Doubts in the Dark
Fifth Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Looking down at the top of Aina's head from the height of the saddle as you ride makes for an awkward genuflection to royal courtesy, though perhaps a reflection of deeper truth still. Aina im Korman you all call her, that is Aina Enthroned in Korman, but if truth lie upon the tips of spears and not on the lips of courtiers than she would most rightfully be called Aina es Noromo, Aina
of Noromo, her power is for the moment no more than an effigy at the head of the host. Alas so far it seems to you that even those who aught to look to her for leadership are not. She does not eat around the fires of the men of Orinyiya nor even of the southern villages, but still apart, she speaks in council and is not heard and twice now she has been seen not as the lady of the land, but as the path to kingship.
A path for two men who are now dead, you remind yourself.
It is easy to read weakness into silence, but you well recall the times when he had not been silent and Eki had perished for it by your blade. Later she had shared with you news that king Ansefu would have wished kept silent, not to mention that she is till walking down this dusty road where and arrow or worse falling down from the hills might find her.
"What do you think we will find when w reach the capital?" you ask, tone as neutral as you can manage it.
"A battle I hope, the chance to reveal the usurper for that he is," she replies. "If not that a siege and I fear..." she sighs. "Well let us not fill sky with imagined clouds on a sunny day."
Silver turns his head heavenward with a doubtful snort. The sun may have set, but there is no sign of sun or moon in the sky and so the company moved by torchlight, the hiss of burning pitch mingling with the whisper of many voices.
"The heart sees what the eye does not," Aina replies, there is a flash of a smile in the dark, but in her soft tone you can still hear doubt and fears she will not speak of, not unless she is pressed.
Hoping you do not overstep, but at the same time needing an answer you ask: "Why are you so sure that we do not face Unke?"
"Because the man the tales speak of would not do these things, would not serve the dark nor by it be served," the words come more sharply than Aina had meant to perhaps, for she moderates her tone a little in the speaking. "Your land has heroes yes? Great kings and champions of which the poets speak and the skalds sing?"
You nod cautiously.
Emboldened the princess continues: "And how would you react if some servant of evil sprang up from the sea wearing like face and claiming his name, would you take their word for it?"
To that you have no easy answer, practically one might say that you have seen more of sorcery in this world than ever you had in the land of your birth, glibly one might add that the virtues the Anwa hold dear are not so bright as those laid down in the legends of Charlemagne or Roland for whom you are named, but it comes down to the same thing, you do not know if what the dark warrior had said was true you fear it.
"No," you reply at last. "But still I would consider the chance that he
might be speaking the truth and what I might then do."
At this Aina looks you up and down and says, voice dropping to a hush barely louder than the sound of Silver's hooves. "It is not him, I have seen his skull cleaved by the hand of my kinsman Kor the Peacemaker and I have seen the black gauntlet besides it that many of the kings of Korman have tried to take up and which have failed, he did not vanish as some would claim nor did he die in the grip of some sorcery, he was killed as warriors are killed in battle."
"In a duel?" you ask, recalling something Zaia had said about the passage of the ancient king.
Here Aina is silent for a long while then says almost in spite of herself. "It is said no warrior born could best him in a duel for Unke could break any blade he came against. He fell not by one blade but many just as many rebelled against him for his kinslaying and and oathbreaking."
"You call Unke the Red great king and champion with one breath and kinslayer with the next, what do you think of him truly?" you ask after a moment of your own.
"I think that he is dead."
"Why did they keep the head?" a familiar voice floats out of the dark, Esha. "Do you of the Sunset Islands give your dead to the sea?"
"I..." Aina hesitates. "I don't know."
"Such a thing would be of use to a necromancer seeking to raise the dead," the sorceress continues, the words all the more heavy for being even handed, as though she was commenting on the virtues of the brisk southern wind.
It is an even more sober Aina who goes before the walls of Owkuta and demands passage and fealty under the banners of House Torag as the fleet closes in from the sea.
Alas oratory does not save her. The steward of the city, Hornbearer of the lord they call him, names her false and puppet of Apuku. And he says that a great host and a great fleet will come from Noromo to lay you all low if you linger. Threats of this sort you have heard many a times before, but it is hard to judge how much truth there is in them now.
Still one way or the other you are going to have to pass north. On the one hand you can embark on the longships again to avoid the river and its stream, but that will leave an enemy behind you as you march on the capital, on the other you can storm the city for you have many more men and sorcerous fire to pass walls of wood. A victory here might well splinter a island that seems already at war with itself.
What do you advise?
[] Attack Owkuta
-[] Write in arguments
[] Bypass the village
-[] Write in arguments
[] Write in
OOC: And here we are, a bit of a bridge update, but that is just how the background rolls worked with regards to what the enemy is doing. 
