indirectly control the movement of the Troll horde.
Serai then chuckled and turned to Allan and said “until there is a reason to question which I am quite doubtful of; your wish is my command” said Serai. “Thank you Serai. Now we need to get both my army and your horde out of the marsh” replied Allan as he put his helmet back on. “Aye, but first I must go with some of my men to gather the other Trolls in the marsh, they must’ve already heard my roars, I think they know my message, I must stamp out any Troll who does not agree. And Allan in the absence of my presence do not kill any more of my brethren, use the women and children that you’re protecting so that in the event of an attack, you will be able alert the Troll’s that you have made a pact with the high chief, me, with the aid of my wife and the other women and children Trolls” said Serai. “I will. I will watch over the women and children Trolls and ensure my men practice peace. This is definite, I do not wish to break this newly established pact” said Allan. “Let us get to it then and I will see you on the other side of the marsh brother” said Serai. Allan nodded with a smile and watched the Troll rush towards the centre of the marsh. Their loud footsteps could be heard even after they could no longer be seen.
“Men of Hetheil and Unodos you are doing well! Let this be the case till the end! Reform ranks!” shouted Allan as he gave the command to the men get back into their marching positions. “Allow space for Troll women and Troll children in our ranks! We have been charged to protect them!” shouted Allan. He then walked over to Serai’s wife and put his hand on her shoulder and said “you’ll be safe with us, find a place in our ranks, we will protect you all and your children” said Allan. The Troll women and children got into their designated spaces with the Human soldiers. Allan then put his hands on one of his scout’s shoulders and said “tell my advisor and the rest of our men that there has been a change in plans, we have made peace with the tolls before our planned moment. Their new leader Serai is now an ally for the most part. Now he is off to the other parts of the marsh to unite the other Trolls in the horde. You yourself witnessed the battle and the events that unfolded, so please. I cannot stress in words the importance of this message to my advisor and the other army. Hopefully you’ll be able to do this well, won’t you?” said and asked Allan. “Yes, yes. Yes, Sir” said the stuttering soldier. “Good man, please rush, next time the men and I will see you is on the other side of the marsh, wait for a uniformed trumpet signal, and make your way to the other side. Got it?” said Allan. “Got it Sire. I will rush now” said the designated messenger as he whisked off with great haste. Allan looked around him, everything seemed to be doing well. Young Trolls were playing with the men’s helmets, mothers and elderly looked relieved and quite secure. But it was uncertain whether this unexpected turn of events would be accepted by his father or the Hetheilian officials for that matter. He also thought that his advisor would object to this but would still follow through with the plan as he has proven his loyalty to Allan throughout the campaign. For now, at least, no more blood was to be shed and to Allan that’s all the mattered. “Forward through the marsh, we still have many hours of walking ahead of us” commanded Allan after dispatching the soldier to carry a message to his advisor and the rest of his army. The Hetheilian soldiers, Unodite soldiers, Troll women, children and elderly then continued the march side by side, displaying unity none have ever seen before.
Finally, at the brink of dawn Allan, his comrades and the Troll masses who joined him emerge from the marsh. A gruelling and unpleasant experience was that last part of the overnight march through it. Plagued by mosquitoes and beaten by humidity, this band of men and Trolls still managed to pulled through together. As they left the dark and wooded marsh, warm sunlight greeted Allan, making his eyes tear with irritation along with ones of relief. They emerged not as an army column that they had started with but as moving mass of men and Trolls. There was no need for such a formation anymore, Allan didn’t enforce it as he was confident that he did not need to march in the ambush-countering formation anymore and wanted the Trolls feel free and not as if they were being supressed in anyway. However, the Trolls were not distant from the Human soldiers, in fact they were anything but. They seemed well integrated with them and there were conversations going on between the mixes of men and Trolls. This did not just please Allan, this enthused and excited him as he now believes that he has broken barriers between history, traditional enemies and peace. Then he thought about it, it is quite possible that his father might approve of this and not see it as an instance of Allan acting on his own. Henriet, his father has always talked about peace and bridging gaps between the beasts and Humans, this a bridge being built or at least the foundations being laid out for one. He then walked towards where a bulk of his men were gathered. His men noticed him walking towards where they were and they all almost immediately turned to face him.
He approached them and said “as unconventional as this may seem I must now ask you all, what do you think?”. After a moment of silence one soldier stepped forward and said “Sire look at the men’s faces, you have saved so many of our lives with this idea of yours, I do not doubt one bit that this decision you have made was the best one you could have made” said the soldier. Allan nodded until another soldier stepped forward and said “yes Sire, you have our support and the Trolls seem to be in favour of your idea. But will our king accept this, will our officials? I fear we will be disgraced for siding with the enemy” ending it with a sigh. “Of course, they do, they have every reason to. The Trolls, they live and breathe to, to have them at our side would be just like having peace with a fellow Human kingdom, there is no difference. Securing peace with them would allow us to win without losing men and to gain an ally. We must change how we view the beasts, it must change and that starts right here with you and I as a part of it!” shouted Allan as he began to stir up confidence his men on this decision. That soldier who last spoke then said “whatever happens we owe our lives to you Prince Allan”. The men began nodding their heads and smiling in acknowledgement of Allan’s seeming to be achievement. Allan then shouted “this is an order, disarm and throw your weapons here!” as he drew his sword and threw on the ground beneath him. The rest of his soldiers soon followed suit, they were not questioning Allan’s orders and were simply doing what they were ordered to do. “You may all rest now, eat, drink and be merry. Go hunt and go sleep, you have earned it but be in order by this evening!” ordered Allan to his men. His orders were then passed around by his men to those who did not hear. Hunting were being established, including men and Trolls and they dispersed throughout the area and some parts of the marsh to scavenge for anything to cook and eat.
At the same time, Allan’s messenger reaches the army advisor stationed on the other side. He had to walk past palisades and tactical debris to get to the advisor and the other men under his appointed command from Allan. The messenger approached the advisor with a great big smile on his face. Puzzled, the advisor looked at the messenger strangely. “Is the prince all right?” asked the advisor with an expression of worry. “Yes sir, he is doing fine” said the messenger. The advisor then heaved a sigh of relief and a slight smile appeared on his faced but then his eye brows furrowed as he stared at the messenger. He was covered head to toe in muck and mud from travelling hurriedly through the marsh. “Pray do tell, what are you so happy about? What news do you have for us?” asked the advisor. “Ah yes. Sir, best news you could hope would be brought to you. It’s all out peace between us and the Trolls, there was no need for the siege” replied the contented soldier. “What?!” exclaimed the astounded advisor. “Prince Allan encountered one of them and his family, long story short they intervened I a battle alongside one another. It was quite extraordinary to witness. That Troll, Serai is his name, he was proclaimed the leader shortly after the battle concluded. He is now off to rally the rest of Trolls that are dispersed throughout the marsh” said the messenger. “This is very good news but what do the Trolls want in return for peace?” asked
the advisor with concern over the matter of peace. “For the moment Serai and Allan have agreed on a new settlement to be founded and constitution to be written. But its location has yet to be decided” said the messenger as his smile started to wither away. “This was not part of the plan, we weren’t supposed to settle them, we were supposed to move them back to Doomenheim” said the advisor with some anger and hopelessness. This was followed by a very brief silent moment.
The advisor then took a deep breath and asked in a calmer tone “And what does the Prince require rest of us to do?”. “He wants you to join him on the other side of the marsh alongside the other men, to find these Trolls a home. There will be a loud and uniformed trumpet signal for you to start making your way through the marsh with the other men” said the messenger. The advisor then sighed before looking back at the messenger and saying “All right then, you’ll stay we might need you to guide us through the marsh once the signal is promptly sounded”. The