Alexis could feel it. The change in the air was, to an alpha predator such as herself, quite palpable, and this shift was one that caused her lips on one side to slightly rise. This was it; this was the prelude to what she had expected. She could feel the swelling mass of humanity (and various other sentient life forms) riding and marching from the palace, and she could swear that she smelled the tell-tale trace of utter despair seeping out of that place as well. It was faint, that odor of despair. Likely there were but a handful of people in utter fear, sorrow, hopelessness, and anger within, at most.

But that did not matter in the slightest. All that mattered now was that she would soon get the runt of a Sultan to admit his wrongdoings and start the process that would lead to his own undoing. She watched the procession march from the Sultan’s Palace and make its way down the streets. She could have the Black Ship stick around, but that would just put people she somewhat cared for in harm’s way. The wiser option was to send the ship back home, and that was the option she decided to take. She herself could leave whenever she felt the need or want to. She would receive the declaration of war, and then…

Well, so long as she got it in writing, it did not really matter, now did it? She was dearly hoping that the Sultan would be kind enough to bring some paper, parchment, or vellum; anything for her to use to get their words and decision in a physical form so she could point to it and make sure Kain would not be too upset. Something told her that he might not be of the mind to believe her if she told him that Darksol was not the aggressor in this new conflict and yet didn’t have paperwork to back it up.

…

Nimroad I led his men and his advisors/ puppet-masters down the final thoroughfare that kept him from the docks. He had been told that leading from the front would be the best way to show those loyal to him that he was a brave and worthy man to follow, but the truth was far darker. Just moments after he had been crowned as the new Sultan, his advisors had asked/ forced him to sign a document that labeled themselves as his heirs.

What this essentially meant was that if and when he died, there would be a line of succession that did not include any children he may or may not have in the future. Of course, Nimroad I was far too drunk on his new office’s power to notice or even care about what he was signing and it was also not as though those who would potentially succeed him were not simply going to stab each other in the back to claim the mantle of leadership for themselves when Nimroad I finally kicked the bucket. In fact, the advisors were counting on him dying here, hopefully in a rather graphic fashion, even if only to give them a more valuable casus belli against Darksol.

The idea was to have the troops, led by the new Sultan, storm the Black Ship after delivering the document that had written upon it the declaration of war against Darksol itself. The key was that they would attack just moments after the document was accepted, thereby preventing the Black Ship, the vampire, and the crew of the Black Ship from responding quickly enough to mount any kind of decent defense.

However, things would not go their way. As they entered the docks proper, the sight of the Black Ship sailing away gave the men who held Nimroad I’s leash a rather unwelcome surprise. Thankfully, the vampire seemed to have stayed behind and was using some crates and barrels as a seat and table, the latter of which had a dainty little tea set upon it, which was not filled with tea, but rather blood.

Now was the time to have Nimroad I buy the farm, reasoned his supposedly loyal advisors. Thus, they urged him to go before the rest of the soldiers and deliver the Sultanate’s formal declaration of war. Nimroad I, despite not exactly being the sharpest marble in the sock drawer, rightly reasoned that this was a bad idea, and using his newly gained power and position, ordered a few of his men to follow him and protect him in case the vampire tried to harm him.

…

Alexis sipped from her ‘tea’ cup with all the grace and elegance one might expect from someone who prided herself on being the very pinnacle of the Midnight Aristocracy. The scene would have been something to marvel at if it were not for the fact that she was drinking blood instead of tea, was seated upon and at things that were most certainly not designed for the purpose that she was using them for, and was surrounded by all the nasty things that come with a massive national trade port. Looking at her and her actions alongside where she was and what she was drinking proved to be enough to form a kind of cognitive dissonance in the minds of all who looked upon her, and in a way she was counting on that.

She watched the Sultan and a few more expendable soldiers come up to her, but like Alistaira before her, she refused to acknowledge their presence either visibly or vocally. It seemed that this was more acceptable the second time around, as the Sultan simply huffed and tossed a rolled-up scroll at her head. This was enough to make her move, and she snatched the scroll out of the air before it could mess with her perfectly styled hair.

One of the soldiers demanded that she read the scroll and to this ‘request’ Alexis obliged, the seal upon the document popping off via the application of magic, after which she unfurled the formerly rolled-up vellum before using a bit of magic to generate a deadly barrier of razor-sharp winds that swirled around her. She easily was able to deduce that they would attempt to harm her after she was done reading, after all, and she was not about to let them have the chance to even damage her clothes, let alone scratch her whiter-than-porcelain skin. She finished her drink as she finished reading the declaration of war and, without breaking a sweat, she stood up, thanked the Sultan for making things that much easier for her, and then flew off to prepare for the coming conflict. Thankfully, she had been smart enough to prepare for war ahead of time and while the Sultanate’s troops were far from in place, the Greater Darksol Empire had managed to move every piece into position just a week prior.

As she left the Sultan and his men (which, might I add, were exclusively male) to ponder what she meant with her words, Alexis couldn’t help but use a spell or two to reshape the terrain under the water just outside of the Sultanate’s capital city. Like Lord Wolfenstein, Kain, Alistaira and so many others, Alexis could be a troll from time to time as well.