The Unlikely Alliance

She could believe they were doing this, it hadn’t even been a year since the ambush and now they were making an alliance with the Coronian Empire. The very same people that had tried to take her the night she was giving birth, the very same people that wanted her children.

There they sat, around the long diplomatic table that so many alliances had been pledged in. Many clans had come together, and now if she wanted her kingdom to survive the onslaught of the Coronian Empire, an alliance was needed.

To represent these people were five people, four were simply diplomats. Well cared for hair with nice suits and good respectable speech, it was hard to believe they represented a vile and powerful empire bent on taking over the world.

The fifth of the Coronian Empire ambassadors was probably the bodyguard. Dressed in rugged battle armour with the open mouthed cobra on it, he wore a mirrored moon mask. His eyes glowed yellow as he sat there, cool as a cucumber.

He had more weapons on him than every guard in the room put together had, two swords with two halberds on his back and two crossing diagonal lines of five daggers. He had much more weapons that were concealed, and no one had dared tell him to give his weapons away.

His steel boots on the table the Queen began the meeting, the meeting that could mean the survival of her Kingdom, and most importantly, of her children who were in one of the many villages.

" On the part of the entire Royal Kingdom I welcome the members of the Coronian Empire to this meeting, in hopes our two people will be at peace."

One of the Coronian diplomats with the face as gentle as that of a baby’s rose to his feet and replied, " We thank you your eminence, before anything begins I apologize for the attack that cost your husband’s life as well as your elite soldiers. It was not an authorized attack."

She examined their faces, their was no sign they were lying. As the diplomat was going to continue the masked soldier spoke in his stead, " Here is how it works Tania, we skip all the formalities and get right to the contract. Your people and my people will have amnesty in each other’s lands. We will no longer fight, and I will even refrain myself from insulting your Kingdom."

The Coronian diplomats looked at the masked soldier with anger, they had probably wanted to make the meeting last for hours and make everything sound complicated. And yet this yellow eyed soldier with the mirror moon mask had just laid out what they wanted right at the beginning.

Not much diplomacy but it wasn’t very efficient. The best of the Royal Kingdom’s diplomats replied, " Before we accept we shall add one thing to the agreement, we must be allies in wars as well as times of peace. If we are in distress you help, plague or war or revolution. Do we have an accord?"

The contracts were signed, hands were shaken and the alliance was made in that moment. It had not even been a week since the attack and she was making an alliance with them. But the attacks had been increasing and the alliance ensured that no more commoners would be hurt.

The diplomats began to walk out when Queen Tania tapped the masked soldier lightly on the shoulder. When he turned, her reflection on his face she said, " I would like to speak to you in private, do you have time to spare?"

His eyes were unchanged, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking for his face was covered, he replied in a voice of a man with no worries, " I suppose I can spare some time. But would it not be more appropriate to speak with the top diplomat?"

She smiled at this, answering with an equally non stressed voice, " If I wanted to someone ramble on and go around the subject in question I might have, but I sense I can trust you to get straight to the point."

The assassin sat back on a chair, putting his feet on the table he said, " Interesting, you trust an assassin who’s killed many innocent people of your Kingdom over a courage phobic diplomat with a sharp tongue for a weapon. I must warn you, my tongue can be equally as sharp and I can ten times more deceiving than them."

She had sensed this in him, although she could not read his face it was evident in his movements. The way he walked, his voice that was far too relaxed to be a good person. He struck her as a person that could kill a child with a smile, ignoring his little voice as he begged for mercy.

The thought curled her blood, the fact she had to associate with such people really showed what a desperate condition things were in. " I sensed that in you, and that is why I am talking to you. Do you agree with this treaty, does it sound like a good idea to you?"

The assassin was silent for a moment, no clever remark or sarcastic comment. He finally responded, " No, but I believe if we do not sign this petty treaty we will both kill each other. I shall leave now, but be warned that I am not to be trusted. This is the only warning I am giving, if you ever see me again you better run fast."

This was unsettling indeed, not that he was confirming her suspicions of the worth of the Coronian Empire’s word. But that he had said without hiding anything that he would kill her, he could have done it at that moment but did not.

As she pondered this he turned to her and said in a sardonic voice, " Your husband died a fighter, he fought me til the end when I tore him in half. You should really train your elites better, I myself defeated your forty, that just some friendly advice from your new ally."

The anger now emerged, he was out of the room but she this meeting had brought up the anger she had felt that day of the ambush. She had looked at her husband’s killer in the eyes, he’d been right in front of her and had simply walked away.

She was feeling warm now, her skin was itchy. The heat rose to a fervent heat, she fell hard to the ground. This had been too much to handle, an alliance, a promise it would be broken and the fact she had the killer in her grasps and he had simply left.

She didn’t notice the doctors around her, their voices seemed distant, as though in another world completely. All she could hear was the assassin’s voice, " I am not to be trusted... if you ever see me again you better run fast... I tore him in half."

Then a different voice came, a more soothing voice compared to the cynical voice of the assassin, it was that of the wizard’s, " Go to sleep, your children will be safe and when you wake up things will all be better."

She did fall asleep, closing her eyes she entered a peaceful state of mind, no bothers of the world could touch here there. Only one thought crossed her mind, she hoped her children were safe from that cold blooded assassin and the Coronian Empire.