The Prince

In the afternoon sunlight two people on the road were riding next to each other. Both of them had heavy armour that reflected the sunlight and they were riding on majestic horses. Behind them an army was marching. It was so large that a person couldn't see the end of it. Most of them were well armoured but they had all kinds of weapons. Most of them had spears, others swords, maces and even pitchforks.

Soddenly a person on foot with a paper in his hand, approached the well armoured knight on the left, then he said "Father! The scouts report that everything is clear." He then gave the paper to the person on his left." It seems they don't want to come out. Everything is quiet however."

'A good remark Piero, but you should also know that we are the ones that let them know that. "He then turned to his son and" Do you know why we did that?"

"To frighten them of course."

"No. That wasn't the primary reason for it." My son always looks down on his opponents. This way he will never learn..."Because I knew that the 'young' Machiavelli will find it out, but if we tell his subjects earlier than him we can still make use of the element of surprise and create panic." That young Machiavelli is a venomous snake. No matter how skilled were the spies I sent, he always caught them... I even hired a witch for 100 gold royals, but even SHE got found out... You are either too paranoid or you might have a witch...

"But we have such a large army." He pointed at his back. "Why bother?"

Because you can never make sure what he is up to..."It is better to make sure we crush him this time."

Even if he has only a hundred or more soldiers he can still pose a threat like last time... I just have this feeling in my bones and I know I am right" It is also impossible for him to hire more mercenaries because we hired all of them in the Kingdom, almost all of them at least. They were out of business because of Roland Wimbledon so they gladly accepted the small pay we gave them."

"But still, we have more soldiers than the whole population of his town. Isn't this too much?"

As I said you can never know....We also can't wait any longer. Once the army of the Prince arrives we will lose all our privileges and we might even get killed... But I am willing to give this a try. So far the Machiavelli's just humiliated The Medici's. Especially that Totto Machiavelli he claimed that only his family can make the Eastern Regions into one united Kingdom. No noble was fan of the idea that only a Lord's heir makes such a bold statement, but he went further than that. Soon after his 'unfortunate' passing and the after the death of the 'Old' Machiavelli everyone saw them as weak and wanted to make them pay for their insults or take their land. But no one expected his older brother, the eldest son to be so...adaptive… Every single time an army came to siege his castle. He wrote convincing messages with proof that the attackers own castle is in danger and going to be to be attacked by another noble, who also wants the Machiavelli lands. This created a deadlock. Everyone started to suspect his neighbour more than the weak Machiavelli family. Then no one dared to leave his castle with all his troops and the armies sent were easily defeated.

"But not this time..."

After a long march they stopped in a big glade surrounded by forest. There they saw 5 men, the ones that were hired to distract the enemy. Lord Medici went to them. He was surprised.

"This is not how we supposed to meet them..." Piero followed him" What happened?"

"M-my Lord we are honoured to have you here." Then all of them kneeled." We were found but Lord... "Cough" Machiavelli let us go, but we accomplished our mission nonetheless."

"What! You were found out of treason and the he just let you go?" Piero started laughing uncontrollably, and then he touched his father's shoulder. "My fathers are you sure that this man is not just a lucky idiot? If I were him I would execute all of them right away!" All the spies became worried.

Something is not right...This is not the first time he does something completely absurd... Like last time when he buried all his weapons in the ground then when we launched the attack the soldiers quickly pulled the weapons out of the ground...

"Father I think we should just attack right away. There is nothing to fear from an idiot like him." He shrugged

You are the only idiot here my son. "No we can't do that the man aren't rested either. It was a long march. We set up a camp first."

"But by that time they will run away!"

"No questions!" You ignorant fool; you picked up a sword before you ever held a book.

Suddenly a guard came and started panting. "Lord Medici! Something is wrong... I-I think that you should see it for yourself."

Shortly after, they approached the outskirts of Lakefall. Then they knew what the guard meant. They saw flags all around that belonged to neither Lakefall nor the Machiavelli.

It was the Royal Banner of Roland Wimbledon...and the Royal Family's crest was also present...The Greycastle with the two towers...

Medici was struck by lightning. He suddenly froze in shock, but shortly after he regained his senses.

"This can't be it. It must be trickery! Send in the soldiers to look around!"

"B-but my lord what if it's...really what it means. That the king is in..."

"It can't be Roland Wimbledon! He is in Readwater City right now. He can't be in two places at the same time! Quickly send in the scouts!" He said in in a commanding manner.

Then he wanted to return to the camp but his son stopped him.

"Father..." He pointed his finger in the direction of Lakefall when he turned back to it he saw that people are coming towards him...In a completely orderly fashion, more than 200 men... They then saw that these people also hold something in their arms. Something that looked like...A tube but they still carried it like it was dangerous... These people marched towards their direction with an incredible speed. Not one step was out of the order; all of them were perfectly lined up and moved like one big unit...

"Wh-what is the meaning of this?!" This is the army that Roland Wimbledon uses but... how can it be that he is here?! It can't be!

Then the army suddenly stopped. And then an archer came from the ranks forward. He carried a white flag with him. Then Put it down and shoot an arrow in their direction. Piero rushed for the message and then showed it to his father. In his hand there was a letter...A letter with the royal crest on it..."

Medici took the letter then stamped it into the ground. Then with anger and frustration on his face he shouted. "NO! I won't be fooled This TIME! Tell all the man that we are attacking right now!"

He then made sure to line up all of his soldiers perfectly while he was riding on his steed. Shouting like a madman, but across the field in front of them, all of the people in uniforms were lined up and didn't move at all. They stood like a stone wall... a very intimidating stone wall. Some mercenaries took their chances and run away before they were lined up. Others started to have cold sweats on their faces.

Then all the man in the middle of the army moved. They formed a small corridor. For someone coming from the distance...And behind that someone there were people...As they came closer it was now clearly visible that the person they formed a corridor for had grey white hair...and behind them four woman were following him...

Then he stopped and the soldiers behind him closed the corridor. The women lined up next to the white haired man. Then another person arrived at the scene. It was Machiavelli... He kneeled down in front of the grey haired man then came forward with a white flag in his hand.

Then shouted:

"His Majesty Roland Wimbledon, future King of the Kingdom of Greycastle is awaiting your arrival! Lord Medici!"

"What...It can't be... but everything that just happened here was according to the etiquette... No! This also must be one of trickeries! You can't fool me!

Then Machiavelli turned back and stood behind the 'Future King' then all of the sudden one of the women came forward slowly. Then she stopped, and started raising her hands. When she reached her limits, she suddenly dropped down her hands.

Suddenly a flash of light then deafening sound echoed. The place in front of the woman became a pillar of fire. Dirt scattered everywhere.

But the woman just stood there, then came another woman forward this wan from the right. She was raising her hands just like the previous woman. While she was raising her hands many man have already began to fled. Those few remained then experienced the same effect like before.

After that, the remaining two women joined their rank. All of them began to raise their hands. But before they could drop it down, all of the army disappeared from their sight...Only a few very brave or completely crazy remained, But when they saw the perfectly lined up stone wall coming for them.

All of them began to run. Including Lord Medici.

Not one of them looked dared to look back.