The Day Before

The grand army of Pays Des Abrutis stood in formation at the border wall. On the other side, an army made up of the twelve vengeful nations also stood in formation. A rider under the white flag came forward to the wall and hailed, "To whom may we address our hail?"

"Duke Harcourt of Pays Des Abrutis, these are my lands, for what reason do you approach our border?" He bellowed in return.

"Greetings Duke Harcourt, I am General Porkins of the famed Czerwony Sześć army from Gwałtowni Głupcy." He bowed from atop his well-muscled heavily armored charger. "We seek access to move our army through your borders. We are at war with the nation of Wütendes Menschenreich. I am not sure if you are aware, but the treacherous dog, Emperor Wolter von Plettenberg invited all the leaders of the 16 nations to a meeting and then killed all the leaders who attended. There are twelve nations in total who lost their entire retinue including the leaders of our nations. As you can imagine, this sort of thing must be retaliated against."

Duke Harcourt spoke to the other Dukes before he bellowed in return, "For the safety and sovereignty of our nation, I can not allow your army to pass, we have asked for the Council of Magic to come, perhaps you will be able to make a deal with them to transport your army. We must not allow such a group to pass through our borders, I hope you can understand. As we are currently at peace with Wütendes Menschenreich we can not in good faith harbor their enemies."

"I understand, we shall make camp here for two days, if the Council will not help us, you'll have to understand that we must make this crossing at any cost." General Porkins bowed and then returned to his army which backed off and set up camp.

*****

Olivier was busy in the Council of Magic's public gate point moving equipment and personnel back and forth from the wedding area when a messenger came running in, "Mage la Marche, I have a message from the four Dukes."

Olivier clenched his fist and looked at the messenger, "Quickly, what's the situation, I have no time for an idle talk today."

The messenger nodded and said quickly, "Mage la Marche, Duke Harcourt requested the assistance of the Council of Magic, a host made up of armies from twelve nations has appeared at the northwestern border. It was estimated to be at a minimum of a million men. This army is requesting to move through Pays Des Abrutis to attack Wütendes Menschenreich."

Olivier growled out, "Great jumping dragon goat... Alright, return to the Duke, no wait, come with me, we'll go by airship." Olivier turned and asked, "Do you know, is Mage d'Aumont in flight on the Montfort as she planned?"

A short man with a large nose who was scribbling in a notebook looked up and answered, "Mage la Marche, the Montfort did indeed take flight, the flight plan was set to fly over that very area today."

Olivier nodded, "Was it just Mage d'Aumont or did any of the others go along?"

The short man nodded and added, "Mage Luthier and Mage Leon were also on the flight."

Olivier grabbed the messenger and quickly disappeared through a gate.

*****

Guy looked ultra stressed out as he worked in his lab, he ran from table to table barking orders for his subordinates when a gate suddenly opened in front of him and Olivier and a royal messenger appeared. Olivier looked grim as he said, "Guy, come with us, we need to get aboard the Montfort, there's trouble at the border."

"What kind of trouble?" The haggard-looking Guy asked in a stress-filled voice of concern.

Olivier replied, "Wütendes Menschenreich started a war with twelve different nations, they all sent their armies together. It's more than all of the forces of Pays Des Abrutis combined can handle."

"Let's go, the sooner we handle this mess, the better." Guy looked ashen as he responded.

*****

Madeline was on the bridge of the Monfort flying along the northern border of Pays Des Abrutis when one of the watch officers called out, "Mage d'Aumont, we are seeing something unusual. It's two massive armies having a standoff at the border. I see flags from all four Dukes and twelve different nations."

"Ella, Doreen, we might have a situation." Madeline walked over to look out the window. Just as she was seeing the large masses of people down below, Olivier and Guy came running on to the bridge. Madeline looked over and smiled, "You're just in time, we are just now arriving overhead of the situation."

Olivier smiled his usual goofy smile and Guy walked over angrily and looked down he growled, "They want to go have a war in Wütendes Menschenreich. I am tempted to just send the lot of them to Wolter's house through a gate."

Madeline looked angry and said, "You have been sending all of our problems to his house lately, why don't we at least try to figure out a peaceful way to resolve this first."

Doreen added, "Even if they do defeat Wütendes Menschenreich, they still have to return, and that path is only through Pays Des Abrutis, this won't solve the problem, it will only delay it at best."

Guy punched his fist into a steel beam leaving a dent and growled out, "Olivier, will you go talk to those fools? If I go, I am liable to burn that army to the ground."

*****

Olivier opened a gate in front of the massive army, Ella, Olivier, and Doreen all walked out together. Olivier smiled and asked, "Hello, who is in charge of this rabble? I am Mage Olivier de la Marche, you may not have known this, but we have a mutual defense pact with the nation of Pays Des Abrutis, any army that tries to breach her borders will be incinerated by us. You have also chosen to test our patience the day before two of us are to be wed, we were already pressed for time and now you have delayed our important duties."

General Porkins stepped forward and spoke, "Mage La Marche, with all due respect, we are at war with Wütendes Menschenreich, we wish no harm to the country of Pays Des Abrutis, we only wish to peacefully march through."

Olivier nodded and then said, "In order for me to transport your army safely to Wütendes Menschenreich, I will have to charge you."

"How much?" General Porkins began to sweat.

Olivier started to count on his fingers, "One gold coin for each person and three gold coins for each horse. Wagons will be 10 gold coins. We will also return each of you to your country of origin after your war for free."

General Porkins wiped his brown and asked, "Can we pay after we sack Wütendes Menschenreich? We haven't brought so much with us."

Olivier smiled and nodded, "Just remember, the offices, personnel, and facilities of the Ito Conglomerate are not to be touched or we will consider that as an act of war against the Council of Magic."

"Very well, Mage la Marche, we accept your terms." General Porkins bowed and then gave Olivier a handshake.