CHAPTER ONE – The General is kidnapped.
There was tension in the atmosphere.
Yet another unprecedented war that will take the lives of many. And the tide didn't seem to be on the good side.
"East army, go help the south!” shouted the commander of the Latvian army, General Jack.
The Konia forces where getting stronger. They had almost wiped out the southern borders army. Even their fighting techniques seemed different. The Konians never play fair and would employ the use of magic.
Even still, the commander had no doubt that the King of Konia had made alliance with a stronger force but which?
(At the King of Latvian’s courtroom)
“Your highness, your highness!” shouted a palace soldier running in with great anxiety written in his face.
“What is it?” asked the King.
“General Jack….he has been…Your highness….has been” the soldier stuttered.
“Speak up would you!” the King bellowed.
“General Jack has been captured, Father”.
It was Princess Amelia, the only royal daughter of the King Lambert William, the sixth.
She walked in wearing a blue gown that complimented her blue eyes and pale skin.
“Our western army defeated the Konia forces but the General has already been captured before that. The Konians had employed mischief and magic.” she continued.
The King in a fit of rage scattered all items on his table.
“That old Konian King thinks he can defile my army!” “What about our northern forces?” the King was now panting.
“They didn’t engage in the battle, they were backup if things went out of hand. The general didn’t foresee this defeat.” the Princess wore a sad look.
“It wasn’t a defeat, my Princess.” said by someone walking into the King’s court. A mid-forties man in full amour.
“Deputy Commander Wright. Thank God you’re here. Tell me. What went wrong with the General’s war plan?” the King asked, moving close to the deputy.
“The General assumed the Konia forces were as weak as normal. He wanted to destroy their forces once and for all so that they won’t ever bother our land. Well he didn’t foresee them buying twenty thousand more men to their army. Also those wizards used magic and sorcerers. If the General hadn’t brought the southern and the Eastern Army hoping to finish them off, Our Great Latvian would have been in risk of a bigger invasion or war.” The Deputy Commander explained.
“War? Then how was the captain captured? How is this victory?” screamed the King.
“We don’t know how that happened. But the Konia army won’t ever dare our land. I think they realized that early enough and captured the general hoping to use him as bait” said the Deputy Commander.
“You must have a plan then, to be here” Princess Amelia chipped in.
“Yes. We should cut off all connections from them, their people would suffer. They would get to their senses this time”.
As the Deputy finished his last words he clenched his fist tightly.
“What about the General?” demanded the King?
The Deputy Commander bent his face looking depressed. Princess Amelia understood the situation and answered her father, “He dies.”
“What do you mean by he dies?” asked the King. “Someone say something…”
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The King was depressed. The General was like a brother to him. He remembered when his father, King Joseph William the fifth, made Jack a General. That day, he and the new General feasted with Lady Lily, she was a sister to General Jack.
The young Prince Lambert wanted to get married to her then but she was sent to the far country of Konia for a marriage alliance being the duke’s daughter, and the current king having no daughters.
Still Konia had the guts to cause trouble after so many years. How the King has disappointed her. She had left with tears that day.
How would he tell her that her brother was captured by the enemy but due to his oath “I will defend this mighty kingdom till death, I solemnly swear... General Jack of the Latvian Army”, the king couldn't do much. A General dies in battle. It broke him.
Due to the seemingly trance the King seemed to be in, his son, the Crown Prince Charles, sneaked into his courtroom to scare him.
“Arrrrrrr!!!!!!” the prince screamed. The King had already noticed someone’s presence so was not surprised, at all. He was depressed instead.
“Dad, you can’t ever get scared, right?” the young prince frowned when his prank failed.
The King looks at his eight year old son. His black long hair had made wavy lines on his forehead, gummed to his skin by sweat. The King had always loved his blue eyes, it made him look feminine. It reminded the King of his mother, Amelia’s mother.
“I can, son, I am now infact. A King should be scared but not a coward. You have to be scared to be brave, son” the King answered.
“Then why are you scared Dad?” questioned the Ignorant Prince, now sitting on a side chair beside his father.
“All Kings must fear for the safety of their people, Charles” Princess Amelia answered in her father’s place while coming into the courtroom with Lady Lillian, the only child of General Jack.
“Leave us now, Charles”. She continued. Charles pouted when Amelia told him to leave.
“Okay, bye!!!” he said as he left. Princess Amelia watched her little brother leave, she knew that one day the task of protecting the kingdom would be on his shoulders.
It wasn’t so hard as she would be there for him but with magic oriented kingdoms encircling them, it might be hard.
”Father, Lady Lillian is here for the compensation package” she said as she walked to the chair Charles had gotten up from, she sat and crossed her legs and then looked at her father who had been watching her.
The king smiled at her, he was amazed at how fast she had matured. She didn’t look like her mother but she acted like her. She looked instead like his grandmother, innocent.
“Oh yes. I mourn your loss my dear” said the King as he handed a box of Gold to Lady Lillian. The King pitied her she had been fond of her father but duly, he'd avenge him.