Yagathai
02-23-2007, 02:39 AM
I know this is a bit long-winded, but I was bored.
The trouble all started at a routine dinner at the conclusion of a trade tariff negotiation between low-level diplomats of both the Human and Dwarven Empires. Sometime during the perfunctory and extremely boring diplomatic banquet that marked the signing of the trade treaty, someone spilled a drink on someone else. Things escalated to an unfortunate level rather quickly. When the High King of the Human nation learned that a filthy little dwarf had gutted his favorite nephew with a runcible spoon, war was declared almost immediately.
It didn't take long for the news of war to reach the long, undefended border between the two heretofore-friendly Empires. After several long centuries of peaceful trade and cultural exchange, it came as something of a shock. In fact, in may places it was unclear as to just where the border actually was anymore -- which is why Lord Arben Argonsson and his bodyguard, hurrying back from his hunting lodge to his father-in-law's hold, decided to use the exact same forester's waystation (well on the Dwarven side of the border, he believed) to spend the night as the valiant Lady Camilla did. She was on her way back from a social call in the Dwarven lands when the news of war hit. She, of course, thought that the waystation was safely on her side of the border.
Lord Arben was at the head of his small troop, and so was the first to see the armored human knight tethering her mount in front of the forester's hut. He stopped without warning, and Bannock, his greybeard lieutenant, trotted up to see what was going on.
"I say, Bannock, does that look like a knight to you? About to use our waystation?" Arben asked.
The greybeard nodded.
"I suppose... I suppose the thing to do would be challenge him?"
The greybeard shrugged.
"Yes, you're absolutely right." Arben clanged his axe against his shield loudly to get the knight's attention. "I say! I say, Sir Knight! Normally I'd like nothing better than to let you on your way, but with this damned beastly war and all that, I can't. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to challenge you to single combat, for the right to spend the night in this horrible little house."
Bannock whispered something into Lord Arben's ear.
"Oh yes, my lieutenant reminds me that you are, of course, free to decline my challenge. In that event, I'm even more afraid that I shall have to order my bodyguard to hack you to small pieces." Arben shrugged apologetically. "C'est la guerre and all that. Will you need any time to prepare?"
The trouble all started at a routine dinner at the conclusion of a trade tariff negotiation between low-level diplomats of both the Human and Dwarven Empires. Sometime during the perfunctory and extremely boring diplomatic banquet that marked the signing of the trade treaty, someone spilled a drink on someone else. Things escalated to an unfortunate level rather quickly. When the High King of the Human nation learned that a filthy little dwarf had gutted his favorite nephew with a runcible spoon, war was declared almost immediately.
It didn't take long for the news of war to reach the long, undefended border between the two heretofore-friendly Empires. After several long centuries of peaceful trade and cultural exchange, it came as something of a shock. In fact, in may places it was unclear as to just where the border actually was anymore -- which is why Lord Arben Argonsson and his bodyguard, hurrying back from his hunting lodge to his father-in-law's hold, decided to use the exact same forester's waystation (well on the Dwarven side of the border, he believed) to spend the night as the valiant Lady Camilla did. She was on her way back from a social call in the Dwarven lands when the news of war hit. She, of course, thought that the waystation was safely on her side of the border.
Lord Arben was at the head of his small troop, and so was the first to see the armored human knight tethering her mount in front of the forester's hut. He stopped without warning, and Bannock, his greybeard lieutenant, trotted up to see what was going on.
"I say, Bannock, does that look like a knight to you? About to use our waystation?" Arben asked.
The greybeard nodded.
"I suppose... I suppose the thing to do would be challenge him?"
The greybeard shrugged.
"Yes, you're absolutely right." Arben clanged his axe against his shield loudly to get the knight's attention. "I say! I say, Sir Knight! Normally I'd like nothing better than to let you on your way, but with this damned beastly war and all that, I can't. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to challenge you to single combat, for the right to spend the night in this horrible little house."
Bannock whispered something into Lord Arben's ear.
"Oh yes, my lieutenant reminds me that you are, of course, free to decline my challenge. In that event, I'm even more afraid that I shall have to order my bodyguard to hack you to small pieces." Arben shrugged apologetically. "C'est la guerre and all that. Will you need any time to prepare?"