and this turn of events for both of us?” asked Serai. “Well maybe my father would agree, I believe he shares the same idealism. Who I fear the most are the peoples of the other kingdoms and their leaders as well as the conservative hierarchy in my kingdom and until I am king they are able to politically destroy me if my father permits” said Allan. “Your father, I am sure will stand by you if he sees that you have done the right thing and I wouldn’t worry at that point if I were you” said Serai. “I would place great trust in my father if were not for the fact that he is tragically ill. And I am sure you know that any leader who is weak cannot protect his own interests let alone his sons or successors” said Allan. “I’m sorry, for your father. I too have dealt with potential loss and albeit loss” said Serai in a somewhat comforting manner.
After a moment of silence Serai then asked “what would they do to you anyway you’re a prince, I mean what could they possibly do?” “You’d be surprised even us Humans cannot practice forgiveness towards our own kin. Anything could happen to me, well except death. It all depends on my father, my kingdom’s nobles, ruling elite, governors and of course the kings of the other kingdoms. If they willingness and the compassion cement such a relationship in such a way they will not do anything to me although I might receive a minor punishment for disobeying the orders my father had given to me but other than that I am fine” said Allan. “And if none of that goes your way?” asked Serai with concerned curiosity. “I never thought about it that much, always trying to be positive. But now it’s becoming a realisation that I could face dire consequences for this. I’ll probably be suspended from becoming a king, be exiled for short amount of time, do some labour time or who knows what but because I am the son of a king I won’t suffer anything other than emotional pain from being ousted” said Allan who really seemed sad at that point. “After hearing that I cannot tell you how much I feel indebted to you; you are going to suffer in the hopes that we won’t. In the eyes and presence of any beast we would surely respect for it. I will stand by you in any crisis, Prince of Hetheil” said Serai. “Thank you Serai, know that I will come to stand by you as well” said Allan. It was evident that Allan and Serai have forged a friendly brotherhood for the first time between a man and a beast.
The beasts and Humans finally concluded their collecting and carving by tying them in bundles with rope, vines, and cloth. Dwindling on all provisions except for water the army decided to start snoozing and resting as soon as the sun was starting to set. Again, Allan and Serai sat side by side and watched the marsh in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Allan’s another army headed by his advisor. “So, this advisor of yours, what are his views?” asked Serai. “I don’t know that much about him but from what I have gathered he is more of a traditionalist having been a teenage soldier during the great tri war. But he is a smart person I am sure he would see beyond that old mentality and see you and your people for who you really are” said Allan. “I hope so. Other than your father does you have great trust in any other Human that you know?” asked Serai. “Not really, I don’t have a very good relationship with my brother although I do love him but he and I could not be more different and his temperament is just not to my liking. After my brother, it is probably my army advisor who is on his way, he and I are good friends. Lastly it would probably be my mentor and teacher” said Allan. “What about you Serai do trust your people, will they always stand by you?” asked Allan. “It’s hard to say because we do not operate as you do like kingdoms or states, we live nomadic and hardy lives, fight the elements and provide for our families, trying to flee from war but we always end up in battles. It is just how we live” said Serai. “Do you feel satisfied with that?” asked Allan. “We’ve been living like this since time and memorial, I don’t know what satisfaction feels like in this case, we just have never changed. But for the first time in my life I have put trust in someone who isn’t a Troll. And I am trusting you so that I can see myself and my people in a safer and more prosperous land” said Serai. “I will stick to my promises. I also have great trust in you to keep to your promise” said Allan. “I certainly will” said Serai. Eventually the two fell asleep along with the rest not surprisingly as they were thoroughly exhausted from a hard day’s work under the hot sun. Allan had his hands on his chest and had to take deep breaths, he was just so worried and the anxiety was really getting to him. One permanent thought that continuously lingered was that he might have disappointed and at the same time made his father proud of him. Allan’s body was worn out from the day but his mind was spinning out of control he just could not stop worrying, he just kept asking and speculating what the future was to bring.
In the dead of night, noises started coming from beyond the mangrove entrance to the marsh. In a dazed state of sleep Allan woke up and he looked at where the noises were coming from, everybody else was sound asleep and undisturbed. The noise was coming from beyond the stumps that they had left behind so what was coming was coming from the other side. Allan got up and started walking in the direction the noises were coming from. When he reached the mangrove, he could here numerous footsteps at times. Too dazed to even comprehend what might be approaching, he just patiently waited to see what it was when it got to him. Suddenly out of the darkness, emerged a Human in semi heavy armour. This Human then shouted “it’s the prince!” It was quite a familiar voice and as soon as he stepped into the moonlight, Allan was bolted awake. It was Allan’s advisor, he and the other half of the army had made it at last. Then all the men started emerging from the marsh, their anguished expression turned into ones with relief. But they emerged slowly, seeing all the sleeping and waking Trolls. “Sire! Sire it is great to see you” said the advisor who was ecstatic. “Same to you” said Allan. But soon the advisor’s expression turned from one of happiness into one of great worry. “Trolls? You really did it, didn’t you? There are so many” said the advisor. “Yes, you won’t believe it until you see it. Come I have someone I want you to meet” said Allan, calming down after meeting his friend and advisor again. “Yes, sire” said the advisor anxiously. The two then walked over to where Allan was just sleeping at. Serai then looked up again and saw Allan and his advisor as well as many more Human soldiers arriving at the scene. “What’s with all the commotion?” asked Serai. “Serai, this is my military advisor, my other army has arrived” said Allan. Serai that stood up, towering over the two of them, Allan was completely unfearful but his advisor was shaking and trying to restrain himself for grabbing his sword. The advisor spoke first and said very anxiously and quietly “hello”. Serai responded by stretching his long arm out and saying “pleased to meet you, my name is Serai, I am the leader of the Trolls here. Who might you be?” Still feeling anxious the advisor reached out his hand to shake Serai’s and said “I am Allan’s army advisor, Capurnicus, I am pleased to meet you as well” said the advisor.
They joined their comrades in a well-deserved slumber.
Chapter 6 Part III
The sun pierced Allan’s face as soon as a dawn came who responded by sitting and looking downwards. Again, his mind was lost in thought, unable to stop thinking what the future had in store for him. Somewhat excited for the day Allan stood up and petted his horse, copper. After which Allan got his horse to stand up so that anyone looking would see that he was ready to leave. He looked over to where Capurnicus and Serai were and he walked over, both were just stumbling awake along with the rest. Allan then said to them “we better make haste today”. “Yes, we should take advantage of the navigable terrain up ahead of us to move quickly towards the Mount Ranicus. Allan and Capurnicus went off to rally the Human troops, while Serai went to oversee the mobilization of the Trolls. Both the Humans and Trolls did their part to hoist the timber collected onto their shoulders and carry them, the Trolls of course playing a much more significant role. Due to the excitement of getting closer to the end of their campaign, the Humans were eager to get moving and as for the Trolls the promise of new l
and to settle in brought great hope and boosted turned their willingness to continue. In just half an hour both parties were readily organised. The march had begun. Allan mounted Copper, it was a good feeling to finally be reunited with his horse. He had a better view of the massive area, a smile returned to his face, seeing both Humans and Trolls walking and carrying timber alongside one another, for a moment calm had swept Allan, everything was going smoothly. Until he spotted about ten Unodite soldiers at the back of the column, everyone else was doing their part but these men were not, only carrying their own kit they showed an attitude to helping the Trolls.
Another realisation for Allan was that in the day time he could see much better the number of Human troops that he was leading and he could have sworn there were more. He then turned to Capurnicus and asked while both were on horseback “Capurnicus, I could have sworn we had more men? What happened to them?” Capurnicus sighed “I let whoever disagreed with what you have done head back to