Chapter 7

The robe covering Octavius' tunic scraped the floor gently as he made his way to the Counsel Room where he knew his father and his court were waiting. He wasn't supposed to have kept them waiting but he had received news from Emilia that morning elaborating on the plan they had made during their previous rendezvous and he had sat back to write a letter to her sending it through the ever-faithful Angus who had waited to collect it. His father would be furious that he had kept the court waiting when were supposed to be judging matters and making plans for the battle preparation.

The guard in front of the Counsel Room dressed in complete armor except the helmet bowed before him before opening the huge doors for him. The court was a restless group of men and one woman, Liliah, who was the noble in charge of Camelorn festivities. Maids with platters of cheeses, figs, and apples came and went with from a side door hidden behind the large velvet curtain that covered the room. As Octavius entered the court, all except his father stood and bowed as he walked past them. He raised a hand to them in passing.

"Where have you been, son?" King Philip asked not bothering to lower his voice.

"In bed with a nasty headache father," came his simple reply.

King Philip expressed his disgust with that answer with a scowl and gesture wildly with his hand for his son to sit at his right side. Octavius moved past his father's disapproving glare and made his way to his gold carved seat with two lion heads at both sides of its headrest. The seat to the left where Angus was supposed to be seated was vacant. A maid with a platter of cheese walked up to the king who took three cubes off the platter and laid them on the small ceramic bowl by his side.

"To the issue at hand"

Festus, Commander of the Camelorn army stood and bowed before the king "Your Majesty, as I said three days ago we have only a limited time before the northern kingdom make good their threat to invade our land," he directed a glance born of hatred and envy at Octavius "Your Majesty, my prince, had not begun any serious preparations towards marrying the princess of Amire and …"

"That, Festus, is because my son has decided not to marry her. What good does it do to marry the daughter of your enemy?"

Octavius looked in pleasant surprise at his father who glanced at him before dealing the punishing blow "But if by the end of this week he still has not come up with the best solution to defeating the Amire army he has no other choice but to marry her and bring us some modicum of peace"

"Your Majesty the prince doesn't look very keen on the idea"

"Whether or not I want to marry the Princess if I have to save this kingdom then I will," Octavius claimed almost choking on the lie. His mind whirled with the thought of his next moves. "Before then, Festus and I will work on training the troops as hard as we can with our available weapons. If we need more we will employ the labor of the blacksmiths we have here rather than import from our allies because while time is of the essence in this impending war it is also important to keep preparations secret, make the enemy think we have no plans." From a corner of the room, Octavius spotted Garius with a proud smile the old man quickly wiped off his face he merely gave a subtle nod of approval.

Festus sat back down "As my Prince wishes. Tomorrow we will begin training and we will also take inventory of our available weapons so we can get the blacksmiths to make more"

King Philip nodded "What's the next issue that bears discussing?"

"The cornfield that lies between our boundary and the Curitan bridge. To avoid any serious problem with them that will affect our trade with them I say we give them that field since we have many more fertile cornfields"

"That one is not a problem. Give them the field and be done with it. Any more issues?"

"That should be all Your Majesty"

"Then today's session is dismissed. May the gods be with you as you go back home. And you Festus, may Ashterah aid the defeat of the Amire army"

The court stood and bowed as the king left the Counsel Room. Octavius left as well and headed towards his chambers. As he moved to close the door behind himself someone held it. Garius walked through behind him and close the door.

"I can only sway my father for a while," Octavius lamented as he dropped his robe on his bed. "I need your help, Garius"

"I am already helping you, Your Majesty. Remember I already covered up for you when you needed to see Princess Emilia and I will fight at your back on the battleground so have no fear of my loyalty"

"I trust you Garius but I fear your loyalty will fail when you find out I have been planning to cede the throne to Angus"

Garius whirled round sharply "Your Majesty?"

Octavius sighed and shrugged as he opened a truck by the wide window opposite his bed to pull out his armor, sword, and shield. "Father leaves me no choice if he goes on to negotiate a marriage contract with the Amires. Garius, you of all people know how dangerous it is to have such a bond with your enemy, you have drilled enough about hidden spies and the dangers of trusting an enemy in your territory in me."

"But this is a situation that requires trusting your enemy. My Prince has seen how ill-equipped our army is? For this war, we will need to recruit even young boys to fill up the spaces in our army and use daggers instead of swords and clubs, and hatchets. I know how much you love your princess, my lord but at this point, this is the only chance we have "

Garius moved to help Octavius pull out his armor rack and brought it to stand beside the trunk. He collected Octavius' armor and hung it on the rack.

"Not if I have anything to do about it, Garius. I have faith in Ashterah I know she will not let us taste defeat against Amire which is why I need you to begin recruitment of soldiers from every family in the kingdom. I want you to work with Festus on this even though you hate his guts as much as he hates mine for not choosing him as my right-hand man. You both should begin to train soldiers as fast and as effectively as you can. I will speak to Gustoff about weaponry we should be able to find enough materials to make weapons with"

"I will do as you have said, My Prince," Garius said as he placed the helmet on the head of the armor rack. He turned to leave.

"One more thing"

Garius turned around.

"I want Angus to join in the training sessions. I need to put my younger to use here"

Garius laughed "I am afraid your majesty that Angus isn't of much use to this kingdom or its army in any way. If anything he is only good at charming the ladies"

Octavius shook his head "If I can just convince father to give Angus to the Amires for marriage instead"

"But that's not possible, My Prince," Garius chuckled "A first son must do things such as this. I think your decision to recruit Angus is a good one. I see potentials in the lad and I see potentials in you too as a great leader, one even better than your fathers before you"

Octavius' lips curved up in a half-smile. "Go, Garius, it's not like you to give compliments and I find myself feeling very uncomfortable at receiving compliments and not scathing words pointing out my incompetence in sword fights"

Garius laughed harder 'Yes, Your Highness. May the gods be with you." He opened the door and walked out to the passage leaving Octavius to his thoughts.

He was eager to hear from Emilia. She had written in her letter that she had tried making consults discreetly with the priest about rituals to offer for favors from the gods of Intavia and had not made any serious progress for fear her parent will find out and question her actions. She had written about her concerns that her parent will learn about her pregnancy and marry her off quickly to Helos. She had suggested he come over to Intavia and make inquiries about the rituals so they could both begin preparations.

He mentally calculated how much time he would need to go to Intavia and back. Emilia and his child were his life and his world and he was ready to do anything for them and for that Garius' and Angus' help would be needed again.