"Reunited..." - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Reunited...

Chapter Twenty-Nine

By Douglas E. Gogerty

King Thorbjorn watched as his son drove away from the castle complex. As soon as the suncar was no longer visible, the King went to work. Princess Angelina had made a fool of him. While only the Queen was aware of it, the experience burned within him. Thus, he was determined to teach the young woman a lesson.

Since his queen was involved in the entire affair, the King had to make sure it looked innocent enough. He would have to execute his plans in secret. While he desperately wanted to simply declare war on the newly formed kingdom, he could not do that. At least, he could not do that while Angelina was sovereign of that nation. Hence, he needed that kingdom to fail.

Thus, it would require a great deal of skullduggery. The king would have to begin some covert actions to cause conflict in the newly established kingdom. He knew just how to do it too. After all, he had been dealing with raiders and pirates for some time.

In the guise of a diplomatic mission, the King prepared to leave Lakeland. He told his subjects that it was a delicate mission; thus, he could only take a small entourage. A full compliment was slow and obvious. The King wanted to be a bit more inconspicuous. Thus, he stated that he would not need his full retinue. It also meant that his Queen would not join him. This was a very important part of his plan.

While his personal safety could not be completely assured with this group, he knew he could hand pick his traveling companions. That was another key component of his plan. He wanted to be assured that he could trust those with him.

Many asked why he could not send an emissary. After all, it would be much safer to send an expendable ambassador. The King had anticipated this question. Thus, he had formulated a response. He told them that this mission was quite sensitive, and the party in question would not accept anyone else. The importance of the mission, he told them, required that he take the risk. His personal attention was required.

In the past, this meant that King Thorbjorn was going to meet a mistress. However, those were planned well in advance. This was a spur of the moment event. The castle staff did not know what to make of the situation.

The hand-picked group would be fast and discrete. Since this was a last minute trip, most of the King's enemies would not know where he was. Let alone that he had left the castle. Further, since he would have the ability to move quickly, his group could ferry him out of harm's way with relative ease. Therefore, the King did not worry much about his safety. He thought he would be safe enough.

The King made all of the arrangements for pending activities in the kingdom. He set up all the protocols for decisions to be made while he was away. He realized how much work that had to be taken care of without him. That is why he never made spur of the moment trips. Nonetheless, he was unsure of the activities of the Princess. Thus, he had to put his plan into action quickly. Hence, that was the way things had to be.

Furthermore, the King had to make arrangements for any spies. Only the most trusted individuals must know of his journey. If the King's enemies knew he was away from the castle, they would pounce. They would either attack the castle complex itself, or track down King Thorbjorn. Thus, a ruse must be arranged for those watching the King and his family.

The King met privately with his Queen. She was going to be an important part of the diversion. She had to act as if the King were still in the castle the entire time he was gone. Thus, he made sure that he paid attention to her. He was quite affectionate. In this way, he smoothed over the previous incident.

When the suncars were packed, the small caravan left the castle complex as arranged. Few knew who was in the caravan or its mission. For most, it looked like any other envoy for the King's business. Most would not have guessed that the King was among the departing castle dwellers.

With the secret mission underway, the King was the only person who knew the destination of the mission. He did not even tell the members of the team where they were headed. He simply directed the lead car as they went. Nevertheless, the entire caravan soon became keenly aware that they were not headed towards friendly territory.

There was an unsteady peace with the kingdom bordering Lakeland to the east. The King had won the peace by marrying his Queen. This was the kingdom from which she hailed. On the boarder of this kingdom was where they camped the first night.

They had taken the ancient road through Lakeland, but when they needed to travel outside his kingdom the party would need to wind their way on less traveled roads. It would be a great deal quicker to stay on the main system, but it would also be vastly more dangerous. Thus, they stuck to secondary roads when they broke camp.

The group continued heading southeast. The kingdom on the other side of his wife's former land, was outright hostile towards Lakeland and its king. In fact, they were hostile to all outsiders. They would occasionally raid nearby kingdoms, but they could not sustain any sort of invasion. They were feared, but they had inferior technology to its neighbors. Hence, a peace of sorts could be obtained.

After another night camping, he directed the caravan into that kingdom. The entire entourage now knew how much danger they were in. They would be in deep trouble if anyone caught them. Thus, they had to be very careful.

After making their way into the heart of hostile territory, the King directed the caravan to head to the Pirate Peninsula. That is when everyone knew that if things did not go well, they would be in for some major fighting.