A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 914: Lord Blackwell - Part 4
"It is understandable," Tolsey said. "Now that I am here once more, it seems so separate from the borderlands. I could not ever imagine war reaching this far. No doubt the people here feel the same. Why would they want to waste their taxes on something that does not directly affect them?"
"In a single fell swoop, the momentum becomes unstoppable," Oliver murmured. "It would only take the loss of a single Silver Kingdom, and the Stormfront would be no longer."
They were Volguard's words, not his. Only after years of study in strategy could he ascertain the truth in them. If a single one of their enemies was ever strong enough to push for a Silver King's throne, they would have all that they needed to put an end to centuries of history. They would have a throughline straight towards the Kingdom's heart.
Even if they were to rally all the men in the Stormfront to drive them back, it would be too late. Just as the Stormfront would unify, the enemy would. Their only advantage over the Yarmdon and the Verna was the lack of unity in those countries. They were both very different countries, yet there was always unrest in them, they were always warring.
If ever there was a reason to bind those warring factions together, the Stormfront would not be able to overcome it.
"Prosperity and peace, balanced on a sword's edge," he said to himself.
"The victories we achieve in the borders will hardly be thought of this far in," Tolsey sighed.
"The people will celebrate," Verdant said. "I choose to believe that. As far away as the Central Kingdom is, and as distant as the High King makes himself from matters of war, I do not believe anyone can change a populace so quickly. I had the rare opportunity to spend far more time around peasantry these last years, and I do believe it to be true. There's Stormfront in each of them.
There's the will to fight. If anything, it is in those smallfolk, with their hard lives, that the ideals of our ancestors truly live in."
Tolsey blinked at the passion from Verdant. "You've thought about this a great deal, my Lord… If you think it to be so, then I am inclined to agree with you. I too have seen the might of the peasantry. Indeed, when they are inspired, they are a force to be reckoned with.
He glanced at Oliver as he said that, as though recalling that day of battle, and how men and women alike, people who had never held weapons, overcame the likes of the Yarmdon elite.
If they thought the architecture along the roadside and through the towns that they passed to be impressive, they were nothing when compared to the Capital itself.
It was almost an act of mercy that the Capital could be seen from miles and miles away. This close to it, not a tree rose up along the roadside to challenge the sight of it. Travellers from afar needed that time to process what they were seeing. Even the very first glimpse of it was awe-inspiring. Right there, on the horizon, it rose up with all the dominance of a mountain.
With each bit that they edged closer, the Capital grew and grew. Even when it seemed like it might grow no more, it grew all the same.
Its unusual white walls were made evident from even as far away as they were, and the tops of them glinted in the sunlight, from the occasional bit of gold alloy – or at least, that was what Verdant told Oliver it was.
"It's a test, in a way," Verdant said. "If any soldier is foolish enough to steal that sort of gold, and attempt to sell it, then they were not worthy of serving the High King in the first place. There's an assuredness to that – they firmly believe that any who steal will be caught.
The soldiers must believe it as well, for though it is an alloy, to this day, the tops of the Capital's crenellated are studded with gold."
That gold shone like a beacon when the sun stuck it, highlighting the white walls beneath it. It was a heavenly construct. So different it was the harsh practicalness of Valence, it was a settlement that screamed royalty.
They could see the palace rise up beyond the walls as well, even taller than they, with dozens of pointed towers, all of them capped in the same gold of the walls – but apparently, this was true gold. No mere alloy.
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It made Oliver shudder to see it. It was so different from the world that he was used to. Even the finery of the nobles at the Academy could not have prepared him for such an awe-filled glittering sight. The architects went above and beyond in every detail. Style was in mind far more than just defence.
"It's enormous…" Lady Blackthorn said again. It was her first time visiting the Capital as well. Her family were not the sort to visit such a place merely for an interest in the scenery. "It must house thousands and thousands."
"Only those that serve the High King are housed there," Verdant told them. "No townspeople are allowed inside those walls. No shops or stalls. It is merely a place of function – the High King's function. It is the very brain that governs this country of ours."
"No townspeople? Not even in the event of an attack?" Oliver asked.
"The High King is the country itself. At least, that's the case to some people. The Capital is a construct built with that in mind. The priority of the garrison will always be to defend the High King.
Though there are two thousand soldiers garrisoned there, they would not move to defend the populace, not if there was a possibility that their defence of them would leave the High King in danger," Verdant said. "Of course, the townspeople know that, yet it matters not to them. They do not believe war will make it this far, for it has not in hundreds of years."
"A prior warning, my Lord," Verdant continued. "We will be stripped of our weapons the moment we pass through the Capital's outer gates."
