War of the Words/Chapter 1

The Knights of Deren came to the shores of the new land. Delnar, the leader of the knights, surveyed the shore considerately.

"Lord Delnar?" The speaker was Cerin, an eager but somewhat foppish young Knight. Delnar liked him but he wondered how he ever was accepted into the forces of Deren; undoubtedly the fact that his uncle was King Draynor's archwizard had something to do with it. Viziers had a tendency to have influence over their monarchs.

"Yes, Cerin?"

"Lord Delnar, we are ready to land."

"Very well, spread the word that the Knights are to prepare to disembark immediately."

'It won't be long now,' Delnar thought sadly; he knew knights would die in this war. War meant death and casualties were unavoidable. When they aspired to knighthood they were aware of the risks involved. Still, as the First Knight of the Order Delnar keenly felt the loss of every life, especially those under his command. He comforted himself with the thought that they would be on the next leg of the adventure now, the new life. The forces they faced were veterans and their numerous conquests attested to this fact.

While King Draynor and the Frogzard Knights had brought peace and stability to Deren and the King was beloved by the people this war was unavoidable. The advancing army was bent on conquest; they had already taken out Deren's allies in Neld. Neld were a warlike conquering people and their capture was a bloody affair. Draynor himself had often wondered if the allies would eventually war among themselves but nevertheless his bond stood: the conquerors had attacked and he was bound by honor to act.

Cerin showed some of the traits that led his uncle to be Draynor's vizier: keen insight and an almost telepathic sense of the thoughts of Delnar.

"People will die. We have lived in quiet safety for a long time, but the time was bound to come. We remained prepared. The knights are fit. We fight along with the best. The king has sent his Frogzard Knights as well and the Society of Thought has sent representatives from all the schools, including Tralin, I am told."

"Tralin? Are you sure, Cerin? Tralin himself comes to the front?"

"Yes my lord, remember my uncle is the chief vizier. I heard that Tralin has come because he takes this very seriously."

Tralin was something of a wonder in the School of Thought. A generalist of the highest caliber, his specialty lay in heretofore unique and fascinating combinations of spheres. Tralin was said to be able to even combine elements that normally opposed in his complex magical rituals.

"I once saw him demonstrate some of his more unusual talents for Draynor's court," Cerin said thoughtfully. "It was something: he produced a flame that burned bright as the sun, consuming all of the timber it was fed completely, but the room grew ice cold. The wine in people were normally water mages, having aligned the goblets of those close to the fire froze solid. He was said to be doing research into combination of Dark and Light."

"Really?" The First Knight asked with no small amount of awe; how could one combine such different forces?

"Of course his interest was of concern to the temple, he was working on it for them: fanatically devoted and absolutely benevolent temple warriors that would protect the temple's sanctity. Skeletal wizards that served the light through its reflection."

"Benevolent undead?"

"Yes my lord and apparently his argument and his evidence was persuasive enough that not a single priest voiced reservation; as several are very accomplished wizards, it must have meant he was capable of doing what he said."

"Indeed." The Knight considered this: if Tralin was on the front this meant two things. The first that their chances were far better than without him. The second that the forces they were about to face were evenly matched indeed and they needed all the help they could get. Tralin rarely left the tower at the university. He was an oddity; Tralin was a Drakel and his particular themselves with the Water Lord. Not only had Tralin turned on his family's tradition, he had been a kind and helpful servant of the human king for a very long time. Tralin had been instrumental in implementing some of the reforms that helped most the poor and the downtrodden. He was the first, but through his own efforts not the last nonhuman member of the royal court. Rumor had it that the Drakel was being considered for Dukedom. The Drakel remained a mystery but Tralin was trusted implicitly.

"You know Tralin went against his family to serve the king, but in a way he was more consistent with his people. His family's service to the Water Lord is against Drakel tradition." Cerin said this absently, once again uncannily echoing Delnar's thoughts.

"Really?" Delnar resolved himself and after a moment of silence spoke. "Well, nothing for it Cerin: send the command."

"Yes my lord."

Darin looked at the approaching ships in the distance. He could not understand why the vote opposed taking the fight to the beach and picking them off as they tried to land. It would have been so much less messy than giving them a chance to order themselves on shore.

"They come," Darin said simply.

"Of course they do, the fools. They remain loyal to their allies in spite of the fact that the two peoples have nothing in common. There is little question that if it happened the other way, the people here would never have come to their aid."

"Why does the despot come? What does he hope to accomplish?" Darin asked.

"To continue his tyranny and his oppression of the people. He denies them popular rule. He is a dictator and a tyrant. We represent a threat to him. The rule of the people is something he can never face but we must advance. Gone is the time where people can be trodden under the feet of the few. It is our destiny to spread the enlightenment to people everywhere. Remember, I am old enough to have been there at the start. I was under the oppressive leadership of a dictator who denied the popular will. There can be no question what we must do... We cannot let men, women, and children be slain by vindictive leaders any longer.

"Yes lord, but you know many support us for other reasons. They see us as being unchecked. They have the power to help make the laws, so they will in turn create a social order in their favor through wealth and influence."

"Of course, but there are more than one... There will always be checks and those who act unjustly shall return their next life at the lowest end of the society, or even better as the very tyrants we will crush completely. This world will be free... completely."

Darin snorted. He felt for the cause, but he knew that even after the war was won, new wars would start. This was about ideologies. It was never that simple. Men like Feldar here could not see that. Nor could they see the possibilities. Darin, on the other hand, could see the possibilities and he was not about to be deterred by some remnant of oppression, this silly superstition about the next life being torment for those who did harm here.

'I will just have to be sure never to die,' he thought coldly. 'The people will rule indeed....'