The Ambassadors - a short story

Sopespian

Sopespian

Well-known member
Williams paced the room, unwilling to accept defeat. The ambassadors' meeting room was cold and gray, almost like an interrogation room. "Look, what more do you want? We will release your prisoners of war to you, give you expert agricultural advice, and reimburse your army. Just send us some troops to Stalcia to help us fight the Dathinellians," Williams' voice grew intense.
"No," the Manaretian diplomat answered coldly. "I have already told you. We are short on men as it is. We've had some problems with the Kathfirans this year."
Williams' coworker, Thompson, flew into a rage. "You cruel tyrant! You heartless twerp! If you deny us this time, our remnant will exact such vengeance upon you that people will talk for ages about the mountainous island country that was thrown into the sea by the Stalcians!" He pounded on the table, his face getting red.
Williams pulled him aside. "Calm down. I've got an idea."
"I hope it's a good one."
Williams looked the Manaretian ambassador straight in the eye. "If you give us 1,500 troops to fight the Dathinellites, we will pay tribute to you for fifteen years."
Thompson's eyebrows shot up.
The Manaretian, Kendall Dirke, looked at his partner Stevens thoughtfully, then at Williams. "You will pay us tribute?"
"That's right."
Thompson grabbed Williams angrily by the necktie and pulled him over to the corner. "What in the name of common sense are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Do you realize what this means? Stalcia will be in debt to these miserable wretches!"
"Would you rather have a country in debt or in the sea?" Williams answered calmly. "And what do you mean by miserable wretches? This country's a friend of ours."
Thompson sighed. "Fine," he growled.
Meanwhile, Dirke and Stevens had been discussing the proposal. "All right. We agree to your plan. We will send 1,500 troops to you on a fleet of our best ships as soon as possible," Stevens said.
Williams was jubilant. "Thank you!" he exclaimed.
Thompson was not so excited. "We, uh, we'd best be getting on home to Stalcia."
The next day, when the delegation arrived in the harbor of Stalcia City, the capital, they were greeted warmly by the citizens, who hailed them as heroes after they heard that Williams and Thompson had secured the necessary troops.
King Clarion rushed out to see them on the palace steps. "Congratulations. And good job! I'm grateful to you both."
Thompson cleared his throat noisily. "Yeah, well, you might not be so happy with Williams when Stalcia goes into debt."
"Go into debt? Why, what in the world do you mean?"
Williams looked at the ground in front of him. "Uh, Your Majesty, there's something we need to talk about..."

concluded a few posts down...

 
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The Ambassadors - Conclusion

The Stalcians anxiously awaited the arrival of the Manaretian troops. At Marion Field, a heated battle was taking place and Dathinell was clearly winning. Fighting breathlessly on the frontlines were King Clarion and Matthew White. The army behind them was dead tired, thirsty, and dejected. However, they were determined. As the Dathinellites pushed farther into Stalcian territory, it was all they could do simply to hold on. Weakly, the king shouted out, "Just hold... the line... till Manaret comes!" But for nearly an hour, there was no sign of the dispatch from the island country. Finally, a messenger dropped out of breath off of his horse in front of Clarion's swordbearer Justice and gasped, "The Manaretians... arrived in port an hour... and a half ago... they should... be here soon."
The messenger was right. Like a triumphant king about to seize the victory, Manaretian General Charles Sebastian Anderson came screaming into the fray ahead of the vast Manaret calvary. The tide was turned almost immediately. Within half an hour, many Dathinellite officers were down and their white flag was up.
That night, a banquet to celebrate the victory was held in the palace.
"I thought you asked for only 1,500 troops, Williams. That looked closer to a million!" King Clarion laughed.
General Anderson explained, "We were able to send about 2,250 troops at the request of our King Libunor. Oh, I might add, he told me to tell you that we don't desire to be paid tribute. Troop reimbursement and some agricultural advice will be good enough for us."
"What about the prisoners of war?" Williams asked, then hung his head as he realized that he had spoken too soon.
"Prisoners of war?" Clarion replied.
"Yes; I told Dirke that we'd release their prisoners of war."
"Williams, we have no prisoners of war. We've never fought a war with Manaret."
"Really?"
"Really."
The three laughed, but their laughter soon died down into the peace that would cover Stalcia, Manaret, and Dathinell for many years to come.

The End
 
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General....Richard Anderson?? Did he by any chance arrive in Stalcia through a Stargate, carrying a MacGyver Swiss Army knife??
 
Huh? Am I missing something? Okay, I'll change his name. Must have been an idiot who said, "What you don't know won't hurt you!"
 
Heartless twerp. I'll have to remember that one. :D

Decent plot line. Too bad I'll have to ban you. You know my rules about wasting my time to read stories with no badgers in them. :p
 
EveningStar said:
Heartless twerp. I'll have to remember that one. :D

Decent plot line. Too bad I'll have to ban you. You know my rules about wasting my time to read stories with no badgers in them. :p
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Hmm. I wonder where I'd put one. Ah, maybe Dirke could have a pet badger; or do you not like to be domesticated?
 
Sopespian said:
Actually, it's portions of a book I had wanted to write, but it didn't work out. :(
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You should continue! Write it down! And don't feel bad about it ;) I'm certain it is good


EveningStar said:
Decent plot line. Too bad I'll have to ban you. You know my rules about wasting my time to read stories with no badgers in them. :p
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You know the Badgers hiding behind the tree at the left side of the building holding a flag? Well, they were shot :D
 
Mrs Gil-Galad Took said:
You should continue! Write it down! And don't feel bad about it ;) I'm certain it is good




You know the Badgers hiding behind the tree at the left side of the building holding a flag? Well, they were shot :D
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I'm not getting into this one or I'll be badgered about for the rest of my life.

*convulses into a fit of laughter* :D :D
 
You made me frown, an unforgiveable sin because it wrinkles my stripes. Shame on you, you stripe-wrinkler!
 
inkspot said:
I think you ought to write the whole book you had in mind! :)
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I agree, that was very nice and I am curious about what else would have happened. I would definitely be interested in more of your work.

EveningStar said:
Heartless twerp. I'll have to remember that one. :D

Decent plot line. Too bad I'll have to ban you. You know my rules about wasting my time to read stories with no badgers in them. :p
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Oh dear, I'll have to incorporate a badger into all of my stories now ;)
 
EveningStar said:
Heartless twerp. I'll have to remember that one. :D

Decent plot line. Too bad I'll have to ban you. You know my rules about wasting my time to read stories with no badgers in them. :p
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I agree on the badger thing... and maybe on the twerp thing too. Maybe a badger would have give the story a point. Oh well, I felt like I just read the summary of a summary on the back cover of a book. It doesn't make sense unless you have the whole thing... or it has a badger in it.
 
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