Iron Kings.

[shaio]

Isferg rode with one of his captains, listening to the man excitably babble about some method of horns, and banners that could be used to send, and receive orders over great distances.

They finally reached there destination, and Isferg found himself on a hill, surrounded by a ring of his heavy infantry.
"Well hurry up, i plan to start getting militias organized for several villages along my south border this afternoon."
It was only one of the dozens of things Isferg planned to get done today, but it would serve as well any other of the others.
The captain merely nodded, and handed Isferg a small telescope.

He pointed out a second group of men on the horizon, about 50 of his spear men.
"Get on on it.." Isferg muttered, looking though the device, only slightly amazed at how clearly he could see the unit in the distance.
"Tell them to fall back to high ground." Isferg said after a moment, realizing that if he wasn't the one giving orders this might of been organized before hand to simply look like they could easily convey command.

The captain nodded and motions for on of the flag boys that littered the hillside, the boy brought up a banner of a long pole, and waved it, a horn sounding breifly to go with it.

The far off unit responded almost immediately, turning as a cohesive unit, and quick marching to the top of the tallest nearby hill.
"Good." Isferg mutterd. "Now have them form a scritholm."
Another flag waved, and a different horn.
In a few minutes on the far hill the unit of spear men formed into a circle, interlocking there shields, each man facing outwards first kneeling with spears up, second closely behind, spears over the shoulders of the first, and third row bringing there spears over shoulders of the second.

Isferg smiled at how fast and well his spearmen could form that particular formation. It was extremely useful, it left no way for cavalry to flank the spearmen, and could keep his archers well defended.

"Good." Isferg said, thinking what command he might give next.
"Advance off the hill."
Again the signals went out, and this time the unit formed back into a more or less rectangular formation, advancing down the hill in good time.
"Five lines deep, brace for cavalry charge."
This was a more complex command, and thus took more waving of banners, and then 3 horns sounded at once.

Again his spearmen reacted with amazing alacrity, reforming again, and creating a wall of spear tips braced and ready.

"I think I've seen enough, tell them to return to the city, they can have the day off."
Isferg turned half away then added almost as an afterthought. "And make sure all the officers are know the signals by tomorrow."
With that done Isferg gave his mount one chick in the ribs, and was streaking back towards his city.

Ah but he'd forgotten how wonderfully fast storm was when not wearing half a ton of armor.

[lighthawk]

It had been over two weeks since Konar had sent the warlord's tax collectors scrambling away, without so much as their clothes to take back. The men's horses, clothing, and weapons had found their way into his army, while the large chest of silver and copper had been given to the town he now ruled over. While the money could have been useful, Konar felt it would be better spent on the town's folk, to buy their support, and it had been well received indeed.

The lack of response from the warlord thus far was starting to worry Konar. He had spent the time preparing for an assault, no lord would stand for having his tax collectors robbed, and villagers had been busy digging trenches to line with spikes and heavy gates to block roads through the town. Yet his scouts had seen nothing, and the tension that had hung over the town was changing from worry to confusion. It should not take this long even with the tax collectors returning on foot, for a force to have been sent their way.

It was the following day when word came, from a traveling merchant, that the warlord was dead and his city under a new leader. Word was the new leader was a kinder man than the warlord had been, and that the people followed him gladly. The merchant claimed the new lord was offering safety to any who wanted it, and was organizing the local militia into a decent fighting force.

After hearing the news, Konar sent for Hiranna. He wasn't sure how he wanted to approach this new lord, and he had come to trust the healer as someone to bounce ideas around with. He wasn't sure if was because she was a woman or because she was a healer, but she was more capable then most of his mages of thinking of ideas beyond 'burn everything in our path'.

[Airkshil]

Hiranna tried to take her summons in stride. It was an ongoing battle for her to become accustomed to walking away from what she was doing. At first she had always found someone to stand in for her, but eventually she came to realize that a nearby soldier would jump in when she left and that she was only making it harder for everyone by trying to make it easier.

It was still odd to Hiranna how both the townsfolk and the soldiers listened to her as if there were an unspoken title before her name. She was technically no higher up on the totem pole than all the other magicians and made that point frequently, but that seemed to be beyond everyone's grasp. In the end she chalked it up to her advising Konar and just accepted it. There was no arguing with morons.

The last few discussions between Hiranna and Konar had been about the warlord Konar's army had recently aggravated. They had discussed his possible courses of action and his possible motives for each, how to defend the town against the army he would eventually send, and most recently, his lack of action. Konar had seemed especially perturbed by the latter conversation.

Having followed the messenger to Konar's immediate presence, Hiranna listened to the messenger announce her to Konar and secretly hoped for news of the warlord's army. As she always did, she waited passively for him to tell her the reason she was there.

[lighthawk]

The former mayor's house was easily the largest structure in the town, which of course made it ideal for Konar's use as a headquarters. The mayor had been more than happy to support the old warlord in taxing his people to near starvation, in exchange for protection from the same treatment. Konar wondered sometimes what had become of the man, he had turned the mayor over to his former subjects and let them deal with him. He wasn't even sure if the man was still alive, every time he thought about checking in on the matter, something more important came up.
As Hiranna was brought into the main hall of the former mayor's house, Konar once again put aside the fate of the man, it didn't really matter. Looking up from the large map spread across the long table before him, he motioned the healer over.
" Have a drink, something to eat," he offered offhandly, with a vague guester towards the platter full of dried fruit and meat and some cups set around a large pitcher. " Have you heard the latest news?" He began before she could take up the offer. " From the merchant?"

[Airkshil]

Hiranna declined the offer of food and drink with a polite gesture of the hand and replied, "What news?"

It was odd that Konar had resorted to using merchants as a form of information gathering. That was supposed to be what scouts were for. What was the point in having them if they let things slip through their fingers? "And how did this merchant know before your scouts?" She added as she moved nearer to the end of the table Konar was at.

[lighthawk]

Konar stopped looking over the map, and the tattoo's on his face distorted with his frown.
" Idiot," he whispered to himself, and his fist hit the table with a flash of sparks, and the wood darkened " All I had the scouts doing was looking for signs of an army I was certain was coming. Even when I began to wonder what was taking so long, all I told them to do was watch. No wonder I have no skill in divination, I let myself think I know what the future holds, instead of reading what it might be." He sighed in disgust. " Well what's done is done. The news...the warlord is dead. Someone has replaced him, and this new lord seems more focused on building up his strength then claiming this town as part of the land he has taken."

[Airkshil]

Hiranna smiled. She was constantly surprised at how ready Konar was to admit he was wrong. A good quality in a leader, she thought.

Not dwelling on it, she quickly ran over a mental list of what the news meant. A few things stuck out in her head. "No army coming to take revenge on this town means we should probably leave, lest people think they have a new lord already." They might be disappointed, she thought sarcastically, but they would get over it quickly enough. "And I think we should talk to this new lord. We may leave a bad impression on an enemy we don't want if we pour out of this city too quickly."

[lighthawk]

Konar grimaced. " No, we can't leave yet, we're not ready. The people can think what they will for now, enough of them are too happy with having gotten their taxes back to think of anything. The new lord though..." He paused to consider. " We could do without making more enemies then we're already going to." He got up from the table and paced down it's length. " Since the scouts don't seem to be doing anything useful, I guess I could spare one to take a message to this new lord..."

[Airkshil]

Following Konar down the the opposite side of the table, Hiranna put another question to him. "What will you put in the message?" She kept her tone conversational even though she was a little worried.

They didn't know anything about the new lord. How would he react to what the message said? How would he react to even receiving a message? Whatever was said would have to be carefully worded.

[lighthawk]

" I...have no idea," Konar admitted, though his eyes had darted to the door of the hall, and his voice was lowered so that there was no chance anyone but Hiranna could have heard. " We can not appeared weak, or he will surely come to claim this town. We can not appear aggressive either, or he will come to make sure we don't cause him trouble." Konar grumbled. " I hate diplomacy. I can not judge how to send word to a man I have never met...so I will have to meet him."

[Airkshil]

Hiranna lowered her voice to match Konar's. "In that case, why don't you go deliver your message in person? The army will be fine without you for a while and it's not like there will be enemies marching on us anytime soon. It would also tell the new lord that you're confident enough in your forces to leave for a while." It might help Konar's head a little to be away from his army for a little while. Too much time spent constantly surrounded by people tended to cloud a person's head.

[lighthawk]

" Yes...yes..." Konar murmered, half to himself. His voice then raised to it's normal tones. " But who to take with me? Even someone with my magical skill would be a fool to go alone into a potential enemy's stronghold. I will need support, a few soldiers at least, and some of the mages and..." He looked right into Hiranna's eyes. "...a good healer."

[shaio]

Isferg streaked through the city with amazing speed, and crashed through the gates to his private stables.
The manor house he'd taken from the previous warlord was huge, atleast by the standards of Khalathir.
It had room for him, his aides and advisor's, and a good half of his officers, with a few rooms to spare.

Isferg had barely dismounted before an old wrinkled man by the name of seaek came running out the door to greet him.
"Ah good seaek, have you found a reliable supply of metal for our smiths?"
"Uhhh no sir but theres."
Isferg cut him off.
"What are the news of the bridge i ordered built along the kern river?"
"its almost finished sir, but there another important."
Again Isferg cut the man off.
"How many volunteers have we got for the army today?"
"A few sir, but we really."
"just don't have enough time in the day, i know, i know."
Finally Isferg saw the man he was looking for, the grisly veteran that had followed him from across the sea.
"Izan! good man, can you see my horse armored, and assemble a mounted bodyguard, I've an appearance to make."
The man nodded and set out to do as commanded, and Isferg quickly ran inside, hoping to get a good meal before riding off.

Seaek sighed, and turned to head back to his study, it seemed his master was simply to busy to hear the story of the naked tax collectors.
Well it might be fore the better. Seaek thought, as he entered the manor through a second door.
Perhaps i can determine the intentions of these people before giving my master the news.

[Airkshil]

"If you insist." Hiranna said offhandedly not meeting Konar's gaze. As if she had not been planning to come the entire time. "How soon will we leave? It's not as though we have to leave immidiately, but soon would be better than late." She was anxious to leave, but there would have to be time for gathering the things and people they needed. Better not to delay though.

[lighthawk]

"...tomorrow," Konar decided after a moment's thought. " It will give enough time to prepare without too much delay, and I'd rather make the trip there and back in daylight if it can be done."