Land of Dis 01 Disenchanted by Robert Kroese

Author:Robert Kroese [Kroese, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, General, Epic, Humorous
ISBN: 9781612185422
Google: lLsGlwEACAAJ
Amazon: B009KP9VJ2
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2012-11-05T22:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

The Kingdom of Peraltia, to the east of Ytrisk, is the least populous, least powerful, and overall the least interesting of the Six Kingdoms, being composed of the provinces that were not particularly coveted by Ytrisk, Skaal, or Avaress. Other than being the home of several hundred thousand relatively comfortable sheep, Peraltia is historically best known as a stabilizer in the relationship between Ytrisk and Skaal. Whenever either of the two kingdoms became powerful enough to start thinking about finally putting an end to the threat posed by its rival, Peraltia would shift its weight in favor of the weaker kingdom — generally in exchange for some additional trade concessions or, in some cases, an outright bribe. Peraltia’s military was not particularly large or formidable, its claim to having never lost a battle being somewhat undermined by the fact that its military had never been in a battle. Still, the ten thousand men goose-stepping around the Peraltian capital in tin hats were an X factor that couldn’t be ignored by either potential belligerent. No one with any tactical experience expected the Peraltians to be able to mount any sort of creditable offense, but morale among Peraltian foot soldiers was reported to be so high that there was genuine concern on both sides that the Peraltian army wouldn’t have the common sense to rout even when facing the prospect of certain massacre, continuing to advance until every Peraltian had been killed. Such an advance would have the effect of tying up a sizeable defensive force for several hours, tilting the odds slightly in favor of Peraltia’s chosen ally. Anyway, that was the theory that was floated by tacticians on both sides of the Ytrisk-Skaal border, and no king had yet been brave or foolhardy enough to test it. So ever since the fall of the Old Realm, an uneasy peace punctuated by occasional halfhearted wars reigned between the two rivals — and meanwhile Peraltia made up for what it lacked in resources by extorting money from both sides.

The price of Peraltia’s loyalty at present was neither pumice nor gold, but rather the hand of Princess Urgulana, who was widely regarded as the most unattractive princess since records of such things started being kept. Even Princess Stugnafska of Avaress, whose bust had been mislabeled as “Gurthan the Goblin King” in the Royal Museum for three hundred years without anyone noticing, is thought to have been quite a looker compared to Urgulana. Up until recently, it had been widely assumed that Prince Corbet of Skaal would end up marrying Urgulana, but with the revolt in the north the balance of power had shifted toward Skaal, and Boric had pressed the issue by giving King Celiac pretense for a motive to attack. Boric spent the next two days after his return to Brobdingdon poring over charts and reports from field commanders, looking for a way to repel a Skaal attack without losing the northern provinces, but he came up with nothing. The only way

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