[h2][color=SlateGray]Sidskold:Coralie D'Ambois &[/color] [color=#663399]Jhaan Viryarus[/color][/h2]

D'Ambois' camp was a large, sprawling affair on the edge of the village of Sidskold, orderly in parts, chaotic in others, depending upon which officer was in charge, though it was notable that the ones closest to the manor house on the edge of the town were arranged in orderly rows with no lingering smells to suggest soldiers had been relieving themselves in places other than the latrines.  While some of the other Captains were ill prepared for a campaign on land, Assinger, the Hathaian soldier who acted as D'Ambois' right hand, knew how to keep an orderly camp.

 General Viryarus and his entourage were led to the manor before being admitted into a modest hall with a cheerful blazing fire in the hearth,  a large black wyvern banner on the opposite wall. There were a pair of halberdiers with black-feathered morions who seemed to be acting as the Pretender's personal guard - Iktani by the looks of them and between them, standing next to the hearth was the woman herself in a pretty black satin dress.  If it hadn't been for the cutlass and brace of pistols hanging from her belt, she would have looked every bit the noble.  She was a slender creature with cascading dark hair, alert, intelligent blue eyes and a fair, Monchian complexion.

"Your Majesty, may I present General Jhaan Viryarus," one of the officers who had been assigned to lead the General's Guard of Honour presented the General with a bow.

"General," before Viryarus had a chance to do anything, D'Ambois had dropped a deep, well practiced curtsey, as if acknowledging the general as a social superior.  There was going to be no expectation that Viryarus grovel or ackownledge her claim, "I trust the journey was not too strenuous and you didn't encounter any Calarian foraging parties?"

The Imperial General was almost the opposite of the Pretender, he was meeting with. He was a wide man, well built from a life spent campaigning, and wore his cuirass, pistols and saber well. His blond hair on his head was cut short in the manner of a half-shave similar to the stereotypical Jagorsy, while he kept a now slightly unkept mustache. The stubble on the sides of his face and head showed that it had clearly been a fortnight since the man had properly shaved, which was likely due to the circumstances his army had found itself in rather than a personal lack of good grooming. His square face was hard, and his overprominent forehead, deeply sunken brown eyes, and a round, bulbous nose that had been badly broken at one point ensured that the Elgan was rather homely in physical appearance.

"Other than the haste of my entourage, the journey was remarkably pedestrian and I do thank God for that, Lady D'Ambois," Viryarus replied as he removed his riding gloves and slipped them into a pocket. "I must confess, I am rather impressed by your efforts running this camp.   With a few more proper officers, you might whip this rabble of peasants and pirates into a proper army."

"The problem with pirates is they all rather think they're the Captain of their own ship, even when they are on land," Coralie replied with a throaty laugh.  Almost on cue a servant appeared with two goblets of wine.  She picked up both, offering one to Viryarus with a slight smile, "I've offered the officers we captured after the Battle on the Coast to take a commission with me.  Some are a bit hesitant imagining they'll get hanged as traitors if they're taken.  It's understandabe - I appreciate a pragmatic man," she raised her goblet in a toast, "Sir, I understand you gave the Calarians quite a run for their money.  From what people tell me, they only forced the pass by sheer weight of numbers.  Had I engaged you instead of the fool who thought I wouldn't have pickets on my right flank, the battle here might have gone differently.  You might have had me fleeing back across the sea with a hold of booty... or my head on a pike.  But instead, we're stuck in a very interesting little situation with the Calarians.  Imagine if you had one pistol, I had one pistol and Qori -" she motioned at one of the halberdiers, "-had a pistol and we all wanted each other dead.  Whoever shoots first kills one enemy but then they're got an unloaded pistol and their other enemy still has a bullet in the barrel.  What to do?"

"I disagree with your analogy, Lady D'Ambrois," Viryarus answered after a moment of thought. "This is not merely a conflict between you, Mister Qori, and myself. You and I have no comrades to back us, but Mister Qori," Viryarus gestured to the other Halberdier flanking Coralie, "has a friend not too far from him who desires to kill the both of us as well."

The Elgan paused to take a sip of the wine he had been given, "Please allow me to elaborate. The Calarians almost certainly have reinforcements back across the border they can send to replace their losses, as bloody as the fighting at the pass was, and they outnumber both of us individually by the estimates of my scouts. You and I, however, can only replace our losses with what we can raise from the local population of these Southern provinces. Inbur is occupied with other vital problems, and you are a foreigner lacking support from any of the neighboring states. That is not a tenable situation for either of us. 

He laughed heartily for a moment, before giving Coralie a hard stare. "We could most certainly try to kill one another, but we may not be able to best Mister Qori, let alone his companion, while defenseless and wounded. Negotiating terms between us is our best option, wouldn't you agree, Lady D'Ambois?

Coralie inclined her head politely, "Why General, that was exactly what I was going to propose!" she paused, momentarily, then apparently decided to lay her cards on the table, without beating around the bush, "My proposal would be something along the lines of we would agree to return all prisoners from the former battle who haven't taken up arms with my forces to you to rearrange into units as you see fit.  I will agree to assist you in beating back the Calarians.  Following on from that, we will declare a truce for a period of time.  Perhaps half a year?  With the facility to extend or renegotiate as necessary.  We will agree not to campaign anywhere in the vicinity of your forces and allow you to guard to border unmolested.  You will, no doubt, be concerned about how to bring supplies, reinforcements and so on to your armies on the border given my cousin's rabble further inland.  We will agree to a neutral port where trade, commerce, and so on can take place.  Ships will fly the flag of the city when travelling to and fro," she gave a roguish grin, "And that makes it much less likely for anyone on your side, or mine, not party to this agreement, to try to plunder shipping - we won't know whose ships we are raiding." 

"An excellent arrangement, at least for your party, and it is certainly politically convenient and militarily expedient for me for the time being." Viryarus nodded along, "My orders are to simply hold the border, for now, but a rider will come if the Calarians can be driven back and you continue campaigning here in the south. You do, however have my word that, in exchange for this alliance now, I shall delay carrying out such an order should it arrive sooner than expected, barring possible future negotiation between either our camps or between you with my superiors."

"The Calarians can be driven back if we form a temporary alliance to defeat them," Coranie assured Viryarus, "It is in both our interests to drive them back for the current season. The remainder of this agreement is a way for us," she motioned to Viryarus, then to herself, "To ensure that neither of us is disadvantaged after the fighting - As far as the Emperor knows, you can be the hero who drove the Calarians back."

"Very well," Viryarus replied after a moment of pondering, "I agree to your terms in full, Lady D'Ambois.  Let us raise a toast to the defeat of our foes."

"To agreements we both benefit from!" Coralie raised her glass, before taking a genteel sip, "We will communicate this to the troops and march North to meet you, where we will rearm the prisoners and allow you to reconstitute them into suitable units.  Then we will drive the Calarians back, together... and incidentally, this creates a little bit of insurance for both of us, if the anarchy in the Empire does not play out in our favour."