Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 3)

[jiminee]

 Chapter 2

Paul Soares returned from an early morning fishing trip, laden with fish of all kinds. He was now headed back towards the city of Daedalia to prepare for King Zisteau’s visit. The renovations on the king’s palace had nearly finished. The building was now not much bigger, but certainly much prettier. BdoubleO had made the palace eye-catching, and Paul could see it, even from this distance. He took in the gleaming quartz pillars, the polished andesite trimmings and the most stunning feature of all, the gold caps on the tallest towers that brilliantly caught the morning sunlight. As he came closer more details became apparent, including the colourful front gardens that had been replanted with exotic flowers of every kind.
Everyone in Daedalia was preparing for King Zisteau’s arrival tomorrow. When King Guude had issued the announcement, he’d firmly ordered that all Daedalians treat the Abattian king and his entourage with the highest respect. Everyone knew that it was all just buttering up, trying to lessen the magnitude of Zisteau’s demands. Playing nice had usually been the Daedalian way, a principle that went way back beyond Guude, to kings and kings before him. When war came, they would fight as hard as they could, and that was good enough. Aggression in times of peace never brought anyone good fortune.

Avidya sat cross-legged, still and serene by the blue lake on the outskirts of the city. The reflections of the clouds and sun in the water were distorted by a slight breeze that ruffled the surface of the lake. A small group of rabbits made quiet noises in the tall grass as it waved gently. Avidya finished his morning meditation and slowly opened his eyes. He sat for a minute, absorbing the calm scene then stood and began to walk back towards the city.
King Zisteau was leaving tomorrow. Most of the citizens of Abattia knew he was doing business with Guude. It seemed he was going to bully Guude into giving him the land he wanted, and everyone knew the consequences if he continued to say no. Avidya wondered if this could be solved in a peaceful way, but knew that peaceful had never really been part of Zisteau’s modus operandi.
The last war had been over eight years ago, and most of the citizens of Abattia and Daedalia remembered it. Nobody wanted a repeat. It had been over land, a very similar situation to the current one, although that time Zisteau had been less aggressive in his demands. At first, he had tried to barter gently with Guude, but became slowly more and more demanding until declaring war. This time, it seemed he had been far more straightforward. War seemed unavoidable, since Guude wasn’t one to give in easily.
Guude had a reputation of being soft. He may have been lenient on his citizens, but he still did all he could to maintain his tiny kingdom for his subjects, holding off the advances of anyone who might try to take it away from him. It was a balancing act really, trying to keep the peace while keeping his kingdom whole.
Avidya wished he knew more of what it was like over there. He wanted to go, see how those others lived. The king was taking three loyal subjects as his entourage on his visit: Pyro, the messenger, and two bodyguards: Anders and Jsano.  Pyro had promised to tell Avidya and his friends every interesting thing he saw in Daedalia, and Avidya supposed that would be good enough.

Beef was surprised at how quickly he had come to like the outsider, Pause. They had met almost every evening in the forest since last week, and their quiet hunting side by side had quickly turned into chatting and sharing stories. They would often just sit at the base of a large oak, deep in conversation about the differences and similarities between their two homes. Beef could not say what it was that had drawn them together so quickly, but he was glad they had met. Pause was very easily likeable. He had a great sense of humour, was sometimes very loud but conveyed his passion, and had a lot of experience. He talked about his friends back in Abattia, talking about the cool and calm Avidya, the excitable Pyro and the offbeat Millbee, until Beef thought he knew them as well as if he’d been friends with them for years. Beef would talk about his friends too, about Etho, who wore a mask but was a whiz at redstone and about Baj, the war veteran with a childish streak. Pause would listen with deep interest. They swapped stories until the stars were visible and the air was cold, and eventually Pause would say goodbye, pick himself up, and begin walking back across the flat wasteland. Beef often watched him go, thinking about their strange friendship as his figure disappeared into the night.

A new day dawned, bright as usual but with a fain sense of anticipation in the air. Daedalians were frantically cleaning their homes and storefronts and sweeping the streets. The city would be bright and hospitable for the king, even if the citizens weren’t.
Guude paced in his chamber, worrying. He hoped he could sort this out peacefully, without relinquishing any land. But King Zisteau was a formidable force, who would stop at nothing to obtain more land and power. Guude worried for his citizens, for his kingdom, and for the future of his reign. But there was no time for worrying now. He straightened his robes, took a deep breath, and prepared to welcome the king.

Abattians crowded at the city gate to see the king off. King Zisteau stood tall and proud, looking impressive on his black steed with his cloak sweeping down from his broad shoulders. Two men rode either side on him: Anders, a large, strong miner and Jsano, a firefighter with courage of steel. They were to protect the king at all costs. Pyro rode ahead, to announce Zisteau’s arrival to the Daedalians.

Daedalians lined the street from the main gate, watching and anticipating. The gate had been opened and a messenger rode forward on a palomino pony. The messenger wore the skin of some creature, perhaps a dragon, slung over his shoulder despite looking young.
“Announcing the arrival of his Majesty, King Zisteau of the Kingdom of Abattia,” he declared loudly. He looked around at the stunned Daedalians. “I hope you’re all ready,” he added, a little less formally. He rode at a slower pace down the street, past the gazes of the Daedalians. Their eyes were transfixed on the miniature procession behind him. Whispers rippled through the crowd as the king entered the gate, his horse walking slowly but proudly.
Not many of the Daedalians had seen Zisteau’s face this close before, and all were eager to get a look. His face was battle-hardened and scarred, with a strange quality that some men might call piggishness. A gold crown broadcasted his royal status, and a long red cloak swept behind him. He was terrifying. The citizens were just as curious about the two bodyguards on either side of the king: one, dressed in vibrant purple had a rugged beard, but was smiling too widely to seem intimidating.  His size and obvious strength were enough of a warning to anybody who might try to attack the king, though. The other man had fairer hair and a determined quality to his expression; he was obviously devoted to guarding the king.
The small convoy made its way down the main street toward the palace, with the still curious Daedalians flocking behind. The gates were opened, letting the king and his entourage through, swinging shut as the citizens pressed their hands and faces to the bars. They saw King Guude greet King Zisteau, have his horses led off to be stabled, and the group enter the palace.
As soon as the visitors were out of sight, the crowd dissipated. The arrival had been more ceremonial than the citizens had anticipated, and the sight of the king had been a big enough draw to come out for, but now there was nothing to look at, the Daedalians were no longer interested in the royal visit. Although they had been in awe of the Abattian ruler before, critical comments and snide observations now became the main object of their conversations. They were ready to go back to disliking the Abattians just as much as they always had.

Vechs had been interested in the arrival just as much as anyone else. The formality of Zisteau’s entrance had seemed a little absurd to him, but he supposed things were just done that way in Abattia. After Zisteau had entered Guude’s palace, the rest of the day had proceeded just about the same as any regular day in Daedalia. People went back to their homes and businesses, not really caring about the more political side of things. Some men went to their houses and quietly brought out old weapons, polishing them up and considering how best to enchant them, just in case. But while Guude was negotiating with Zisteau, most were happy to forget the probability of war.
Vechs had decided to go back to his base and have a rest since he was feeling overly tired, but planned to eat at the Royal Chicken, a 24 hour diner, later. Not food particularly high in nutritional value, but cheap nonetheless and easier than cooking for himself.

Guude was feeling strangely emotionless. Zisteau’s arrival had seemed to happen all at once, and now that the other king was in his chamber, resting, Guude had time to practise what he was going to say to him. They wouldn’t make any decisions until later; they would dine together in the evening, and after that was when the real negotiations would begin. Zisteau was being very polite, but Guude knew that would change.

It was approaching dawn when Vechs woke up blinking, his shoulders aching. He realised he’d fallen asleep at the Royal Chicken, slumped in a booth. The owner, Blame, had been kind enough to leave him be. Vechs considered going home now versus staying until it was light, but there weren’t really any benefits of staying. He said goodbye to Blame, with a quiet wave and set out towards home.
He was walking slowly, enjoying the feeling of being awake when nobody else was. His back and feet were sore and it was a ridiculous hour, but he didn’t mind. He rounded a corner onto the main street, and nearly crashed into somebody rushing in the opposite direction.
“Sorry,” Vechs said, stepping back. He nearly stopped breathing when he understood who the person was. “Your Majesty,” he added.
Zisteau was shorter off his horse, but still just as intimidating. Under the light of the street lamp his scars looked more severe, his face gnarled and hardened. Vechs noticed that while the king’s left eye was green, his right eye was clouded over with grey and Vechs wondered if it was blind.
“It’s alright,” Zisteau said, not angrily but with a tone of annoyance. “Watch where you’re going.”
He continued hurrying along, in the direction of the palace. Vechs wondered what he was doing out at four in the morning, although his Majesty should obviously be allowed to do as he wished as a guest in this city. Continuing down another side street, Vechs saw his home in the distance.

“Beef!” Etho pounded on the butcher’s door. No reply. He banged louder. “BEEF!”
Finally the noise intruded into Beef’s dreams, waking him with annoyance and confusion. Who was here when it was barely light, and why were they making so much noise? Beef finally registered the voice as Etho’s as he continued to yell.
“What is it?” Beef called, irritated.
“Beef, come outside!”
It sounded urgent, so Beef sighed and shuffled to the door drowsily. It was around four-thirty in the morning, a time far too early to be waking up. He opened the door to see Etho, who was sweaty and had a panicked look in his eyes.
“It’s your butchery. It’s burnt down.”

Comments

[jiminee]

I have no idea why the last paragraph is differently formatted D:

[chemrepnacl]

D: Beeferoni :( Also, love the way you described Z's eyes :D

[clashofdemonesense]

Fun! I love this more each time another chapter gets posted. Keep up the awesome work!

[thezombineer]

Well, Beef is screwed.

Edit: I also see that you said you are depressed. Why?

[jiminee]

Last night was pretty bad for me, piles of maths homework left until the last minute and I was panicking about getting it in. Thanks for asking <3

[thezombineer]

Homework sucks, especially when it's math.

[cooki_cutta]

Ooh, that was really good! Poor Beefsies! :(

[linkcam15]

Aww, poor Beef :(

And I'm very suspicious of Zisteau, I would assume he burned down Beef's butchery, but I can't see his motivation... Maybe he saw Pause and Beef? But why would he take such a personal route? Hmm...

Excited to see answers in the next one! Keep up the good work!