I'd apologise for leaving this so long before updating, but I have legitimate reasons that none of you actually care about. So, here goes nothing.

I'm lazy.

What? You expected some kind of all-wise speech filled with excuses? No, I'm telling you plain and simple that I am a lazy bastard.

Also, I couldn't think how to continue from the first chapter and it just…went from there.

But it's back! It will be continued! IT. WILL. NOT. SUCK!

…too terribly, anyway. This chapter is filler, by the way, exploring the lore and background I've painstakingly crafted with my own two hands. So…enjoy.

(^^^^^^)

A Week Later

Upon a throne of mahogany wood and red velvet, gold inlaid at the head of it with engravings of the long-since-extinct Grimm doing battle with a nondescript human, sat Ruby. Her silver eyes both bored yet attentive, searching the room with occupants before her- silver eyes met red for the briefest of moments, before she sighed and held a dainty, glove-covered hand out.

Blake, just behind her, wordlessly handed her the manila file holding several pages of white paper stained with black ink. Parchment and quills, while going out of style everywhere else, were things Ruby's kingdom clung to; all residents hoping to keep traditional items around for at least another hundred years or so. Ruby agreed with the populace if only because she'd grown up using such items- whereas every other monarch to date used pen and paper, perhaps even those 'scroll' things she'd heard Ironwood was creating for better communication. Photographs however were a thing of the present for the country; far too useful to ever be deemed 'unnecessary'.

The large table before her, used hours ago as a stage for a meeting between the high-society players in the world and monarchs from across the seas of which she had good or neutral relations with, served as the home on which the file rested once Ruby had thrown it down. Wordlessly the people of the table, Blake included with Pyrrha watching with stern gaze and hearty steeliness in her posture, stared with wide eyes and numbed thoughts. Pictures had fallen form the folder, and each one sent shivers of utter horror down their spines- how the Spymaster ever got such pictures with being rent apart by solid claws and steeled fangs they'd never even think of, because these images would be burnt into their minds.

An army.

The military were more of a police force than anything nowadays, and while they were trained in combat, they had stagnated since then. Each soldier used to be on par with Pyrrha Nikos, now they were on par with perhaps a civilian given a sword and told to swing in a general direction; Ruby found herself rather disappointed when she'd learned of her country's stagnation- being kind had its drawbacks. Perhaps she'd need to toughen herself for the coming days, but alas she sighed and lifted a hand, running it down her face and sighing again. Ruby didn't have a tough bone in her body- sure, she could be apathetic, but she'd learnt from King Arthur's legend, entrusting upon her and future monarchs some wisdom that made them stop and think about their ruling capabilities. "A Monarch ruling his kingdom should feel instead of see, should be instead of hold, and should lead instead of watch", essentially meaning that while apathy could lead to a safer kingdom, it didn't make a happy kingdom.

But Emerald Sustrai, cousin to the Queen and currently the only Knight in Vale, wasn't worried about such things. If worst came to worst her cousin and Queen could knight more people, help train the next batch of soldiers, and perhaps even ride with them into battle- it has been ages since she'd last sparred with her though, so Emerald questioned the skill of her queen. Then she threw such thoughts away with worry and haste- such thoughts bordered treason, and she would rather not be known as the only Knight in Vale's history to become a traitor. Traitors to Vale were akin to a brother stealing a sister's car and not giving it back, stating as his reason "You didn't deserve it"; meaning, in short, that traitors were nothing more than a pox upon society and seen as the lowest of the low- murderers and rapists were held in higher esteem than a traitor upon the battlefield…though not by much. Her queen had continued talking throughout, but by the low drawling tone Emerald could tell it was nothing to pay attention to- something about mobilising troops and whatnot, perhaps a word or two about introducing civilians to voluntary conscription into the army. To be perfectly honest though she'd be unashamed to say she blanked most of it.

Until knighting came into the conversation. Perking up immediately with fire behind her eyes, Emerald broached the topic- and she'd also be unashamed to say that she'd momentarily forgotten her place. But as soon as all eyes went to her after her scene-creating sudden stand, she cleared her throat and retained professionalism. "Highness; as Vale's only Knight I find it imperative that you introduce more. One knight can do so much- and while respect is given I'm afraid it isn't nearly enough to our kingdom."

Ruby looked intrigued and understanding in both measure being balanced in equal doses; a fortunate Knight she was indeed that her queen didn't seem to care about such things as interruptions- though if it did continue she'd understandably get upset; Emerald made mental notes to keep her mouth shut. "Knighting more people?" After a thought on it, a full minute in passing before an answer was given, the Queen sighed. "Of course; I hadn't thought. Nothing more than a nagging feeling that Vale was missing something, I'm afraid."

Emerald looked inquisitive as to whether or not she should finish her on-the-spot speech or not, but with Ruby lifting a hand in circular motion, allowing her to continue, she needn't have thought on it too long. Before she could speak however, Pyrrha- the Royal bodyguard- decided to butt in. "Highness, are we sure more Knights are needed?" At Ruby's lifted eyebrow she continued, speech steady and unwavering with the tone being set to professional and inquisitive. Pyrrha was a woman respected across many different countries, if only because of her strength and her undefeated reputation, along with golden heart and kindness- when necessary. Trained since birth to be the perfect bodyguard to the monarch- as had the rest of her family's predecessors been- all manner of weaponry became her specialty. From spears to pikes, bastard swords to shortswords, great-axes to hatchets and great-hammers to maces; everything had been a weapon she'd been rigorously trained in for every situation. For example, if placed in the front line and surrounded a bastard sword was recommended, while if in one-on-one combat with a heavily armoured soldier the use of a Tuck- also known as an Estoc- was needed. A shielded foe? Use a curved sword. A foe with reach, a bow perhaps or great-axe? A spear would be recommended, but Pyrrha would tell you that dual-wielding two shortswords would be the better option, as long as you had the agility to dodge the wide swings of the axe that is.

The point is, Pyrrha is and was at the height of her militaristic training; a shame the soldiers weren't. the woman obviously thought that she could whip them into shape before whatever threat it was that was displayed in the pictures got here. Pyrrha had been in a few incidents that almost bordered war, giving her experience over everyone there; except Emerald, of course, because while Pyrrha had experience Emerald had a life of it. She was orphaned, sure, but due to distant relations to the queen Vale opened arms to her- they never questioned what kind of background she came from, what city or kingdom she was born in, who her parents were, what weapon- if any- she possessed. The general populace of Vale knew that Emerald was Ruby's distant cousin and Ruby had the power to bring her here. That's all they cared about, and questions were left alone.

"An army needs generals, yes? Well, while we have foot-soldiers, spearmen, bowmen and even officers, we have no generals; no one to lead them into battle, myself excluded." Seeing that she'd gotten the majority of the room's attention- including Emerald's- Pyrrha stood strong with her delivery. "We've gotten evidence that an army is coming; we don't know who they are or where they are, we don't know what they want or why they're doing this. All we know is they're a-"

Emerald stood up, slamming hands down on the table's top and exuding an aura that showed experience and purpose in her interruption; the exact reason she was made the only knight in Vale. Knights were chivalrous, yes, and they were commonplace in other countries, yes. But they were also foolhardy and reckless; and while enemies respected them to the point of capturing instead of killing, other kingdoms had become complacent. Battles were waged half-heartedly with no purpose behind drawing their blades other than to look good in front of the masses. That was generally what other kingdoms' knights had become; crowd-pleasing mockeries of what a traditional knight should and would be- they became nothing in Emerald's eyes, and Ruby had to agree that while they held power…that was mostly all the other kingdoms' knights had. No skill, just wealth and political power to back up their stations.

Emerald considered herself a true knight; honourable, gracious to those she fought- gloating and taunting were beneath her as a knight-, respectful in and out of battle, courteous and kind. She was the model for every knight in Remnant.

Ruby could see the pros of having more official knights in her army; if Emerald took over as their trainer and instilled the same spiritual and emotional qualities that she possessed into them, she could have an army she'd say she was proud of. Not that Ruby wasn't proud of her country's army, of course, but its power had been waning since she took over, and while the people were happy she knew it would come and bite them in the backside when a war came.

And from the intelligence Blake had brought, a war was very well on their doorsteps.

War, in Vale's history, was something it had only experienced once- a very, very long time ago, well before her grandmother's grandmother existed. From the scripts of the scribes present and the accounts of surviving soldiers from all sides- yes, all, as in more than two- being written down, from what Ruby understood and what Glynda could make clear was that it was a war of epic proportions. Spanning the entire globe, every single country that now had an alliance or neutral standing fought each other to the death; then there was Vale, a neutral ground that had offered itself up so that other countries didn't lose their land's health or richness of soil to the spoils of war. Ironically enough, even though Vale was a battleground in the past, the only echo that could be felt in the days ahead were none more than dark-stained soiled. All of the soil that slithered beneath Vale acted alive in some sense, carrying on the blood that stained it from two hundred-or-something years ago. The stained soil was used to fertilise the people of Vale's vegetables, with fruits that grew from trees being a commodity that could only be imported because, while vegetables grew without issue, fruits and other such tree-grown foods had as much trouble growing as a snowball did surviving in the fieriest pits of Hell.

It just wasn't possible.

Ignoring the morbid thoughts of how her country was dwindling slowly under her rule, she turned to Emerald and lifted a hand to stop her from speaking more and, possibly, embarrassing herself. "I want you to scour our military, barrack by barrack, and bring me those that you believe could uphold the Knightly ways you now possess." Turning to Pyrrha, she gave no emotion on her pale face which could indicate how she felt- pure apathy, something only shown in the most serious of proceedings, lay upon Ruby's delicate, royal yet also humble face. "I wish for you to show her where everyone is, and you are to partake in this as well; help her find the most perfect knights."

After their silence became deafening, Ruby turned a delicate face, now smiling with hints of apology, towards the rest of the room. "Now, is there anything else to be brought to my attention?"

While the meeting continued with nary a fluctuation in its fluidity, staying its course towards completion, the pictures found a light breeze, catching their edges and pulling them aside slightly.

One, in particular, was caught in the edges of Ruby's vision before being thoroughly ignored. A shield, depicting a large Crow, two ravens circling it, their eyes red with talons dipped in blood; their feathers black ending with small knife edges.

And one word that truly made her freeze, before smoothly transitioning from freeze to continuing her speech. A word that she'd heard of in whispers from the other rulers of the world- a word that caused many to squeal in fright or shift in discomfort.

The savage undead lords and ladies of the Dragon Peak Lands to the far North, Gwyn's Army.

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