...

The following day, the knights continued their journey through the distant desert. They frequently filled their pails and horseskin flasks with water and ate what snakes and desert rats they managed to kill. Desert rats were a good bit larger than the usual kind, about the size of a small pig, and tasted like rich, greasy pork. The snakes tasted somewhere between fish and chicken. Jimmus preferred the snake while Reggie preferred the rat.

In the evening, the two men sat around a fire built from burning a spare carriage wheel, as the desert night had turned cold, roasting and eating their respective meats. Jimmus stared into the fire, entranced by it, while Reginald fretted over the dangers they still faced.

"We are not far from Kotaria." he warned.

"They're not going to kill us." Jimmus reasoned, "We are allies, more or less."

"They are heathens, they resent us." Reginald said.

"Such disrespect will get you nowhere." Jimmus argued.

"I'm going to sleep." Reginald concluded.

Reginald rested his head against a folded cloth he had brought and leaned up against a large boulder and Jimmus soon did the same.

On the final day of their journey, the knights' routine remained the same. They drank as much water as they could manage, kept the horses quenched as well, took turns taking the reigns, and ate the dried meat they preserved. After countless hours, Jimmus finally saw the walled city of Kotaria in the distance and gave a sigh of relief.

Before he could think any further, Jimmus found himself plummeting to the ground and the carriage overturned. All four horses whinnied in fright and the world went black. When Jimmus opened his eyes again, he was sprawled out on the sand, bruised but unbroken, with four large, dark skinned men standing over him, with spears pointed at his chest.

"What is your business here, paleskin?" one man asked in Kotarian.

Jimmus made no response and just gave a look of confusion.

"Answer the question or perhaps I shall take your other eye." the man warned.

"He does not speak our tongue." said a rich female voice from behind the man.

"My heraldess." the man said, as he and the other four men knelt.

The woman before them was a tall dark woman in a dark red robe wrapped around her chest that flowed to her ankles. Her hair was wrapped in a long, complex weave full of golden braids that wrapped around her body. She wielded a wooden staff with a golden sun-shaped headpiece, the symbol of Kotaria.

"I am Heti, Heraldess of Kotaria and speaker for Pharaohess Neferti." she announced to Jimmus in his own language.

"May I stand up?" Jimmus requested.

"You will kneel before the heraldess!" a soldier warned.

"You may kneel." Heti said.

Jimmus reluctantly knelt before Heti.

"Why have you come here?" Heti inquired, "You are not a merchant."

"The princess did not inform you of our arrival?" Jimmus asked, "Wait, where is Reggie?"

"Do you refer to your fellow soldier?" Heti said, "He is right here."

Reginald was laying against the leg of a massive elephant that the soldiers had rode. The knight was beaten and bloodied, stammering in confusion. The elephant was a frightful, four-tusked creature that was almost blood red in color. An ornate wooden box wrapped in camel skins was strapped to the creature. It was a common method of transportation for Kotarian soldiers.

"What did you do to him?!" Jimmus demanded as he stood up.

"You do not have permission to stand!" a soldier said.

"Leave him be." Heti ordered the man as she stepped toward Jimmus.

"Knight of Rosemarble, your fellow has not been intentionally harmed." Heti explained, "Our war beast attacked the carriage in instinct and your knight succumbed to injury as he was inside. Our healers will tend to him."

"He is my friend." Jimmus said, "I will be gravely offended if he is wounded."

"What do you want?" Heti asked again, "What is your purpose?"

"The princess did not inform you, then." Jimmus explained, "We have arrived to discuss a formal alliance to go to war against Bloodmarble. It is a queendom comprised of vampelles, vicious creatures that enslave and devour humans. From what we know, they have bred countless slaves. Only with your army's help can we liberate Bloodmarble."

"Why would we assist with your war?" Heti asked, "We have no love for Bloodmarble, but we would not take such risks on your behalf."

"Please, at least let me speak with your queen." Jimmus requested, "And I must see that Reggie returns to health."

"I shall speak with the pharaohess." Heti insisted, "My soldiers will carry you both into the city. Your carriage shall remain here for repair."

"We have gifts for you." Jimmus recalled, "Actually, for your queen."

"I have taken the bag of gold, a pitiful trinket." Heti surmised, "Our city is made of gold. But nevertheless, the goddesses demand hospitality."

The soldiers did their best to prop up the two knights onto the elephant. Jimmus had to carefully climb up the strap himself, while two soldiers lifted Reginald by his hands and feet and another soldier already in the box pulled the knight up. The soldiers carefully guarded the two foreign men as Heti sat in the back and ordered the elephant back to Kotaria.

The massive beast reached the city in good time and Jimmus could not help but look on in wonder. He had never before personally been to Kotaria and only knew it from drawings and merchants' tales. The city was encircled by an enormous stone wall, made of large bricks of mud and sand. The city itself was made of the same material, large square houses and stores, full of wood booths selling everything from gold trinkets to elephant meat. The center of the city was the palace, Kahat, each floor was a stacked square of decreasing size, sandbrick coated in gold, with a large, rotating sun disc affixed to the top.

The elephant was let in the gate by means of several strongmen pulling ropes that opened two giant stone doors. Kotaria's citizens gathered around in excitement as they noticed the Rosemarblian visitors hoping for goods such as tar leaves, pipes, needlepoint swords, and rabbit skins. The excitement soon turned to disappointment as they realized that the two visitors were not merchants.

The elephant stopped at the Kahat palace gates and Heti stood up, addressing Jimmus and Reginald.

"We have arrived at our glorious palace, home of the sacred Pharaohess Neferti!" she announced, "You may sleep in the bottom floor of the palace with our healers! I shall speak with the pharaohess as to whether she will grant you an audience."

Before Jimmus had a chance to respond, he felt himself being carried by soldiers from the elephant to the ground and marched to the first floor of Kahat. White robed healers welcomed him to sleep on a small mat made of camel skin. Reginald was placed on his own mat as the healers forced him to drink a milky substance from a clay jar.

"What are you giving him?" Jimmus asked.

"Camel's milk mixed with serpent's spit." a healer said in Kotarian, "It will dull his pain."

Jimmus shook his head in confusion but was in no position to argue. Reginald soon fell asleep.

The next morning, the two knights were fed a breakfast of camel's milk mixed with oats. Jimmus found it quite filling and better tasting than the gruel of Rosemarble. Reginald was angry that he had been attacked but also found that he was in no position to protest.

"Tis a miracle I'm not dead." Reggie whispered, "I told you they would attack us."

"Why did the princess not send a sparrow?" Jimmus questioned.

"I suspected as much." Reggie admitted, "It is almost treason to say, our princess is quite unreasonable. She does not have our well-being in mind."

"You mean to say she was trying to provoke the Kotarians to kill us?" Jimmus pondered.

"Perhaps not as much, but it would not hurt her feelings if you were killed." Reginald surmised, "She is not ignorant of your parentage."

"I have always been loyal to Queen Blaine!" Jimmus argued, "All of my life!"

"But how much does that truly matter to her daughter?" Reginald questioned.

"So your queen sent you here to die?" said a familiar voice, "All the more reason to not have you as allies."

The two knights turned around to see Heti before them, wearing a smirk.

"What is to become of us?" Jimmus asked.

"Against all reason and advice, the pharaohess wishes to see you." Heti announced, "But do not take it to heart. It is mere curiosity. I smile because I anticipate her fierce rejection of you."

Another group of soldiers surrounded the two knights as Heti led them outside. Pharaohess Neferti, leader of Kotaria, lived on the top floor of Kahat. It was reached only by a large staircase that made up the center of the complex. Heti lead the two foreign knights behind her. Jimmus slung Reggie over his shoulder and slowly dragged him up the stairs. The soldiers impatiently pushed the two envoys to go faster. By the time the group had reached the top floor, Jimmus and Reginald had collapsed to the ground, heaving for lack of water.

Heti shook her head and smiled as one of the soldiers took a camel skin flask full of water from his shoulder and handed it to Jimmus. The knight drank half of its contents and gave Reginald the other half. The soldier took the empty flask in disapproval and shoved the two knights toward the open doorway.

"I hail you, my pharaohess!" Heti announced, "The foreigners have arrived!"

"I hail you, my heraldess!" Neferti called back, "Lead them in!"

Heti stood before the pharohess who was seated in a thin wooden chair that appeared to be enlaid with green jadestone. Before her was a matching table, almost as if she were seated at a desk. Jimmus stifled a chuckle as he realized Neferti's chamber had all the trappings of an office instead of a throne room. The room was adorned with wooden shelves which held various clay and jewel idols in the shape of animals as well as several rolled scrolls and parchments. Neferti's table even had an inkwell and a reed used to draw from it.

Neferti herself was dressed not unlike Heti except her robe was bright white, enlaid with gold threads that sparkled in the sun. She wore an elaborate gold necklace, also partly encrusted with jade and a headband with a large gold disc in the center, her crown. Neferti's hair was also wrapped in complex braids that only came down to her ears but were plated with gold. Her eyes were a jade green, matching her jewelry, and surrounded by the royal black eyeliner.

Heti stood off two the side as a soldiers pushed the two knights forward to Neferti's table.

"Speak, foreigner." Neferti said, "But chose your words wisely."

"Well, your highness, pharaohess..." Jimmy mused, "As you may know, far off to the west lies the queendom of Bloodmarble, if you can call it that. It is ruled by vicious creatures called vampelles, who use humans as slaves and cattle, paleskin and darkskin alike. In Rosemarble, our queen is raising an army to defeat the vampelles and liberate the human slaves. However, our army is not large enough to fight Bloodmarble alone. We need your assistance to overthrow them. Will you not help us?"

Upon hearing this, Neferti smirked and then burst into laughter.

"You expect me to go to war for you?! To risk my people's lives for your conquest?!" she retorted, "Are you a fool? Your queen wants nothing more than to take Bloodmarble for herself. She would most likely subjugate the humans there as her own slaves. And you want to slaughter my armies in the process?"

"Now listen here, heathen..." Reginald spoke up before Jimmus nudged him in the shoulder

"Shut up, Reggie..." Jimmus whispered.

"Heathen?" Neferti questioned, "Do you insult me in mine own chambers? Shall I have my guards brand your tongue?"

"Forgive him!" Jimmus pleaded, "He is...impulsive."

"Yes, he is." Neferti surmised, "Yet I will not harm him. I am not cruel."

"The queen of the vampelles is cruel, from our reports." Jimmus argued, "We have sent out envoys in years past. The one that came back alive is missing an arm."

"You are missing something as well." Neferti noted, "Your left eye. Did the Bloodmarblians take it from you?"

"No." Jimmus said, "That happened some time ago."

"Tell me then, how did you lose your eye?" Neferti prodded.

"That is personal." Jimmus asserted.

"If you tell me, I may be persuaded by your other words." Neferti insisted.

Jimmus gave a long heavy sigh and swallowed.

"I was a young man, just starting out as a knight." Jimmus recalled, "I was trailing a bandit who had stolen various things from the villages; chickens, rabbits, wine, and such. I caught up to the man, I had seen him before, a commoner. He was younger than me, almost a boy. I ordered him to surrender and drew my sword. He drew a dagger and we fought. He soon gouged out my eye and I stabbed his stomach. I collapsed against a tree, clutching my missing eye. The man begged for help as he bled out. It took him hours to die. By the end of it, he was weeping for his mother to save him. But I could do nothing, I was in shock. I could not even see."

"Is that the tale?" Neferti asked, unimpressed, "I have seen far worse. I have seen two of mine own soldiers impaled by an elephant's tusk, another trampled by one, and yet another drowned when he was picked up by the raging river, and these were mere accidents."

"I share my worst memory with you, woman, and you mock me?" Jimmus said.

"And you, mere man, ask me to send my own out to kill and die for you?" Neferti replied, "Take off your eyepatch."

"Why?" Jimmus questioned.

"To see if your story rings true." Neferti said, "Remove it."

"I only remove it in the presence of my wife." Jimmus asserted.

"Remove it or I shall have you imprisoned." Neferti threatened.

Jimmus took off his eyepatch and clutched it in his hand. Neferti could not help but shudder a bit when she looked at the man's empty socket, surrounded by a large patch of scars.

"You may replace it." Neferti said.