As they approached Coltend's southern gate, Thorsen raised a hand high in the air to hail the guardsmen at the front.
"Look, it's the Queen! She's returned from Harut unscathed, just as General Gorm said she would!" one of them said, pointing in their direction, which caused his superior's eyes to widen. "By the gods, he's right! Open the gate! Make way for the Queen!" the superior officer called out, straightening out his gambeson before running up to greet them.
"It's good to see you again, Your Majesty," the guardsman said with a low bow. "It's good to be home. Tell me, how have things been under Gorm's command?" Leona asked with a bright smile. "Quite well, though I will admit that many of us were surprised to see him return. We all thought he had died upon the Rhydian Pass," the guardsman said with a nervous chuckle.
I don't even blame them for thinking that. The man is lucky to be alive after facing that horde, Gwili thought back to the duel between Gorm and Ari. Gods, that feels like forever ago now, he chuckled to himself.
"I'm glad to hear that he's been performing well. I expected nothing less from the Commander of the Guild," Leona said with a nod, shocking the other soldiers at her candor. "Y-Your Majesty, if I may," the guardsman began sheepishly. "There have been rumors that the horde might return. Have you any word of such a thing?" he asked, causing the others to shift behind him with no small amount of fear in their eyes.
Leona sighed and nodded her head. "If I'm being honest with you, it will likely return, but that is also why we have come back," she replied, gesturing to Gwili, Thorsen, Neko, and Marte. "I-I see," he said dejectedly.
"Fear not. We will overcome whatever challenges we face, and I will do everything in my power to ensure the safety of my subjects," she said with a confidence that spawned a glimmer of hope in their eyes. "T-Thank you, Your Majesty," the guardsman replied with tears beginning to well in his eyes.
"They must be traumatized after what happened last time," Neko said to no one in particular as they rode down the main street leading to the palace, observing a handful of guardsmen with wary looks in their eyes.
"I can't imagine they wouldn't be. A horde of creatures like that to anyone, even a Synner, is no easy wall to overcome," Thorsen said, glancing at him from over his shoulder. "What's important now is that we prove to them that we will protect them, no matter what comes our way," he continued with a smirk, getting a nod from Neko and Marte in response.
"That's right. Erumon, Ryfon, and even Syldir have all promised to help where they can, and I'm sure whatever help they decide to offer us will be more than welcome," Gwili added, charmingly waving at a woman who had just left one of the stores along the main street.
Luckily for him, she'd seen the gesture and smiled brightly at him before being urged by a friend of hers to move along, causing him to frown slightly.
Just how the hell did Bernar use to do this? Gwili wondered, feeling Thorsen's large hand clasp his shoulder in consolation.
As they approached the palace, the guards greeted them warmly and offered them crisp salutes as they passed.
They later handed off their horses and found out, very quickly, that their legs were sore from having ridden the better part of two weeks straight. "I don't think I can feel my danglers after all that riding," Neko muttered under his breath as he stretched, earning him a quick smack upside the head from Gwili.
"Oi, not in front of Marte. You want her to like you, right?" the elf asked quietly, causing Neko to fluster. "H-How did yo-...?" he began to whisper, but was quickly met by a gloved hand over his mouth. "Never mind that. Do yourself a favor and don't put a mental image of your crushed danglers in her head, you idiot," Gwili hissed, looking over his shoulder to see if Marte had heard anything.
"Says the womanizer who can't even get himself a proper date, even when he's in the prestigious company of Leona herself, or surrounded by Vyra and Eirenne," Neko hissed from beneath the glove. Gwili's expression immediately soured, as if a dark cloud of rain had suddenly appeared over his head when Neko moved away. "I'm going to kill that little bastard someday," Gwili said, earning him yet another pat on the shoulder in consolation from Thorsen.
"Oh, cut it out, you two. I swear, you're almost just as bad as Thoma and Bernar sometimes," Leona said as she moved beside Thorsen after having heard everything, which, by either some twist of luck or fate, Marte hadn't. "Come along, then. We'll discuss that later," she said, gently leading Gwili toward the entrance of the main hall.
"By the Graces, Your Majesty, is that really you?" a familiar voice called out, drawing her attention to the far end of the hall. "Fulco?" Leona asked under her breath, turning to look in his direction. She quickly found him with tears already welling in his eyes, as if relieved to see a glint of sanity. "Oh, what a wondrous day this is!" Fulco shouted, quickly rushing up to her side and kneeling.
"It is good to see you again, old friend. Tell me, how have things been in my absence?" Leona asked with a chuckle, noticing the normally pot-bellied man had lost a decent amount of weight. Her servant looked up at her in desperation, biting his lower lip to prevent it from trembling.
"Absolutely dreadful, Your Majesty. So much so that it's as if the gates of all the Hells have been opened!" he exclaimed desperately, prompting the others to raise an eyebrow and begin looking at their surroundings. "What do you mean?" she asked in a much more serious tone
"Everyone in the castle has been forced to train at least six hours a day in basic swordsmanship! I am not cut out for this barbarism, I am not!" Fulco began sobbing, causing Thorsen and Gwili to forcefully hide their laughter.
I think Bernar and the others have rubbed off on me, too, Leona thought, already feeling her usually composed expression beginning to crack when she heard Gwili snort.
"I-I see. I'm truly sorry for the drastic change in the way things have been handled, but if you want peace to remain in our lands, we must prepare for war," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Gorm was also there waiting for them, with his hands clasped behind his back and dressed in a long tunic of red and gold.
"Welcome back, Your Majesty," he said with a bow, trying to avoid laughing at Fulco's desperate display. "Thank you, Gorm. Tell me, how has the kingdom been in my absence?" Leona asked after gesturing for Fulco to rise from his knees, clinging to the seams of her riding attire. "Straight to business, as always," Gorm smiled and shook his head with a sigh.
"Things have been going well. Our trades with Harut and Hjalfar have prospered lately, and there are even talks of having our soldiers cross-train with one another," he said, getting raised eyebrows from Thorsen and Gwili.
"That's wonderful to hear! I'm glad we made the right decision leaving Jashad in power, though I can't say I've ever gotten to meet Lord Anders," Leona said, putting a finger to her chin contemplatively.
"Ah, well. That may have to wait. According to their scouts, there has been a lot of trouble in the past months with some sort of plague that's been ravaging the northern countryside," Gorm sighed. "It wasn't a plague, though it might as well have been," Thorsen added, prompting Gorm to look at him curiously.
After explaining everything Taegin and Ardrin had found, Gorm quickly found himself struggling to imagine the horrors those creatures may bring. "If they're as strong as you say they are, we might need more help than any of our newfound allies can offer us," he said, rubbing the base of his chin with a look of concern.
"But that's where this comes into play," Leona said, gesturing for Thorsen to produce a small, palm-sized token with the head of a dragon engraved on either side. Gorm stepped forward to inspect it more closely.
Even without understanding mana, I can feel there is a strange power emanating from it, he thought, reaching out with a loose hand to see if his hand could feel more of what his eyes could not.