Tales of the Exalted

Jin-Sahn stood in the map room, looking over every aspect he could of Shu-Han. Commanders entered one after another. He wasn't sure how many he was supposed to wait for, but hopefully his half-brother would arrive soon with the names.
In the mean time he absorbed the information that he had.
"I can feel your eyes upon me, Sanjuro." he said without turning to look. "What do you need?" the man came beside his prince and bowed low.
"I must make a request, and you will not like it." the man said softly. Jin-Sahn turned to look at him, a puzzled eyebrow raised.
"You're not one to ask without good reason. What is it?" he asked.
"I do not understand the omens, but there is no mistaking them. The Princess must witness the battle." he said and Jin-Sahn was baffled.
"You want me to bring Callista to a battle? You who won't even let that sorcerer speak to her for fear of tainting her innocence?" he asked incredulously. Sanjuro cleared his throat.
"I do not understand them, but she will be protected by the best of my order. I would go myself if the Great Khal would allow it." he swore. Jin-Sahn regarded him a moment.
"You're serious about this. You believe she will bring us victory?" he asked. Sanjuro looked up, meeting the Prince's gaze.
"I do not understand the omens, my Prince. But they are clear." he said.
"Then bring her." Jin-Sahn relented. "But you have to tell my mother." he said with a bit of mirth. Sanjuro may have chuckled at that. It was hard to tell. Then he left to seek out Callista.
This was becoming more and more interesting, and the weight on Jin-Sahn's shoulders becoming more and more heavy. But he was the son of the Great Khal, and he would not fail.

Rebekah and Silver were halfway through a bottle of wine when the High Water bookkeeper found them. Out of breath, he startled rambling about an audience. "Slow down, here drink this." The man greedily drank from the bottle she handed him before repeating what he said.

"The Shining Prince, son of the Warlord Khal Shono, is calling an audience of all commanders of the forces gathered."

Rebekah stood up, grabbing her wand from the table. "I guess that's my cue Silver, I know where I'm headed after the meeting. If you are there, I'll count you with us. If not, I'll see you inside those walls, and you'll have to share some of that Jade you find." With a bright laugh, Rebekah headed off to meet this "Shining Prince."

She wandered relatively aimlessly until she caught a glimpse of Geheris through the crowds, walking with confidence. She fell into step behind him, counting on him knowing where he was going.

Eida was the first one out of the halls and began his trek to Awilix' war table. Not ten feet out of the palace, Suku sat, tail twitching on the steps, staring at him intently. Eida hopped into a jog to keep up with the cat, it had a tendency to nip if he wasn't fast enough. They made their way seamlessly to the map room before anyone else had arrived. He had the advance warning and didn't have to wait for a runner like everyone else did.

Once inside, Eida started laying out scrolls on the tables. Diagrams of the wall, numbers of forces, and geographic maps were all included in the spread. Awilix would be here shortly, and he wanted to make sure everything was ready for the princes and warlords.

Jaeda was bored. There were so many people around. So much fun to be had, and he was stuck looking at scrolls. This whole thing needed to get underway, he needed to be in the middle of it. He wanted to e the reason they got through. The giant serpent rested it's unseen head on the table, tongue lashing against the parchment in restlessness.

More and more men and even a few women began to fill the room and soon servants began scurrying back and forth with refreshments.
Chen entered the room with on of the Ogun blacksmiths and a chieftain. Gaheris came flanked by Rebekah and a few commanders from Cao Wei.
Awilix arrived uncharacteristically early, with a one of Terenuthis' commanders. She made straight for Eida and Suku, wrapping her arms around the shoulders of the sorcerer and looking over his shoulder at the maps he was reading. She kissed the side of his head affectionately.
"Please tell me you got us into the vanguard. I can already taste the heart's blood of our enemies." she purred into his ears with a husky voice. Suku perked up, seemingly jealous of Eida getting her attention. He stood up and nuzzled her until she reached a hand out and pet him.

"I got the attention of our war leader, Lord Jin-Sahn." Eida pried himself out of Awilix' arms as some of the leaders looked on with knowing faces. "He took to our defense when assaulted by Khal Chagatai. There will be a contest for the forefront, but I do not doubt we can be exactly where you wish. Jaeda is as excited as you, so I will be at your side. I hope that your hunt for notables was fruitful while I attended the Khal?"

Everything was laid out just as they flood of commanders started arriving. Eida kept one particular scroll in hand as he studied the response times and rotations of the magicians that had thwarted them last. There would be something in it that he could use to be the first through the breach, but he needed to be certain before he made his move.

Awilix didn't take offense at the boy's actions, instead taking the top half of her cat into her lap. She shrugged at Eida's question.
"I got distracted by a fascinating creature from An-Tir. Mercy, she was called. Fought like a man, and claimed to fuck like one too. More than I can say about some of the men in here." she snickered, knowing she'd been heard. Maybe she'd get lucky and one of these puffed up mortals would want to fight her. Then she could kill someone and leave this boring meeting.
Someone behind her cleared his throat and she leaned back nearly horizontal to see who it was. The figure before her made her grin.
"Oh, the sexy prince has come to see me? Do tell me you're going to petition your glory-stealing brother for my men to follow yours into the breach so that you can have your way with me on a pile of corpses." she said, making sure he could see all the way down what little clothing she was forced to wear by "decency's sake". Chen chuckled and reached out to pet Suku.
"I didn't want to lead the army. And we both know your light infantry will be nowhere near the spearhead me and... Mercy was her name?" he teased. Awilix snarled at him, drawing a chuckle from the prince as he stood next to Eida.
"You're that sorcerer Sanjuro was arguing with the Khal about?" he asked. "Have you tested yourself against the sorcerer's of Shu-Han? If anything keeps us from breaching the walls, it will be those warlocks." he spat.

Eida sighed in resignation. Even when Awilix was supposed to be scouting for talent, she went looking for all of the wrong things. She was good at what she did, but sometimes things just weren't quite organized enough for the young sorcerer.

When he was addressed by the second prince in one day, Eida once again lowered his head in deference. "From the stories I have heard, those magicians are trained in projectile combat using magic. I believe that one of my particular specialties may be able to take care of at least an area, exposing it for an assault. I would need to get close to the wall.

The light infantry can use the spearhead as a diversion to get close enough. Horses have great difficulty climbing walls once they are exposed. You would have to wait for sappers to breach. In that time, Awilix and her men can clear the wall. " What he said wasn't just for his Warlord's benefit. It was a sound approach, and with her soldiers equipped with grapnels, many could deal with the defenses while they were otherwise occupied with mounted archers and heavy cavalry.

Awilix sat bolt upright and grinned.
"You see why I keep him around? Even if Sanjuro won't lay with me because of him." she pat him on the back. Shen scratched his beard, considering the boy's plan.
"If you're wrong, you might lose my father his favorite warlord, not to mention your own life. But I'll admit it's a clever strategy. Take it before my brother and I will support it." he said.
"I'll be building that pile of bodies while I wait for you, princling." she teased as he walked off to speak with other commanders. She scooted closer to Eida and watched him work.
"Tell me of the meeting. Who was in attendance, what intrigues are going on in the Khal's court?" she knew he would be annoyed, as she could have gone herself, but that wasn't the point. She wanted to know what he saw, and what he would tell her. She was testing him. The truth was, he seemed to have many skills she lacked herself. The sorts of skills the Khal employed Sanjuro for. There was a reason she held the Azuma man in such high regard, and having her own would make her one step closer to being the legitimate warlord she dreamed of being.
She knew the words in the courts of the other Nahautl Ziggurats, that she was the Queen of a Dead city, that her only true power was the Khal's favor. But her warband grew every moon, and more conquered foes were sacrificed in her ruined city than anywhere else.
All she needed was to model her kingdom after Shono's. And Eida was the start of that.

"Hmm?" Eida was distracted ly scribbling notes and numbers on a page. If he was going to bring something up to the warlord of the expedition, he needed to make sure it could work.

"Oh. Sorry. All of the local Khals were in attendance, and a few faces I haven't seen before. Warmaster Bryn of the An'Tir has a protege. It looks like there is some open hostility in the Khal of Khal's upper echelon. There is a faction braying for purity in their war. That the losses are the absorbed people's fault." He finished some last adjustments to his numbers, comfortable with the setup he had. The infantry just has to move in small clusters to remain hard to see.

"The Khal's brother and son were the head points arguing at the moment, and they both had strong followings. And, princess Callista made a subtle appearance. I spoke with her briefly before Sanjuro bade me leave her alone, but not before I received invitation for tea with her in the future."

”Oh, I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she grinned at her new friend and took another drink of wine as she watched her leave. Jill was a bit annoyed at having their conversation about trigger mechanisms interrupted, it was rare to find someone else with the same enthusiasm about old technology that wasn’t a stuffy scholar or a Dragon Blood that would try and kill her.

Something interesting was going on and curiosity hadn’t killed the cat yet so Jill headed off after the woman and her escort. A few tents later the small feline girl disappeared for a second before a small black and yellow canary flew overhead. It only took her a second to catch a glimpse of the bright red hair to follow back to what looked like a most interesting gathering.

The warmaster of An-Tir spoke.
Gənc Sehrbazlar 'plan səs. Amma bütün piyada üzərinə düşür. Onlar vaxt yanaşmaq və miqyaslı lazımdır. Bunun üçün biz bir səs yayındırma lazımdır. Khal bu uzun mühasirə olmaq istəmir dilə gətirdi. Bizim üstünlüyümüz ondan ibarətdir yalnız bir iki distractions üçün etmək olardı. Düşünürəm ki, biz burada yüngül mühasirə silah yerləşdirmək gəlir and he jabbed at the side of the map.

The Young Sorcerers’ plan is sound. But it all rests upon the infantry. They need time to approach, and to scale. For that we need a sound distraction. The Khal has expressed that he does not want this to be a prolonged siege. It would be to our advantage to have not just one but two distractions. I suggest we deploy our light siege weaponry here and he jabbed at the side of the map. [/color] Donovan repeated, pointing at the same spot on the map.

Biz həmçinin ağır mühasirə silah tikintisi ilə yenidən həyata. Bu şəhər bir uzun mühasirə altında olacaq ki, düşdü etmək və təhlükəsizlik güclərini əksəriyyəti tərk və şəhərin ki, yan dəstək olacaq.

We re-enforce that with the construction of heavy siege weaponry as well. This will make the city fell that they are going to be under a prolonged siege, and leave the majority of their forces in safety and bolster that side of their city.

Biz piyada onların hücum edir zaman yanğın əhatə təmin etmək üçün burada işıqmühasirə kiçik bir hissəsini yerləşdirilməlidir və biz ağır mühasirə gücləndirilməsiningörünür burada bizim at əksəriyyəti yerləşdirilməlidir, lakin əslində onlar bir dəfə piyadadəstəkləməyə hazırıq müvəffəqiyyətli və sappers onların iş. Nəhayət, biz burada ağırmühasirə uzaq tərəfində olan at kiçik bir hissəsini qoymaq, ağır mühasirə divar qırmaqdeməkdir ki, onlar fikir yenidən həyata, lakin biz mövqeyi bizim yaşlı və xəstə ayıra bilər.


We position a small portion of light siege here to provide covering fire for when the infantry makes their assault, and we position the majority of our horse here to appear to be bolstering the heavy siege, but in fact are ready to support the infantry once they are successful, and the sappers do their job. Finally we put a small portion of our horse here are the far side of the heavy siege, they will re-enforce they idea that the heavy siege is meant to break the wall, but we can allocate our elderly and sick to that position.

The Guild Prince left the war room with quite a bit more knowledge about the Khal of Khals and how he worked. It was nice to know he wasn't foolish enough to thin his ranks merely for the sake of being "pure" as the other warlord had suggested but he didn't wonder if the narrow minded man was on to something. Kellian had experience leading men for all walks of life and on a greater scale he understood that it would present a challenge. It was like trying to control a beast with a dozen different heads, all with their own goals and personalities. Most of the Khal's armies were ones he had conquered and even though they might hold loyalty now they were still fighting a war that was not their own.

After excusing himself Kellian made his way to the map room by following the trains of the commanders and their entourages. He felt this was where the true battle would take place, each leader jockeying for the best position they felt their men should be in. This was really not the place for him, deep down he felt the need to be out on that field leading his own army to victory. Soon, he reminded himself, soon.

The princess had excused herself when it seemed like her guardian was at the end of his speech and before the crowd erupted in cheers. The Khal’s brother’s words hung heavy on her, she did not understand how someone could be so closed minded to the unique benefits their allied armies brought with them. She walked with May trailing close behind her, a bit more silent than normal because she was deep in thought about the upcoming battle.


She could see the tension on May as they approached her room, the door curiously ajar but both of the women could hear the sounds of the suspect moving within and knew there wasn’t much to fear.


”Speedy, you know you’re not allowed inside the palace, let alone my room!” she scolded the stallion.


”You barely visited me today and there are so many strange horses in the stables it stinks,” he whined, lifting his muzzle out of her wash basin.


”Try being friendly with them, I think you could use a few friends,” she smiled as she stroked his nose. The horse looked over at the entryway as another, more silent visitor appeared.


”Princess, you are needed at the Prince's meeting.” Sanjuro said bowing.


The confusion on her face was clear for a moment before she nodded and looked back over to her horse. ”If it bothers you that much, go sleep in the orchard. I’m sure the Goddess won't mind, this time of year she is busy keeping Vertumnus from making the Reaping come sooner than it needs to.”


The princess nodded and followed her escort back to the map room silently.

Awilix perked up as the men from An-Tir began to speak with Eida. An-Tir was one of the better armies under the Khal's banner, their approach to warfare so unusual for the area. So much armor, such large horses and duty bound soldiers. They weren't here for plunder, and honestly had little use for it.
"Shining Prince, why are you so far? I've found your two best tacticians all by myself, you can dismiss the rest." her voice managed to carry itself to the Exalted Prince, who turned, as if her words had broken some sort of spell on him.
"Ah, Awilix, a pleasure." he said, making his way over to her. She smiled and bit her thumb seductively.
"Yes, I'll take your pleasuring, if it means you'll listen to this plan.". She filled him in on the words of Eida and the Warmaster and the young Prince nodded.
"We'll need troops in those distraction locations, perhaps some the mercenary companies and conscripts from Cao Wei." he took in the map, moving pieces in the areas suggested.
"Only the Ogun have light infantry like mine, I'll need their help." she admitted reluctantly. She simply didn't have the kind of manpower to feel comfortable taking on such an important part of the plan. The prince nodded.
"Yes, I'll speak with their chieftain. But I must bring this meeting to order soon." he said, taking one last glance at the map before moving through the crowd to find a few commanders.

"I should warn you, Princess, that you are to march with Prince Jin-Sahn's army. The omens are confusing, but of this I am certain; you must pay witness to the battle." he explained as he lead her to the meeting.
"I will have a dozen of my best men around you at all times, each of them ready to die for you. You must promise to never leave your protectors sight. The games you play here, while frustrating, are hardly as dangerous as they will be at war. It would mean a lot to me if you swore you would not play such games until you have returned safely." he did not presume to order her around, but her safety was entrusted to his clan by the Empress herself. Failure was inconceivable.

Rebekah walked in just behind Geheris and was stunned at the detail the room had. The floor itself was a large scale map of the area, there were finely carved wooden table with scrolled lined up neatly in overlapping rows with two tattooed natives looking them over, arranging them in some pattern or another. Armored knights weren't far behind them, discussing siege protocols, and the Temujin were everywhere inside. She felt rather alone in this place, knowing only one other person in this room.

She wandered around, listening to various people talking. She needed to find who she could ally with to bring her demolitions specialists to bear and have a chance to go home rich. The knights speaking in a foreign language were her first shot, but there might be others. Best to keep options open.

Eida to a sidelong glance as the Warmaster's man in arms talked over him. He gave them an appraising look before finishing up his terms with Awilix. He hadn't been in the courts a day and somehow these people knew his gifts. Awilix knew better than to give away his pact to foreigners, that was part of the Nahuatl strength. Which left Chanekeh. If they knew that, how much falsehood had the wraith put into their minds to hurt his image? He needed to be careful, adversaries of Sanjuro wound up dead at convenient times.

"The Ogun are a strong choice, their steel will help the cause. What we need to do now is select the best teams for cracking the wall once the magicians are off of it. The An'Tir can provide a threatening front, but only if supported by a force that can actually appear to threaten the wall defenders. The Temujin mounted archers shielded within their ranks would be an option for harrying runs between the siege engines' feint."

The news that she was to ride with the army came as a shock to her. It was rare that she left the great city, let alone ride into foreign and hostile territory. Callista was concerned at the meaning behind this strange turn of events and hoped it would not expedite the need for her to take one of the Khal’s sons as her husband. There was also the issue that she did not want to watch a battle. Sparring matches among the young warriors when they wanted to show off were one thing, but a full on engagement meant many people would die. It seemed a cruel thing to force her to have to bare witness to.

If she had been any less respectful she would have given Sanjuro an exasperated sigh but instead she smiled lightly. ”If it is the will of the Khal, than it shall be.” Callista came to a stop so that she could look the Khal’s servant in the eye. It seemed that in the last day she had spoken more words to him than she had in the many years they had been under the same palace roof together. For a moment she looked on him with a fresh gaze, that of a grown woman and not the child-prisoner she had been for nearly a decade. ”I assure you, Sanjuro that I play no games when it comes to court. Let them think that if they must, but someday I will no longer just be a ghost in these halls. I know I will be safe under the watchful eye of your men,” she said before turning back to head into the map room. Maybe she was feeling a bit more rebellious these days but she didn’t feel like anyone could blame her nor did she feel her interest in the current events out of line.

For the second time in one day, Callista was surrounded by the warlords of the Khal. She was out of place again but also felt at home as if her bloodline commanded her to be there, and perhaps it did. To her the ancient room was still her Grandfather’s domain and despite the throng she could almost still see the old man pacing with his own, quiet advisers long before war ever came to their borders.

It seemed as if all the same players were in the room, except maybe a few extras that looked like they came in from the camp the infamous Awilix and her cat included. Callista tried to move to a place where she could see but would not be in the way, avoiding several warlords on her way.

As he stood and listened to chatter of the generals, Kellian’s gaze fell on a familiar figure as it cut its way through the crowd. He stepped out and gave the red haired woman a broad bow before smiling broadly. ”It is good to see you again. Is being in the employ of the great Khal everything you had hoped for?”

Rebekah stopped to see the captain of her ship addressing her. "Employ? Ha. Haven't done anything for the man. ell you though, this gathering he has is impressive. Met one of the organizing lords, Geheris. Otherwise, I need to wait for this to get started, maybe find some with favor to bring my men to bear against the wall. We can man siege engines, but we work best as a small unit for demolition. A lot of these Temujin are rather inclusive, walk away before I can even get a word in."