"Reunited..." - Chapter Seventy-Four

Reunited...

Chapter Seventy-Four

By Douglas E. Gogerty

The Princess arrived at the Pirate Peninsula with her group of five advisers. It was dawn, and they had little rest. Although she had heard that their war was over, there was no evidence of that when she arrived. For some reason, the country was as chaotic as a country at war.

With the chaos, the Princess considered waiting for her troops. Her five advisers suggested just that. After all, they were all tired. However, with the situation, the Princess knew Prince William was likely in trouble. Thus, she decided not to wait. It is why she took the boat in the first place. She would go searching for the Prince.

She asked about the Prince to anyone who would give her the time. Most people she encountered did not know anything about what had happened to him. The news outlets had been blacked out for weeks. Nonetheless, many of them volunteered to join her. They wished to help in the search, and they feared for her safety in the troubling times.

By the time the Princess reached the Capitol city, her entourage was 10,000 strong. They were not an organized fighting group, but they provided plenty of security for the Princess. Further, the group was large enough for people to take notice.

Some at the Capitol knew that Prince William headed to a parlay location to the south. Thus, the massive group would head in that direction. However, it was late in the day and the Princess and her group needed to rest. They would spend the night.

By morning, the group was 25,000 strong. The five advisers with the Princess began drilling the people who had joined up. They would need provisions to survive with this large group. Thus, the people were divided up into groups with specific duties. Most of the joiners were not suited to fighting, but they could gather supplies. Food and water was a priority.

On their scouting missions, some of the groups would return with supplies and more people. As the Princess traveled, her group continued to grow. Forces in their path south either ran or joined. Thus, with 25,000 support personnel, they began to gather actual fighting people. Soon, they were a formidable fighting force.

The group encountered their first opposition force when they reached the parlay grounds. The Princess's army was too powerful to the fight weary forces they faced. Therefore, the Princess had her first victory in the peninsula. With that victory, emissaries from some of the factions asked for an audience. She granted the request.

The Princess sat at a table surrounded by her five advisers when the emissaries from the peninsula arrived. It was a diverse group. Many age groups were represented as well as racial groups. The Princess did not expect to see any women, but there were females representing some factions. This would not have ever happened in the kingdoms. It made her smile.

That smile soon faded with the groups demanding that she leave. Naturally, she refuse. She explained that she came looking for Prince William Thorbjornson. She further explained that she had not anticipated getting involved in the local situation. The emissaries turned when with the mention of Prince William's name.

"Take me to him!" she demanded.

They led her to a nearby tent. Prince William was still shackled to the chair where he was shot. The pool of blood had begun to congeal and flies were everywhere. The smell brought tears to the Princess's eyes.

"There will be proper death ceremony tonight," she explained.

The emissaries did not know how to respond to her demands other than nodding.

"Once the arrangements have been made," the Princess continued. "Someone will explain to me why the Prince was treated in such a manner."

The group continued to nod.

"Move!" the Princess shouted.

The emissaries from the peninsula scattered. Many were not sure what they were to do, but they scrambled.

The Princess directed members of her entourage to coordinate with the various factions. She picked a spot to build a funerary pyre. She knew that it would be difficult to remove him from his death chair, so she instructed them to bring him as he was. The Prince was seated upon a large stack of wood.

As dusk approached, the Princess gave a speech to the gathered crowd. Few in the gathered people knew the Prince in any significant way. However, her eulogy moved many of the gathered. She managed to get through her statement with only shedding a few tears. She surprised herself that she did not break down completely. At dusk, the fire was lit.

With the passion of her words, more citizens of the peninsula joined her group. In the few days she had spent in the area, she had amassed a huge following. The people were tired of the infighting. They thought the civil war had ended with the death of Prince William. However, the conflict rose again out of the assassination.

With each passing day, the Princess's power grew. The emissaries from the fighting factions did not know what to do. They seemed to only be able to agree when there was a common enemy. In fact, they thought of the Princess's group as a force against their state. However, they could not agree with how to handle it. After all, her followers were their own constituents.

A couple of the factions joined together to ambush her. They were quickly and easily dispatched. It was so weak that the Princess did not even know about the attack. Thus, the factions agreed to surrender to her. In this way, the Princess became the sovereign of yet another part of Morica.

She was too busy grieving for Prince William to mark the surrender. She just sat in a dark tent crying. It was then when a messenger arrived to give her news of her father. She curled into a ball on the floor and wept. There was no joy in this victory.