Tothmor
A few days passed until the story of 'The Swordsman and the Queen' was replaced by more dire tidings. The first soldiers from the Mearcian army arrived, sent ahead to bring word of the battle and their defeat. Within an hour, the news spread across the entire city. As the soldiers were brought to the first district to tell their tale, they did not have to go inside the palace; the members of court were so anxious to hear the news that they came half-running out of the palace to greet the exhausted soldiers. Thus in the courtyard between the district wall and the palace building, the queen and her retinue received the messengers and bade them speak.
"The outlanders won the field," one of the soldiers panted as they knelt before their queen. "There were more of them, and their hors
