He would not be parting with Pardunum. That much was carved in stone.
The fortress was no simple collection of ramparts and crenellations; it was the iron lock upon a heavy gate, guaranteeing that his flank remained cold, quiet, and securely shut. Speeches of brotherhood and eternal goodwill were sweet to the ear, but the annals of the world were littered with "eternal" treaties and how many held true when grandsons inherited the vaults?
Alpheo could glady give it away , and then his grandson would curse him for that foolishness when it is he that has to face the Kakunian armies on the field.
Yet Alpheo wanted the Kakunian's friendship just as fiercely. The men of Kakunia were hard, stubborn, and wrought of passionate iron. With Merelao firmly seated on the throne, Yarzat would have a ferocious hound that could lick its own wounds and hold its own line, which was well far from Yarzat's.
