Here's the final edit of chapter 3!
Osred waited for Adesha and Legatus to catch up before knocking on the door to the other meeting room, whereupon a strong yet quiet voice called happily, "Enter!" Osred opened the door to find the leader of Forcus and the delegate he was meeting with rising from their seats and shaking hands to conclude their meeting. The delegate than bowed to his leader and the leader returned his bow to grant his dismissal. The delegate passed by Osred, Adesha and Legatus, bowing slightly as he passed, which all three warriors returned before entering the room. The three companions entered the room and stood before the Leader of Forcus, Osred to the side, preparing to introduce.
"Your Highness, I present to you Adesha and Legatus. Adesha and Legatus, I present to you the Leader of Forcus." Both Adesha and Legatus bowed.
"Greetings, Adesha and Legatus." The Leader of Forcus smiled warmly and bowed. "You may call me Edward."
The Leader of Forcus was a young Lynx, not older than Osred but much taller, with a more relaxed posture and still bearing that look of age-old wisdom that most lynxes held.
"Please sit." The Leader of Forcus motioned to the meeting room table, where Adesha, Legatus and Osred chose seats and everyone sat down.
"I would like to thank you all for assisting our town with this issue," Edward began. "I think it's obvious we are in need of skills such as yours. Every day, Wrencin's threats become harsher and more personal. If things continue as they are, war would be inevitable. I am hoping you can help to prevent that."
Legatus sat up straight before their hallowed host. "I can assure you; we will do all that we can to bring a swift and peaceful end to this unrest."
Edward smiled. "Then you have my deepest gratitude. I will give you everything you require for your endeavour, as well as anything else you may request during your stay."
"You're most kind;" Legatus bowed his head. "If I may request business first?"
Edward nodded, encouraging Legatus to proceed.
"What do you personally know about this deal?"
"Only what I've given to Osred I'm afraid." Edward motioned towards Osred. "I was alive when my father made the deal but I was young then and not expected to inherit his position. My older brother was the expected heir and he was allowed into the room when the meeting was being held. I was not."
"There seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding the meeting during which this deal was forged." Legatus stated.
"When the King of Wrencin arrived in our town, he requested there be as few people at the meeting as possible. The King professed the meeting must be kept secret to prevent anyone from Wrencin who distrusted the Forcan people, or vice versa, from halting the agreement until it was completed. He only brought a scribe and a single guard and only the scribe was allowed in the room with him, along with my father and older brother. This was so that both leaders, upon their deaths, would have a way to ensure the deal could be completed by their respective heirs without any trouble.”
“That was a good set up, but it’s apparent that something went wrong.” Adesha mused to herself before looking at Legatus.
“Why wasn’t the current King of Wrencin present?” Legatus inquired.
“The former King explained that his son was otherwise occupied and was unable to attend. That was the only reason there was even a scribe present, so that his son could take note of it later.” Edward answered.
“And what about your brother, why didn’t he take your father’s place?”
“After much time had passed, my brother contracted an illness from which he never recovered. After my brother died, my father quickly deteriorated in health. By then, it’d been so long since the meeting that my father didn’t remember to pass on the knowledge before he passed himself.”
“I’m so sorry.” Legatus’ ears dropped.
“Thank you but it’s alright.” Edward smiled warmly. “For a long time I thought he died of a broken heart. But, in the end, he seemed happy that I was to take his place.”
“I’m sure he would be proud of what you’ve done.” The fire returned to Legatus’ eyes and Edward smiled and shook his head.
“You flatter me, but I’ve never felt more helpless than during this time and I can’t help but think he wouldn’t have been so hesitant.”
“But the fact remains, he is no longer in charge, you are. Yours are the choices that matter and while his wisdom should act as your guide, he should not be your judge. You must make the choices because no one else will and because you can never make everyone happy, only you need to be happy with those choices.”
Edward chuckled at Legatus’ speech. “Your way with words is truly as inspiring as I have come to expect. I shall certainly look forward to finding a resolution with your help.”
Legatus realised the composition he held - leaning towards Edward, staring intently into his eyes with a finger poised on the table. He instantly reeled back and threw his hand behind his head. “Forgive me, Your Highness, I’ve helped many new leaders find their feet throughout my travels. I fear the experience has given me an arrogance on the subject.”
“Pay no mind to it,” Edward shook his head and smirked. “Your ‘arrogance’ is well placed.” Edward breathed in deeply and sighed. “Well, if I am to be an effective leader, I believe we should move on to the issue at hand.”
“Certainly, Your Highness.” Legatus bowed his head slightly before looking at Osred who was prepared to speak.
“The information available to us concerning this situation is, regrettably, minimal. At this stage, the King of Wrencin holds the political advantage and Forcus cannot be in a position to negotiate effectively unless a meeting is organised. Now that Legatus has agreed to assist, he shall send a message to the King - signed by himself - to request a mediation here in Forcus. It is hoped that Legatus’ reputation will be enough to persuade the King to help find a peaceful solution and trust that you only want the same.”
“But the King has already stated that he does not wish to set foot in our town. What if he happens to refuse again?” Edward interjected.
“Then we will offer to meet in Wrencin, where the King is comfortable, to further insist that we only want peace between your towns.” Legatus replied. “If he refuses that, then his own motivations will be called into question and he will have nothing to bargain with. But we’ll consider our options at that stage if and when we come to it.”
Edward looked a little uneasy. “Is it possible that he will expect that offer and wait for it in order to lure me into a trap?”
Adesha now spoke up. “We three will accompany you into the city as a personal guard while a secondary guard will wait outside the city. If there should be any chance of an ambush, we will escort you out of the city while the secondary guard floods in to clear a path for us.”
“While I don’t doubt the abilities of my soldiers, I won’t ask them to take on the entire city of Wrencin, it would be suicide.” Edward spoke with great concern, although reserved in the hope that this problem had already been considered.
“Of course, I couldn’t make such a request either, Your Highness. However, I have developed a tool which will aid us in that respect.” Now even Osred and Legatus looked at Adesha with both intrigue and puzzlement. “While here in Forcus, I have attempted to develop many devices and tools to help in the swift ending of war. One such device I tried to make was an item to communicate with allied troops without relying on messengers and without the enemy accessing the information. My aim was an auditory device which could project a sound great distances and which could only be heard by someone with a special receiver. If a communications code could be developed using a sequence of monotonal sounds, then we would only need something which produced a mostly inaudible pitch, but one which could be picked up by another device, namely the receiver. During my tests, I came across a pitch which was nearly painful to hear but none of the felines that were working with me could hear it with the receiver. What was even more interesting was that many canines in the town could hear it without any receiver equipment, and a large number far throughout the town at that.
“While ineffective as a communications tool, I believe this sound would be very useful in this situation. I managed to fashion a wooden whistle that creates the sound exactly and is no larger than my finger. If I could give one to you, Your Highness, and if we placed one canine in the secondary guard to listen out for the sound, they could use that as the call to break into the city and attack. The jackals will be mostly incapacitated, allowing the guard to disarm them without hurting them which will, in turn, allow us safe passage to meet up with them and escape with no loss of life.” Everyone looked stunned at Adesha’s new invention.
“Adesha, that’s amazing!” Legatus exclaimed. “How did you develop such a device?”
Adesha dropped her gaze, embarrassed by the attention and chuckled. “As much as I yearned for a quiet life here in Forcus, I had to keep my mind active. Research and development of tools was the only thing I had both the resources and skills for.”
Legatus grinned - proud of Adesha’s constant resourcefulness - before turning back to Edward. “Well, Your Highness, it seems that every problem has been considered. I believe the first course of action is to send the message requesting the King of Wrencin’s presence in Forcus. I shall write the letter tonight and send a messenger in the morning in the hope that we shall receive a response quickly.”
Edward seemed relieved that things were progressing quickly. “Thank you, Legatus. I have no doubts that you will do well to help us through this difficult problem. Very well, I shall leave you to your activities and please, enjoy yourselves while there is little work to do. Explore the town and make yourselves comfortable.”
Everyone stood up and bowed to Edward before exiting the room. Legatus sighed as he, Osred and Adesha started walking down the hall. “So, what do you think of the situation, Adesha?”
Adesha considered a moment before answering. “All in all, I can see what the former King of Wrencin wanted to do; protect his plan from any spies or traitors. However, it’s also clear that he didn’t follow through on his plan to inform his son of the deal before his death, hence the discovery and subsequent backlash by the current King of Wrencin. This coupled with the unfortunate circumstances by which the current Leader of Forcus has taken his position, it’s all added up to a lot of small mistakes that have caused a large problem.”
Legatus nodded along, looking at the floor as he listened and walked. “Yes, it seems to be a simple case of bad luck. Hmm. What information did you obtain from that, Osred?”
Osred remained standing upright, looking straight ahead as he spoke. “Nothing of consequence; the Leader of Forcus is oblivious to the contents of the deal, regardless of his knowledge of the circumstances during which the original meeting took place. This puts him at a great disadvantage until he can observe the document himself. Depending on the King of Wrencin’s comprehension of the true circumstances, as well as his general attitude, he may allow the Leader to observe the document and give us equal knowledge. If not, I’m afraid you may have great difficulty finding a peaceful solution.”
Legatus’ gaze dropped once again, his ears dropping with it. “Yes, it would seem so…”
Osred stopped and turned to Legatus. “I will assist you in any way I can. Whatever scrap of information the King of Wrencin provides, I will deduce whatever I can to aid you.”
Legatus smiled at Osred. “Thank you, Ozzy. I shall be looking forward to working with you again.”
“Well, I have to collect some documents and return to my accommodation to study a few things more closely. I’ll meet you back at the dining hall at sunset for the evening meal?”
Adesha and Legatus both nodded and Osred left them to roam the halls. “Poor Osred, he works himself too hard.” Adesha sighed.
“I dunno, I think rechecking things is his way of relaxing at the end of the day. At worst it’s like reading a book you’ve read before and at best he’ll discover something new and get extremely excited.” Legatus suggested jokingly. Adesha laughed at Legatus’ analysis.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right!”
“But what about you, researching and developing new tools and devices?” Legatus gave Adesha a congratulatory bump on the shoulder, prompting the same embarrassed look that Adesha held before.
“Like I said, I needed something to keep my mind active. As much as I wanted to escape the fighting, the only thing I could come up with was to explore possible methods to improve battle conditions. So I started studying in the Forcan library and I’ve come up with a few good things, the whistle being one of them.”
Legatus grinned. “Adesha, ever the strategist! Always finding new ways to win a war in a day!” Adesha looked even more embarrassed.
“Oh please, like that can ever happen! Besides, strategies come and go, but their greatest asset is the element of surprise. If I can keep developing new and better strategies, I can keep a cool edge over my opponent.”
“Well then, I look forward to hearing your whistle’s effectiveness.” Legatus grinned. Adesha chuckled uneasily.
“Hehehe…no you don’t. It’s actually painful, Leg. I hope I never have to use it or it’d be like defending myself by hitting a shield over my own head!”
Adesha and Legatus both laughed as they approached a long room, its length made to accommodate the dining table it held.
“This is the dining hall.” Adesha explained. “Most people eat in their homes but the Leader and his delegates will often eat here if they have a lot of work to do.”
“So we’ll be coming back here for evening meal then?” Legatus inquired, to which Adesha nodded before looking out the nearest window.
“It won’t be sunset for a while yet though.”
“How about a tour of the town then?” Legatus asked excitedly. Adesha smiled.
“Of course! We should be able to get one round trip before sunset.”
At this, they both left the town hall and made their way around the town.
Home 
