To the Esteemed Testra ir’Gawaine:
If you knew half of what you think you know, you would have addressed me with considerably more reverence, and you would not have tried to spring so clumsy a trap on me.
I will not tell you what you seek to know. You need not know what I desire or why I act. This should be quite simple to grasp, really. You do not believe you need to know what King Boranel wishes or why he issues you his orders, do you? It is just so with me. I will rule you—it is my right to rule you, who dwell in my domain of salt and sky—and you will heed me likewise.
I will instead tell you a story that pleases me.
I remember the Broken Ribs. The news of the day filled me—it filled all of us—with glee. One of the pretender Kings had fallen in battle. And it had been by the lances of the famed X Legion. Some of the generals on the field that day were old enough to remember the same legion accepting Prince Dimthen’s surrender. Would X Legion be the heralds of a new united Galifar? Would they crush the swords of the usurpers and restore justice to the Kingdom?
I went to bed that night, my spirit dancing.
And the next night. And the next.
Nine years later, Boranel retreated from the field, beaten by the X Legion. But he lived. The Legion’s outriders could not find him—or if any of them did, the King’s retinue killed them before they could report back. But still, I felt joy.
And the next day.
And the next.
When did the joy fade? When did it turn to bitterness? When did my hope harden into hate? I cannot say. But slowly and surely it did, and I came to know that no gallant knight, not even a whole legion of them, would restore the world to justice.
You should know this, too. I hear you are young for a chief diplomat, so I suppose you must have grown up with the stories of the X Legion and their villainous cavalry. You knew that, despite their horrible strength, could not win—for the King of Breland, they must not be allowed to win. Perhaps that is why you rode for the Cuirassiers.
My dear, it is all for naught. No horse nor its rider will bring back old Galifar. Not the Legions, not the Cuirassiers. They have all tried. They all, in turn, have failed.
I will not fail. I will bring back old Galifar with the fury of the heavens. I am heir to a power greater than any of the petty usurper Kings. I will raze their cities and break their castles with force that would turn the mightiest war wizards pale. I will give life to ancient Lhazaaran nightmares. I will embody Karrnathi sagas of conquest and bloodshed. I will make the Dhakaani Dirgesingers behold terror that transcends song.
And because I am good, I will use this power to restore Galifar and lead it into a new age of peace.
Anax Cheimon