The Sword of Damocles Hanging on a Cobweb

Rowen was surprised that the Royal Palace was as ornate as it was. He had always thought of Dwarves as thrifty people and he knew that the original royal line to the Kingdom of Tier was a dwarven line.

The outer perimeter wall around the inner palace was fine marble with gold leaf statues of varying kinds of “Demi-humans’ every ten feet or so. The Main Gate was also gold leaf with varying laurels and on either side were two Avian Beastkin and over the center was an angelic figure.

Beyond the gate and wall was a heavily pillared palace that had four concentrically decreasing levels that were also pillared. At the very top of the last level were two more angelic statues also gold leaf or they could be pure gold for all Rowen knew.

Off to the right of the royal palace was the Congress of Duchies Building.

Standing in front of both the Royal Palace and Congress were soldiers bearing the livery of the House Rex and two other duchies.

Standing in front of the soldiers, three hundred or so, stood two men and three women all dressed in fine looking robes and coats.

Standing half a step-in front of the other four stood a rather handsome looking male Dogua with long blond hair and long floppy ears that were blended with his hair. Well almost. The left ear was somewhat displaced from the hair around it.

Rowen thought, “A Gorgeous George type.”

Rowen knew him to be Duke Vielle Rex by a description from his niece. Rowen pulled his retinue up short of the five.

At this point, Duchess Marcia Eilon had pulled up to Kit’s right as Marquese Quintessa Eilon was to Rowen’s immediate left. She announced, “Member’s of the Congress of Duchies, I give you King Rowen Kanati First of That Name, born of the House of Dawn. Lord Chief of Grental Clan of the Greentree Elves!”

The four duchies standing to the rear slightly inclined their heads whereas Duke Vielle just looked at Rowen directly.

The Duke said, “I fail to see how you can justify choosing a human to be the king. I think that you have gone senile Marquese Quintessa.”

Rowen looked over at the Marquese and was surprised to see her looking surprised. She seemed to recover herself and said, “Have you lost all reason Your Grace?!”

“That is the question that we should be asking you, Lady Quintessa…”

Rowen interrupted him and said, “I can understand your incredulity. The Creator knows what evils have been perpetrated by humans. I just so happen to have a pair of human prisoners of war here who have a great deal of detail to share on the fall of Stiarra Nor. Correct me if I am wrong but wasn’t that your city Duke?” as he motioned Lady Rissa and Praefectus Brigs to be brought forward.

He then reached into his coat and brought out a sealed letter and said, “Oh, and Good Duke, you’ll be happy to know that your niece survived the onslaught of the temple and has handed me some correspondence to convey to you…Oh, Your Grace, are you well. You’re looking pretty flush all of a sudden. Perhaps you would prefer we take this discussion indoors out of this unseasonably warm sun.”

Rowen knew that he was obtaining the effect he wanted when he showed the Duke the witnesses to his sale of the city. The duke became red in the face and started to sweat profusely.

Duke Rex stammered out, “Um…well, yes. Perhaps we should take this inside, somewhere private.”

The Duke, Rowen, Kit, Duchess Marcia, and Marquese Quintessa made their way into an antechamber within the Congress of Duchies.

The other four duchies were told to wait outside the room pointedly by Duke Vielle.

Duke Vielle mopped his face with a handkerchief and looked to Rowen and said, “Alright human, what do you want?!”

Rowen said under his breath, “For such a time as this.” Then he said louder, “To tell you the truth, I never aspired to the throne. I never pictured myself as a king. That being said, I have had that mantle handed to me for such a time as this. The Guardians have brought me to this world from another. I can only believe that that is what the Creator has desired, otherwise He would not have allowed it to happen.”

Rowen then looked the duke in his eyes and said, “I think that all I want from you to do is allow a full Congress of Duchies to vote whether or not I should be king. If the majority is against me, then so be it. You may even vote your own conscience.”

He then got a cold look in his eyes and he said, “But you WILL call off any assassins that you’ve contracted against Kitarra and Danara. And you WILL then, after the vote is finished regardless of the outcome, advocate your duchy to your Niece Murielle.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then the world will know how you sold Stiarra Nor to the Legion and the Ruby King. They will also know how you contracted certain assassins to kill five different Duchies. Including Kitarra’s aunt.”

Kit growled a very low, barely audible growl.

The Duke looked thoroughly flustered at this point and said, “Very well. You shall have what you want.”

Rowen then leaned closer to Duke Vielle and lifted up his ear flap so that his whisper could be heard.

“One more thing you should know, Duke Vielle. The Guardians swear I shall live until their work for me is done. No blade or spell will stop me in their mission. If any of my family or those under my protection turn up dead, nothing short of their divine intervention will stay my vengeance upon all responsible. I will hold you responsible first and foremost. I will find you. The very depths of your imagination could not conjure one inkling of the measures of hell I will visit upon your body and your soul.”

Duke Vielle went from flush to deathly pale.

Rowen straightened his ear flap and said louder, “That’s a promise.”

It would seem that Duke Wulfia had already called for a Quorum De Duchies, so it only took a week for a Quorum to be held.

Rowen had the mirror temporarily moved from the Temple to the palace where he was staying so that he could go back and forth to Stiarra Nor to see to matters there.

He did take the time to study the mirrors so that he could reproduce them.

When the Quorum was convened, Kit had appointed her cousin, Monroe Foxia to the Duchy as her replacement.

The Quorum was opened with an evocation by the Archbishop of the Church of the Creator, even though she had been excommunicated by the Pope. As a matter of fact, the day that Stiarra Nor fell, the Pope and council of Cardinals cut ties to all priests and priestesses within the Kingdom of Tier. Not that relations that way were strong for some time.

After evocation Marquese Quintessa stood up with Rowen before the council and announced Rowen’s title.

Duke Vielle stood up and made a point of order, “By what measure have you chosen this man to be king?”

One of the Dukes, A Leo Felinean said, “Duke Vielle, we had all decided that we were going to trust an appointment of King as long as it was from the Honorable Marquese Quintessa. I too have misgivings about a human being appointed, but as a man of honor, and one who trusts the Marquese unconditionally, I suggest that we just proceed with the vote to accept our new king.”

The majority of the duchies echoed their agreement.

Duke DuBois Dwargon, the Dwarven Duke said, “I then move that if the acceptance of Rowen to be king fails to carry, we choose one of our number to be lord or lady regent!”

The Leo Felinean, Duke Arbor Leonidas said, “Duke Dubois, please, one motion at a time. We must first vote the acceptance, or refusal of King Rowen!”

This broke out an argument between the two.

Rowen leaned over to Duchess Marcia and asked, “Is there a chairperson or someone who maintains order in these sessions?”

Duchess Marcia said, “No, this is why sometimes these sessions carry into the wee hours of the morning.”

“Do you think that Duke Rex and Duke Dwargon have something up their sleeves then?”

Duchess Marcia looked at Rowen with a puzzled look on her face.

Rowen then said, “Sorry, it’s an idiom from my world. It means that they have something nasty plan to derail the vote or something.”

The Duchess shook her head and said, “Neither are that smart. Look how easily you derailed Vielle’s plan. I think that they are stalling for time. Trying to browbeat the other into a compromise that may see you as king but one of them as regent.”

“Ah, I see. So, then the rule of conduct is, he who gets the others’ attentions holds the floor?”

“More or less.” She said shrugging.

Rowen nodded, stood up and drew his pistol and shot a round up into the ceiling.

Everyone looked at him with a stunned look on their face.

Rowen smiled and said, “Good. Now that I have your attention. The way all of you conduct yourselves here, one would think that you had all the time in the world. No hoards of Woague preparing to come down from the north. No Five Kingdom armies waiting to invade from the south and east. Not to mention the sorrowful lack of treasure to continue to maintain this wonderful kingdom.

“I think that we all can agree that we, and yes I count myself in this particular situation, need a solitary point of leadership. Whether it be a king or regent.

“But barring that, I can help with one of your problems off the bat.” And he strode over to a clear area on the Congress’ floor and put his hand out.

After a few seconds a rather large mass began to shimmer into being.

There were several gasps and other exclamations from the twelve dukes and all the other subjective lords that were in audience. In the middle of the floor had appeared one ton of one ounce gold coins and another ton of silver coins.

Everyone looked starstruck and Rowen said, “This is not a game ladies and gentlemen. I really don’t care if you choose me to be king. But I do care about the Kingdom. It would seem that all of you are falling into the same trap of racism that the humans are following.

“Would it be so horrible if you were to be led by a human? I thought that a kingdom that accepts such an obvious variety of people as this kingdom does, wouldn’t care if a human were among them. Or am I wrong?”

Rowen waited a few moments to see if anyone had anything to say then he went on, “Very well. IF you choose me to be king, I promise here and now that one of my first orders of business will be to construct a constitution that will not only dictate my role but will also see to the rights of everyone. Including those poor on the street!

“I know that you’ve been told that I’m from another world. In my world, we have such a constitution that limits the leaders’ roles. Now, if you so happen to choose to not make me king, then you should still create such a constitution anyway. Either way, you do not have the luxury of time to dicker and debate issues. The enemy is at the gates!”

He then turned to Duke Arbor and said, “Your Grace, if you would please conduct the vote?”

The vote carried seven to five in favor of accepting Rowen as king.

He really didn’t care to be king, but he also realized that this would give him a great deal of leverage in order to complete his first and foremost mission. Reformation of the Church.

He also had to see to “Human” rights. That includes the demi-humans too. In truth, he had decided that THAT was his first and foremost mission. The church be damned.

However, he knew that it was important to have an avenue for people to approach God, not only for God’s sake but their own.

After the vote, Rowen stood to graciously accept the appointment of king. Instead of a crown. The throne was symbolized with a gold medallion that is worn prominently around the king’s neck.

Rowen remembered this from back in ancient Viking times.

This struck home something that he hadn’t considered. Twalling Cade wasn’t Earth. Though parallel, it was different in many ways. Rowen had to keep that in mind. He needed to do a great deal of learning on this world.

Although Xyarra had taught him a great deal of things about this world, it was all from a dragon’s perspective. He now needed to spend time with Dana, Kit, and even Marquese Quintessa in order to get a more rounded education.

After Rowen accepted the mantle of power, he and Kit stood in front of the set of thrones that were in front of the Congress of Duchies and received each of the duchies and lesser lords one at a time. Each swearing their fealty.

Kit leaned over to Rowen as Duke Vielle was approaching and said, “Why did you let him live and be free?” her voice definitely had a tone of displeasure in it.

“If it were up to me, sweetie, I would have him drawn and quartered then healed him and done worse. But we cannot afford to be selfish here. He is already powerless to oppose us. To call him out before the vote would have caused such chaos that I fear that it would devolve into a civil war.”

Kit looked at him with a look of, “This discussion isn’t over”, but she then turned her head away as Duke Vielle bowed and said, “I now swear fealty to you my King.”

Rowen nodded then motioned a dismissal.

Up until Vielle, the dukes and duchesses were then turning to Kit and swearing allegiance to her as First Queen.

But when Vielle turned to her, she growled at him and he nodded and turned away.

The next Duchess to approach was an Eagalla of the Avian Duchy. Duchess Sierra Arial. To her left stood an older looking black crow harpy.

The duchess bowed and swore fealty but after Rowen accepted her fealty she motioned to her left and said, “This is the Dahlia of the Black Crow Harpy Clan. I am aware that you know of her clan.”

“Yes, we’ve had dealings with her clan.”

“Right. Well, if we are allowed. We would like to meet with you soon to discuss certain facts and other considerations for moving forward.”

“Of course, shall we say we meet tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, that would be lovely.” She bowed and the two of them then bowed to Kit and left.

Kit looked at Rowen with a look of suspicion in her eyes and she asked, “Is this something of your doing?”

“Of course. Like you are fond of saying, this is part of my plan behind the plan.”

The End of Part One