Under the Curtain of Night
Under the Curtain of Night
One man walked out of the troop and shouted, "I'm Lehmann Hawes, the envoy of King Timothy. I bring with me the resolution of the king's city. Please lower the drawbridge."
"Where's your certificate?" Petrov stuck out his head and shouted back.
The knight took down the bow and arrow from his back, tied a roll of paper on the arrow and then shot it to the top of the city wall.
Petrov's guard picked the arrow and brought it to him. He unfolded the parchment and saw on the bottom of the document there embedded interlaced gold threads; on the lower right corner was the Wimbledon Royal's seal. He was sure then that the knight was the new king's envoy.
"Lower the drawbridge. Open the door." Petrov inhaled deeply. He could roughly guess the content of the king's city's resolution—most likely something about Roland Wimbledon. Since the knight was not a sham, he had no reason to turn the new king's envoy down, or he would be regarded as an enemy of the king's city of the Kingdom of Graycastle. As soon as this message went out, the other big families would turn against the Honeysuckle family without any hesitation, and the undercurrent which had been suppressed by him would return.
But the fact that Timothy only dispatched an emissary delegation of 50 knights to inquire the situation just proved what Prince Roland said—the new king probably had no time to administer the Western Region.
Since His Highness could defeat the Duke Ryan's Coalition of over 1,000 soldiers, these 50 knights would most likely return empty-handed.
Of course, Petrov needed to convey this information to His Highness Roland quickly.
Thinking of this, he called the previous knight. "Westeros, bring three short-tailed horses so that you can ride on them successively. Bring this information to the Lord of Border Town as soon as possible, and tell him that Timothy's troop is here."
"Yes, milord," Westeros said, nodding.
Watching the knight leaving, Petrov sighed. "Let's go and welcome the new king's envoy."
…
Standing at the city gate, Petrov found those 10 plus knights walking in the front row looked in good spirits, but yet all the others looked rather weary, most of which sitting on the horse backs as if they could fall off at any time.
"Hello, Knight Lehmann." Petrov greeted him while nodding. "I'm the manager of Longsong Stronghold, Petrov Hull from the Honeysuckle Family."
The term 'the manager of Longsong Stronghold' made him feel awkward. If he were the Lord of the Western Region or the Duke of Longsong Stronghold, he would not have to salute the envoy; he did not even have to welcome the envoy at the city gate. All he needed to do would be waiting at the lord's castle for the envoy's quest for an interview.
"I've heard about your name at Coldwind Ridge, 'Lord of Deputy Duke'," Lehmann got off the horse, walked to Petrov, said with a smile, "The Western Region is indeed a weird place. The large army that Duke Ryan summoned failed to conquer a little town, and he lost his life. This is quite rare in the Kingdom of Graycastle. Of course, this probably is a piece of good news to the Honeysuckle."
Petrov automatically ignored the envoy's sarcasm. "How're your subordinates? They look a little... unwell."
"Never mind of them." Lehmann glanced at his men behind him. "Probably because they've traveled a long way and aren't acclimatized to this place. A rest will do them good. To be honest, this place is a bit too hot."
"It's a bit too cold in the north." Since the knight seemed nonchalant, Petrov would like to neglect it too. "I'm very curious why His Majesty sent the envoy team from Coldwind Ridge instead of the king's city."
"That's because His Majesty Timothy is in the Northern Region right now," he answered frankly, "Duke Ise created a riot in the Northern Region taking advantage that the border army is weak at this moment. He was suspected of rebelling, so the king had to lead an army to put it down."
"A rebellion?" Petrov frowned. "This doesn't make sense. Although in the border army, there're knights and mercenaries from various places of the Kingdom of Graycastle, and most of its members are the duke's soldiers. How could he start a rebellion when his soldiers had suffered a heavy loss?" Then he remembered that in Duke Ryan letter, who mentioned he planned to annex the Northern Region... and this gave him an ominous feeling. "Perhaps Timothy Wimbledon has the same plan?"
"So what's the king's city's resolution?"
"A recall order," Lehmann answered, "His Majesty sent me here because he doesn't wish to see the Western Region fall into wars as the Northern Region did. If my memory serves me right, as early as the Months of Demons, His Majesty had sent Roland Wimbledon a recall order too, but yet he hasn't returned the king's city."
"I suppose the document arrived at Longsong Stronghold five months ago, but His Highness Roland didn't return to Longsong Stronghold for sanctuary before the fall of the Months of Demons like the other lords did." Petrov paused. "At that time, he was leading his people to defend the attacks of demonic beasts, which was why he couldn't instantly return the king's city."
"Since the Months of Demons ended three months ago," Lehmann said without commenting on Petrov's words, "the king sent me to escort Roland to the king's city."
"When do you plan to leave for Border Town?"
"I'll set off tomorrow morning."
"With a normal speed, it takes a person three days to arrive at the little town. If I send a knight to travel by day and night, I could send His Highness the message 24 hours later, which will give His Highness Roland enough time to prepare," Petrov thought, "This is all that I can do."
Leading the emissary delegation to the stronghold camp, Petrov stopped. "This used to be the stationary for the duke's knightage. I wish you rest well here tonight. Dinner will be sent to here later. As to you, Mr. Envoy," Petrov looked at Lehmann Hawes and said, "we'll prepare a special feast in your honor in the castle. Please do come and join us."
"I appreciate your generosity, Sir Petrov," the envoy said smilingly.
***************
After the feast, Lehmann returned to the camp. While stepping into the big tent, several of his subordinates hurriedly surrounded him.
"How's the situation?" he asked.
"There're people watching everywhere. At the exit a troop of around 100 soldiers is stationed, most of whom aren't fully armored. I think that's the city patrol team," one of his subordinates reported, "It seems the lord is worried about us."
"At least the information is accurate because that's also what I heard during the feast," Lehmann said in a low voice, "After the defeat of the duke, most of his knights were sent to Border Town. There aren't many elites left in Longsong Stronghold for military operations."
Before he reached this place, he had carefully inquired the situation in Longsong Stronghold. The mission His Majesty Timothy gave him was very simple, which was to investigate the reason leading to the duke's defeat and take corresponding measures to seize the control power over the Western Region.
"Those on medication... how are they?"
"They almost reached their limit," a guard replied, "Now as long as the pills are provided, they're willing to do anything."
The emissary delegation was only a camouflage. Among the 50 soldiers in the troop, only 13 of them were real knights, and all the others were mercenaries who, on the influence of the pills, were more obedient than hunting dogs and crueler than demonic beasts. They were the key to opening the city gate. According to his plan, another troop with 1,500 militias was approaching Longsong Stronghold. As long as this city gate got opened, this city would be at his command.
"Distribute pills. Leave 10 soldiers to take care of the patrol team; the rest march toward the east gate," Lehmann ordered.