Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 95: A Crestfallen King

Within the shining keep situated in the center of the crevasse at the very center of Balin, a morose figure sat in a room high within the keep, looking out over the city. Rotan, once lively and animated, with his dark eyes that were once filled with a combination of curiosity, joy and amusement, was now an entirely different figure.

The healthy glow had left his olive skin, and it now looked papery thin, and his veins crossed his skin like writhing green snakes. Dark circles lay under his dull eyes, that stared lifelessly out of the broad window that revealed Balin. 

Rotan could have easily been mistaken for a skeleton, and his figure disappeared within a heavy blanket. 

On the table beside him was an enormous platter, absolutely laden with food of every kind, one could imagine a dish, and it would be present, there were steaming hot entire roast birds, warm bread, golden butter, sweet and savory pastries and pitcher upon pitcher of chilled juices, all keep to temperature by magical equipment. Jonas had spared no expense, his King was wasting away, and he could not bear to watch it happen.

"Please, your majesty, just a piece of bread, it may whet your appetite." Jonas practically begged, as he stood watching Rotan, tears filling his eyes. Unlike Rotan, Jonas still looked every bit the middle aged man, all except his silver hair, which gave him his particularly distinguished air.

"Do you think I was ever truly King? Or has my entire reign been a lie, subject to the whims of Tam and the nobles." Rotan ignored Jonas' pleas and launched into a tirade that Jonas had heard hundreds of times since the war with Kalun and Phintus had ended and Tam had become the grand Marshal.

"My liege, of course you are King, you have been such for your entire reign and will be till your heir takes the throne." Jonas replied as best he could, taking a different tack this time.

"My heir! What heir? I will never have an heir, even the greatest healers at the Academy could not rectify that, the throne would pass to either that c*** Tam or the b***** Anteris." Rotan flew into a rage, and threw a platter laden with bread rolls stuffed with cheese and pieces of sausage at the granite wall, ruining the delicate tapestry of one of his ancestors slaying an enormous serpent.

"My liege, your legacy will live on for an eternity, you have done more for the people of this nation than even your father, and a long life remains ahead of you. We will find you a healer and even beyond that we will find you a partner who shall deliver you an heir!" Jonas desperately tried to improve Rotan's mood, but he was so fatigued after day after day of trying to keep his King from fading away that he had brought up one of Rotan's taboo topics.

"Do you think those fools realize what those paved roads and patrols mean for them? No, all they see are the taxes that they spent! They could be standing on a mountain top and would struggle to see past their noses!" Rotan began to shed tears, weakly thumping the table, his mana reserves could only sustain him for so long.

"Please my liege, you must eat, and rest. Be strong my liege, I trust his lordship Tam, he has stood by you all these years, he would not usurp the throne from you." Jonas passed Rotan a heavily buttered piece of bread, who began to weakly chew out at it, all the while staring blankly out at his city.

Far to the west, amongst the dense jungles of Kalun, a small group of soldiers marched, at their head rode Tam, and five of his personal guards, proudly wearing the hawk emblem on their chests.

The rest were a young Ursten noble, a Tribesman, and their warriors. The noble was Baron Fidi, a promising young noble who wielded an enormous spear that dwarfed him, and he had brought along his entire troop, who were fiercely loyal, and wore his coiled rope sigil proudly.

The tribespeople were from the Bear tribe, like their namesake they were a boisterous bunch, but were led by Bhal's son, who shared his father's enormous stature and raw strength, but lacked his joking manner, and was a quiet island amongst his constantly joking soldiers.

The group had made good headway through the jungles; they were heading towards one of the more remote trading outposts, one that often sent messages by river to Kalun's only port.

Tam's strategy was simple, he would have his army, now bolstered by the tribes, take over the remote outposts and towns, effectively isolated the many jungle cities from each other.

Most other armies would have struggled to do this, but thanks to the rapidly growing strength of Ursten's nobles, and the addition of the highly skilled Southern warriors, a small group could easily take a small town. 

Suddenly, Tam held up a closed fist, and the entire group immediately came to a halt, during the journey to Kalun, Tam had made sure to drill the signals and commands he used to every single of the troops, one could never know when a quickly recognized command could turn the tide of battle.

With even the normally loud Bear tribe silent, only the huffing of horses and occasional jingle of the harness of a shifting horse sounded out. Then, there was a loud cracking sound to the right of the group of soldiers.

All the soldiers felt a chill run down their necks, which was immediately replaced by a suffocating feeling as Tam unleashed his pressure. 

"Everybody, scatter now, regroup when the noise stops." Tam growled out, drawing his gently curved blade, that already glowed with a blue light, and dismounting from his horse, throwing the reins to one of his men who led the horse away.

As soon as the last soldier disappeared into the jungle, Tam began banging his blade against his arm guard, and let loose his full pressure.

Tam let out a yell, which was answered by an earsplitting roar, shaking the leaves from the trees between Tam and the unseen creature, and blasting down several smaller trees. 

Tam turned to face the creature, prepared to battle.