Tyranny of Steel

While Berengar was preparing for war in an attempt to crush the rebellious nobles of Austria and solidify his power, the Byzantine Emperor was throwing a banquet; the feast had been prepared for the French Prince.

The latter had elected to stay within the borders of the Empire for the time being. It was now his seventeenth birthday, and as such, Emperor Vetranis had prepared a massive celebration for his future son-in-law.

Despite Honoria's protests, she had been dragged from her room and forced to sit beside her effeminate fiance. However, she refused to interact with the young man and pouted silently as she dug into her meal with a distressed expression.

Despite Aubry's best efforts to win Honoria's favor, the young woman refused to associate with him remotely. This had begun to make things complicated for the Byzantine Emperor and the French Host. After all, this young couple was set to wed in a few months, and they were not even on speaking terms.

Ultimately Aubry had given up on being friendly to Honoria and had begun to flirt with one of her brothers, the man in question he was trying to get on more familiar terms with was roughly Berengar's age. Like Berengar, he had proven himself a capable commander despite his young age and was an officer in Arethas' army.

The man's name was Decentius; he had short chocolate hair and deep emerald eyes. Unlike Honoria, his skin had an olive complexion. He was also reasonably tall, at least according to the standards of his people, and had an athletic frame, which was stacked with muscles. One could see the outline of his muscle from his purple and gold tunic that wrapped itself around his torso.

His exceptionally masculine appearance was something that Aubry greatly admired, and as such, he was more than happy to charm the man or attempt to do so. Thus while Honoria ignored her fiance, the boy flirted with another man in the middle of her presence.

"What's your name, handsome?"

At the moment, Aubry was resting his feminine face on his dainty hand while wearing a pretty smile, one that should not usually belong to a young man such as himself. The sight immediately made Decentius uncomfortable; as such, he looked away from the pretty boy before responding.

"Decentius..."

Immediately a look of joy appeared on Aubry's face as he tried to advance the conversation further.

"That is a strong name, truly worthy of a sturdy man such as yourself. Tell me, Decentius, are you a soldier?"

Hearing this compliment, Decentius began to have a look of pride on his face as he boldly declared his feats.

"I am not just a mere soldier, but Tourmarches, second only to the great Strategos Arethas Maniakes!"

Aubry had no idea what a Tourmaches was, but he knew it was some form of a high-ranking officer. In the army of a Strategos, the Tourmaches was the next level of command directly below the position of Strategos. Thus Decentius had quite the position and had served extensively in the war for Egypt, which had made its way to Alexandria at this point.

Aubry pretended to care about his exploits and covered his mouth, gaping in feigned shock before complimenting Decentius further.

"I had no idea you were such a strong and capable commander! Do you mind giving me some advice later, in private perhaps?"

Honoria was forced to witness the sight of her elder brother openly flirting with another man, and it made her stomach churn. It was pretty obvious to her what Aubry wanted. However, men often fell for a pretty face, even if it was attached to a boy, and thus Decentius was foolishly walking right into a trap. Honoria could no longer withstand the sight and instantly began to chastise Decentius.

"Brother, please restrain yourself. It is okay if you want to flirt with men in private, but this is a public occasion, and I am quite embarrassed to be your sister at this moment."

The moment Honoria made her comment, Decentius realized what angle Aubry was playing and immediately freed himself from the boy's charm; in doing so, he coughed before saying.

"It is not like that, Honoria, right Aubry?"

Aubry glared at Honoria as he pouted; the girl just had to ruin his fun. He was beginning to understand why the previous men he had been in a relationship with preferred his company over their wives. As such, he immediately began to respond to Honoria, now that he believed he had her attention.

"Are you perhaps jealous that I am giving your brother more attention than you?"

However, Honoria merely scoffed and began to ignore the boy once more.

The sight of Aubrey with his second-oldest son and Honoria blatantly pointing it out greatly enraged Emperor Vetranis. Truthfully he did not want to engage his daughter with a young man like Aubry, but at this point, he had little choice, France would prove to be a powerful ally, and it was not like there was a man; his little princess would approve of.

She was far too picky when choosing a man, and Vetranis was well aware of her extensive criteria. In his eyes, it was unrealistic to find a man who met the conditions of being ambitious, strong, and domineering while still being kind, compassionate, and gentle. Let alone the standards for physical appearance the girl had.

If such a man existed where he could bridge the duality of overwhelming strength and benevolence, Vetranis believed he most certainly wouldn't be single. Thus he felt Honoria was living in a fantasy if she thought she could find such a man to marry.

As such, Vetranis decided to put his foot down and instantly began to bark at Honoria's improper behavior.

"Honoria! If you can't behave yourself at this banquet, then why don't you remove yourself and go back to your room where you can reflect on your actions! As punishment for your unbecoming attitude, you will go hungry for the night!"

Honoria immediately began to protest this decision; in her mind, she had done nothing wrong. As such, she pounded her dainty fists on the table with a furious expression on her face.

"But father-"

However, before she could finish her train of thought, Vetranis stood up from his chair and pointed towards the exit.

"No buts! Go to your room, and stay in there until you can decide to stop acting like a spoiled brat and behave in a manner of a woman fitting of your position!"

Getting scolded so harshly, especially while in public, immediately made Honoria's mint green eyes fill with tears, and as such, she rushed to her room. She could not comprehend why she was being punished in such a manner. She merely pointed out the illicit behavior between her foolish brother and her queer fiance. Why was she the bad guy?

As such, she quickly entered her room and slammed the door behind her before latching it shut. She spent half an hour crying in her bed before wiping the tears from her eyes and gritting her teeth. If this is what her future entailed, to the point where she would be wed off to a feminine boy who engaged in carnal relations with other men while she had to watch from the side in disgust, then she would prefer to run away from it all.

But where would she go? She had no money, no supplies, and no allies to speak of. Hell, she had never even been outside the palace before. The girl quickly tossed aside the scrolls on her desk in a fit of fury, and in doing so, a map rolled itself across the surface, revealing the contents within. The map of Europe was remarkably detailed, showing the duchies and the individual counties that comprised them.

The moment the map sprawled open, it caught her attention, looking at the Duchy of Austria on the map in front of her instantly reminded the young woman of the image of Berengar that she had conjured in her head some time ago, giving her a brief bit of hope amid the despair that had consumed her heart. This suddenly gave her an idea, maybe, just maybe, if she traveled to Austria and met with Count Berengar, she could prevent her horrible fate.

However, she only had a vague idea of where Berengar lived, as Arethas had not explicitly stated where Berengar was Count. Luckily for her, there was a hint in his full name. She quickly placed her finger on the map of Austria before speaking her thoughts aloud.

"If I remember correctly, the surnames of German nobles are named after the area their rule originated from; if so, that means Berengar is from Kufstein? But where is such a location?"

Curiosity had overwhelmed the young woman at this point, and she quickly went to her unique bookcases, where she promptly retrieved her atlas. It contained a variety of maps comprising of the known world, and as such, she scoured through her resources to find the location of Kufstein.

Though the information in the atlas was largely outdated, it was enough to give her a rough estimate of the journey she had in mind. One thing was sure; if she stayed in Constantinople, she would indeed be forced to marry Aubry. After all, her sixteenth birthday was just around the corner, and as such, she had very little time before she was sold off like a common mule.

After mapping out her journey, Honoria decided her route. She would hire a ship to take her from the Bosphorus to the black sea, where she would then take a riverboat across the Danube and into the borders of Austria.

She would continue her journey across the Danube and into the river Inn where she would enter Kufstein. It was a long journey, and she knew it would be dangerous. However, she refused to stay in Constantinople and awaited her miserable fate.

The only concern she had was what she would use for payment; however, after searching around for something of value, she noticed her jewelry bin which contained many precious stones and metals. As such, she grabbed ahold other her jewelry box and stuffed it into a sack where she placed spare clothes and other necessities.

Heraclius, her pet eagle, noticed her actions and quickly approached the girl with a curious expression. Seeing the curious gaze of her best and only friend, Honoria quickly announced the decision she had come to.

"We are running away, Heraclius; I can't stay in this palace any longer. I would rather die than marry a twink like Aubry!"

The eagle was smart enough to understand her words and nodded his head in response, climbing atop the girl's shoulder. The eagle would watch over her throughout her voyage like a guardian angel, ensuring no harm came to her throughout the perilous journey she was about to embark upon.

After seeing the eagle follow her, Honoria smiled and petted its head with a single finger.

"I can always count on you, Heraclius."

After saying that, the eagle screeched in response, and Honoria finished packing her luggage; after doing so, she decided to make a rope out of her bedsheets and curtains. She proceeded to tie the rope from her bed frame, where she carefully climbed out of her window.

Before climbing out of the window Honoria had managed to toss her luggage into the bushes below. After finding solid footing, she dashed off out of the palace's grounds and towards the harbor of the city. Hopefully, the young princess could charter a voyage before her family found out about her disappearance.