With the threat dealt with (at least in their strict minds), the soulless unkillable soldiers returned to the underground chamber where they had lay dormant. It would at the very least be another few years before the silent warriors could be reactivated, which was a countermeasure put in place by the First Sultan in order to prevent his successors from ruling with an iron fist via the application of unstoppable killing machines. Sultan Arcail IV knew this, and with the palace now a place devoid of all sentient life save for himself, he had to act quickly to reestablish his control.

The fact that he had activated them when he did would come back to bite him. Had he waited another three or so more hours, he might not only have cut the head off the snake, but also grind its body to gore and gristle. Perhaps rather ironically, his haste to eliminate those who would be the puppet masters of his ‘replacement’ resulted in the very person who was set up to replace him being allowed to live.

Now the palace was defenseless, with only Arcail IV left to defend both himself and the future of his nation. This would have been hard enough, but the usurper was being escorted by no small number of troops and a handful of generals, admirals and other military leaders. Arcail IV watched helplessly through the underground chamber’s monitors as the usurper’s ‘parade’ entered the now vacant palace unopposed and went on high alert after seeing the result of the Janissaries’ brutal work.

Things couldn’t possibly get any worse than this, right?

…

Alistaira was no longer within the underground cell that had ‘contained’ her. As the brute with the baby’s voice had said, no one was around to keep her locked up, let alone to find out that she had not just escaped but also that she had begun moving towards the Black Ship. She no longer was taking a leisurely stroll; instead she was using her staff as an improvised ‘flying broomstick’ while using magic to lower the air resistance and g-forces she and her staff experienced to near zero.

She ended up taking less than one thirtieth of the time taken by the wagon to get her to the villa to get back to the ship, and as she hovered overhead, she could see the battle raging below. The sailors were good, but they were up against seemingly endless legions of soldiers that were both more heavily armed/ armored and far more knowledgeable about how to fight on the land.

The sailors were gradually being pushed back, and by now they were practically straddling between the ship and the dock. If the fight went on any longer, it would almost certainly result in the Arbiana Sultanate claiming the ship for themselves. That could not be allowed. That Black Ship was essentially one of a kind, made using special methods all to make the ship able to withstand most physical damage that any non-Darksol force could throw at it. Likewise, it contained a mini version of Alistaira’s lab, so that made yet another reason that it could not be allowed to fall into Sultanate hands.

Alistaira had decided that it was time for action, but before she could come down to add her might to the fight, an uncharacteristically cold wind blew in from the sea. With this wind came a feeling of primal dread, but this did not affect the people from Darksol. As Arbiana soldiers and the town guard began to visibly quake in their boots, both the sailors and Alistaira knew exactly what was coming. While the sailors cheered and fought with renewed vigor, Alistaira merely floated down to the deck of the Black Ship and watched as a spot on the horizon grew larger.

“Better late than never.” Alistaira said with a joking huff as the Crimson Empress of the Greater Darksol Empire rocketed towards the battleground like a (vampire) bat out of hell.

…

Even as she was zooming towards the ongoing conflict, Alexis was still running through various scenarios in her head. She ran through situations where the attacking forces submitted to her, ones where they and the entire city fought to the death, ones where they begged for peace either after she had massacred the massed troops or after she had simply made her presence known and even more beyond those. However, as she made her final approach, she realized that, of the scenarios she could feasibly view as ‘probable’ only 10%-20% would resolve the ‘disagreement’ Darksol had with the Sultanate in a peaceful manner.

This was not ideal, as once again it had to be stated that Alexis believed that Kain would be rather upset with her if he woke up to find out that she had dragged Darksol into another war, and so quickly after the last one at that. Still, it couldn’t be said that the Sultanate had not actively tried to initiate war, as attacking Alistaira was bad enough, but attempting to assassinate herself was what made things even worse.

And yes, if you’ve paid attention you would remember that Alistaira and co. were sent to plant spies, but this is something that Alexis had forgotten. Not that it made much difference anyways, as Alistaira had been identified as a citizen of Darksol and had been asked to come to meet the Sultan, only to be abducted off the streets right in front of the Sultan’s abode with nothing having been done about it. This rightly made both Alexis and Alistaira rather annoyed, to say the least, and now it was time for the Sultanate to deal with the ramifications of its actions.

…

After another few seconds of flying, Alexis had arrived on scene to be greeted with three distinct reactions from three different types of people. First was Alistaira’s general nonchalance regarding pretty much everything. It was one of the two basic reactions she had to nearly everything, with the other one being annoyance.

The second reaction was the cheering and celebration from the sailors. This was to be expected, as Alexis was essentially both their ruler and, more specifically in this case, the best damn cavalry they could ask for.

Lastly, the third and most predictable reaction was that of the soldiers and town guard, to say nothing of the people at large in the capital of the Sultanate. The sheer terror they felt was akin to an existential crisis mixed with the worst and most dangerous predator imaginable staring them down with hunger in its eyes.

The soldiers and their leaders were now very concerned. They had wanted war, yes, but they did not realize that they would be facing something that generated so much primal dread and fear. But they had made their beds, and now they had to lie in them, and that knowledge, combined with their pride in their nation and their belief that their soon-to-be new Sultan would be an easy puppet that would let them lead their nation to even greater heights helped blind them to the truth of their situation.

The general on-site gathered up his courage and made a call that would irrevocably alter the Sultanate’s fate forever onwards.