The King and The Hangman (part 1)

King Heliranneran of the Last Kingdom looked at the two supplicants with a discerning eye.

See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The first supplicant had Fay blood from many grandfathers ago, but the King was pleased that the blood ran true. Prince Melkos was almost fully Fay in looks and bearing; If he was shorter than the normal Person, he was certainly taller than the normal Man. His hair was silver and his eyes were purple as befitted his heritage. His bearing was truly Fay and well appeared at the Court. His armor was polished to a full shine, and the gold and precious stones worked into the armor had been crafted with artistry. He wore a bodysuit under of a deep black that contrasted the beuaty of his armor to full visual purity. The sword of Melkos was of similar beauty, and the right cough from the Minister of Court let the King know that the sword itself was of Old Fay make and was a heirloom of the Prince's house. The Prince courtesies were also perfect. The King remembered that a Fay tutor had been sent to the Prince's kingdom several generations of man back, and was glad that decorum was continued to be taught there.

Hans Thoma [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

It was a little unsettling to move his vision to the Man, Steven the Hangman. Steven was short for his folk, thick of chest and shoulder and thigh,with a potbelly that was obvious though his armor. The armor itself was covered in every way with a dull black cloth that had been sewn up many times. The King focused his attention and saw that under the cloth, the armor itself was well maintained for combat, but nowhere appropriate for a court appearance. The King further saw that the purpose of this cloth was to cover any shine or creak that the armor might make., and that Steven wore felt footpads on his boots as a thief might wear to keep his movement silent.

Steven's weapons were clean and oiled, and the handles showed much use, but were battlefield weapons and spoke of no nobility. He also carried too many of them: a slightly curved long slashing sword across his back, a short stabbing sword at his side, thin triangularly bladed daggers for punching through mail, worn on his forearms, under his shoulder, and in his boot, He also had a short curving knife at his belt that was designed to slit throats.

The Hangman's countenance was also unseemly for court. While a human might look upon his bearing as insolent, the King's sight showed that Steven had no respect for Kingly or any other rank. The Minister of Spies had let him know previous to the meeting that Steven's popular nickname was due to the number of people he had hanged, which included a number of kings and nobles.

Attribution: Chris 73 / Wikimedia Commons

Steven's eyes were empty of all save duty and judgement. There was no recognition of the beauty of the Court or of the People in those eyes, and the Hangman's stance told the King that his visitor was bored and restless.

The Minister of Spies had informed the King that Steven the Hangman was a fanatic. The numerous gallows that had been built along his trail had been full of the swinging corpse of bandits, corrupt shire-reeves, thieving ministers, rapist lords of manor, and tyrannical kings. It was apparent to the King that Steven was not a tolerant man and that he hated anything or anyone that did not fall within his vision of justice.

Intolerant and impatient, Steven's manner unsettled the King even more so than the Hangman's request to move an army though the Last Kingdom. As the People had decreased in numbers, they had abandoned kingdom after kingdom. The never-ending wars of Man had reduced additional Fay lordships. The Fay had gathered together in a valley that functioned as the only pass in a long range of mountains. This pass had served the People well in collecting tolls, they had built fortification that melded well into the mountains, and no king of Man on either side of the range had ever attacked or even asked to pass an army through.

Steven had not been coronated as a king. He expected more in law and order from the people whom he had conquered than a warlord would, and had left judges and reeves behind him as he marched through kingdom after kingdom. Steven had started his warring at an early age. He had started as an under-reeve and the first hanging he had conducted was of the county reeve he had served under, whom had apparently forced a Human lass to lie with him. The Hangman pressed the local youth into service, and marched though his county executing those that offended his morality.

True, the King thought, the Hangman had a rather idealistic sense of justice...if one was to ignore the brutality of it's enforcement. As the Hangman continued to march, he drew many men had were bereft of other hope, men of idealistic vision, and men whose hate compelled them to revenge. Many of the rulers and small lords of the lands Steven marched through had created far too many of the latter, and the Hangman's armies swelled.

By Internet Archive Book Images [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons

The first King that had dangled from Steven's rope had been his own. That King had counter-marched to hang the Hangman as a rebel. Most of the King's men deserted, and some turned shield to join Steven. The Hangman's trials were short and to the point, and the first royal gibbet had been built.

Some Kings, some Barons, some Lords had joined with Steven willingly. Those that had reason to fear the noose had fought. Those that fought died on the battlefield or were strung up afterwards.Those that ran were eventually caught by the dragoons. The Hangman offered fair quarter to troops of the lords, and only put those that were accused as individuals up for trial. Prince Merkos was one of the last of those Lords that had joined his people to the Hangman's cause.

After six years, the entirety of that land had been conquered to it's natural bounds, to the range of mountains where the Last Kingdom lay. At first, bandits and the corrupt had fled the Hangman's path, but grew courageous again after the army had passed. Steven marched his army in circles and over it's own path over and over again until each such group had been bled out or been choked out. The seas and the mountains had put a limit to any further pushes and became the borders of this new country, which had no still had no new name.

Gustav Adolf Cloß [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Now the Minister of Spies opined that the Hangman had one of four men of his land under arms. Of that, he left one of four in garrison to support his judges in keeping the order of the villages and the roads cleared of highwaymen. These men were the older and more reasonable men. The rest marched as one army under Steven's command, a quite large army. The Minister listed seven kinds of troops; the pressed were about half of the marching army and formed pike and crossbow squares. The Hangman used these squares to hold key battlefield positions. The rest of the army was composed of the Hangman's fanatics; heavy horse with lance, mounted scouts, dragoons, heavy infantry that fought with locked shield and formed the bulk of the maneuver forces, an artillery corps, and a sapper corps. It was known that Steven also used assassins, and that there at least a company of them. The Hangman seemed to be a master of logistics and communications, and though he was not a tactical genius, he had a knack for getting into critical defensive positions, letting his foe stumble into useless ground, and then in setting his fanatics upon them. The morale of his men was great, even in the camps of the pressed.

The dragoons bore special note. They used their own choice of weapons and armor, and fought as raiders and skirimishers. They were trained to fight at night, and had been known to climb castle walls to seize the gates. They had been the core of his men at one point; when he started marching. To be chosen as worthy as riding with the dragoons was a high honor in the Hangman's lands.

This was the army that Melkos was now asking to be allowed through the Last Kingdom.Prince Melkos whose kingdom was at this side of the pass and whose fathers had always held the People in respect and peace. Melkos who had blood ties to the People. Melkos spoke in the language of Men, even so his rhetoric and form were excellent. The argument was that a warlord on the far side of the range was a tyrant, and needed to be hanged on that basis alone; the People would benefit from allowing the army through the pass, as this warlord, supposedly, would eventually war upon the Fay themselves.

The argument as put forth was worth setting before the Court, which was why the King of the People was trying to tolerate this brutal fanatic presence...

Next time, negotiations tense even further as the King's daughter sets her lustful eyes on the Human at Court