Omen: 7, 17

Adam howled with laughter, almost crying from his laughter. “Wait! Wait! Stop!” Adam slapped his knee, before falling against the wall. “Jurot! Jurot! Come here!” Adam cried.

Jurot, who was standing nearby, stepped closer. Adam slapped Jurot’s thigh, before falling down as he continued to cry and laugh. His stomach hurt from all the laughter.

Oliver sighed.

Eventually, Adam managed to get back up on his feet, gasping for air. “Well, well, well.” Adam inhaled deeply, sighing moments after to calm himself. “How the turn tables, turn table.”

Adam looked past Oliver, towards the other fort, where no doubt they were all loitering about in their stupidity. “You come to me, on the day of my daughter’s wedding, and you ask me to cast you a tower?” Adam shook his head, tutting noisily at Oliver. “Come now, Oliver.”

“I’m asking you for the sake of morale,” Oliver said. “It’s taken quite the toll on our group.”

“Morale?” Adam asked. “Morale? Where was this talk of morale when those bastards were constantly starting fights with me? Where was this talk of morale when you kept the food for yourself? Where was this talk of morale when you came to me, yesterday, after my group came to assist yours, about leaving us with the burnt loot?”

Oliver sucked in a breath through his teeth.

“Why the hell should I give a shit about those two bastards?” Adam asked.

“Careful, Adam, one of them is a Priest.”

“Why the hell should I give a shit about that bastard, and that holy bastard?” Adam corrected.

Oliver’s head snapped to attention at Adam’s curse, and he reflexively muttered a prayer. “Adam, please.”

“I won’t ask a third time,” Adam said, almost growling.

“We are in this together, Adam.”

“Are we?” Adam raised his brow, staring into Oliver’s eyes. “I suppose I should be the bigger man here, though. Jurot, what do you think?”

“We are in this together,” Jurot said. “Whatever issues arise, we should deal with them once the request has been completed. If they take advantage of us, it is fine. We will know not to deal with them in the future.”

“Wise words from my brother here,” Adam said. “Those two parties too?”

Jurot remained quiet for a long moment. “I do not like it, but it must be done.”

Adam sighed. “Since my brother has such a lovely heart, then I suppose I should. However, I’m not making a tower. If they want to bathe, they can drag themselves here to bathe, once my group is done with the baths. If I’m feeling nice, I’ll even clean the baths for them.”

Oliver nodded his head. “Thank you, Adam. I hope that you are willing to allow us to bathe every few days, or after a fight.”

“I hope you bring a fresh barrel of food,” Adam said. “I’m sure your Priest can cast a spell to help you with your food situation.”

Oliver bowed his head, sighing once more.

“You guys were so stingy about the supplies and the hides, but I’ll be a nice guy. I’m sure if I don’t, you guys will all say some nasty stuff behind my back about me being a no good leaf ear.” Adam chuckled.

“Thank you, Adam.”

Once Oliver left, Adam threw Jurot a look. “You see this shit?”

“I do, Adam,” Jurot replied. “It only brings us honour, and them, shame.”

“Half Elves have always been decent people,” Lady Shamia said. She was trying to keep the conversation from last night out of her head. Seeing the two as close as this after talking about killing one another made her confused beyond belief.

“Yeah?” Adam asked. “Are there a lot of Half Elves in Hakor?”

“There are many in Hakor,” Shamia confirmed. “Not just Half Elves, but Dwarves, Halfzers, Mermen, and even Drakken.”

“Damn,” Adam said. “That’s a lot of people.”

“Our Ejirate is quite diverse, but there are many others with also a great number of peoples. There are Giants in Voodur, and…” Shamia paused to think of their name. “Inasir.”

“Inasir?” Adam asked.

“They are people of the elements.”

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head.

“Our lands are made up of many small Ejirates,” Shamia explained. “Each holds a million or so peoples, in a land much smaller than Aldland, but our lands are far more densely populated with smaller settlements.”

“The Confederacy does not have many Beast Waves,” Jurot explained.

“Indeed, though we have a greater threat,” Shamia said, frowning.

“A greater threat?” Adam asked.

“The Empire. It is trying to exert its influence into our Confederacy, through politics, and through might. They have already dealt with three of our seventeen Ejirates.”

“Oof.” Adam winced. “What’s the Empire like?”

“The Empire is brutal. Over the last century they have conquered the nearby lands, and have made their way onto our own. They have conquered from Okoli to Javiti.”

Adam looked to Jurot, trying to understand what that meant.

Jurot furrowed his brows, trying to recall the mental map he had of the lands. The Iyr. South Aldland. Aswadia. Confederacy. He continued. “It is longer than Aldland is tall. It holds a greater population, spread out in large towns close to one another, unlike Aldland.”

“Their soldiers are great,” Shamia said, looking beyond the pair. “Where each Ejirate may have two million people at most, the Confederacy together could raise a hundred thousand soldiers. However, it is no match for the Empire. The Empire possesses twenty legions, equating to roughly a hundred thousand, but their soldiers are trained, not armed peasants.”

Adam winced. “Oh.”

“They could also, if they wished, raise another one hundred thousand armed peasants to match.”

“That sounds terrifying,” Adam said, quickly shutting his mouth. ‘Oops. I probably shouldn’t make her feel worse.’

“Yes.”

“I don’t think Aldland has that many trained soldiers…” Adam said, looking to Jurot.

Jurot nodded. “The Empire is a distant threat. They must first conquer the entire Confederacy, and then reach Aswadasad. Aswadasad will be a far more brutal conquest for them, due to its terrain.” Jurot was certain that the Empire would make fairly light work of the Confederacy, though.

“We once were under Aswadia, years ago,” Shamia said. “We fought to free ourselves from its grasp, and it was a bloody, but well fought battle. Now, with the Empire having grown so rapidly, and consolidating itself under the might of the three Kalites, and Lord Usuru’s favour, we shall fight another bloody war.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Adam said.

“Aswadia will not be conquered by the Empire, but we cannot hold the same hope,” she said.

“Why can’t they conquer Aswadia?” Adam asked, wondering if that was polite.

“Aswadia has great terrain, but even without its terrain, it still has something we do not.” Shamia looked to Jurot, who nodded. “There are some Iyrmen who have settled within our lands, but not as many as Aswadia and Aldland.”

“That would stop the Empire?”

“Even if they do not know of the Iyr’s might, which is hard to believe, the Iyr’s grasp extends all across Aldland, and it’s influence also reached Aswadia. They are protected by the Iyr against foreign threats, and if they are not, they could easily make a deal to formally make it so.”

Adam whistled “Damn. The Iyr is cool.”

Shamia smiled. “Perhaps I could visit the Iyr and speak with your Chief?”

“We shall take you, Lady Waterveil,” Jurot said, emphasising her clan’s name.

“Thank you.”

Jurot nodded. He wondered if the Iyr would assist Hakor and the Confederacy. “My ancestor, Jarot, the Liberator, assisted the Devilkin in Aswadia and some portions of the Confederacy.”

“Jarot? Do you mean Giahroh?” Shamia asked.

“That is what they call him in your land, yes,” Jurot said.

Shamia’s eyes fluttered rapidly. “You are descended from Giahroh?”

Jurot smiled, and puffed out his chest. “Yes.”

Even the female guard beside Shamia let slip an expression of surprise.

“Even to this day, there are many Devilkin towards the south and the east of the Ejirates, and very little from the north due to Great Giahroh’s influence,” Shamia said, still taken aback by this news.

“The Gaks were from Aswadia, but the Jyns came from further east, from within the Confederacy,” Jurot explained, partly for Adam.

“I should have realised,” Shamia said. “It seems it was Fate we met. You are the descendant of Great Giahroh, who had come with his Iyrmen. He conquered the Rukhs, and had liberated the Devilkin from the rule of the Dragons. The lands once held such a large number of Dragons, but they had been thinned in no small part thanks to Great Giahroh. Even now, we can only say we managed to liberate ourselves due to his actions.”

‘Yo!’ Adam thought, his eyes wide. ‘What the hell? Jurot’s ancestor was such a bad ass!’ “So the Dragons once ruled across the Confederacy?” Adam asked.

“Yes. There are many still within the lands. Many slumber for decades and centuries. Others keep to themselves, and some run their own cults within our lands. However, there are many which work with the Confederacy’s Ejirates in exchange for a portion of our taxes.”

“Ah, like the Gold Dragon in the capital?” Adam asked, looking to Jurot.

“Yes,” Jurot said.

“Is it still the same Gold Dragon?”

“Yes.”

“Damn. How many years has it been since the Blackwater Crisis?”

“Two thousand,” Jurot said.

Adam blinked rapidly. “What?” ‘Two thousand years?’