Chapter 2: Emissary

The mood in the hall was tense. The guards watched as an King Theogan the third, single most powerful man in the known world, sat stooped over a small piece of parchment. His ancient hands trembled slightly through age, physically the King was now a shadow of his former self, when once he stood over six foot tall and could weild a sword with the strength of two men. Now sat hunched in his throne for days on end allowing other younger and ambitious servents to carry out his bidding. But with age had come wisdom so that now after over four decades service as King of the Kingdom of Roldor the nation was enjoying a near unpresidented age of peace, wealth and prosperity.

The message had been delivered several days hence, at first it was the cause of little attention many such notes and messages arrived from all over the Kingdom each day, it was only a select few that made it through the levels of the Palace bureaucracy into the King's hand itself.
As he began to read the message King Theogan's ancient features revealed a slight hint of anger,

"To the King of the Roldor,
This is a message written on behalf of Gormoath Lord of this World,
It is our masters intention to claim back all of the lands East of the Zellian Ocean, these lands along with all the lands of this planet were owned by himself it is his darkness's bidding that your lands be reclaimed, and restored to his rightful ownership.
An emissary shall be sent to you to state the demands of Gormoath and terms underwhich you will join his Darkness's the elustrious empire. The emissary will reach you shortly after the thirteenth sunset following the delivery of this message. Your cooperation with the envoy is commanded and to be unconditional"

By the time he had finished reading onlookers could see this had passed as he glanced up from the message.
"Send them in" said the King with a note of disdain in his voice.

At once two huge doors slid slowly open as if by magic, to reveal three figures standing outside ready to enter. As the doors finally became fully ajar, the three were signaled to come forward by the palace guards stationed at the door.
Before entering the hall all visitors were stripped of any possible weapons and it had already been reported that the two large men on the left and right of the three had been relieved of a veritable arsenal of equipment. The other however had been totally unarmed, and it was the centremost figure that captured the kings attention. As the three come slowly forward their footsteps echoed throughout the hall and the central figures features began to become clearer.
Dressed all in black was a woman, or to the king's eyes she seemed little more then a girl. Compared to the huge male figures to her left and right she seemed tiny by comparison. When the group reached the King's Throne they stopped and as custom dictated the men on the left and right bowed. The striking woman in the middle however did not bow to the king, she stood before him looking him directly in the eye with a knowing smile on her face. There was a certain aura about her, her shoulder length blonde hair hung loose at her sides. Now she was but a few feet away the king could see her clearly. Her brown eyes which stared directly into his were in contrast to the brilliantly pale skin of her face. The black outfit she wore was that of a warrior not a lady, which seemed to be so tight it left very little to the imagination. She wore not a skirt but tight black shorts similar to those often worn by barbarian warriors designed not to hinder mobility, her top clung to her body in a manner that appeared scandalous to those of court present. On her feet she wore black boots, which despite the distance their message claimed they had travelled the King noted were surprisingly clean and free of dirt from the road...

"So you are the person that was spoken of in the letter?" asked the king. He spoke only to the woman guessing correctly she was the only person of any note present. She contunued to stare back at the king inquisativly, then smiled before replying.
"Indeed you majesty I am, my name is Tula i speak with his Darkness's mouth we have travelled a great distance in the hope of enlightening you and your people. We very much hope a peaceful arrangement can be found whereby my master can take back these lands which as I shall explain are rightfully his..." she was interupted by a huge outbreak of laughter. Shouts of "you can't be serious" and "she's out of her mind" filled the hall as well as a few cruder suggestions from many of the younger men who were obviously more interested in admiring her tight fitting outfit and bodys curved outline then actually listening to anything she had to say. After a few moments of this the King raised his hand for silence,
"Indeed? and if we should refuse to adhere to your master's most resonable demands and not hand back his undoubtably rightful lands upon which my decendants have lived for many hundreds of generations what terrible fate is due to befall us prey?" sneered Theogan.
He could barely conceal his contempt as he spoke.
The whole thing was propostrous and he was sure not one person in the hall took this emissary seriously, the very idea of Roldor being invaded was nothing short of laughable. Willim the kings city and Kingdoms capital alone contained over thirty thousand men at arms. The borders of Roldor's great nation spanned thousands of miles and its influence spread still further. If needed the king was capable of commanding over a million troops. Nothing the Roldor had ever come across in the known world could even match the citys standing garrison at Wilim. Frankly he was amazed that the palace officials had allowed this woman into his presence. Now it had come this far he had little patience to carry on this charade.
At this Tula lost her smile slightly before continuing,
"Refusal is not an option for you, my lord. His Darkness is prepared to be merciful and forgive your people's centuries of tresspass as he understands that this has been conducted through ignorance in his absence from this world. Indeed he is even prepared in his mercy to allow you to sware feilty to him. However now that he has returned Gormoath is taking back all of his rightful territories, and I must warn you that if you are not wise enough to give them back to us willingly then my lord shall take them back unwillingly." more laughter followed this statement, but less then last time. There was something about this woman a certain presence and aura, she did not strain as she spoke but her voice carried effortlessly to everyone in the hall, there was also it seemed a hidden power and menace behind her words.
"Be warned woman whoever and whatever your master may be I shall not be threatened in my own hall. Whilst you are here you are under my power and you would do well to remember it."
Tula smiled again at this; "and you oh mighty king would do well to remember that this world in which your nation resides is a vast place and there are many powers of which you are ignorant, up till this day your little Kingdom has had nothing to challenge it but I warn you war with my master will bring you nothing but distruction."
There was no laughter this time, the King's fury was plain to see never before had his will been so challenged in the very heart of his nations power.
"Enough! I've had enough of this nonesense it is against the way our our people to harm any foriegn emissary that enters OUR lands, whilst you are here you remain under my protection. I bid you go back to Gormoath and tell him this. Tell him that I will not tolorate threats and insults delevered to me from the mouth of a woman he sends because he is to cowardly to meet me himself. Tell him also that his life is forfeit as of this day unless he personally comes before me to beg forgiveness for the grave insult he has caused me this day. If he should not do this then rest assured that should any word reach my ears of your master's location he will be brought to me by force be it dead or alive." Theogan had risen from his throne during the coarse of his speech and now stood staring down at Tula with open fury on his face.
Tula returned the gaze no hint of a smile left on her features.
"Old fool, very well you choose death, this offer shall not be granted again. Others before you have refused to bow before His Darkness, all have met with the same fate."
She took a couple of steps forward towards the Kings throne;
"Your answer was not unexpected, my master has another message which he bid me give you if you refused to accept his dominion." by some strange magical agency her voice grew in power as she spoke the next words and so that every citizen in the entire city could here;
"My master bids all to know that any who defy the will of Gormoath shall face destruction!"
She raised her hand high overhead, and all voices in the hall fell silent, even the sound of the summer breeze ceased. All present felt sudden terror and Tula began to summon power towards her.
Amidst her hands a huge fireball was growing rapidly. Sencing danger stratigically placed archers throughout the hall opened fire from hidden locations. Tula's two bodyguards fell to the ground dead instantly being struck by countless arrows but all missiles hurled at Tula fell away harmlessly as if they hit some hidden barrier. Finally after what was only moments but felt like an age to those witnessing Tula released the fireball, hurling as if in slow motion directly at the King who still stood transfixed, still stood at his throne frozen in place as he was engulfed in flames and disintergrated instantly.
There followed a flash of light, and Tula was gone.