The X: Building Tides - Chapter 17

The Grey Line Arc 17

In Dēus, King Corinne travels to King Veūk’s castle to speak on certain political issues that were brewing throughout the continents. He rode his trusty horse (of which he received as a gift when Meredith was born) to the capital city of Dēdis, instead of a royal carriage, knowing that knights could be needed, but he was in a bit of a hurry and knew he could trust the Dēus king. He left his animal companion tied to a post, while he went to see Veūk. He went through the guards, and was escorted to the throne room. Veūk knew who it was immediately, and walked up to him, “Jonas, my old friend!” They both came in for a good old hug, “How are you doing old-timer?” Corinne chuckled, "I’m only 52. This old goat still has some bear within him-- and YOU, on the other hand, are 48. So don't act like you are Mitheis The Virgin." He shook his head with a friendly grin, "But, I have been fine. The family seems to be alright aswell." “That is good to hear. Sadly things aren’t what they used to be here or anywhere; with the conflict that seems to be on the ready, and everything else on top of that, including refusal of trade from some kingdoms or 'independent lands'.” Corinne rubbed the back of his head, in mild confusion, “I agree, it has been getting more difficult and more intense these days. But why did you call me here?” Veūk sighed, "The Pirate War and the Civil War both did numbers on our kingdoms-- mostly mine and others. Some of us can’t take another war. So.... I think that-" Corinne slowly realized what he was likely to say, “You’re saying that we should Soria??” Veūk had a look of empathy to what his friend already thought about this, and tried to quell his fears, “It’s inevitable that we will be crumbled by their forces. So why shouldn’t we adapt to these changes? Before it’s too late.” “Beruss, I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Veūk rubbed his eyes, “I know, but I cannot let my people suffer another attack. I thought that maybe you could agree with that.” “But would ONE true ruler make things better? Or would it bring hell on earth? The suffering that may come to people if Neuro is as bad as I have pegged him to be, or if an even worse emperor comes next. I have seen enough of Soria's methods, and they are never good. I’m never ing their empire” Veūk sighed again, “I was worried you would say that.” He then snapped his fingers, and six men ran into the room, next to Veūk, holding what appeared to be polished sticks, which confused Corinne, “I wish it wouldn’t come to this. But you have given me no choice. Either stand down and come quietly, or I’ll have to explain that a bunch of street punks brutally murdered King Corinne on his way to see an old friend...” Corinne began to look tense, at the sight of these unknown weapons, “What are those things?” “A gift from the emperor himself. A supposed wonder of the human world- clearly one of many symbols of their continuing barbarity.” In a split second as Veūk finished talking, Corinne quickly jumped to a stone pillar in the room, as the men began using their weapons. Corinne couldn't see too much of it, but it appeared that metal balls had been pushed out of the sticks to try and hit him, but missed and hit the stone walls instead. It seemed, unknown to him, that these were centuries-old guns. Corinne’s ears were ringing from the mini explosion coming from the rifles and the bullets hitting the stone all over. He looked around, trying to find a way out. He saw that there was a stained glass window in front of him, wide enough to get through. He took a deep breath, and ran straight through the window, rolling off the ground outside. Veūk realized that he had escaped and turned to his men, “He escaped. Go, go get him! He can’t leave this city!” Corinne brushed off the glass on his robes, and ran to his horse, untied it, and rode away before he could be shot.

* * *

Back in Mørkeland, Victoria and Meredith were given a small tour through parts of the island by the Blou chief, Abasi Adebayo. The scenery was lush and a sight to see. The grass and leaves were a vibrant shade of green, the air was warm but with a nice cool breeze, and the plant and wildlife were nice as well. They then went to sit at a table low to the ground, where the chief and his family would sit. It was a long table, enough to fit ten to twelve people. Victoria decided to sit across from Meredith, to keep watch of her. The chief sat at the head of the table, with his wife and son next to him. The food that was served was a type of beef stew, some flatbread, rice, mandazi (which were like New Orleans’ beignets, in the human world, from a different culture), and some wine- made from ion fruit. They waited for Victoria and Meredith to try the their food first. With a slight, and somewhat unwarranted, suspension that they could have poisoned their food, Victoria quickly took a bite of her food first before Meredith. She waited a moment to see if anything happened, and the food didn’t taste funny, and nothing was going on in her body. It seemed to be nothing but speculation, “Hmm. It’s nice.” “Thank you.” The chief said with a smile, “These are recipes that have been ed down for generations. And we have the best cooks on the island, no doubt.” Ashanti rubbed his shoulder, and added, “My grandmother was a brilliant woman and a brilliant cook.” Meredith quickly tried hers after, and seemed to enjoy aswell, “Mm! I like it!” Suddenly, a surge of heat from the spices came to her attention. Her cheeks turned reddish, and her eyes watered, “Wooh! That’s... hot!” Abasi laughed and ed her a cup of wine, “Here. This might take care of that.” Meredith quickly grabbed the cup, and chugged the wine, to possibly mitigate some of the pain. Thankfully, the pain mostly went away, and she sighed, “Thank you..... very much.” “Of course. I see you don’t live a life of spice. Though, it makes sense that your bodyguard can handle the heat- probably in her role description.” He laughed again, and his wife smirked and rolled her eyes a bit. Victoria chuckled herself, and said, “Well, I’ve had a bit more experience with more exotic ingredients. You could say I live a life of heat.” “You are funny, Ms. Chamberlin. And I am again thankful of your rescuing of my son.” “It’s no problem. We’re just happy to bring him back home with his family. It’s the least we can do.” “Do you wish to stay? We will be conducting a celebration; with fire, dancing, masks— all sorts of fun things.” “I wish we could. But it’d be best that we leave back to Alû after dinner.” Meredith interrupted, “I don’t mind if we stayed to celebrate. It’s something my father would have done.” The princess then thought for a second at end, would he? Victoria sighed with a light smile on her face, “Alright then, we’ll stay.” Meredith then put her arm around her shoulder, “See? It wasn’t that hard.”

* * *

Meanwhile on the beach of the Rooi territory, two Sorian warships docked nearby (both armed with the latest weapons), with dozens of soldiers coming from them. After all of them came General Maliki, one of Soria’s top generals in the main territories. He was an older man, somewhere in his mid fifties, with grey hair, yellow eyes, and wearing a standard long-sleeved-shirt with a metal chestplate on top and a short cape. Abrafo came up to bow- a very short and stern bow. The general bowed back, despite the stilted respect. “Welcome to Mørkeland, general.” “Thank you, chief. I trust that these will be enough men for you?” “They certainly will.”

* * *

Later into the night, the Blou people had their festival in the middle of the entire village. Torches were lit aswell as bonfires, wine and regular juice were enjoyed, and everyone was dancing. The dance consisted of holding your partner’s hands and spinning around and hopping. Abasi, Ashanti, Victoria, and Meredith sat on the ground as everyone else danced, and Ezeji was dancing with a local girl. Abasi turned to his wife, and held out his hand, “Would you care to dance, dear?” Ashanti smiled, “Of course, darling.” She grabbed his hand, and they walked to the dancing circle. Victoria stared straight at the beauty of the dancing circle, and the beauty of the bonfire. While she wasn’t looking, Meredith stood up and held out her hand, “Shall we dance?” Victoria smiled, “Of course.” She took her hand, and they ed the circle. Victoria had then realized how nice it was to feel the warm intimate touch of someone close to her. She had never felt happiness like she did with her. “This isn’t so bad, is it?” Said Meredith, “I knew all you needed was some fun.” “Maybe you’re right.” The dance switched, as everyone began to move counterclockwise, holding their partners closer. As they all moved in this direction, Meredith bumped further into Victoria, as they tried to move backwards without holding up the circle. They both looked somewhat embarrassed, but had huge smiles on their faces, “I-it seems that everyone is doing this aswell.” Meredith said, not hiding her nervousness. “I believe so too.” They all kept spinning and spinning, with the pace going higher and higher, until they all stopped, somehow not looking dissy. However, Meredith and Victoria fell back a bit and rolled down a small slope where they were. They were now on top of each other, and started giggling. “Now that was fun!” Meredith said. “I guess I have to agree. It is by law of the princess.” They both laughed, “I forgot you you had a sense of humor, Vicki.” “I’m almost glad you forgot. I tell the worst jokes.” “Maybe. But you are good at many other things.” “You mean like this?“ She kissed Meredith, as they lied on the ground. After a moment, they opened their eyes and looked at each other, and both laughed again. Then suddenly, loud bangs began to echo through the air of the night, and the people started screaming. Victoria and Meredith ran to see what was going on, and saw dozens of Sorian soldiers marching forward. The bang seemed to have come from the large orbs they were carrying, little sparks came from what looked like a short string, and the soldiers threw them to the ground, causing an explosion, which ripped dirt from the ground it touched. Everyone was shocked and confused, running around to get away from the soldiers. Victoria and Meredith ran further until they found Chief Abasi, his wife, and Ezeji. “What is going on?” Asked the chief. “I don’t know,” Said Victoria, “but they’re definitely using some powerful weapons. We need to stop them before we see what they can do to your people.” “You’re right. We must retaliate against these tresers!” Ashanti held his arm, “Dear, you can’t go out there and fight them. What if you get hurt?” “That is a risk I must take. Ezeji, protect your mother and the princess. We’re going to take care of this problem of ours.” Victoria unsheathed her sword, “I couldn’t agree more.” Meredith looked at her with worried eyes, “Be careful, and come back in one piece.” “You know I always try.”

She and Abasi then ran up to the offending forces, and began slashing through the enemy’s armor and skin. They hacked limbs and heads, with blood covering the grass. But more and more soldiers came in. They were starting to grow tired, a perfect advantage to the enemy. But thankfully, when things seemed dire, some of the village people grabbed weapons, and fought back to save their chief and their home. Sadly though, more men came in, and they were surrounded. But the soldiers didn’t kill them, as they made room for someone. That someone was Abrafo. Abasi was shocked to know it was actually him who had started this, “Brother? You really did this...? You kidnapped my boy?!” “You should have helped us against the people of the continents, to avenge the people we lost. But you didn’t.” “Are you talking about those sailors? They only worked for themselves. You cannot blame an entire land of people on that!” “But it has always been this way. And will never change.” “You’re wrong!” Cried Ezeji, as he walked closer to them, “They have changed, they’ve grown. Unlike you! In the past five months, a group of pale people proved that there are good ones there, that some of them can change. Some of them were very kind and very brave. But you: you are a coward! You hide behind the past, and you use the enemy of your enemy to get your way! And you bring shame to this family and your ancestors!” Abrafo then tried to kill Ezeji with a deadly slash- fuled by anger, before Abasi blocked the attack with his own sword. The two brothers were now looking into one another’s eyes, with fury and hate; once love now became contempt. They separated and began their combat. Throwing blows to each other, and trying to kill the other. Though it was questionable if Abasi wanted to actually kill his brother. Abasi removed his cloak, and threw it at Abrafo to distract him as he came in swinging. It didn’t work well, as Abrafo sweeped his brother’s legs, and he fell down. He grabbed Abasi’s sword, and pointed both at him, “It’s the end of the line, brother. Either us, or die!” But before a decision that likely wouldn't change could be made, Victoria used the burning rocks of the few bonfires, quenched the flames, and used the blackened pieces of earth to knock out many of the soldiers along with Abrafo himself. They were all down for the count.

Victoria helped Abasi up, as the others came to him. “Father, are you alright?” Ezeji asked. “I am alright, son. Just a few cuts.” He looked down at his unconscious brother, “To think my own flesh and blood would betray me like this. Such shame.” “It is most painful, father.” “It will be alright now. We shall imprison him for his dishonor.” Victoria said, “We could take him off your hands. He, and many of these soldiers are enemies of the Republic, having broken a few laws there, so they can be imprisoned in our kingdom.” Abasi thought on it for a moment, “Hm. I suppose it would be best to leave it to you, friend. I don't want to bother making a prison for him.” “Thank you, chief.” “No. Thank you for saving my life.” They both bowed.

The next morning, Victoria and the others tied up the soldiers and Abrafo, and put them on Cragnar’s boat. It seemed that General Maliki had left, before he could be found and questioned aswell. Victoria and Meredith said their goodbyes to everyone else, before they left. “I wish you the best of luck.” Ezeji said, “Tell Alex and the others I said hello.” “We will.” Abasi smiled and said, “Maybe someday you might visit again. Many other spiced recipes to share.” Victoria laughed, “You bet.”

Almost a week later, Victoria and Meredith returned to Alû, very tired. And after some napping, Victoria went to the schoolhouse to visit Alex. It was break time, with all the students in the main hall again. She spotted Alex and went to him, and also greeted Dina and their other friends. “Victoria!” He hugged her nice and tight. “Nice to see you too. Sorry I missed your birthday.” “That’s alright. I’m glad you ed it a little bit.” She looked down, “I’m guessing those are your new gloves you got.” “Mhm! They’re pretty nice. Jake and the others did a good job.” “I’m glad. While I was out, I got you something as a late birthday present.” She handed him a jar of assorted candied fruit peals, “Those fruits are from Mørkeland. So they’re a bit of a taste of Ezeji’s homeland.” “Thanks, Victoria! I’m glad you were able to bring him back with his family.” “Same here. He also wished you good luck.” “I’m gonna miss that guy. But thankfully I’m not short on friends here.” Victoria then tussled his hair and chuckled, “You’re not wrong, kid. You’re not wrong.”