Chapter 1: From the Ashes, Part 3 - A Meeting of Minds
As Tantalos came ever closer to the city, he once again couldn’t help but be awed at the sheer size and impressiveness of the place. He took a moment to gawk at the walls, so enormous that they would put the petty walls of his insignificant village to shame several times over. It wasn’t just that they were huge, they were majestic, beauteous almost. He eyed the gates of the city, which were massive, built of oak, and inscribed into it were intricate designs and patterns.
As the party approached, the gates opened before them, in anticipation of their arrival. Tantalos entered first, naturally, on horseback. His dress was not too impressive, not even by his village’s standards. We wore a simple leather tunic, with leather strips which he wore on his shins. At his side was his trusty iron sword, a tool he never travelled without. He wore nothing on his head, although he did wear a silver torque around his neck, a sign of his wealth and nobility.
As always, his entrance turned heads, some even moved in to get a closer look. However it was nothing like the attention he drew when he travelled to local villages. In those places, his arrival was well known hours, or sometimes even days before he arrived, and he was greeted by the entire village. This time it was just a couple peasants, most likely seeing his jewelry and hoping for handouts. Tantalos sighed, “You’re just a lowly, run of the mill chieftain here,” he reminded himself, “don’t take it as an insult, just focus on the task at hand.” Tantalos looked up to see a group of ten well armored soldiers, each was in full armor, with falcatas at their sides, and shields on their arms. As the entirety of Tantalos’s entourage came into the city, the most richly adorned of the guards broke formation and began approaching the young chieftain.
As with the rest of the squad, he wore a tunic made of a combination of linen and leather, a staple of the wealthiest warriors in the tribe, tapering at the waist, and continuing anew with strips of leather covered in bronze plates which protected his shins. A falcata rested nicely at his side, and he had a caetra strapped to his right arm. However, unlike the rest, this one wore a bronze cap on his head, and a bucula of bronze covered his face.
As the man approached Tantalos, he lifted his visor, revealing a middle-aged, obviously battle-hardened man. He stopped just before Tantalos’s horse and bowed. My lord, he said, my name is Hilerno captain of the guards here in Olisipo. On the orders of my lord Luxinio, I am to escort you and your retinue safely to the palace. Hilerno appeared to Tantalos to be waiting for something, so he nodded to the man, and then turned and beckoned his retinue further in. Wasting no time, Hilerno quickly shouted orders to his guards, who quickly fell into line, forming a tight perimeter around Tantalos’s party.
As Tantalos and his now fairly numerous entourage cantered down Olisipo’s convoluted streets towards the center of town, he found himself more and more breaking his stoic visage to look around at his surroundings in awe. He had learned from his father from a young age the importance of maintaining an air of certainty when on diplomatic missions; it gave one the upper hand, and made you more difficult to read, and yet, despite years of practice, and his hardest efforts, Tantalos simply could not maintain a straight face. He would catch himself staring at a massive apartment complex, or a street vendor, and then quickly snap his head back forward, only to find himself doing the exact thing only a few minutes later.
This internal conflict continued in Tantalos for several minutes, until the group finally arrived at their destination. Tantalos couldn’t believe his eyes; he had to stop himself from falling out of his saddle, an action which evoked a few stifled chuckles from some bystanders. Tantalos’s cheeks reddened as he took a moment to take in his surroundings.
He first looked down to notice the ground he was walking on. Gone were the plain dirt roads to which he was so accustomed, replaced with real stone. A novel idea, Tantalos thought to himself. People abounded in the circular plaza, most of them appeared to Tantalos to be of the upper echelon of society. What amazed him most of all, however, was the palace itself. It was a massive edifice, at least twice as large as his. It was made of wood, and appeared to have wood with carvings, much akin to the town gates he had seen before. Hilerno gave the group a few minutes to take in the site, and then beckoned them on towards the palace. When they reached the large oak doors, Tantalos dismounted, and entered into the building.
The interior of the building was even more impressive than the exterior. The flooring was covered with wood. And everything inside seemed designed to intimidate visitors with symbols of the town’s extreme wealth. Servants rushed here and there, intent on their business. Meanwhile, well armed guards laced the main room that Tantalos was in, eyeing the new visitors. In various parts of the room, noblemen, adorned with jewelry and other various luxury items were conferring with one another, completely oblivious to Tantalos’s presence.
Directly in front of Tantalos resided a large staircase, and this structure now occupied the majority of Tantalos’s attention. For descending the stairs, flanked on either side by guards, was what Tantalos could only assume was the king, Luxinio himself. While he wasn’t the largest man he had ever seen, Tantalos noticed that he was overweight, to say the least. He had brown hair, flecked with specks of gray, and cut unusually short. On the top of his head resided a gold crown. The next thing Tantalos noticed about the man was his face itself. His face was clean shaven! The first time he had seen anything of the sort save among young children, although that was more due to lack of ability to grow a beard, rather than preference as was this man’s case. The man wore a robe of fine linen, doubtlessly imported from a faraway land, and it was partially dyed purple, which Tantalos found very odd. On his feet were the leather sandals common among all classes in the land.
Luxinio looked ahead, and, noticing Tantalos standing in the hallway, immediately broke away from his guard and rushed towards Tantalos with open arms. He embraced the chieftain as a mother would her son upon returning from the fields. Frankly, Tantalos didn’t know what to make of the man. The king pulled himself away, and then shook hands. “You must be Tantalos,” he said jovially. His voice boomed in Tantalos’s ear, and Tantalos found himself having to rub it to alleviate the ringing. “I have been expecting you for quite some time! Now come, there is much to do!”
“My lord,” Tantalos tried, “If we could just find a place to talk, I think that would be adequa-”
“No no no!,” Luxinio boomed, “The sun is setting, time is of the essence! There will be time to talk later.”
Without getting a chance to resist, Tantalos was whisked out the door, and soon found himself shuffling behind Luxinio, trying to keep up with his quick pace as he navigated through the town’s twisting streets and narrow alleys. Close behind Tantalos could hear the rattling of military equipment as the respective guards of the two leaders tried to keep up with their lords. Finally, the group escaped the claustrophobic streets of the town, and came to an open area.
Tantalos felt his eyes widen as he beheld what he could only assume was the town’s port. It was incredible. Wooden docks appeared to stretch out for miles with docked boats splayed out before him. He could see sailors running up and down the planks, rigging boats, and unloading cargo to anxious merchants who deftly ordered their assistants to place the newly imported wares onto carts for transport to the market. Everything here was done so fluidly, so gracefully, and on so grand a scale. Farther out, Tantalos could make out the silhouette of a boat sailing off west, out of the port and into the deep blue ocean, now tinted with the orange of the rapidly setting sun.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Luxinios asked. Tantalos could do naught but nod. “Yep, everyday thousands of ships enter into this port from all corners of the world. Olisipo is indeed a pearl, one of the largest pearls this side of the Anas.
The group sat and stared at the port for awhile longer. Tantalos’s feet felt as though they were planted in place; he had never before seen the sea, and the sight seemed spectacular, other-worldly almost. Suddenly, inevitably, Luxinios snapped the group from their trance-like state: “Oh my, this late already? But where are my manners, the sun is setting, and you and your friends have not ate yet. Please, come to my palace with me, I will show you one of the finest parts of the city, its food!”
Tantalos tried his best to stop the eccentric king, hoping, perhaps, that this meeting might prove useful, but his attempts were in vain, and sure enough, Tantalos once again found himself stumbling blindly through the streets of Olisipo behind its dilatory king.
***
Tantalos was seated at the table. He felt agitated. Coming into Olisipo, he had known that his job would be difficult, but this was different. He had been in town for nearly half a day now, and still hadn’t been able to communicate with the king in private. It was inaction, and Tantalos hated inaction.
“So, how are you enjoying the bounty of Olisipo?” Luxinios inquired, “Laid before you are the finest goods and foods, imported from around the known world. Try the wine, straight from our local vineyards, or perhaps some of our breads, made with wheat grown in Qathardistim, and you can add some olive oil, brought directly from the mountainous land of Hellas. Look around you, here you can see some of the best singers and bards from throughout the land, and here, slave-dancers brought from the faraway East.” Tantalos didn’t care much for the king’s boasting, in fact, he found himself quite tired of it, he was reaching the end of his rope.
“My king, I really would like to talk to you, alone.” He finally said.
“Hmm, later, later.” Luxinios replied.
“No. I want to speak to you now!” Tantalos shouted, rising from his chair, which caused everything in the hall to stop abruptly. Luxinios’s eyes shifted around the room, carefully weighing his response.
“Very well,” he responded finally, and showed Tantalos into a separate room.
The instant the door shut behind the two, Luxinios asked what the matter was. Tantalos, still irritated with the king spoke sharply. “I assumed you have guessed why I came here in the first place, but I will speak plainly of my intentions nonetheless. I want your kingdom. The land of the Lusitani has become large and powerful recently, and I want to add the wealthy, fertile land of the Turdetani to Lusitania’s vast domains.” The room fell silent for many moments before Luxinios finally spoke, his joviality now replaced with a disposition of intensity.
“I assume that by agreeing to this, my people would lose their sovereignty and their influence,” Luxinios said gravely. Tantalos nodded. “Now, why on Earth would I, king of this great land, ever consider doing that?” Luxinios asked incredulously.
Now Tantalos was in the position of power. He had not previously anticipated Luxinios’s dilatory actions, but this moment, this he had prepared extensively for. He knew this question would be asked, and already prepared a response. He smiled as he spoke bluntly to the king: “Because, simply, while your great kingdom is indeed quite wealthy, its defensive capabilities are in fact quite minimal. Now I know the king of the Paesuri has been eyeing your little pearl for quite awhile now, and I also know that if he were to commit his forces here, it would not take him a lot of time to make it part of his domain, and I know you do not want that to happen. I am asking for you all to give up your sovereignty, but that’s it. Everything else in this land will be unchanged. You can continue trading to your hearts’ content, and enjoying the benefits of your geographical location. All that I as your King would ask would be for a small portion of your people to come to Oxtraca to be trained and eventually serve in our army, and in return for the protection of such a valuable pearl as this beautiful city, would that be so much to ask?”
Luxinios smiled and shook his head. “Very well put, you obviously put a lot of thought into that. Of course we will swear oaths to you. I was intending to from the moment you crossed the river into our lands, and my scouts notified me of your presence. I knew that you would come, looking for our oaths, but I wanted to make sure that we were bending our knees to an assertive and capable ruler, one who would be able to ensure our well-being for years to come. You have shown that to us just now, so I will be more than happy to relinquish my position, and make the Turduli a part of the kingdom of the Lusitani.” Tantalos was stunned. The thought, not only that his job was accomplished so easily, but also that the king sent him through a number of trivial tasks in vain simultaneously pleased and irritated him. Finally, he accepted the king’s proposal with a soft thank you. “Now, if you will follow me back into the dining hall, we can make our decision apparent to the eagerly awaiting noblemen outside.”
Luxinios nodded and followed the man through the door. Although Tantalos’s face had now returned to the stoic, seemingly uncaring demeanor from earlier in the day, in his mind he was floating through the palace, absorbed in the ecstasy of his success. He realized that moment, that, while emotions were a poor bedfellow for ruling alongside, they made a very capable servant to make use of, he would have to remember that in the future.
Tantalos and Luxinios entered the hall, and Luxinios addressed the nobles, introducing them to their soon-to-be king. The nobles rose from their respective chairs and began to applaud, obviously hearing of Tantalos’s fair and supportive nature, and eager for the protection he could assure. Tantalos beamed and thanked the Turduli nobles, his nobles.
Re: The Kings of Land's End: A Lusitani AAR
Originally Posted by Vasiliyi
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