The Respondance of the Storm Sultan's Declaration of War
The Azure Sultan, the Storm Dragon of Ozon'Siiari, has sought and desired the secrets of Ankh'hera for a great many centuries - particularly eying the texts and tomes detailing the histories & ballads of the mythic stories of Mekrozadh. The civilisation that once ruled as a great magocracy in the ruinous deserts of Vashara, and mysteriously disappeared in a single night - otherwise referred to as the Silent Doom. Even before it had been glassed and devastated during the conflict of the gods. Her interests lay with the locations of the ancient tombs and ruins, their secret stores of golden and jewel-encrusted frescoes nad library, known as the Mekrozadhi Magna-Opae Archive. It was said to contain secrets and old knowledge of one of the leading Despots, who drained the life from their own slaves and citizens to formulate an undead army. Catching this rumour, she sought to claim this treasure for herself, to pay off her many subordinate children to act as warlords for this venture and to calm the unruly behaviour of her blood-lusting grandchild. She summoned one of her great scribes to write a letter to the Mystrasi of Ankh'hera, demanding that she hand over the desired documents for her great and illustrious majesty, or face the wrath of the storm.
The unnamed scribe had drafted and completed the letter overnight after his majesty had tasked him with this great task - marking it in illustrious Draconic penmanship and on a gold-leaf parchment and sapphire-blue scroll case.
As the scribe had completed and readied to send a courier to deliver the message - the palace resounded with a great storm of thunder, and an almighty roar. There could only be one reason as to this sudden change in weather. Something had angered the Azure Sultan. The scribe suddenly found himself surrounded by the honour guard of the Sultan, forcefully taken from his quarters, and the scroll carried along with them and to the inner sanctum of the Azure Palace. The scribe was thrown into the presence of the Azure Sultan, in the company of one of many of her draconic suitors, their backs bloody and raked with claw marks - sitting behind a veiled throne, and gathered amongst them were other members of her extended family, looming over the scribe in draconic form - their maws sparking and flashing with lightning - all eyes looking directly at him.
The Azure Sultan was visible behind the veiled throne, in her humanoid form, clutching a golden inlaid scroll of papyrus, marked with the symbol of Ankh'hera.
Her eyes turned to the scribe, for a moment he caught a glimpse of her before looking to the floor, her face like stone. He had no idea as to what reason for her anger, but fear trembled in his heart.
The Azure Sultan asked the scribe to tell her one thing and one thing only, stepping down from the throne to meet him, towering over him. She asked if he knew how to spell.
He answered, quivering, sweat dripping down his brow. Yes your majesty, of course your majesty.
Wordlessly, she clicked her fingers at the honour guard that carried the scribes scroll to the Mystrasi, the guard offered it to her with a head bowed, and retreated to the shadows of the throne room, head still bowed, crawling backwards on all fours. The Azure Sultan threw the Ankh'heran scroll to the floor. She said to read it, and tell her what it says. Meanwhile, she gripped the scroll and tapped it in her hands, waiting.
The scribe, shaking, opened the scroll with haste and read through it. His eyes widened. It was an exact copy of the scroll he had written that night, word for word. Except for one thing. He began to panic. He began to plead and beg for mercy.
The Azure Sultan kicked the scribe back, breaking his nose. Then with a wave of her hand, he felt himself go numb and a sinking feeling in his stomach as he floated back up into the air - arms and legs forcefully splayed outward. She looked down at the scroll in her hands.
"What does it say, scribe?" She asked, softly, inspecting the scroll further.
"I didn't mean to - I-I... I have made a tremendous error... I-I... please, your majesty. Your grace. Your greatness!"
Within the blink of an eye, the Sultan thrust the blunt end of scroll through the scribes ribs, bones breaking, collapsing his heart, and pierced through the back of his silk robes. He could barely react, gasping, though it was noiseless, the air taken out of him and he wheezed, spluttering blood upon the floor.
No one knew what happened to his body. But accounts have been kept from Ankh'hera, recording the message in their archives before the war between the deserts had begun. The message sent from Ankh'hera had copied the scribes work to the letter - but written in blue ink, much to the Storm Sultan's anger, the scribe had made one mispelling upon the parchment. In all the grandiose and commendations and titles that the Storm Sultan had been given and credited with, the scribe had misspelt her name.
To add coal to the fire, there was a small addendum at the end of the message - a direct response from the Mystrasi.
"... We are willing to offer these many gifts upon you o' great Azure Sultan. They shall await you within the archive of Sola Thradicus, awaiting collection. If inconvenient we may send this by Bromal or by messenger, though this may take some time. However, we humbly deny your declaration of war - we do not wage war with those who cannot spell their own name, we are a civilised society. Perhaps as you await the delivery of your desired tome, you may consider reading Draevils Draconic for Beginners - it should be an enlightening read. Read well and wide, Asaia Bastehotep, Mystrasi of Ankh'hera."Scholars and historians have commented that this was the quickest end to a war in history. The manner of which the Mystrasi had drafted the letter, sent it through into the lands of Ozon'Siiari, the night before the decision was made to go to war had cast such great suspicions within the inner court of the Azure Sultan that she had all her scribes executed and blame was laid upon her grandson, the first to give her these rumours of treasure and riches. Suspicion had been laid that he was in contact with the Ankh'herans and had been planning a potential coup of the Azure Sultan - to which, she struck him down and paraded his corpse across her kingdom. A few weeks later, a second letter and a package was delivered to the Azure Sultan of the desired records - though none of the rumours of such riches seemed to exist in the records, nor mention anything of the Despot of Mekrozadh in question. Her rage was slightly tempered by a gift of sapphires and a notice to which said: "Be careful what you wish for."
Medium
Papyrus
Location
