CHAPTER 154: THE PLAY OF POLITICS 2

A frown of undisguised contempt crossed both Eleonora’s and Sophia’s faces, as they turned to behold the two men who’d just arrived.

The first of the two, who was the one that just interrupted us, was tall and handsome, yet he reeked of over applied perfume, while wearing clothes that would be better described as actual armour than ceremonial attire, as most of his body was encased in beautifully made plate steal, that neither compromised on his safety, while allowing his full range of motion unimpeded.

His crooked smile was striking in it’s slight devilish charm, and his well built physique was a testament to his many hours of not only ordinary training, but of a life overflowing with experience in bloody battle; his raven hair reached the base of his neck, all the while his two eerie bloodred globes gazed back at the two of them with open contempt, desire and competition; as the sigil of his family and country, a black bull’s head with a crown floating between it’s horns over a blood red field, was plastered across his breastplate, proudly proclaiming this rude man as Polemos the sixth, descendant of the God of War, Slaughter and Honour; king of the western lands of Kleossa, the Nation of Warriors.

The second man on the other hand was of average height and build, with a square face, dusty blonde hair that was cut short, and two beady eyes, the colour of bright green with small, shimmering flecks of gold swimming within that viridescent ocean.

And that was enough for me to guess his identity as Hierax the eleventh, King of the great city of Herimissa, one of the magnificent and most prosperous commercial settlements in the world, as well as the descendant of the God of Commerce, the patron deity of all men who embark on long treacherous treks and voyages through harsh and unforgiving lands, while their legs ache and backs bend from the ladened weight of their goods, all in the hope of earning great wealth and treasure.

"Yes, I do in fact mind the intrusion Lord Polemos. So if you wouldn’t mind, scram." Eleonora spoke sharply, her eyes glaring orbs of hate as she stared at the handsome man.

His eyes narrowed with a vicious darkness, as he replied softly, with a tone now tinged in very subtle murderous intent "I see you still haven’t learned to mind your manners before your betters."

A sly, mocking smirk then graced her lips, as she said while taking a purposeful glance at me "I think you will find that whenever such an occasion arises, I have never been with fault."

Her words carried two potent slaps within them, the first was her rebuttal to his earlier words, by insinuating that he was not her superior in anyway, thus by undeserving of her respect; and the other was pointing out his own hypocrisy by bringing to light the fact that he and his companion have not yet performed the abided by the decrees of etiquette by bowing before me, when they arrived.

"Now, now, there is no need for such words between us, especially in front of his imperial majesty and in the Banquet of Concordia no less; besides we could all be considered good acquaintances here after all, so why not stop this senseless bickering, since we are willing to acknowledge our faults in the matter and are more than ready to pay any form of compensation you desire in repentance of our actions." Hierax then joined in with a slightly strained smile, and sincere sounding words that were laced in such a patronizing tone, it was practically dripping from each syllable he uttered, except for when he spoke words in relation to me.

"I think it best if you use that gold of yours to repay those who’ve been killed or maimed due to your incompetence." Even the usually calm and collected Sophia venomously retorted, her expression still as unknowable as ever, but her eyes could not hide her rising wrath.

Yet while they were bickering with one another, Darius and I were surveying the surroundings, our instincts screaming at us that a nefarious ploy was at hand, since no fool would dare to so openly antagonize Maximillian’s wives, and before my table no less.

’But who? And to what end?’ I warily thought, as I noticed the number of inquisitive eyes gathering upon the commotion in front of me acceleratingly increasing with each passing second, which only made it harder to pin point the true master mind, as I left the four bickering kings and queens alone as possible bait to catch the orchestrator.

These two were rulers of the twin nations in the western realms who were among the most vocal of the few who openly resisted Luminous influence upon their region, so I highly doubted they were here by their orders, but then I suddenly felt Darius tap my leg under the table, as he signalled with his eyes for me to look to the side, where I beheld Octavian’s retreating figure, behind the doors he’d just entered from not even an hour before.

’He’s leaving before the sun even fully sets?!’ I thought in shock, wondering why he would do so, when his son and wife were still in their seats, and I had not forgotten the oddity I sensed in his aura earlier, as well as their abrupt reason to so vehemently insist on changing the order of entries.

A reason they apparently refused to divulge or properly explain.

Either way, my scepticisms of the Western Hegemon were growing by the second, and though I still didn’t believe they were behind these two dogs coming to bark in front of me, I had a primary suspect for the moment, so it was high time I deal with the issue at hand, especially as the rancid stench of conspiracy was beginning to grow uncomfortably thick, and I was also beginning to feel Aegaeon’s eyes upon us now, and any conflict during the Banquet of Concordia, especially on the opening day was seen as the height of humiliation upon the hosting party, so I acted fast.

"If you’re going to continue squabbling like children, then take else where. Now." I coldly said with a dangerous edge, making all who heard it feel an uncomfortable sting on their throats, as though a blade’s sharp razor was pressed against them.

Eleonora and Sophia instantly turned to me once more and deeply bowed in apology, but as they did, I caught the meaningful glance they threw the chess board between us, especially the white queen and black king pieces.

That is when I realized that there was more to this simple present than meets the eye, so apathetically nodded to their words, as I covered their gift up once again under the white cover, making it seem as though I was greatly displeased by their actions to such an extent that even their gift had diminished in value in my eyes.

The mercenary queens then left, before the other two then said a few perfunctory words, that I didn’t care much to hearing, so I simply shooed them away like noisy hounds, as I hoped that they would be stupid enough to return to their owner, or at least give me a hint of his possible identity, that way I could possibly ascertain the purpose of their little stage show, but they sadly didn’t provide me such a convenient thing, as they both just remained with each other from then on.

After it was finally over, my brothers then looked at me, before Cyrus unreservedly asked "What was wrong with them?"

I lightly smiled, while Nizam had to quickly stifle a laugh from hearing his question, as we both knew that even though he did not exactly say it, our mischievous little brother was questioning the functionality of their brains.

"The relationship between the kingdoms of Kleossa and Herimissa with the nation of mercenaries has always been a tense one, my young prince." Darius replied, his voice just loud enough to still be considered at a normal speaking level, and for his words to simultaneously spread to the ears of those who were still curiously trying to know what had just happened. "The War God’s descendants resent the Mercenary King’s acquisition of the title of the War Dragon, as they see it as a challenge to their very lineage; while the Mercenary Kingdom despises the state of Herimissa due to the abhorrent manner in which they treat the mercenary companies they hire to fight their wars, especially since the majority of the small kingdom’s military is composed of such men and women, since most of their population has little mind for anything other than mercantile matters."

My brothers nodded in understanding at his sagely words, while I in return began to resist the wide grin threatening to emerge upon my face, not solely because I was happy that he was so generously sharing his wisdom of untold centuries to them, but also due to having understood the silent scheme and deeper motivation behind his actions; which was to expertly extradite us from all the possible fallout of this commotion, while subtly shifting most of the blame onto the two moronic monarchs from the Western Realms, painting a picture of two foolish kings coming to stupidly stir up trouble for the two mercenary queens before our table, due to simple petty spite, with absolutely no care given what so ever to the host’s face and proper decorum.

’It seems those bothersome dogs are about to suffer the bite of the consequences of their own cabal’s machinations.’ I sadistically thought.