking away excess limbs. "Sir, this is great," remarked Rades. "The two armies are improving greatly at strength, and their skill of swinging a weapon." "A battleaxe and a wood axe are quite different, Rades, but I see your point. This will also increase their accuracy. So we are getting several benefits from this," replied Dillard, mounting his horse. "Look! There's Gisoni!" pointed Rades at tall figure running in their direction. The lieutenant found minotaurs fascinating and their customs far from boring. "What's the weather like up there?" yelled the stocky Stornium. Gisoni ran up to them, and looked down at the lieutenant. "Fine, how's your's?" he laughed. "A little moist from the fog rolling in from the lake," Rades replied, craning his neck ridiculously. Dillard laughed. "How did Nebonex's speech go?" he asked, scratching his scar. "He was stupendous. My men were chanting his name, and carrying him around the city," said Gisoni. "Where are they now?" asked Rades. "I'm having them stampede around the city, turning up mud. The assault towers won't be able to roll through the mud when their done," grinned the huge minotaur. "Notice this is almost fun?" asked Rades, mounting his horse so he was at eye level with Gisoni. "You won't say that when the fighting starts. I just got a message from Victoria, she says Kobalix has a private army north of here, but she's working on gaining us another ally." "How big is Kobalix's army?" asked Dillard. "She said larger than Blackaxe's which is two hundred thousand," replied Gisoni. "Now we really need Blackaxe's army," said Rades.
"Willium, wake up," urged Gith, shaking his master gently. "Whatsit?" muttered Willium. "You slept in, sire. Victoria, and the rest are waiting in the dining hall," the retainer whispered to avoid waking Willium's tempersome wife. "Is my high advisor Kolad there?" Willium asked, groaning as he sat up. "Yes sire."
"Sorry I'm late," apologized Willium. "The stress from everything is starting to take effect," he muttered, taking his seat beside Kolad. Willium didn't like the gray-eyed advisor, the man was fanatical loyal and the King found that kind of attention embarrassing. "You didn't miss much, Willium," replied Victoria. "How dare you!" protested Kolad. "Your supposed to call him 'Your Majesty'!" "Shut up, Kolad!" yawned Willium. "I'm too tired and hungry for your nonsense." Kolad stared at Willium, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "What would you like to eat, sire?" asked Gith. "Some of those toast things Redhawk likes so much," Willium replied. "One batch of Kinian toast coming up," said Gith, turning and leaving. "Okay Victoria, what else have we learned?" asked the King, settling back in his chair. "Kobalix has the second largest criminal army in the world, next to Waytorn. Waytorn has five hundred thousand men, but they're scattered throughout Kinian, Colnic, Stornium, Arthian and small parts of the minotaur empire. He's massed a hundred thousand here in Athex and another 250 thousand in an abandoned keep in northern Arthian, south of a keep he's building in Kinian. The rest are heading here to join the rest of his ranks," explained the brigadier. "Kobalix has over three hundred, fifty thousand men, mostly minotaurs. From spy reports, Waytorn says that Kobalix's army north of here is growing by a couple hundred minotaurs a day, however the numbers pouring in each day are decreasing." "Waytorn, could you bring all of your army here. It might be wise if we massed all our people together," asked Jacog, turning to Waytorn. Willium raised an eyebrow; he hadn't noticed the cutthroat king sitting in a secluded corner of the dining table. "Of course, of course I could, but getting the message to them could be difficult with Kobalix's men probably set up for ambushing messengers," answered the cutthroat. the initial staring at Waytorn's face had not yet quit, especially from Kolad. "Would a thousand Colnic Knights out for lance practice be a sufficient escort?" asked Jacog. "My knights need the chance to use their horses as well, camels are usually used back home." "It would." "Brigadier Victoria," said a colonel, walking up to the archeress. "We spotted the cloud of dust in the distance. What are your orders?" "Send a major out there with a hundred horsemen. Tell the major to get as close as he can without being seen. That doesn't mean hiding five feet behind a minotaur. I want all the soldiers reports on my desk in less than four hours," Victoria ordered. the colonel saluted and marched out. "Dillard, Rades, how did those giant crossbows go?" asked Nebonex. "Were in the process of testing the first one, sir," said Dillard. "we have another ninety-nine being built right now. We figured a hundred of them would be sufficient," he explained. "Good," said Nebonex. "Gentlemen, Victoria, continue your duties. We will meet again in five hours on the southern city wall."
"Where's Victoria?" asked Gisoni, leaning against the wall. "She'll be late. She said she had to survey some new troops," answered Willium. "Okay then, we'll just start without her," said Nebonex, drawing his sword. "I had a servant bring several buckets of dirt up here for me to draw this map. Athex's walls are shaped in a perfect hexagon," the minotaur said, drawing a huge hexagon in the dirt with his sword. "There's Westgate, Northgate and Southgate. Each has two towers on either side of those huge gates," he said, drawing the towers as squares, with the gates between them. "The eastern ports are guarded with three towers, Northtower, Eastower and Southtower, and canals leading into the city called Northport and Southport. Trying to attack there would be suicidal, but we should put a reasonable amount there anyway," he said, drawing the ports, towers and canals. "So if we have 340 thousand soldiers, knight and minotaurs included. We can have 230 thousand manning the walls at a time, while the other 110 thousand rest as reserve," said Willium. "Gisoni," said Dillard. "How would your minotaurs feel about guarding the two eastern ports?" "Fine." "We'll need more than ten thousand minotaurs to defend it effectively against a major assault," said Pollex. "Would thirty thousand Arthian knights led by Sir Dillard be sufficient?" asked the Colnic General Sahos. "Yes, it would." "Okay then," said Nebonex. Willium found it amusing that the minotaur had adopted the Arthian word 'Okay' which in reality was a slang of old Kinian meaning 'to the barge'. "Gisoni and Sir Dillard are in charge of the two eastern ports," he said writing a D and a G at the ports. "That leaves 300 thousand soldiers, cutthroats and knights. Waytorn, we'll put you and your cutthroats in charge of Northgate so you'll be towards the direction of Kobalix's private army. I'm sure you won't mind?" said Willium with a grin. "More than happy to," replied Waytorn. "Sahos,' said Willium, "you'll be in charge of Westgate and Pegs, you'll be in charge of Southgate." Nebonex wrote a S at Westgate, a P at Southgate and a W at Northgate. "Nebonex." "The gathered leaders turned around to face Victoria. her face was pale and she was puffing hard. "Read this," she said, handing the prince a folded piece of parchment. Unfolding the message, Nebonex began to read outloud.
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