120 Surrounded (1/2)

If nothing else, at least the food was delicious. Pork, veal and venison, braised in a fancy sauce. According to what the king's servant said, the food had been stewed for half a day before it had been presented to the guests. No wonder the pieces melted in Uchu's mouth. Even so, the Villca heir was in a lousy mood.

Their entire plan had been so clever, so simple. He would come announce his claim to the throne as a member of the Villca clan. Once the king would acknowledge his invitation, he would be acknowledged as a proper noble by the only authority in the south who could do so. At that point, he would be in the running for his father's lands, and so all he had to do was leave as soon as possible. However, no matter how much he wanted to, his newest advisor had different ideas.

”I still don't get why I couldn't have just run,” Uchu moaned towards the rat. Although his little brother had only entered Uchu's camp two days ago, the two of them had planned today's actions a long time ago. However, they hadn't expected the king's indifference. In response to his big brother's complaint, the rat, Guachimine Villca, presented his overbite as his upper lip drew back in a show of disgust.

”For the millionth time, we cannot ignore the rules of nobility, brother. Even if you were the strongest man in the south-”

”-and I am,” Uchu smirked and threw another cube of soft meat into his mouth.

”-Cashan won't stand for long if we antagonize all other lords.” Guachimine covered his eyes with his hand.

”But I thought I was supposed to piss off the lords? Wasn't that the plan?” In all truth, Uchu had been annoyed by the little rat's machinations for a good while already. Now that he couldn't even understand the plan anymore, his discontent had only built up more.

”Offending the king would be fine, offending the governor would be even better,” the rat snickered. ”But breaking the rules of nobility cannot and will not be accepted. By anyone. Just imagine, what will the lords of the east think when we break any rules we see fit. Once you take Cashan, we want to control them. How will we achieve our goals if they are weary of our willful ignorance of common custom?”

”So we're stuck here now,” Uchu concluded. With a scowl and a swerve, he picked up the fancy glass on his table to have another taste of the equally fancy drink within. Meanwhile, Guachimine had begun to bite his fingernails again, so the older brother chose to look away.

”The plan was not meant to go this way,” the younger brother's voice trembled. ”We sent the king a head as a present. A damned head! How can he just take this sort of insult and let us stay? Damn bastard. If the king had only thrown us out, we could have just left and gone home. Even if he had rejected the present, we could have at least made it our alive. Sure we would offend the western lords, but we don't need to care about them anyways. This way, we don't leave ourselves vulnerable, and we can even get some extra favor from the eastern estates for standing up to this so-called King of the South and his loyal dogs.”

”'Not vulnerable'? Was that the goal? I didn't notice. Great plan you had there, brother. Really well done.”

With a nervous hum, the rat stared out into the hall, to the other side of the room, where their brother Epunamo sat, constant watch kept on their table. Even after the failed duel, Uchu's competitor wouldn't let up at all.

Like a mangy dog, Uchu thought.

”You didn't need to accept the duel, brother.” This time, it was the rat who broke the silence. Despite how he appeared, Guachimine had proven to be a brave man, eager to speak his mind.

”So what should I have done then? Run away and be seen as a coward?”

”At least you could have determined the rules of the battle before and not just accepted brother Epu's demands. The way you handled it, at least no one thought you were a coward. They just thought you were an idiot,” the rat shot back.

In response, Uchu only had a scoff to offer.

”How could I know that my little brother would bring out those weird weapons? Weren't all you nobles so big on rules and honor? Who would expect anything but a proper fight? You think Epunamo could beat me in one of those, ever? Just look at the scrawny bastard.”

”No matter what you say, your actions were foolish, brother. Epunamo Villca is no idiot, I told you as much before we came here. In fact, among all of us he is the most well-learned. He also thinks much of his own cleverness, so he would never move without a plan. No matter how angry he seemed, it was obvious that he would present a ploy to destroy us as soon as he offered the duel. I told that as well.”

For a while, silence fell over the room, only interspersed with occasional sips whenever Uchu took another chance at his brandy. While the strong liquor soothed his heart as much as it did his pride, he thought back to the massive boom and the giant ball of steel lodged in the wall. No matter how much this king talked about a misfire, Uchu knew that he had almost been taken out by his brother's plot. Although it wasn't the first time he had been confronted by his own mortality, this really wasn't a good way to start his fight for his father's lands. His impatience drawn to the limit, Uchu was the first to break again.

”So when can we leave then? The sooner we go the better. I'd rather not see a castle wall fall on my head because of an unfortunate mistake from the king's stonemason.”