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"Milady, it is time".
Fate had a made a habit of throwing Sutherland in the heart every conflict and in the face of every battle that had happened ever since he could grow a mustache, but to the old knight everything paled in comparison to the endeavor that laid before him. The council of elders had made its decision; Viceroy General Edmund Hansen, was named Lord Protector of the realm with guardianship over his nephew, Henry Hansen, the new king of Zaella. With this, Edmund was made the strongest man in the land with acting power of a king, and he was to remain on the seat of power until Henry recovered from his sickness. If he recovers. Queen Dowager Ysildea Glyndi seemed to hold on to that hope, at least. A mother's heart is always blind, Ivan Sutherland stirred that lingering thought in his head once more.
"The carriage is ready. The council is now adjourned after casting their votes. We have time before Edmund swears his oath and wears the crown. If we leave now we might have time to get you out of Quctin, your grace".
Sutherland would have had the queen cross The Green Plains the day her husband died. The pagan widow's enemies at the royal court grew stronger by day. Edmund had bribed all but a few royal supporters of the queen's faction; mostly other pagans and old-sworn swords of the late warrior king, all too low in rank and name to oppose Edmund's power grasp. Those who believed in laws and traditions supported Ysildea's claim as guardian over her sickly son, while others that sworn allegiance to Edmund were less enthusiastic to see a nonbeliever on the seat of power in Zaella. Most wanted Edmund's gold, that much is certain.
The carriage had enough bread and water to survive the two day long journey from Quctin westwards to Atoginia. Sutherland's original plan was to send a decoy carriage riding north to Yok but Ysildea argued against his ploy insisting that Edmund's crowning ceremony would cause enough distraction, and that the fighting men would better be used as protection than bait. Ivan saw reason in that, at least, but we should've left a week ago. Curses!
Their party comprised of ten archers and fifteen axemen. Most of them were pagans from Quctin and Paastin that knew the western lands but a handful of Christians also followed. She figured having Christians with us would make us look more legitimate and less foreigner to our supporters in Quctin. Sutherland understood little of politics, and he was at peace with that - so he never pestered his queen about her plans. He did however make sure every one of them knew how to wet his blade. The widow nodded, the season knight crossed himself, and the carriage rode west.
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