"Reunited..." - Chapter Fifty-Nine

Reunited...

Chapter Fifty-Nine

By Douglas E. Gogerty

With the King of Kaanfed dead, naturally there was a power vacuum. The Princess had to be the person filling the leadership role of the country. As was customary, she claimed the throne of the kingdom in a brief ceremony among the survivors and her military people. The only task left was to inform the remaining people of Kaanfed of their new sovereign.

The first signal the Princess ordered was the raising of the Lakeland flag over the castle. She had not defined a flag for her rule, so she used the old Lakeland flag. They also put flags at various positions around the capitol city. Thus, signalling the Kaanfed Kingdom was no longer in charge of the city.

Also, against the objections of the Princess, the king's body was put on a pike outside of the city's wall. This declared to all those who could see, that the king was indeed dead. Thus, by tradition, the killer could claim the throne. This was a clear indication that a new sovereign was in charge. The Princess thought it was disrespectful, but she understood this was the best way to demonstrate that the king was in fact dead.

The Kaanfed army had gathered their forces and marched towards the waiting Lakeland army at the capitol city. They noticed their king hanging on the pike. The Kaanfed generals were enraged, and attempted to retake the city. However, the city's defenses were quite formidable when fully in use. The army quickly lost its motivation, and gave up after a short attempt.

To the Princess, the victory over Kaanfed seemed too easy. After two minor battles -- skirmishes really -- the Kaanfed Kingdom became part of Lakeland. At the insistence of the Princess, the two armies were joined. Her generals wanted to put the Kaanfed army up front to serve as cannon fodder. However, to improve the morale of the defeated army, she insisted that they were treated like everyone else. She also gave a speech to all of the troops to gear them up for fighting the Kingdom of Nunu.

"Soldiers of the army of Lakeland," she began. "Battles are a messy business. However, everyone here has fought bravely for their country."

There was a big cheer urged on by the generals of Lakeland.

"Good soldiers -- like you -- know how to follow orders. Some of you followed the orders of your now dead king. His orders were to attack the Kingdom of Lakeland while it appeared to be weak. Those orders cost him his life. This is why you now serve at my bequest."

There was another cheer from the crowd.

"Everyone here will be treated the same. Those are my orders!"

The crowd cheered despite the attempts to quell them by the generals.

"While you fight under the banner of Lakeland, we are all one people. When this is all over, you will be free to return to your homes wherever they may be. Nothing will change in your lives -- except the ruler. You will be free to live as you had before."

The assembled armies cheered again.

"We now have to fight a common enemy of both peoples. For many surrounding kingdoms, there has been an uneasy truce with Nunu. Now is the time to make up for the ills they have perpetrated on our kingdoms. We now march north to Nunu!!!"

A large cheer arose from the crowd. The Princess walked off her platform, and began walking out of the city. The army followed her in a big disordered mob. The soldiers wanted to be close to the Princess. She was surrounded by a disordered group as she walked. The military discipline was secondary to getting close to the Princess.

Some of the generals were concerned for the 15 year old princess, but those concerns were unfounded. The soldiers did not wish to harm her, they just wanted to be close. Perhaps they would even get to have a conversation. That was their primary goal. Thus, the unruliness was between soldiers and not between the soldiers and the Princess.

While this was going on, the generals organized the retinue. They got a report of all of the soldiers from their commanders. When the information was all at hand, the generals, commanders, and soldiers were organized into Lakeland companies, squads, etc.

There were very few bridges over the river that served as the northern border of the Kaanfed Capitol. Thus, it was a day's march south and east just to get across it. It was by design, and it was effective for the King of Kaanfed.

Once the Lakeland combined army crossed the river, they headed north and east towards the Kingdom of Nunu and its capitol. The Princess and her generals expected heavy fighting soon after they headed north. However, the scouts continually reported that there was no one in the area.

During their march, the Princess attempted to speak to as many of the soldiers as she could. She found it was very good for morale. In fact, she felt that is was good for her morale as much as the soldiers. She marveled that these people were willing to die for her. At least, they were at this point. If the conditions became brutal, that may all change.

This march was different than the previous one. The army had to be on full alert at all times. While there were still scouts set to search in front of the army, they were there to be an early warning system. They no longer wanted to avoid conflict. They would fight everyone that was willing. They may also recruit anyone willing to join them on their battle against Nunu.

Report after report came back from the scouts. It appeared to be clear all the way to their goal. At this point, the Princess ordered more scouts. She felt that perhaps the Nunu army would attempt to outflank them. Thus, the scouts spread in all directions looking for signs of an opposing army. The reports continued to come back with no sitings.

As they went along, the Princess got more concerned about an assault. With a report of no sitings, the scouts were ordered to get some rest, and return to the field as soon as they were able. Nonetheless, the days passed with no sign of any Nunu troops. The local townspeople were questions, but they too did not report any strangers. The march was eerily uneventful. It made everyone uneasy.