Sweet Waters Throne

79 Chapter 7The moment General Haul arrived at the gates of Green Mountains with his twenty thousand knights, he found a surprise waiting for him. Lord Gandalf stood a league away with his men, not all of them he brought just twenty thousand and made sure the rest one hundred thousand were spread out all over the King’s City and other parts of the kingdom, not the whole kingdom but the most important parts.

The other three big cities Claydall, Bellward and Raven were surrounded by Lord Gandalf’s men at their gates and one lion. Unfortunately, all these cities gave up all their best men to King Castellan and all that remained were just good folks who knew nothing about wars and fighting. Sir Horpes Godwen took control of Claydall with ten thousand men and one lion, he took out House Taelin’s banner and replaced it with Old City’s sigil.

Sir Criston Highrise headed towards Bellward with ten thousand men and one lion and so did Sir Ruins Tully who occupied Raven with ten thousand men and one lion too. Henceforth, three lions were at the gates of the huge cities and their lords had already opened the gates for them and surrendered.

In Claydall, Lord Aubrel’s daughter Haniwa was forced to open the gates of the city and surrendered her father’s city to Sir Horpes Godwen who was one of the loyal knights to Lord Gandalf. Haniwa was surrounded by her sisters and their mother, she wore an armor and carried a sword. Unlike what Sir Horpes Godwen thought Haniwa to be like, he was rather impressed.

Once all ten thousand men entered inside the city of Claydall with their lion, the banners of House Taelin were lowered down at the castle of Lord Aubrel and replaced with sigils of House Old City. Sir Horpes Godwen knew he will soon be named lord of Claydall once Gandalf takes the silver throne and during that moment, even the good folks were aware King Castellan lost the war.

The castle of the late Lord Aubrel was huge and finely decorated, in this part of the kingdom the sun shone every day and there was no deep ice rather than just cold weather. It was summer mixed with a bit of warmly winter and the people of Claydall wore warm clothes compared to the ones in King’s City. The castle had over one hundred servants and there was food everywhere, and most important a council chamber where the lord usually conducts his meetings with his council.

Sir Horpes Godwen was so taken by everything he saw in the castle as Haniwa gave him a tour. “Where’s your father’s chambers?” asked Horpes.

Haniwa stuttered for a moment, but then he led the knight to her father’s chambers. “I will be the lord of Claydall you see...” Sir Horpes bragged while laughing with his fellow soldiers. “Once my lord becomes King of Prophis, this will all be mine” he continued.

When they reached what was used to be Lord Aubrel’s chambers, Haniwa’s mother Lady Catherine was asked to take out all her belongings and her husband’s too. That night Sir Horpes Godwen moved into Lord Aubrel’s chambers and was accompanied with five whores who pleasured him all night long. His men flocked into the pleasure houses of Claydall and fucked every whore without payment, they styled themselves as “Men of the king”

.....

In Bellward, Sir Criston Highrise found no opposition and he walked inside the city’s gates with his men and the lion. The current lord of Bellward died in the Battle of Stonedance and he was set to be succeeded by his son. Sir Criston Highrise didn’t create much of a mess when he took the city, the only thing he asked was a warm bath and a bed inside the castle. Bellward was at the north of Prophis and possibly the coldest city in Prophis.

Most of the good folks in Bellward spent their time inside their houses made of stone warming themselves. Because of the heavy ice, Bellward depended on King’s City and Claydall for food since they couldn’t grow anything in a frozen land.

In Raven, Ruins Tully was faced with opposition the moment he arrived at the gates with his ten thousand men and a lion. The lord of Raven, Lord Boross refused to let him inside his city. Raven was just like King’s City in terms of being heavily populated and a trade city it was with foreigners and indigenous locals all over the place. There were huge buildings in Raven, perfectly designed roads, a marvelous market squire full of commodities and luxurious pleasure houses.

This city was King Taelin’s favorite place to stay and he never got enough to talk about Raven. It wasn’t cold and being in the East of Prophis that meant it was passed by the Silent Sea, the sun shone every day in Raven and some people used to say Raven is the sister of Blackmount. During the summer, the good folks would align themselves in the shores of Silent Sea swimming and having fun. Raven was also the center of revenue since it linked Prophis with the Liberty Cities, trades of all kinds were done in this City.

Lord Boross still had his own men even though he gave the king some to fight the war, and in totality there were thirty thousand men inside the city against ten thousand of Sir Ruins Tully. A good soldier knows when he’s outnumbered and seeks either help or retreats, but that wasn’t Sir Ruins Tully who believed he can take the city for his future King, hence he waited outside the gates of Raven ready to fight.

Lord Boross sent twenty thousand of his men outside his city’s gates and Raven fought bravely outside it’s city gates. The lion was attacked by rains of spears containing poison and he didn’t linger for long before he fell down, and that left the men to fend for themselves.

The Battle of Raven as it was chronicled later lasted for three hours and by the time Sir Ruins Tully was dead, his men fled the city but they were still arrowed down and those who survived raced back to the King’s City to join Lord Gandalf’s army and to tell their Lord of the failure.

Lord Boross mounted Sir Ruins Tully’s head outside the city’s gates and also the lion’s head too, this was to show his strength against the invasion by Lord Gandalf. Only two thousand men survived the Battle of Raven that day, the rest eight thousand laid dead outside Raven’s city gates. Lord Boross made sure to leave them outside for Gandalf to see when he comes to visit the city.

Even with the battle won, Boross knew the silver throne was usurped and King Castellan might as well be dead hence he wrote to his friends across the Silent Sea for help and to inform them on the new fake king.

What was happening in Claydall, Bellward and Raven was of no concern to Lord Gandalf because he wasn’t aware of it. His concern was General Haul and his men who had to stop the moment they realized they were in a trap.

General Haul knew he lost, and he was also prepared to die but one thing he knew was even Prince Ambrose and Lucian Mithandir must be dead too. A mole in their camp leaked their plans and now they stood face to face with an army of Lord Gandalf and his three lions.

An envoy was sent to General Haul with terms “His Grace, Gandalf Squire first of his name. King of Prophis and Good Folks and Mighty Lions. Lord of Stonedance, Old City and Protector Of the Realm hereby commands you to yield and bent a knee in support of his claim, or die screaming” said the envoy.

General Haul was a good soldier unlike Sir Ruins Tully, he knew his men were worn out from crossing the Green Mountains and were also starving. Some of them couldn’t even hold their own swords, they were trembling because of the freezing cold winds and hunger.

Hence he dismounted his horse and walked towards where Lord Gandalf was, and when he arrived there General Haul bent a knee and surrendered his sword. A huge smile escaped Gandalf’s lips “Rise General” said Gandalf still on his horse.

“You have control of the cities?” asked General.

Gandalf replied proudly “Yes” this time he had no idea what was happening in Raven.

“I only ask one thing from you, honor me with a combat against Castellan Taelin”

Gandalf’s men laughed at the general, and they did that mostly because he was old and tired. A sixty-five-year-old man against a brave and decorated knight such as Castellan Taelin in his early thirties was a tournament which General Haul was meant to lose.

“No offence but I have my money on Castellan general, he will strike you down with a single blow” Gandalf laughed, and his men joined in they all laughed at the poor general who was helpless and worn out from his endeavors.