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Apparently, one of his servants refused to heed his advice and preferred to increase the risk of encountering bandits. Donovan believed that she was not an ordinary servant as her rebellious attitude would have warranted a death penalty if it was up to other officials. He personally admired fearless people and thus, decided to deal with her later.

He did not blame the servant for her ignorance as she had never left Ifeland. The current Emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven and it was clearly reflected throughout the Empire, with famines striking several Provinces and floods occurring at a daily basis. Peasant revolts broke out in Timarctus as high taxes were imposed to fund the construction of fortifications and the military. The Governor of Timarctus had petitioned to the Imperial Court for military and financial aid but his requests for assistance were repeatedly denied.

To reach Asopeos, Donovan knew he had to pass a particular forested hill that he would have avoided if possible. There were many outlaws lurking there, waiting to ambush unsuspecting merchants passing by. Before entering, he waved his hands to shush the servants.

Initially, he believed that they were extremely lucky not to come across any bandits. However, just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief after travelling for half an hour in that dreaded place, thirty bandits suddenly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.

Their leader, Talos, had messy black hair and a short beard. Holding his battle axe tightly on his right hand, he yelled in a gruff voice, “I am Talos, the Bandit King. If you wish to keep your life, dismount and surrender all your valuables to us now!”

Donovan immediately dismounted and pointed his double-edged sword at Talos and saying, “I challenge you to a single combat. If you win, I would gladly surrender all my valuables and become your slave.”

Talos laughed mockingly and replied “Rascal, you dare challenge the Bandit King? Face death!” as he charged towards Donovan.

Just as Talos’s battle axe was about to come into contact with Donovan’s neck, he sidestepped and swung his weapon. Talos’s head came rolling onto the ground while the rest of the bandits knelt down and kowtowed before Donovan, begging him to take them as his followers.

Donovan knew that having a few armed followers with him would be beneficial, especially in a forested hill infested with bandits. He agreed to their requests as the group resumed their journey to Asopeos.

Telkartha had gleefully watched the battle. When the theives joined them, she wished they stole everything they could find. She hated them which made her despise Chancellor Devon even more and that made her grow more disagreeable and uncooperative. Telkartha glowered at Donovan from a distance. She now hated him. She hated every man, woman, and child that ever even thought of Ifeland. Telkartha glared at the thieves. If she had a sword, she would slaughter every one of them. Including the one who sat atop the horse she had so carefully taken care of.

Cintothas, the second leader of the group of servants who turned against the Chancellor, grabbed Telkartha's attention. She whispered so no one could hear. "I heard the trouble you called earlier. Were you really planning to escape?" Telkartha looked at Cintothas blankly. "Of course I was. You don't expect me to return to Ifeland, do you?" Cintothas shrugged and muttered,"It's not wise and I wouldn't recommend it." But Telkartha just looked at her and laughed. Cintothas was afraid this might happen, which is why she had not mentioned it earlier. If death wasn't so feared, the servants would turn on Donovan. There were times where she thought Telkartha was seriously demented. Either that, or she was very stupid. Most servants believed it was the former which is why they put up with her. Cintothas thought Donovan was lucky, because if he had only taken Telkartha, there would be a 75% chance he would be lying in the middle of no where.

The envoy was sighted by the border guards at the Asepeos-Timarctus border, when the envoy reached the border they were greeted by Sir Mane head of the border guards seated on his Lion Mao "Welcome great lord Donovan, our gracious Lord Leo is waiting for you in the capital New Leonum, I assigned some of our elite gaurds to lead you there" he said in a polite tone as four lion riders and two spearmen joined the Envoy, The journey to new Leonum was peaceful and when the Envoy reached the gates of the city they were greeted with Horn blowing and the beating of drums at the gates Lord Leo stood gracefully surrounded by his Lions, he put on a fake smile "welcome, Lord Donovan to Asepeos, we are happy to meet such a honorable lord like you" he greeted in a well structured tone.

Sir Donovan was impressed by the magnificent lions of Asepeos, partly due to the fact that the utilising of wild animals in war was a rare sight in northern part of the Empire. Upon meeting Lord Leo, he immediately bowed, cupped his left hand over his right hand and raised them to his forehead. It was a form of respect when in the presence of someone in an equal or superior social standing.

With a smile on his face, he said politely, "My liege, Chancellor Devon, sends his regards to you, Governor Leo. He praises you to be an honourable ruler, a pillar of the Empire. These meagre offerings are a small token from us."

After which he signalled to Cintothas to bring forth the luxurious gifts, passing them to the servants of Governor Leo. As any informed man would have observed, Chancellor Devon would never have instructed Donovan to bring any gifts nor say such words as he believed he was the strongest man in the Empire and that everyone should submit to him, even the Emperor. However, Donovan knew he had to present himself in the proper way should he wish to succeed in this diplomatic mission.

Telkartha eyed the lions. Poor things. They didn't deserve to be stuck here for these barbarians. She looked directly at Lord Leo. He looked like he was hiding something behind that ridiculous smile of his. Telkartha couldn't do anything now. She watched Cintothas. She was to afraid of death to rebel against anything. Telkartha had to admit though, the greeting was awesome. She looked around and started planning. Cintothas was watching her, but she didn't care. She had on a lovely smile, but her eyes read different. Telkartha stopped her mischief and only half-cooperated. One of Lord Leo's servants looked at her strangely. Telkartha muttered,"Barbarian bastards." There were lions everywhere. Telkartha felt sorry for them and wondered if these people ever heard of horses.

Lord Leo smile broke into a dumbfounded expression, his spies in Ifeland informed him about Chancelor Devon was greedy manipulative barbarian bastard who sees all other governors as his slaves, but it seems that Sir Donovan was a honorable man who was destined to serve under an awful liege.

He smiled, this time it was a real one "just generous gifts from a generous and honorable man like you Sir, as expected from one of Chancelor Devon's men" he lied gracefully at the end "come follow me to my castle, where we can discuss matters more freely" he said as he turned and started walking on the main road which was decorated with Asepeos and to his disgust Ifeland flags, people and their lion companions lined the sides of the road whom on Lord Leo's orders celebrated the Ifeland's envoy.

A few minutes later Lord Leo was seated with Sir Donovan in a chamber designated for meeting foreign dignitaries, after a show of oriental dancers bathed with gold and a ceremonial fight between two lion riders, Lord Leo cleared his throat "so how can I help you great sir?" he asked with a hint of curiousness

Sir Donovan took a seat, with his two servants standing behind him. He replied, "Governor Leo, Chancellor Devon has a proposal, which he would like to put forward for your consideration. As one who utterly loathes the southern barbarians and has always wanted to drive them out of the Empire had there not been an uprising from the Eastern Empire, Chancellor Devon promises to return the land of Blencathra to its rightful owner, House Fortis, in exchange for allowing him to utilise Asepeos as a platform to launch an invasion against the barbarians. Chancellor Devon's territory is vast and his subjects many. With an army of one hundred thousand troops, victory is assured. What do you think, Governor Leo?"

On the surface, this proposal seemed to be aiming for a win-win situation for both Chancellor Devon and Governor Leo but on further inspection, it was clear that something was amiss.

Telkartha thought of a land where peasants were allowed to vote for their leader. A land with provinces that stood united against all enemies. No servants, tyranny, nothing as of today. She felt like laughing at such a dream. Her eyes were on Leo. He seemed respectable. Donovan was, but he worked for Chancellor Devon. Telkartha had nothing against Donovan personally, but someone had to keep him on his toes. Telkartha glanced at Cintothas. She was probably daydreaming. Telkartha thought she was stupid and probably demented. She had once been caught hugging a guard. Fortunately, the guard had been to embarrassed to do anything. Telkartha sighed and looked at Donovan. Somehow, he brought back the image of Chancellor Devon lying dead, a pool of blood around him. Telkartha had saw this in her mind dozens of times. She couldn't tell anyone because then they would see her as ill-minded. If you did something wrong or out-of-place, you were seen as ill-minded. Or just plainly stupid.

As much as Lord Leo wanted to accept the offer and get the land of his grandfathers back to his house, he thought about it again, he knew that Chancellor Devon was as bad as King Oolacaryn and he would not feel comfortable if the bulk of the chancellor's forces were station in Asopeos, he had to refuse the offer politely and pray it does not cost the neutrality between the house and the central power.

As he opened his mouth to refuse, he closed it abruptly, a small cunning smirk formed on his lips "I would like to accept Chancellor Devon's offer, however, I have noticed a flaw in the plan" he paused to assure that Sir Donovan gave him his full attention, he took out a scroll of paper from a nearby shelf and unfurled it placing it on the top of the meeting table, it was the map of the empire, he also took out some carved wooden figures and placed them on the map.

"the barbarian forces are based here" he placed a boar figure on Blencathra "and our forces are here" he place a lion figure on Asepeos "according the chancellor Devon's plan his forces will also be here" he placed an emperor figure next to the lion "we will attack the barbarian forces from Asopeos" he moved the lion and the emperor closer to Blencathra "seeing this the barbarian forces wil feel threatened by our might and they will flee north either towards Timarctus" he moved the boar towards Timarctus "or Manchannya" he moved it to Manchannya "or to Senzetor" he moved it to Senzetor "this will cause trouble especially if they moved to Senzetor or Manchannya, if they gained power there they will just be next door to Ifeland" he said in a fake grim tone as he pointed at the said province.

He took out two more Emperor figure and placed it on Senzetor and Manchannya respectively, he also move the emperor figure that was in Asepeos and placed it on Timarctus "if the Emperor divided his forces between the three provinces north of Blencathra and my forces stayed in Asepeos, the barbarian forces will be surrounded and they would only have two choices either die or surrender and flee south to the Southern Barbarian Lands where they originally came from" he finished explaining satisfied with his plan "that Sir is my plan, what do you think about it?" Lord Leo asked curiously.

Sir Donovan had long foreseen that Governor Leo would reject Chancellor Devon's proposal. Listening attentively to Governor Leo's proposed replacement, he managed to find faults within it. He replied, "Governor Leo, allow me to elaborate on Chancellor Devon's proposal and why he had decided not to split his army into three forces equally and locate them at Timarctus, Manchannya and Senzetor."

He started off with, "The barbarian troops often rely more on brute force than intellect. They are prone to suspicion and would not dare to fight against suspicious looking troops."

Removing the emperor figurines from the map, he continued, "Senzetor has mountainous terrain for its defense. Furthermore, the Governor of Senzetor has always kept at least 3000 guards stationed at the border between his province and Blencathra. It can almost be assured that the barbarians would not dare to advance against Senzetor, at least for the moment."

Placing an emperor figurine on Manchannya, he said "As you have pointed out, if the barbarians decide to advance against Manchannya and successfully capture it, it would be directly sharing borders with Ifeland. To prevent that from occuring, Chancellor Devon shall iss-, I mean Chancellor Devon shall petition for Emperor Damian to issue an imperial decree, demanding the Governor of Manchannya to mobilize at least sixty percent of its troops to the border between his province and Blencathra. Chancellor Devon would also send at least 10,000 troops to ensure that Manchannya is secured. This would deter the barbarians from advancing against Manchannya."

Pointing at Timarctus, he said, "I am sure you have heard of the peasant revolts that broke out in Timarctus. Seeing that the Governor of Timarctus has failed to control the situation, the rebels in this region has became a threat to the Imperial Court. If the barbarians really decided to flee Blencathra, they would most probably flee to Timarctus and would have to engage in several armed conflicts with the rebels before being able to gain partial control of Timarctus. This would exhaust the barbarian army for a period of time and during this period, we can launch a second invasion against them, this time completely eliminating both of the barbarians and the rebels, killing two birds with one stone."

Placing a lion figurine and an emperor figurine on Asepeos, he ended off by saying, "Chancellor Devon has offered to send 50,000 troops to Asepeos for this military campaign. With our combined forces, we would have around twice the size of army when compared to the barbarians, assuring our victory in this joint military campaign."

Lord Leo cursed inwardly, Sir Donovan was smarter than he originally thought, there should be a way to at least lessen the number of Chancellor Devon's forces in Asepeos, then he remembered the news he got from his spies in the east, the Coalition against the chancellor have a total of 90,000 troops, he can use this to his advantage "I really appreciate Chancellor Devon's help in our cause, but I'm really woried about Ifeland, I heard the rebellious coalition in the east has 90,000 strong troops, leaving Ifeland with less than half of it original forces makes it an easy target for the coalition, am I right?" he asked praying that he had a point.

Sir Donovan was about to point out why the Coalition would not attack Ifeland yet when he sensed the frustration in Governor Leo's tone. Deciding that it would be better if he attempted to ease Governor Leo's fear, he replied, "Governor Leo, I thank you for your agreement to participate in this joint military campaign against the barbarians. I will be sure to inform Chancellor Devon of your concerns regarding the Coalition."

After which he politely excused himself, leaving Governor Leo's castle with the two servants following behind him and heading directly to the inn. It was already late and it would be better if they settled for the night.

He rented two more rooms, one for the two servants and the other for himself. As he walked up the stairs to the second floor, he remembered about the rebellious servant that openly defied him. And so, after putting down all his belongings in his room, he told one of his servants to tell Telkartha to come and meet him.

Ravinala had poked her stupid little head in and said,"Telkartha, Sir Donovan wishes to see you." Telkartha looked at Cintothas, who shrugged. Telkartha sighed and nodded to Ravinala. She followed her to Donovan's room. When Ravinala left, Telkartha stood in the doorway and looked at Donovan warily. "You called, my lord?"

Having witnessed how disruptive and rebellious Telkartha can behave, Donovan decided to test her before engaging in the conversation that he desired. When Telkartha stood in the doorway, he threw a scroll at the door, barely missing her. After which he stood up, walked quickly towards Telkartha and unsheathed his sword, pointing the sword at her throat.

With his eyes wide open, he said harshly, "Fool, do you not fear death? How dare you defy me openly."

Telkartha's eyes looked at the sword then at Donovan. She spoke in a low, quiet voice,"Why should I fear death when I have nothing to live for?" Of course, she was surprised at Donovan's quick movement. But one couldn't do what they wanted without being punished. Telkartha actually had alot to live for, but Donovan couldn't know that. Freedom. Freedom was everything. Telkartha was not going back to Ifeland, whether Donovan liked it or not.