Steel and Mana

Chapter 401 – Avalon, Markoth, Khulman

When Lancelot finally returned to the building where the Khulman scouts waited, it was close to sunset. Only half of the sun was visible above the horizon, and the 'guests' were already thinking that maybe they would indeed need to wait until the next day to get answers to their questions.

"Bakhi," Lancelot called as he arrived, his voice casually friendly, but his stance told the leader of the Khulmans something else. He noticed that the young man was straight-backed and calm, his hand always only a quick reach away from the hilt of his sword. "You will come with me," he said, still smiling, "Alone."

There was no preamble, no room for negotiation. Right before the others would argue, Bakhi stood up from his seat without hesitation. He gave a quick signal to Temuj and Naran, who nodded imperceptibly, understanding that they should stay alert in his absence. If things went poorly, they would know soon enough because the old man wouldn't go down without a fight.

"No need to worry." Lancelot chuckled, glancing at the group, "I'm taking you so you can ask your questions."

With that, he led Bakhi out of the house, where the Avalonian soldiers in black armor parted silently, letting them pass. Bakhi followed Lancelot through the still bustling streets toward the skeleton of Markoth's castle. There, the workers were gone, finished for the day, leaving their tools behind. They were cleaned and neatly put down in a row, aligned perfectly. It reminded him of how proper warriors treated their weapons back home.

Climbing the stone steps, Bakhi found himself admiring—grudgingly—the locals' workmanship and manners. Looking back, one time before heading in, he watched as they moved like a colony of ants, organized, unified, and efficient. It was a sight any veteran scout or soldier would appreciate, even if it spelled future trouble. Eventually, he had to acknowledge that people like these were indeed capable of surviving for this long.

Entering the castle, inside, torches burned along the walls, those he could recognize. But most of the halls were now lit by something else, too, a lamp he had never seen before, glowing surprisingly brilliantly but doing it without fire. At least without one that he could identify. Then he noticed that not everyone was gone. Inside, under the bright light, they passed workers tightening beams overhead, still in the middle of their work, using handheld versions of the same bright lamps when they had to.

He wanted to ask what those were... but if he was indeed being led to ask questions, he decided to wait.

A minute later, at last, Lancelot stopped before a heavy set of double doors flanked by two guards, ones who were surprisingly not bulky, nor did they wear the skull-faced masks. They were simple humans in simple armor with regular steel halberds. Finally... Actual soldiers. Ones that he was sure he could deal with, but he kept that thought hidden, watching as they pushed the doors open for them.

"Enter," Lancelot said simply, gesturing for him to go ahead before he followed suit, closing the door behind them.

Coming in alone? Bakhi felt that his chances of escaping if something went wrong were subtly rising. Were they underestimating him? Or were they overconfident? It was the same, really... Still thinking about it, his eyes scanned the chamber, identifying possible routes of escape.

He noticed that the chamber was surprisingly bright, lit by standing braziers and scattered clusters of those same weird lamps. The left side was completely boarded up, and maps covered the wall, with visible circles around a dozen landmarks. Then it clicked... they passed by such a mark when entering the Dead Lands. And it was marked as... exterminated?

It was then that he noticed someone important-looking standing there. A clerk stood by his side, quill in hand, and a few other advisors watched from the periphery. The advisors themselves wore black uniforms, similar to Lancelot's garb, signaling them out as Avalonians. Probably officers... As for the man in the middle, his clothes were alien yet somewhat luxurious. Bakhi couldn't really place it anywhere in his mind or what he knew about Markoth's ruling family, if it was even alive and well... Probably it wasn't. But, whatever the case was, that man had to be the current king. So, when he turned towards the new arrivals, Bakhi bowed low, the proper courtesy from a Khulman envoy to the ruler of another country.

"Your Majesty," he said evenly.

"Bakhi of the Khulman Empire," King Edric replied in the same even tone. What Bakhi missed in the middle of his bow was that Edric glanced at Lancelot, who gave a silent nod, signaling that it was his time to perform. "Welcome to Markoth. Please, come closer," Edric smiled. "We were in the middle of refreshing our map with the latest reports of our scouts.

Bakhi obeyed, stepping forward and heading closer to the wall. He was very much interested in the information and was doing his best to memorize everything about it.

"I see you are not like how the rest of the world thought you were after these long years," he began, his eyes still fixed on the maps.

"We were, believe me." The king smiled at the Khulman scout. "I bet you have questions, but... I also have many to ask you," Edric said, his voice hardening slightly, catching Bakhi off guard with the sudden switch. "Questions I was advised to ask directly, not through secondhand reports or assumptions."

Before Bakhi could ask who advised him to do so, Lancelot came to stand silently at Bakhi's side, a reminder that the question was most likely futile to ask. It was obvious.

"Please," Bakhi said, holding his tone even. "Ask away, Your Majesty. I can answer if I am able. If not, we can just move on to the next question."

"I see." Edric leaned forward slightly, "Why does the Khulman Empire send scouts to Markoth now?" he asked, no warmth in his tone, but he wasn't accusing him either. Not yet, that is. "When monsters overran our lands, when our people died by the tens of thousands, you sent no help. Not one sword. Not one loaf of bread. Please take note, Bakhi from Khulman... We are not blaming you for it. No country would risk its own people in a situation like that... But then again. Why now? Why only when we rebuild... is that you appear?"

The accusation was sharp but not unreasonable. The king's tone lacked an outburst of emotions, and Bakhi felt that it was a predetermined question. Thinking of a proper answer, he took half a breath and then replied in the same calm, precise way he had been acting until now.

"Your Majesty," he began, inclining his head respectfully. "I will speak plainly. At the time of your greatest need, the Khulman Empire faced a tough decision. The monster tide not only endangered your lands; it threatened the southern steppes as well, not to mention the land beyond. Had we stretched ourselves thin across the borders, pushing into the north, both your kingdom and our Empire might have been destroyed. The beasts are a tide. They spread out more the farther they go, and we wouldn't be able to contend with them. We would have been encircled and destroyed."

"Would you?" Edric muttered, making Bakhi pause, reading the slight narrowing of Edric’s eyes before continuing.

"Yes, without a doubt." He nodded, straightening his back, "We decided to reinforce the borders and create a kind of... wave breaker. We are the thing that stopped them from heading further south. Of course, we mourned your and the others' suffering, but we could not afford to bleed ourselves dry in a futile campaign. Survival demanded hard choices, and the continent demanded their defenders."

"..." Edric said nothing for a moment, only tapping his finger slowly against the table before him, looking at Bakhi. "And what now?" he asked.

"Now," Bakhi said carefully, "the tide has receded. They were missing this winter. It was... quiet. Nothing came over... So, our Kahn decided that we have to know why. The unknown is dangerous; you must understand that. What neither of us expected is to find your Markoth standing again—stronger than expected."

"That's true." Edric smiled suddenly, making Bakhi unsure of what that gesture really meant. He just couldn't get a read on him. His face, the lines on it, the greys in a hair that shouldn't be greying at all yet... All that showed great stress and suffering. But his eyes? Those were the opposite. It was as if the king's body and the spirit within it were in juxtaposition to each other, throwing his attempts at reading the man into disarray.

"I'd like to add something, and pardon my bluntness," Bakhi said again, glancing at Lancelot for a moment. "It would be folly, Your Majesty, not to understand what rises beyond your borders. That is true for both you and my country."

"Yes, that is true," Edric hummed, studying him. "So, you had come to assess whether we are a threat," he said bluntly.

"We were assessing the threat of the monsters," Bakhi corrected him firmly. "We did not expect that instead of them, we would find people. Every nation must know its neighbors," he continued, "whether to guard against danger or to seek opportunity."

"To destroy them?" One of the advisors shifted uncomfortably, but Edric waved him to silence, making him bow his head. By the looks of his clothes... Bakhi quickly identified him as a Markothian.

"Killing monsters if possible." Bakhi murmured, "But destroying them is not something any country is capable of, I'm afraid."

"Are you sure of that?" Lancelot finally spoke up, chuckling, making Bakhi furrow his brows and look at the map behind Edric.

"Avalon... intrigues the Khulman Empire," he admitted, knowing that it would indeed intrigue his Kahn. "A force of unknown origin... saving a ruined kingdom. But... where does that power come from? Is it real power? Is it against the monsters... or against everybody? Those are my questions. Those are my Kahn's questions."

Edric smiled grimly, hearing him say it, glancing at Lancelot before turning back to Bakhi.

"They have indeed saved Markoth," he said. "And you should know this: Markoth will not be the weak thing you remember. We will not beg for mercy. Not from monsters or men. You should make sure to bring that part of our discussion back home, word for word. Markoth is now part of Avalon. We killed the monsters on our land, and we will keep them behind the mountains. You and your Kahn can do only one thing: make sure we only focus on keeping them sealed and that we don't need to worry about anything else."

"Understood," Bakhi bowed his head in acknowledgment, deciding to keep his question back as he got a clear answer from the king.

The first meeting was essentially over, and Bakhi realized that. The tension in the room lessened slightly, though it did not vanish. He was experienced enough to know that trust would not be earned in a single meeting—perhaps not ever with all that happened—but the first stones had been laid. As for how to build on it? He had to report back to the Kahn so he could make a decision.

However, before he could speak again, a loud, deep horn suddenly sounded from somewhere outside, rattling even the braziers against the walls. Bakhi flinched instinctively, hand darting toward his belt—only realizing after a moment that no one else moved with alarm, only he. Feeling a bit flushed, he glanced at Lancelot, who merely smiled thinly, his hands remaining free of his sword... Overconfidence?

"Come," the young man said, gesturing, breaking his thoughts. "My mother is returning. It's best if we greet her together, as she is the first wife of my father, the Sovereign of Avalon, after all."

Without waiting for his answer, Lancelot led Bakhi swiftly back through the halls, King Edric falling behind them with a cluster of guards. As they emerged into the front of the castle, Bakhi's jaw tightened involuntarily. His breath was stuck in his lungs until it began to sting, jolting him into exhaling.

The source of the horn became immediately, undeniably clear.

Above the city walls, blotting out the northern sky, floated a massive... A giant... monster? No. It was made of metal, it was... Was this the legendary flying ships of Ishillia? No. He knew of those; he knew of their forms. Those were ships. This was... oval-shaped. Made of metal. It was...something that he had never before seen.

"The Stormbringer." Lancelot whispered, leaning close to him, "It is a medium-sized airship of Avalon, currently dispatched here to oversee our works."

"Medium... sized?" Bakhi gulped as he watched.

What did they mean by medium? That was... huge! It glided through the air with majesty, its hull gleaming bronze colored in the setting sun, slowly taking its place near the walls, beginning its descent. Bakhi just stared, his stomach dropping as he realized the implications. They were afraid of flying monsters... but if they had something like that? The Khulman Empire would have to decide quickly whether to treat this new Markoth and its handlers... Avalon, as an ally—or a rival too dangerous to ignore.

As Bakhi watched the first lines drop from the ship and workers below began to secure it, he understood something with bone-deep certainty.

The world had changed without their notice... And his Kahn had to be informed. Immediately.