Claius Vondale (Impregnable Fortress, Geraldis)
Claius sat there quietly, unsure with what to think. From the buildup of events, sending the group now showed to be an apparent waste of time. He caught a glimpse of his father, shaking his head in disappointment as the news sank in. They had yet again this dwindling uncertainty-- is the king going to attack? If he is, when? These were questions that his people was looking at him to answer, but he was as conflicted as they were on the issue. Worse off, in fact. Illya, the first person he would turn to, was now dead.
"Lead Claius." She would say. "You have to trust yourself, and then we will follow. If it was a poor decision, the mistake was made by us all."
"We'll do what we said we'd do." Claius said. "However, I'd need to know a bit more of the king himself before properly trusting him." His voice was louder as he gained the confidence. There's no turning back. Our decision is final. "We'll be deploying our troops in the regions the new king has requested. Adran, can you tell us a little more about the king?"
"He's a very intelligent man, highly aware of the treachery that surrounds his court. He tried to make himself as accommodating as possible to us while we were in the capital, and that's what worries me." Adran paused, cautious of his wording. "A man with his intelligence wouldn't simply shower gifts and hospitality on a former enemy."
Claius nodded. "Is there any possibility that he finds us to be valuable assets, so he acted that way?" He knew he was grasping at straws, but he desperately wanted to believe that the king's intentions were genuinely.
He wanted to believe that Illya didn't just die in vain.
"It's absolutely a possibility," Adran replied, which allowed Claius to relax a bit. Adran had a uncanny ability to quickly identify people's characters, and how he was putting it before sounded like that the king was bound to betray them. Adran continued, "but discrimination against us is still strong, so he must be aware that such openness towards us would lead to much hostility towards him within the court."
"I see... However, showing any signs of reluctance to the king could be interpreted as hostility, but we need to remain in caution?" Claius asked "What would you have us do?"
"We explain that this attack on our members has forced us to take extra measures of precaution, and see how the king responds," Adran said.
Claius nodded. This was definitely the safest decision to make, but something troubled him. A nagging voice in his head was whining that it didn't want to, even for a second, stay in the freezing cold of the mountains. Almost greedily, he mumbled, "A message could take a long time for them to receive."
"Which provides us ample opportunity to prepare ourselves." Adran announced confidently. Claius sighed inwardly.
"Very well," he said. "We shall send a messenger to deliver letter to a nearby city. And about the agreement, when do we dispatch our men?"
"That remains to be decided. We'll still need to send scouts into the neighboring regions to find us suitable locations to move our men."
It was Claius's father who spoke. "I get this king is not too trustworthy. Son, wouldn't it be better if we waited?" By his tone and wording, it was obvious that Saxo had changed little about his stance on the matter, despite the outcomes of the peace talks.
"Our people are tired, father." Claius said.
"Should we be relying on this man as well?" Called a voice from a crowd. This was Thomas Warren, a major in their family and an influential one, respected by many. Claius stiffened as he spoke, but decided it was better not to interject. He gestured to Adran. "He's from the capital himself, and he was the only one involved in the communications..."
Adran decided to ignore this, and continued speaking to Claius. "Your father is right, Claius. We should wait until the king has proven his intentions through action." Claius sighed in relief as the thought faded away from the conversation. He turned his focus back to the qualms he had over the plan.
"But I take it that the king is half expecting us to act first? After all, we are the ones asking for favors here."
"I made it clear to him how apprehensive we are to the public's general reception to us. He assured me he would calm the people of their fears before expecting us to venture into potentially hostile territory."
"Very well." Claius said. "I assume, then, we are to wait for his instruction?"
"Correct." Adran replied, nodding. "He wanted to visit the fortress himself, meet the leaders in person. He'd also asked us to send the layout of the fortress to Rollon so they could help make 'modifications' to the fortress. We're not giving him the layout however. Far too risky."
"Quite possibly. We are going to have to ask you to convey that to the king in a suitable manner. As for receiving the king, we will have to be weary of how that goes." He paused, before addressing the entire hall. "I believe that might be everything I intended to cover. Are there any questions?"
"Yes." Thomas said, and Claius groaned quietly to himself. "I have held it off, only due to my respect for the Commander, but now I must bring it up again. How can we believe what you said is the truth? You are nothing like the night before the group departed-- now you almost sound as if we are to wage war with this new king. As if you planned for this all along."
Claius frowned at this. It appeared that some of the men still did not even trust Adran; in fact, it seemed as if they thought that he was the enemy all along. It was true that Adran had not been in the Fortress for all too long, but it has been enough for Claius himself to gain both respect and faith for the man, and he always assumed it had been the same for the others. Claius made a mental note to figure out a way to have Adran gain their trust.
"The answer is simple. This Rufus Andelorn is a very hard to read individual, I cant tell whether he actually wants this alliance or is merely trying to lull us into complacency. So until he proves me wrong, I'm going to assume he's offering one hand while holding a knife in the other. We're going to be prepared for both."
"And this plan of yours? It's splitting our men apart. Generations upon generations of our people have told us, 'a broken army is a dead one'. You are doing exactly that." Thomas said. Claius sighed. He, too, have been worried about this.
"Keeping our army together has been killing us slowly anyway. You all wanted peace, to be able to roam the land without the threat of war hanging over your heads, this was the best solution I could find. If you have a better idea, you're more than welcome to tell the king himself when he arrives."
The heat in the hall was now evident, but Claius didn't want to abruptly end the meeting. There could've been information that was not yet covered.
"Keeping our army together has been killing us slowly anyway. You all wanted peace, to be able to roam the land without the threat of war hanging over your heads, this was the best solution I could find. If you have a better idea, you're more than welcome to tell the king himself when he arrives."
"And so your plans have been so successful?" Thomas retorted. "Last time I checked, it killed off one of our generals." Claius flinched at the mention of Illya.
"If you had paid even the slightest bit of attention, you would know that it was the North Wind Zealots who killed general Illya. It was an event none of us were prepared for."
"Oh? If you didn't have a plan then, all you have to do is tell us. Don't try to shield yourself from the blame then attempt to act as if you're an authority in this family. You know, everything changed once you arrived. We survived the winter, and now this peace thing has gotten everyone hopeful, but it has gotten us nowhere. And here you are, pretending that we will all buy into it." Thomas omitted a deep guttural sound from his throat that resembled a snarl. "I can't tell if you are intentionally trying to be stupid to decieve us or just really are. You don't understand anything. Sure, he can cater us for now, but he can stab us at any time. Maybe a year, maybe two, hell, maybe even a decade. He is always carrying the knife, and you are just simply allowing him to hover behind our back with it raised."
"If you've truly felt this way the entire time, why let me go represent you in the first place?" Adran asked back, angrily. "If you truly believe that I alone could doom this family, why didnt you say something to Claius sooner?! Can you answer me that?!!"
"Claius babies you, you highborn cur." He said, leaning back into his seat. Immediately, the hall erupted into a frenzy of argument. Claius gritted his teeth together. I'm not in the mood to deal with this.
"Enough!" He roared. "We are not going to discuss this further. Resume your schedules, the meeting is adjourned." He got up heatedly, and the others all started exiting the room. He walked over next to Adran.
"Adran, we will talk about this later." Claius said quietly over his shoulder. "Cool down for now, and get comfortable. Hopefully, everything would be how you planned it."
Adran shook his head miserably ."Why did I even try? No one here will ever accept it, Clay."
Claius sighed as he watched Adran leave. He wish he had a proper answer.