STEEL AND FLESH

FAMILY HISTORY AND THE CATALYST FOR A SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE

"Even though I am back amongst your caucus your barons would never accept me." Lord Mordian said wearily.

King Lauihnio moved to stand in front of the table were Lord Mordian was writing his poetry. he held Lord Mordian's chin up to face him. "Look at me uncle, I am the king and whatever orders I give, the barons will have to obey."

Staring at King Lauihnio's eyes he turned sober and burst into tears. "why? - why do you show me this kindness even when I tried to take your kingdom away from you, why do you give me this chance of redemption that I do not deserve."

Tears rolled down king Lauihnio's cheeks. "Like I said before, it is because you are my favorite uncle, coming up you were more than an uncle to me, you took me like your own son - I know that despite what may have occurred in the past deep down you are a good man." Lord Mordian wiped his tears and sniffed.

"You know Lauihnio, I never believed you would be a good king such as this. with your youthful days filled with lust for women and wine I was scared our kingdom would crumble and our pride destroyed with you as king - growing up the only things you took serious was your sword, women and wine - and the reason I wanted to strip you of the throne was because I had good intentions, not for selfish reasons."

King Lauihnio put up a one sided smile. "Wow you believe I am a good king." he said.

"I listen to the news. I hear news of economic growth and extremely rich harvest and extreme satisfaction of your reign among all Bauthinians, I hear that the people sing praises of you, they say they are blessed to have you as their leader."

King Lauihnio turned awkwardly to Lord Garthine Polion. Garthine Polion shrugged his shoulders. "Well yes uncle but eh not all of that is true at the moment." he turned to Lord Mordian.

"What are you you saying, do the people refuse to hold you in high regard?" Lord Mordian looked confused.

"Not all of them - ever since the news of king Brothlander." King Lauihnio shook his head.

"So you think that your people are divided into two factions, the people who support your reign and the people who do not support your reign?"

"I fear a revolt is by the corner but it is being taken care of I assure you that - the root cause of all this nonsense is fear and uncertainty." Lord Mordian shrugged.

"In situations like this it is only natural for the people to put the blame and heap curses on you - but you need to be careful not to exercise or entertain too much brutality for the sake of maintaining order, you do not want the blood of your citizens to run across the street as a result of an order you gave in rage and fear." Lord Mordian said eloquently.

"I am not afraid and the revolt will be taken care of."

"I know what I am saying Lauihnio, I know what I am saying." Lord Mordian looked confident.

King Lauihnio sighed. "Ok uncle, concerning Brothlander-" King Lauihnio started feeling enraged at the thought of spies in Bauthinia.

"You were saying?" Lord Mordian put up a curious look. "Concerning Brothlander, there are spies lurking among my people supplying information and logistics to him."

Lord Mordian looked suprised. "And how were you aware of their presence?"

"The Elerians gave me the information." King Lauihnio shook his head. "Uncle, you are a man well versed with literature and poetry, you are a highly learned man, apart from that you are a war veteran, you know the ways of war."

"Yeah, part of the injustices shown to me by my father." Lord Mordian muttered. unlike King Fordanio his brother Lord Mordian was sent to Eleria to learn the ways of war when he was a teenager. There he served the Elerian crown fighting battles in their name. He was such a good fighter bringing numerous victories in the name of the Elerian throne to a point that king Raggi wanted to buy him from his father king Pannio cascio for over a ten thousand yaserii coin. he was said to be worth every penny of that amount by his comrades who told tales of how he fought like a god for many perished by his sword.

His senior brother who was the crowned prince at the time was kept in Laoia to be taught literature and politics by renowned scholars and cytix priests. Their father king Pannio cascio thought of it as a great idea to have one of his sons to be well versed in literature while another an experienced war Veteran to enable both brothers to work alongside each other playing key roles in the leadership of Bauthinia. Though Lord Mordian was not always happy about the decision of his father which exposed him to excess bloodletting risking his life in the process he still managed to submit to his brother working successfully with him through out his reign.

"Uncle I want you to help me with the identity of this spies - if we are able to get them at this stage I have not doubt it would serve as a catalyst for our successful defence against King Brothlander." King Lauihnio was anxious.

"Whoa Whoa Lauihnio you look like you are expecting a lot from me but how do you expect me to know these spies?"

"Okay uncle let us try this - some of the men that worked with you in order to usurp my throne are still alive aren't they?"

"That is a question for you to answer I know nothing of their whereabouts."

"Yes your majesty some of them are still alive." Lord Garthine Polion said.

King Lauihnio looked relieved. "Okay can you still remember their names how they looked like?" Lord Mordian pressed his finger against his lips.