Aurelius

HRH Sylvain, King of Aragorn summoned his officers to the castle. This did not happen often so we were all very curious as to the nature of this early morning meeting.

He greeted us at the door, “Bonjour et bienvenu mes amis. Merci d'être venus après un si court pré-avis.”

“I have two pieces of business that I would like to discuss with you. Premièrement, I had a visitor yesterday afternoon. You all know Tuls, the Dwarven Elder,” several nodded their heads in agreement. “He asked for an audience with me so that he could thank the Castle Angels for ridding the Tonathium Mountains of the Giant Arachnids several days ago. The Elder Council has since noticed an increase in ore production now that the spiders are gone. He also said that the miners are now working without fear, the mothers are letting the children outside to play again, and the village farmers have not lost any animals in the mountains. He and the others feel that we have given back peace to their community. Ce sont de bonnes nouvelles!”

His Royal Highness continued, “In gratitude for what we have done, they are giving us five sheep for our next celebration roast!”

We cheered! It is always nice to know that you are actually helping others when you go to battle and that it is appreciated. And, on top of it all, roast mutton sounded extra tasty!

However, the look on our leader’s face let us know that he had more to tell us. We quieted. Sylvain cleared his throat and continued, “Deuxièmement, Tuls brought me other news. News that is most disturbing.” There was a seriousness in the King’s voice that grabbed our attention. It was not often that we heard him like this when he was not on the battlefield.

“Tuls told me that he has been approached by a group of rebel scouts for additional weapons and supplies. He said they talked of Aurelius, the Rebellion leader, who is trying to unite the entire continent under the Banner of the Lion. This rebel wants to strike fear in any demon that would dare threaten our lands again. While Aurelius respects the efforts of the Castle Angels and feels that our intentions are noble, he does not think that we have done enough to withstand assaults from aggressors like Deathrune, Orc King, or Mephistopheles.”

He paused for a few seconds before continuing, “This rebel is not a demon or a vile creature of the dark like we have vanquished in the past. Aurelius’s goals look to be just and honorable. The scouts said that he thinks that we were not there when the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire needed aid and that we had locked ourselves in our castles and shielded ourselves from the carnage!”

We all looked at each other. Surely, Aurelius does not think that!! Who does he think he is anyway? We have always stepped up to battle the foes that threatened our lands, our lives, and our country! How could anyone think that we would hide away, safe in our houses?

Sylvain continued, “Mes amis, je suis désolé de vous dire ça. This Rebellion leader is on his way to us, to our Keep. I fear that we will need to battle him. The foes you will be facing are not as evil as those in your past battles. You will question the choice that we are making in going to war. The path to peace is difficult but it is something that we, The Castle Angels, must do. This battle will be swift, strong, hard. It will not be for the weak. Allez, et préparez- vous pour la bataille.”

We all quietly left the castle; each in our own thoughts. I left the room saying a somber prayer for an answer…..

created originally 22 April 2011