| The Kings of the French - Philippe IV (Tonto_Marius) |
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| Anno Domini 1335 - Syracuse Castle, Sicily |
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"Majesty." The messenger bowed deeply, and departed. Philippe IV, King of France, England, and Scotland, Emperor of the West and Defender of the Faith opened the note, scanned it briefly, and then sat heavily. It is over. We've won. With Rhodes in our hands and the Byzantine "Emperor" executed, we truly rule all the West now. And it had all been accomplished in record time, considering. But not by Philippe, for all that he had been a soldier since the cradle, for all that he had fought as hard as anyone to put down the anti-pope Urban III, for all that he had spent the better part of fifteen years in Italy and Sicily marshalling the armies of France to victory. I just finished the job. Had Father lived for six more years... That was all it had taken. Six years. Summoning armies scattered all over Europe, he had hurled them at the remnants of the opposition. The Turks and Mongols had dropped inside of two years, ridding the world of Islam forever. In barely three more years, Novgorod and Hungary had fallen. And now Rhodes, ending Byzantium for all time. And now we shall have peace. We who have not known such a thing for a hundred years. Shall we rule the peace as well as we have ruled war, I wonder? THE END
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