User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Cyclops Spazerz

I make my desicion and ride to meet with the cyclops queen, Lenor, of the kingdom Etoria. I leave three of my advisors at our capital to oversee general kingdom duties, and give them orders to contact me in the event of invasion. With the royal line gone many are clamouring for the throne, and even more are raising their own.

The journey is only a weeks ride, and once we reach the foothills of Etoria's mountain cities we're greeted by mamono and men in sturdy armour, with fine weapons.

"I am king of Cristonia, and I come seeking audience with your queen." The soldier look me over carefully, before nodding.

"We were hoping you'd arrive, you majesty. Her royal highness has been waiting for you since she heard of your recent proclomation." The man turns to the blue scaled dragon in dull grey armour by his side. "Jinaro, escort his majest and his retinue to the summit." The dragon nodded, before motioning for us to follow.

Our guide proves to be quite unsociable, though from what we see on the way to the mountaintop fortress, the majority of the population are friendly enough. One young boy even runs up to ask if we really drove off a thousand soldiers with nothing but farming equipment. He's quickly driven off by a glare from our guide.

"Oh, I wanted to tell him about my daring charge." One of my advisors chuckles, earning himself a share of the dragon's glare.

"The queen want's to meet you. You can brag to the children after that." She growls. When we enter the fortress we're stunned by the beauty of the stonework. Every inch of the castle has a relief carved into it, the great pillars on either side of the throne are covered in life-sized carvings of what I can only imagine are past rulers. Sitting upon the throne, a beautiful hammer sitting next to her, is the one and only Forge Queen.

I kneel as our guide introduces us, and hear a chuckle from the queen. "Thank you, Jinaro. Please report back to your post." The dragon gave a curt nod, before taking flight and leaving us there. "As for you, rise. I am no greater than you, my fellow ruler." I rise and approach the throne.

"You look stunning, mi'lady." She giggles at the compliment.

"Oh, please. Call me Lenor, Cheros." I smile at that. The fact she knows my name is promising. "Now tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of such a young kingdom's ruler? Surely you still have duties that require your attention?" I nod in agreement.

"I do, Lady Lenor. But I have come here to ask you for your aid." She raises half her eyebrow.

"Is that so? And what exactly do you require of my people?"

"My kingdom is built of farmers and peasants. Only a handful of trained warriors number among our population. While our will is strong and our bodies prepared, our skills in open combat and weapon smithing is all but naught." She nods along slowly as I speak.

"So, you require my people's skills and material. And tell me, Lord Cheros, what would you be willing to grant us for our expertise?"

"As I said, my people are not gifted in craftsmanship or combat, but we have farmed our lands for countless generations. I can only imagine that farmable land is difficult to come by in the mountains, correct?" She nods.

"We have had to import much food as our populace grows."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Then I propose some of my farmers to come here, to find the soils that will be most bountiful for your own produce. If they cannot find enough for your liking, then we can bring carts of our own to create new fields for your use." Lenora smiles at the proposal.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You would give your own hard won soil just for my people's aid?" I nod, preparing to play my final card.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"I would also wish we seal the bargain in the most intimate of manners. If you would take me, then I wish to take your hand." Her eye lights up at the suggestion, but she quickly covers it with her calm facade.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Yes, I thought you would propose as much. I had something prepared, just for the occasion." She rises from her throne and collects something, wrapped in cloth, from behind one of the pillars. She descends from the dias her throne sits upon to come face to face with me. This close to her, I can see a faint blush in her cheeks. She holds out the wrapped item.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Consider it my acceptance of your proposal." I take the item, it's heavy, and as I unwrap it, I gasp. A scabbard of intricate stonework, with a hilt of wrapped wire and scored leather, a dull rock set into it's hilt. Lenora touches the rock, and it begins to shimmer and change. It goes from a dull grey to a shining silver, glittering with it's own light. As I stare in wonder, she returns to her throne and collects her hammer.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She returns to me, presenting the top of it's metal head, where several stones are set. She smiles at me and prompts me to touch them. As I touch one, I feel something pull inside of me, and when I let it go, the stones turn a deep crimson, and some of the engravings shift to match.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She smiles as the colour finishes appearing. "And so it is done. We are bound, and will forever warm each others beds." She turns back to her throne "I will take ten of our civil engineers, and two carts of equipment to the kingdom of Cristonia. In my abscence the Guild of Hammers will run the day to day. If anything urgent arises, I am to be called upon at once." The guards flanking her throne, which I'd assumed were statues until now, nodded and moved to make their queen's orders known.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She turned back to me with the most beautiful smile on her face. "It will take some time to get the carts loaded, shall we retire to my rooms, my king?" I nodded, telling my retinue to make themselves at home, but to also not embarass themselves or the kingdom. All of them nodded and went about their business.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">As we entered my queen's rooms I was greeted by a large bed sat in a stone frame. All words of awe I had from her chamber were drowned by a passionate kiss. Before I could think we were disrobed and I was pinned to the bed.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"I have heard some stories of your endurance, my love." Lenora purred into my ear "I wish to see if the strength that brought you a kingdom is matched on a different field." Deciding I had to prove her assumptions correct I wrapped my arms around her and rolled the two of us over, leaving her with a surprised look on her face, right before I kissed it away.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"I promise, I will make this enjoyable for my new queen." With that I kissed my way down her body.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"What do you think you're... oh..." She sighed as I began my assault on her most precious of treasures. After setting her moaning from my oral attentions I worked my way back up and let myself slide into her embrace, drawing another long moan from her until I kissed her once more. By the time we had finished we were a tangled mess, legs wrapped around each other, arms reaching anywhere they could find a grip, and faces nestled in each others shoulders. We lay there for many long minutes before rising to find our scattered garments.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Once we were clothed and made ourselves presentable we left the room, arm in arm and smiling broadly. The week long journey home felt mcuh quicker than the journey out, possibly because of the knowledge I'd secured a potent ally and a loving partner.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">As we passed through the forest and entered the fields farmers raised their heads, and with a smile and wave approached our convoy. The young ones stared in awe at the workers, particulalry the mamono, while the older ones were more enamoured by the arms and armours they bore in the carts. As we approached my own homestead we were met by the men I'd left in charge.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"About time you returned!" The oldest shouted "I thought I was going to be buried under complaints for the remainder of my life! I refuse to do any more paperwork in your name." My general slapped the old man on the back.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You were the one who volunteered to take on Larek's duties while he was away." The man chuckled, looking up at our new workforce. "These craftsmen or soldiers? Because I would be happy to serve alongside such strong folk." A few of the mamono giggled and one even returned the compliment.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">My wife had been studying the area, looking for something I wasn't sure she'd found. "Something wrong?" I asked.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Oh, it's just that... I've never been this close to so many trees before. The thought of a fire here is... quite terrifying."I chuckled quietly.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Don't worry, we won't be burned out of here so easily. We have several lakes nearby that we can get water from quickly." She nodded, her nervousness easing slightly. "Dane, Chiron, I need you to fetch some maps for our new friends to look at." The two men nodded, rushing to their duties.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Arlan, is there anything urgent I need to look at?" The old man shook his head.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"No, I got through the last of the current complaints last night, you well-timed bastard." We shared a smile at his seeming impoliteness. "Feel free to go galavanting with your precious newlywed desires." With that he began directing the carts and smiths to our nearest armoury. I took my queen for a tour of our lands, and showed her some of the more private glades in the forest. Our time alone was well spent, sitting against the stones and listening to the calming sounds of the forest around us.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Unfortunately, the time was short, as we heard a bell tolling in the distance. It was an alarm. I bolted to my feet and made for our horses, my queen keeping on my heels. While I rode through the woods as fast as the horse could manage, Lenora was much slower, not being used to the shifting trees. As I arrived at the alarm site I witnessed a raiding party being beaten back by our soldiers, armed with the new weapons and armour. I smiled at the sight, and when the raiders fell into retreat others emerged from the woods to take them from behind.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">There were cheers as I reached the battle site, and many of the soldiers were holding their new weapons aloft. One looked at me, removed his helmet, and wore the biggest smile I'd seen on a battlefield.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Never have I held a finer blade, mi'lord. Our foes will tremble at our approach with such tools." I nodded, happy to see the arrangement already paying off. Dismounting I approached one of the captured raiders, who was looking around in stunned silence at the swift end brought to their group.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Who sent you?" I asked, getting a firm glare as the man regained his composure.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You'll never find out from me." I sighed, pulling a knife from my boot.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You'll tell me. Now, or when I've cut it from you." At his continued silence I put the knife to his ear, at which point he quickly caved.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"We're bandits! No one sent us." I glared at him and picked up a blade. The craftsmanship was too good to be civilian.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Then where'd you get these weapons? These are soldiers tools." He was silent as he tried to come up with an explanation. That was when I heard a feminine voice from behind me.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"These are Venarian weapons." I turned to see Lenora, holding one of the axes in her hands and examining it. The raiders eyes went wide.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Q-queen Lenora?" He muttered, getting a look from the woman.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You recognise me? Good." She approached, dropping the weapon and grabbing her own hammer from her back. "You're going to tell everyone you know that Cristonia and Etoria are allied by marriage. And if anyone attacks one, the other will come to their aid." The man nodded fearfully, and Lenora ordered his ropes cut. When the men hesitated I nodded.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"She is my queen, just as I am her king." They complied and the man quickly scurried off.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"The next attack will be bigger." My queen whispered "I'll send for some of my own troops. With our skill and your knowledge we should be able to drive off an army many times your own size." I nodded with a smile, it wouldn't be the first time.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The attack came after a month, from the forces to our east, a joint attack by the kingdoms of Gerasia and Falor. Just as promised, our superior equipment and knowledge of the land proved more than enough to beat back the assualt. Our borders grew slowly, until we were large enough to command a proper standing army. By that time our own smiths had been trained by Etoria's, and we were in a position to truly challenge the larger kingdoms, should they come for us.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Our oldest and greatest tactics came from knowing the land as only a man who'd lived there all his life could, and every soldier trained with local militias to learn the area. By the time the first of the other emergent kingdoms attacked, we were well trained enough to weather it, and even beat them back. From the fallen kingdom of Forthoria, four emerged to take power. Colaiva, Reorin, Theosium and Cristonia.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">When Etoria was laid seige to, and their supplies were cut off, our aid kept the people fed, the farms we had established for them growing enough food to keep them strong while we whittled down their attackers own supplies. Others joined us, and eventually we were a union to be reckoned with. But always there was a special bond between my kingdom and Lenora's. We both owed the other our lives, and neither would forget it for many generations.