Casus Belli Ch. 01: Prelude to War

She had, up to that point, just been sitting next to general Marecomb, observing the proceedings, as he had told her to, but now anger made her speak up. "You're nothing but cruel barbarians," she stated, "we will defend ourselves, destroy your army should it invade our lands."

The huge orc warlord shifted his attention to her, took her in, his face not disguising his animalistic lust for her, then he addressed general Marecomb. "You let your bed-wench speak for you?" he said with clear amusement in his voice.

She blushed. "I'm..," she started, but the general interrupted her.

"She's a noble observer of high status, my lord. Her words carry weight," he said.

The big orc chuckled, "You have two weeks to surrender, but you apparently won't, which is fine by me." His tone was harsh, he looked at her again, "And don't you worry, noble bed-wench, my army is always short of whores. The attractive female nobles will be offered the opportunity to escape death, by spreading their legs for my men, in my army's brothels." She felt her face turn crimson. "Noble wenches always make for the best whores," he added condescendingly.

"You're a filthy pig," she snapped, "you orcs are nothing but animals."

He grinned at her, "You're amusing. I might consider paying you a visit myself when you're in the brothels - grant you the honor to spread your legs for me too."

His openly vented intention to violate her made it very personal, "In Nigawa dangerous animals are gelded," she returned the threat, "and that's what you are, nothing but a dangerous stinking animal."

He grinned, then his face darkened, "We may be 'stinking animals', but we didn't come and burn your lands and homes, and kill your females and cubs."

His answer surprised her, and she didn't know what to answer. Marecomb answered in her place, "What do you mean? You invaded our lands last year, burning and looting the northern shires. Are you denying this?"

The big orc shook his head, "Last spring an ogre army invaded our realm from the east. The great counsel called on all the tribes to gather to defeat them. While we were on campaign, fighting the ogres, black orcs from the north, profiting from our absence, crossed our lands and invaded yours. Your army followed them while they were retreating to their realm, then turned about and destroyed my lands and my people. When we finally returned to our lands in autumn, after the final defeat of the ogres, we found our possessions burned and most of our kin killed. Now we are here for revenge, now we are here to collect a debt."

Something told her he wasn't lying, she felt a chill run down her spine, looked at Marecomb besides her. The general's face had gone pale, his voice sounded rattled, "We must investigate this. If this is true you will be compensated!"

The face of the huge orc revealed nothing, but his amber colored eyes spat fire. "Compensated?" his voice sounded dangerously, "Your army killed my mate, killed my cubs. It annihilated my people. Most of us have nothing left. So I'm actually looking forward to you 'animals' not surrendering." With that he abruptly stood, his chieftains following suit, "Two weeks," he said, then he simply turned and left, his chieftains and guard detail following him.

She looked at Marecomb, "His allegations, can they be true?" she asked, fearing the answer.

Marecomb shrugged, his face showed determination, "I don't know, it could be, but what difference does it make?" She felt bile rising, "His intentions are clear," the general added, "No matter if he's lying or not. He has left us no choice but to fight and destroy him, and maybe feel sorry afterwards."

She shook her head, "This is awful, if we did as he said how can we..."

The general interrupted her, "In matters like this, in matters of state, there is no right or wrong, Pryoness, there's just us and them, anything else is moot."

The delegation just sat at the table for a short while, everyone immersed in his or her own thoughts, until Captain Agnious reappeared. "The orc delegation has left the castle," he reported, then, after taking in the faces around the table, he continued, "I guess things didn't go to plan?"

Marecomb chuckled dryly, "You could say that..." Then he turned his head and addressed the major next to him, "As the man with the most experience with orcs here, do you gather Bashuk could have been speaking the truth?"

Major Gadrian nodded resolutely, "Yes, absolutely. I think it highly unlikely he lied to us."

Sir Fidion started cursing loudly next to her, then caught himself, throwing her a guilty look, "I'm sorry Pryoness, please forgive me." She just shrugged. He addressed the entire delegation next, "How the fuck could this have happened? Does anyone have an explanation?" No one reacted, and after a minute or so Sir Fidion continued, "Well, there's no saving this one. There's nothing left here for us to do. We must return to the capital as soon as possible." With that everyone realized the whole diplomatic mission was effectively over before it had really begun.

She addressed Marecomb, "I'm sorry I interrupted you general, I just couldn't hold my tongue."

The general shrugged, "No harm done Pryoness, this parley was already doomed before it began. You only sped things up a notch." He looked over the rest of the delegation, "The sun will be setting in less than two hours from now, so it's really no sense departing in a hurry. We stay at Bragstone for the night, and leave for Iriskan at dawn."

No one objected, "Alright," Captain Agnious said, "dinner will be served at seven. I'll see you all then."

With that he left them again. Cassandra pushed her chair back and got up, then simply left too, heading up the stairs to her room. After getting there she barely managed to close the door behind her before Moiga and Polly fell over her.

"How did it go?" Moiga asked.

"I saw them out of the window," Polly exclaimed, "God they were big, and they seemed ugly too! And they rode on these big mean looking lizard beasts!"

Cassandra put her hands up, "Relax, just one at a time please!" Both her maidens looked down embarrassed, She looked at Moiga and grinned, "To answer your question first, Moiga; it was a disaster." She looked at Polly next, "And they were very big indeed, their leader probably weighs close to four hundred pounds or so. But ugly? Ugly isn't the right word I think. They looked beastly, saying they are ugly is like saying a bear is ugly." She shrugged, "But by human standards you're right."

Moiga looked subdued, "What went wrong milady?"

She swallowed, "It appears our army burned their lands and slaughtered their kin, without reason..."

Her maiden looked confused, "Didn't they burn our lands and slaughter our people too?"

She shook her head, her face sad, "No, apparently there exist different kinds of orcs, and our army took revenge on the wrong kind. And now they've come to even the score. Their leader, Bashuk, told us that our army killed his wife and children. I could just feel he was telling the truth. It was terrible... And the same thing happened to most of his warriors apparently. It's a terrible terrible business."

The pretty brunette's eyes had grown big by now. Polly's voice sounded meek, "So, what happens now?"

She shrugged, "There's nothing left here for us to do. At dawn we'll be leaving for home. And we'll be in a hurry, so we'd better turn in shortly after dinner again, to try and get a good night's sleep. The coming days are going to be tiring again."

Dinner proved to be excellent, with clearly no cost or effort spared, but no one was really in the mood for it. After dinner she wasted no time getting herself and her maidens back to her room again. With the servants room only accessible through the main room there was no danger of Marecomb or Korbanak harassing her maidens during the night, ensuring all three of them would remain undisturbed. They quickly prepared for bed, and after tucking her in Moiga and Polly retreated to their own room to turn in too.

Sleep didn't come easy for Cassandra though. The whole situation with the orcs kept her mind turning. She knew there was little to no chance her father would give in to the orc's demands, so there was going to be war, and that meant Brando was going to go to war. Brando was big and strong, but compared to the orc warriors she just met he was like a child compared to a man. Somewhere deep inside she just felt it was going to end badly. With that thought the tears came, and those tears soon turned into soft sobbing. Not that much later she felt the bed move, and two warm bodies snuggling up against her.

"You're worried about Brando, aren't you," Moiga's voice sounded softly from behind her.

"Yes, I'm afraid for him," she sobbed.

"Don't worry too much," Polly's voice sounded in front of her, "He's smart, and big, and strong. He'll be okay."

The girls' affection relaxed her, helped her stop crying. This must be what it's like to have sisters, she thought. "I love you girls," she whispered, "You're the best maidens ever." That got her two soft kisses, one on the back of her shoulder, and the other one on her forehead. With her nerves calmed sleep did come after all.

They left Bragstone at sunrise, and with the extra speed provided by descending from the foot of the mountains, by pushing the horses a little bit harder, and with the silvery light of a full Lurcan, Mundea's larger moon, in a clear sky aiding them after sundown, they reached 'The Tasty Boar' late in the evening. Their late dinner was simple, and afterwards she shared her bed with Moiga and Polly again, and not just to thwart Marecomb and Korbanak again. The following day they left at dawn again, for the last leg home. Having been traveling for four days already, with only half a day's rest at Bragstone for the parley the day before yesterday, both beasts and men were clearly tiring.

Still they made good progress, and when late in the afternoon the familiar silhouette of Iriskan appeared on the southern horizon for the first time a wave of re-found energy coursed through man and beast. They reached the city at dusk, noticing the signals announcing their return going up at the northern main gate. So by the time the coaches finally came to a stop at Bromodin castle's vast courtyard a large party had already assembled there to welcome them back.

Dismounting from the coach she had expected to find her father rushing up to her, but to her surprise someone else beat him getting to her. "Brando!" she gasped excited, "I thought you were with the army!"

Her betrothed hugged her, kissed her tenderly, almost crushing her in his strong arms. She melted into him. When he finally lifted his lips from hers he smiled at her, "After we did the planning for the march north, and got the army on the move, the Drak decided to send me back to Iriskan, to act as his liaison at court."

Her father was standing next to them, opened his arms with a grin when she looked at him, "Do I come second place already?" She let go of Brando and rushed into his arms. Her father hugged her close, "Just five days, and I missed you already Cassy."

She kissed his cheek, then leaned back from him, her face saddening, "I'm afraid we bring bad news father."

Her father nodded, "Yes, I noticed Marecomb's face, so I already expected it." He sighed, "I'm going to call for another emergency meeting, to start half an hour from now. So you better get your stuff inside and get freshened up a bit because I expect you to attend."

She nodded, then let go of him, and locked eyes with Brando again, "See you at the meeting?"

He nodded, then followed her father, who was approaching Marecomb. She looked around, looking for Moiga and Polly, and finding them besieged by her other four maidens. She walked over to them, and they curtsied as they noticed her, in a deluge of "Welcome back milady."

She smiled, "I'm glad to find you all safe and sound too ladies," then gestured at the main entrance, "I'll have to be ready for a council meeting within half an hour..." Her maidens immediately escorted her inside, and she couldn't help studying them one by one while moving to her chambers, wondering how many of them had been the victim of men like Marecomb. She again promised herself to end that kind of vile practice within the castle walls, but also realized it would have to wait. There were more urgent matters needing her attention at the moment.

Once inside the privacy of her chambers again decorum fell away and Denora, Vala, Syldan and Leavy all took turns hugging her. After the last one let go they started to get her out of her dirty clothes. By the time she was naked two of them had organized a washing bowl filled with warm soapy water and a stack of washing cloths and towels. After five days of sponge cleaning she was really longing for a proper bath, but unfortunately there really was no time, so she let her maidens freshen her up a bit and get her ready for a set of fresh clothes.

"You sure were glad to see Brando again," Polly said looking up while cleaning her nether regions. She couldn't help but blush fiercely, and Polly's eyes went wide, "I'm sorry milady! Was I out of line?"

She reached down with her right hand and caressed her soft blonde curls, smiling softly, "Just a little bit, Polly." The other maidens giggled softly. "But it doesn't really matter when we're in private," she reassured her youngest maiden.

With the seriousness of the situation in mind she chose a charcoal dress, added a matching diamond pendant suspended from a wrought silver choker, and finished her ensemble with an umber colored pair of heeled sandals. Fully clothed again she let Vala style her hair into a thick single braid beneath a wrought silver clasp matching her choker. After checking herself in the large floor to ceiling mirrors doubling as doors for the wardrobe covering one of the walls of the bedchamber she looked up at the wall mounted chronometer and saw she had just five minutes left before the meeting.

Escorted by Denora and Syldan she walked quickly down the vaulted sandstone hallways leading to her father's conference chambers, noticing that some of the guards that had escorted her to Bragstone were back on guard duty already. Entering the main conference room after leaving her maidens in the ante-chamber, she saw that, this time, except for the Drak, the entire council was present. She greeted the gathered nobles and notables with a courteous nod, then sat herself down at her father's left hand, noticing Marecomb was seated at his right hand.

Her father opened the meeting without any pleasantries, cutting to the chase immediately, "As you can all see, the delegation I send to parley with the leader of the orc army gathering in the north has returned. I'm afraid they weren't bearers of good news, but I leave it to General Marecomb, who led the delegation, to fill you all in personally."

On that cue Marecomb took the floor, "We had set ourselves the goal to bribe the orcs into retreating to their lands, but unfortunately the situation proved to be beyond mending." He looked around the table, "The orcs blamed us for burning their lands and killing their people, and simply demanded our unconditional surrender as repayment. As part of that surrender they demand for the entire nobility to give up their titles and all their belongings. If these demands aren't met they will attack, and if they succeed they will put the entire nobility to the sword, except for the young women, who will be offered positions in their army brothels as a means to escape death. They gave us two weeks to comply with their demands, of which two days have already passed."

Mayhem resulted, with many council members trying to be heard above the others, until her father put his fist down on the table with a loud 'bang' and restored order. With everyone silent again he nodded towards Sir Gatness, "You have the floor, Hardin."

Sir Gatness cleared his throat, "What's this about them blaming our army? I was under the impression that it was them who started this with that bloody raid last summer."

Her father looked at General Marecomb, who shrugged, "Their leader, a warlord named Bashuk, claimed they were 'green orcs', and that it was 'black orcs' who raided Nigawa. Apparently his own army was on campaign at the time, fighting a war against ogres somewhere else, and these black orcs simply took advantage of their absence. They crossed their lands and attacked ours. When our army failed to bring these black orcs to battle, and took its revenge, we apparently burned the wrong lands and massacred the wrong orcs."

The room turned silent for a moment, then Sir Blooker spoke up, "Aren't all orcs green?"

It was Burgon Magwick who answered his question, "Yes, they are, but 'black' orcs are a darker shade of green, and 'green' orcs are actually a sort of brown tinged green. To the average human observer though, they all look the same."

Burgon Goban then spoke out what everyone was thinking, "What a fucking mess." He glanced in her direction, "Pardon my Lorasian Pryoness..." She shrugged in response, and the Burgon addressed the room again, "We seem to be in the wrong here, but the people this Bashuk wants to punish aren't the people who killed his people. He deserves compensation, as much from these black orcs as from us, but just demanding to be handed Nigawa, and everything the nobility possesses? That's just preposterous, and it isn't feasible either. The nobility will never agree to it."

A counselor who's name escaped her spoke up next, "Not that it'll make much difference, but who was responsible for this 'little' mistake?"

General Marecomb sighed, "With the Drak of Valdon recovering from a nasty wound resulting from sword training, the army was temporarily under the command of General Worrington. As you all might or might not know, Sir Worrington had an unfortunate riding accident last winter. So I'm afraid your proposed scapegoat has already died."

It was Sir Blooker that raised the next important question, "How big is that army of theirs anyway? Do they represent a real threat? Or are they something our own army can handle between lunch and afternoon tea so to say?"

Marecomb took the question again, "Bashuk built up an army some seven to eight thousand strong in about a week. That was two days ago though, so if the buildup continued we might be talking about close to ten thousand already. And when does this buildup come to an end? Who knows? He did give us two weeks to respond though, and I don't think he would plan to attack us before he had his entire army available. So that would mean another twelve days of reinforcements arriving at most, which would indicate a total strength of somewhere between twenty to thirty thousand orcs. Our own army has more than double the latter number, but orcs aren't men, they are much stronger. And on top of that, nothing is ever certain in war anyway."

Sir Booker nodded his understanding, "So we basically just don't know. At least not until we have faced them in actual battle."

She cleared her throat, "There's one other thing... Their leader told us they lost everything, all of them. So they won't have anything to fall back on, no homelands to sustain them, but they also won't have anything to lose." She swallowed, "Warriors with nothing to lose are dangerous warriors, regardless of their race..."

Her father looked at her approvingly, then focused on the assembled counselors again, "I basically agree with Burgon Goban. We probably owe these orcs, but not what they demand. And with them having turned down other ways of compensation, that just leaves us war. This places the lives of all the nobles at risk though, and we haven't a clue about how big this risk actually is. So I'm going to call for a grand gathering of the nobles nine days from now, and get them all involved in the decision process. That should leave us enough time to contact the orcs again before they attack, should that become necessary."