The Lost Emperor of Tyros

The Kingdom of Tyros, once a calm, tranquil and peaceful kingdom had been ravaged by war for several years. The newly crowned emperor, Novir had plans that the Lords of the cities of Tyros did not exactly agree with. Being the emperor, his word was final and there was no-one else to go to. The Lords of each city in Tyros held a meeting in secret and decided what they were going to do.

“Well its all well and good becoming one force and keeping up a solid defense, but what you don’t seem to understand is, Novir the the Emperor! His forces will be way to strong for us to defend him.”
Lord Carlson was the ex Lord of Tul-Sen, one of the cities that had been taken over by Novir. He had been ridiculed in front of Novir’s army and he got cast out of his own city. Present at the meeting were all the lords of the empire, plus the King and High king of Tyros. The High King, Thorir had always been looked on as the most pleasant ruler in Tyros’ history and he was sat with his arms crossed on the tabe, frowning  at Lord Carlson, then he spoke.
“I can understand your concern, Carlson but let me assure you, we all share the same threat and the same issues and we are all trying to find a solution. The Emperor has a massive army that was big enough to take over Tul-Sen. This means a lot and it shows us what a threat he is to each of us. I have been monitoring his movements by sending spies out in missions and it seems that he has been moving his forces southward.”
The High King took out some papers from a draw in the table and looked at them. He then continued.
“The current plans show that he has been taking cities in a random order, which is strange as he should be looking for the weakest first…although, the pattern is understandable in one way…he has taken Tul-Sen as that is the closest to his castle and he is moving down towards…let me see, Edgewood.”
The was a sigh from the lords and one man stood up in outrage, he started,
“This has gone too far! My King I cannot have him storming into Edgewood as if he rules it. It is my city and it is the most peaceful city in Tyros! The people there are wonderful people and all they want to do is live peacefully and have a nice life, we must stop him, order all the armies to bad together and go to Norvak’s army now, go on, shoo, kill them!”
The high King replied, “Calm down, Horlan. We understand the issue. Edgewood will be a massive shame to be taken, but we must think about this logically. Send all citizens from Edgewood to Whitehaven. Tell them to meet in my castle, in the great hall. We will allocate lodging and such from then on”
“You cannot do this your Highness” Horlan retorted “My people are not moving anywhere.”
“That is an order, Horlan! Have it completed by tonight, no exceptions. We cannot loose the innocent people of Edgewood to a tyrant like Novir.”

Edgewood was a quiet little village, with hovels and people working peacefully to get their jobs done. There was a blacksmith, run by Norvak a strong, burly character with a strong sense of character. There was a fishery, owned by Falnor, a farm owned by Borlan and a cozy local inn, owned and run by Lorlan. Everyone knew each other in Edgewood. It was the friendliest town in the history of Tyros. The race of every person living in edgewood was human, the only place in tyros where every citizen was human. Two huntsmen were waiting in the wasteland.
“Bloody hell, it’s hot. Why are we here again? I haven’t seen anything for the past few days and you still insist that we stay here for the full week?” Illos was the younger of the two huntsmen and Arlan was the older. Who replied.
“Quiet Illos! We have has reports of a several bears coming this way. You know how slow they can be. In fact, look over there. I think I see something!”
“I can see it too! Illos replied with excitement. It’s a bear, kill it!
“Wait a minute..its not a bear.” Said Arlan in surprise and peered to look closer into the distance. The sun was high that day and it was incredible warm. A figure walked into view, a humanoid figure with a cloth vest and trousers on.
“What the..” Illos said in amazement “ How can someone travel the full desert like that? Who is it? Arlan, who is it! I want to know who it is, tell me who it is…ARLAN!!
“How am I supposed to know, quiet down. You sound like you’re a two year old.” He raised his voice. “Hey, you out there, what be your business near Edgewood? Put your hands up immediately or be considered an enemy to Edgewood!”
The figure immediately raised it’s hands and walked towards the two huntsmen. As it came closer into sight, they realized it was unarmed and male. As soon as he got close to the huntsmen, he collapsed.
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"So what was he doing?" The mystic asked Illos as he examined the collapsed body in his hut. He got out a long pole like object with some feathers on the end an started examining it.

'I prefer not to think about what he will do with that' Illos thought to himself and to his relief, the Mystic's intention was justified, or at least it looked justified. The Mystic dipped one end of the pole, the end without feathers, into a pot of what looked like honey but it certainly was not honey as Illos had found out one day in his childhood when he decided to taste some of it. He spent the next week in his hut on the floor unconscious.

"He was just walking about in the wasteland and we saw him and called him over and he came up to us and he collapsed." the Mystic didn't even look at Illos which annoyed him. "Are you even listening to me?"

The Mystic pulled a necklace off the boy's neck and gasped to himself. He looked closely at it and, after confirming his thoughts, showed it to the two hunters. They immediately recognized it and gasped.

"He's a thief!" Arlan exclaimed. "Take him to the Lord right away!"

The Mystic shook his head. "You cannot truly believe that this young boy could have stolen, yet come anywhere near this without being anywhere near close, in relation, to the emperor, do you?"

"I suppose not" Arlan admitted, "But surely...I mean what would a relation of the emperor be doing near Edgewood?"

Suddenly, the hut door burst open and several imperial guardsmen rushed in, swords drawn and pointed them at each member of the hut. "Leave the boy, Mystic. He is no concern of yours. You know too much already, your under arrest." he turned to the huntsmen, "So are you, you two. Come on, to his lordship. We will discuss this with him."

The Lord of Edgewood, Lord Horlan was talking to his senior adviser when they entered. He looked up to greet them, his expression grim.

"I was expecting you Tolrun." He looked at the child and shook his head. "We all thought you had been killed. You know that you are in grave danger, don't you?"

Tolrun, the small boy, looked at Horlan and nodded his head. "I do. The reasons that Novir has been taking over his own empire is not just to turn the empire will, but to look for me. Without me, there is no heir to the thrown. He will have complete control with no-one to challenge him."

Horlan looked surprised, "How do you know this so well, Tolrun?" He took a seat at the head of the long table in the hall and motioned for everyone else to do so.

"Well it's not too hard. you see I may be young but living with the Emperor as my father, he had meetings all the time. I used to listen in at the door. No guards ever stopped me, although the scullery maid used to see me and shake her head at me but they couldn't touch me in fear of me telling father. He would have them killed. He was the emperor, you know.

Illos was outraged, "Do you not know how to address a Lord? Address him appropriately!"

Horlan looked at Illos and coughed. "He is the rightful emperor...Illos, I think it would be best if you left. Would you mind escorting him back to his hut?" he turned to a guard and motioned at him, who nodded and started towards the castle door. Illos sighed and slowly backed away and out of the lord's castle. Horlan continued, "Sorry about that your Highness. Is there anything we can do to aid you in any way? You have my military, my castle to reside in for as long as you need. Whatever you want, just ask and I will do my very best to provide it for you."

Tolrun chuckled to himself, "Calm down Horlan, there is no need for all the seriousness with me. I am concerned, however as to what will happen to me.."

The door to the castle burst open, interrupting Tolrun and several Edgewood guardsmen rushed in. Horlan looked horrified and the imperial guardsmen who were sent to look for Tolrun blocked the guards entrance. They looked like they had been rushing about.

"Let them in" Tolrun shouted and the imperial guardsmen immediately moved out of the way. the guardsmen rushed in to and shouted. "My lord, we are under attack! Novir's army is here, we must get you to safety!"

Horlan looked horrified. he knew he was next but how could they have traveled so fast. "But, how did they get here so fast?" He exclaimed. "We only got back from the High King's meeting yesterday."

The guardsmen ran up to him. "I don't know my lord. We must go, now!"

Horlan nodded and grabbed Tolrun's hand and ran to the back of the room. "Follow me, my lord. Stay close" He then ran into the military room which was empty as all his military was defending the castle. he ran through to the library and started hammering at the wall. "It was here last time I needed it"

"Last time?" Tolrun asked bemusedly.

"Even lord's need some company at times you know, my lord. That's inappropriate to tell you, but you did ask"

Tolrun smiled "I think I will let this one slip."

Horlan didn't reply as he was frantically rushing around the library looking for something. "Ah, I knew it was here somewhere." He pulled a picture off the wall and pushed one of the books into the bookcase. "Stand on this platform please, your highness"

Tolrun jumped up next to Horlan and the bookcase flipped around, allowing them into the passages of Edgewood.
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Novir regarded the battle raging below him in Egdewood as he stood at the top of the mountains that his army had walked down a few minutes before. They had all rushed into battle while he was looking for Tolrun from the mountains. His senior military and advisers were with him, watching the destruction below. "We are finally here at the place where we will find him. When we find him, I want him alive! I will kill him myself and then there will be no-one to avenge the death of the emperor. I will be able to rule without that scumbag threatening my reign!" he looked round at his senior staff who were wincing a little. "Do you not share the same envy as me? Speak up and show me your support!" he walked back and forth boring deep into each of their eyes one by one.

"My lord." A soldier panted as he had ran up the hill to Novir. He looked immensely scared and was sweating from his brow.

Novir turned to look at him, his expression scornful. "What reason do you have to justify, not only disturbing me, but moreso the fact that you forget to respect your authority!"

"I'm sorry, my lord?" The soldier frowned, the sweat on his forehead increased dramatically as he knew how Novir could get so angry.


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The first part of my story, The lost Emperor of Tyros. please review with constructive criticism. Thank you :D More on the way soon :)