"Reunited..." - Chapter Seventy-One

Reunited...

Chapter Seventy-One

By Douglas E. Gogerty

King Jonathan's and Princess Angelina's combined army continued its march north towards the Maritime Kingdom. The Princess would have liked to ride with the men, but her injuries prevented her from doing so. She was forced to sit in one of the protected wagons. Many argued for her to stay with the wounded in the Nunu castle. However, she could not be persuaded to be left behind.

Her father regularly checked in with her, and they had several long conversations. As they traveled, she asked everyone who came to see her for regular updates. Eventually, the scouts would report to the generals and then to her. In this way, she did the best she could to remain involved in the war effort.

After several days march, they entered the Maritime Kingdom. There was no fighting until that time. However, even the fighting in that kingdom was light. The scouts did a good job of preventing any type of ambush. Further, the army was on high alert. At any unusual circumstance, the convoy would stop. Therefore, the march toward the capitol was slow.

From all of the reports, it appeared that the Maritime Kingdom was purposely slowing the progress of the Lakeland and Calmondak forces in order to regroup at the castle. From these early indications, it appeared that another siege would be required to win this war. The Calmondak and Lakeland armies began preparing for such an eventuality.

For weeks, the army continued its slow push towards the capitol. One of the benefits of the slow march was that the Princess had time to recover. She began to ride with the generals by the time they could see the castle complex in the distance. In this way, she had the opportunity to give input on the strategy for the upcoming siege.

As they anticipated, when they got close to the castle, the skirmishes became less prevalent. By this time, the Maritime Kingdom forces would be gathered in the castle. Thus, they would be available to aid in the city in any way necessary. While the skirmishes gave them time to organize, it was time to establish themselves in the city. With the important resources gathered in the city, they could develop a strategy of their own. In addition, they could use the able bodies to collect supplies for the upcoming siege.

However, as the Princess's forces approached the city, they found the gates wide open. The Princess asked for volunteers to enter the city to scout around. Warily, the volunteer scouts entered the city. As they fanned out, they found the streets deserted. Their presents was not opposed in any fashion. Eventually, one of the scouts came to a big tent outside the castle walls.

This scout had found the parlay tent. Inside the tent stood a single messenger. Once he entered, the occupant told him to stay and left. After a short while, he returned with some emissaries of the Kingdom. The emissaries had an official message for the Calmondak and Lakeland armies. The written document asked for a meeting with qualified representatives of the invasion force to arrange a peace settlement. It appeared that the Maritime Kingdom was surrendering without any further fighting.

King Jonathan wanted to send his best men, but the Princess would not hear it. It was her battle and not her father's. She would handle the emissary arrangements. In fact, she insisted that she go herself with a few of her trusted generals. King Jonathan protested loudly, but the Princess would not budge on the issue. The more the King objected; the more she was set on going.

After a lengthy debate, the Princess and 20 men entered the city. All of the accompanying individuals were experienced soldiers. A few of the Princess's generals had diplomatic experience, but only the best fighters among them were asked to join the Princess. The soldiers marched in a box formation around the Princess as they entered the city. They made their way to the parlay tent.

Once again, a sole messenger was in the tent when they arrived. He asked them to wait as he retrieved the emissaries from the Maritime Kingdom. They were surprised that the Princess had come in person. They were even more surprised when she insisted that the King negotiate in person.

The King of the Maritime Kingdom arrived a short while later. He abdicated to the Princess on the spot. Arrangements were made for officially dissolving the Maritime Kingdom and making it part of Lakeland. The Princess sent for her father, and he arrived shortly afterward.

There was a brief discussion on what to do with the former King of the Maritime Kingdom. The Princess felt there were very few choices. She felt that he could not stay in any Lakeland territory. He would be a symbol and could cause problems for her. Even if he did not directly do anything directly, he could cause strife in her kingdom.

One option was to travel overseas. However, there had been so little contact with the countries outside of Morica that no one was sure any civilizations existed on other continents. The former king was not keen on taking this option.

There was the Pirate Peninsula. However, the king had explored this option in the time before the invasion. Several of his scouts returned telling of the civil war raging on down there. Thus, he was not interested in going there.

Thus, the only option left was for him to live under the rule of King Jonathan in Calmondak. In effect, he would be a hostage in King Jonathan's court. However, he would be treated better there than any other place. Thus, he chose that option.

The Princess interrogated the scouts who had recently returned from the peninsula. They told of stories of Prince William's exploits. They described actions that to the Princess seemed out of place. Those actions did not sound like the Prince she knew. However, these scouts also heard of plans that would end the war, but they would not turn out well for the Prince.

The Princess was torn. The stories did not seem right. However, if they were to be believed, Prince William could be in trouble. She decided to skip any ceremony and investigate for herself. She gathered a group to travel overland towards the peninsula. This group would be reinforcements as she planned to travel by sea. While much more dangerous, the seafaring Maritime Kingdom could get her there faster if the Prince was indeed in trouble. She wanted to take that risk.