Xena was tired as the army gathered in the morning sun.
About 10.000 troops had been lost in total, and of them it was mostly centaurs.
'The hobgoblins are strong and savage, but faced with well equipped and properly drilled professional army... They just don't compare.'
Xena was satisfied with the result as she had now conquered a vast forest and secured the peninsulas borders.
'But it still needs to be fortified! Today marks the completion of the first year of Prime. I need to hurry up!'.
Xena sent messengers all the way back to Eros and all towns and cities in-between.
'The first resources and civilians should appear in about 3 days..'
--
Goran had sucked all the knowledge he possibly could from Dex's lessons and became very knowledgeable about the entire empire, lords and everything a prince should know.
Including how to wield a sword, spear, shield and bow. Even if he didn't have an ability for these things, he simply had a natural talent and progressed very fast.
Everything seemed as usual and Dex left him in the cell after he had emptied his food, that was surprisingly lavish despite the fact that he was a prisoner.
However Goran wasn't completely human.
Even if his body was human with all the faults that came with it.
He also had a reptilian side.
This side of his body was condensed around his armor scales that was many times stronger than a normal reptilian.
One could say that as he had not gained the reptilian body, he had instead gained all their natural strengths, and these were heavily improved.
His senses were extremely heightened. Learning speed multiplied. Natural regeneration was inhuman.
He could even control his body, bones and scales to such a degree that he could actually become thin enough to exit between the bars of his cell.
The reptilian race valued scale-colours in the same way that old-earth birds does.
Which meant that while his own scales had enhanced, the patterns on his body, neck and head had also extremely increased in beauty.
Female reptilians would see him as the most beautiful and strong male they had ever seen.
The allure of these veins of scales so potent, that even humans found them extremely pleasing.
The reptilian had enhanced another side inside him.
He craved to prove himself. As a malez he wanted to stand out and to be seen.
In the reptilian race, only the strongest and most beautiful males would get a chance to breed. So naturally Goran had this sense of longing, even more compared to other reptilian males.
And thus while he was having his dreams of conquest after Xena left, and his own abilities grew, he naturally began to plot his escape.
He had a plan in mind, and when he achieved it, his father the Emperor would surely embrace him and proudly show him off to all the subjects of Eros!
These plans had begun as nothing more than a young teenage boys dreams.
But the day after Xena's departure, he had gained a other massive growth over night.
His body was 1.9 meters tall, very lean and strong.
His mind had reached early adulthood and his plans had changed from dreams to obsession.
On the same morning that Xena had cleared the forest, and Jack reached Ramises harbour, Goran excaped the citadel prisons.
'Just a little further!' Goran was hiding in a flower-bed near the citadels walls.
He waited for a guard patrol to walk by.
When they disappeared he quickly ran to the edge of the walls and jumped directly into the lake beneath.
Dex hasn't been aware that Goran would try to escape. However as he saw the cell empty, he had quickly traced the young man's route and just managed to see him disappearing over the walls.
Dex wasn't furious. But he knew that Goran would face dire consequences for this escape.
However he likewise wanted the prince to have a chance to prove himself, so he didn't raise the alarm.
He wanted Goran to have a headstart at least. And all he said in the end was; "Good luck Goran. Your fate is in your own hands."
Goran found he could swim fast and long under water.
He silently rose his eyes over the water close to the harbour with it's many stalls and civilians.
While no-one was looking he stole a hooded black cloak. He walked a bit further inside, hidden in the mass of civilians.
He found boots, civilians leggings and tunic that he quickly wore. He also pulled some cloth pieces to create a scarf around his neck and bound another piece around his head, hiding his markings just enough so noone would notice them.
He returned to the harbour and walked the beach until he found a place with small row-boats.
He watched how the 'hobby'-fishermen used the oars in their private small boats and quickly learned how to use them himself.
He stole one of many boats and set off.
He bypassed the walls and the guards in the tower just watched him row past.
'Another civilian going fishing. Well the weather is nice today,' they disregarded him completely.
Dex had also taught him about the empires cities and roads, and after he pushed the boat to ground much further down the lake-beaches, he quickly ran towards the highway he needed.
He didn't have any money, but using a small knife he had also collected near the boats, he quickly jammed it beneath the most beautiful of his leg-scales.
The knife wasn't much, but it was very sharp! Clearly used to quickly gut and butcher fish.
In a minute he had a shining and beautiful green-blue scale in his hands. He wrapped the wound with leftover cloths and ignored the pain.
Soon a traveler with his own horse and wagon appeared on the road.
He showed the scale to the man as payment for transport towards Lake-Town.
The man was quickly captivated by the beautiful appearance and rarity of this scale.
'Just what creature could something like this belong to?' He had never seen anything like it and quickly accepted the trade.
The scale for transport.
Goran found a place to sit inside the cloth-covered wagon.
It was piled with goods.
Buckets with baked bread, vegetables and fruits.
Sacks with ground flour and potatoes.
But what was truly stockpiled in the wagon was military gear.
Leather armour, leggings, vests, armguards, boots and belts.
Newly forged steel-swords in strong leather sheats. A pile of steel-spears and many bundles of steel-tipped arrows.
But he notices something else as well. Something Dex had told him about.
'Troop rations!' Goran was happily surprised.
Everything he could possibly need for his adventure was inside this wagon!
He quickly concluded that this man had to be an upstart merchant with food supplies to sell and also transported weaponry for the empires troops.
The morning after he could already see the walls of the garrison areas beyond Lake-Town.
He jumped off the wagon without saying goodbye to the man, and quickly hid in the tall grass beyond the road.
'I will pay you back some day. I promise!' Goran firmly clutched his stolen bounty as he sped off fast through the grass.
The Bloodfall Mountains was already in his sight.
--
As Jack disembarked his ship he got the notification about the new territory merging with his empire.
'So Xena came through as I knew she would.' He smiled broadly.
There were hundreds of ships and smaller boats in the harbour.
The harbour itself together with Ramises shipyard, stretched far on the beach.
'Ramises has clearly spend the majority of his resources on navel trade and expansion.' Jack just stated this fact for himself.
The towns walls began a kilometres inland from the beach, and between here and there was a vast guarded area with countless shops from various merchants and lords.
He knew from Ramises that his settlement was still a Town, but it rapidly progressed towards the 50.000 civilian mark that would truly set it as a small city.
Jacks comment on the chat and the huge influx of new lords in the alliance had increased the trade in Ramises territory and he benefitted greatly.
But even if the town was nearing a small city status, the volume of people around it could easily make it a large city in numbers.
Hundreds of lords with their retinue, guards and merchants had already arrived. Combined with the daily influx of travelers and traders, made the town overcrowded and many lords had chosen to set up camp outside the walls.
"Welcome to my territory Jack! This place and town is commonly known as Traders Point, and it is my humble Port-Gown!"
Jack shortly embraces his friend Ramises as he came forward.
"You called you town 'Traders Point?', why not something more spectacular like 'Merchants Destiny', or something earthly like 'Market Town'?" Jack jokingly asked.
Ramises just laughed heartily and shoved him inside the gates.
Even is Ramises joked and laughed all the way to their destination, Jack could feel that he was clearly nervous.
When they entered Ramises mansion, Raises turned towards Jack.
"Why on earth would you disembark without a guard? Didn't you see that everyone was staring at you? Everyone has seen Etal Empires coins and knows your face! If the slayers wanted to, they could easily have killed you right there on the harbour, and there are many of them around!"
Jack gently put a hand on Ramises shoulder with a smile.
"Don't worry, I have an aura-sense ability and can easily sense the average strength level and hostility in everyone around me. And even if there were some with hostile intents, it wasn't high enough to act on it, and even if they did, noone there posses the strength to seriously challenge me."
Ramises sighed upon hearing this, "just be careful. The trade alliance can not afford to loose you."
"So what's the plans Ramises? When will the meeting take place?" Jack had traveled for a long time and was eager to begin.
"You're the last one to arrive. We would have begun yesterday, but surprisingly, both sides had an interest in waiting for you."
Jack understood this. He was a special lord in this gathering, the one who indirectly had started the confrontation between the two alliances.
Of course the Slayers had an interest in seeing him and hearing him out before any other confrontation should be made.
"Set up your camp, then meet me at the long house that I've build especially for this occasion. It's located in the east side of town, the other side compared to the harbour."
Jack and Ramises said goodbye and Jack quickly left.
He wanted to set up camp quickly so the meeting could begin. They were just waiting for him.
While he walked he noticed that despite the tension between the alliances, thousands of people was happy and the mood was generally very high.
Lamps with candles was floated in the air, the old-earth Chinese way.
Many colours of cloths and banners swayed everywhere, mixed with decorations of different size and shapes.
Many civilians and merchant stalls even sold sugary candies, sweets and breads.
They roasted large beasts on pyres and Jack though he could even smell dimwag meat amongst them.
It truly was a festival.
As Jack's ships began to unload the 5000 civilians with all their trade goods and the civilians began to open trade, thousands of civilians flocked to them.
Rumours spread quickly, and everyone knew that Jack's civilians was stocked with coin and quality wares.
However it was nothing compared to the eerily silence that insued throughout the entire harbour and marketplace as Jacks troops came down from the ships.
1000 centaurs, though trash rank, they were heavily equipped, came down the ramps first.
After them followed the very heavily armoured Citadel Guards. Their shields and polearms on their backs, as a small chest containing 1000 gold coins was carried in their hands.
1000 of these Citadel Guards came in rows with 1000 chests containing a combined number of one million gold coins.
These troops, the citadel guards in particular, was enough to claim silence over the area.
However what appeared next, truly shook everyone present.
20 Giants, all 15 meters tall, fully clad in amazing and beautifully designed steel armour with huge war-weapons arrived at the beach...