3: Judgement of order

                                    

                                          



A long caravan of soldiers travel through the unforgiving desert, their horses slow because of the heat. Their shining black armours are barely visible behind white cloaks that they have pulled over themselves to hide from the harsh rays of the sun. The hooves of the horses sink into the sand. The metal clings and clangs as they travel.
Toward the front of the line rides a woman, her black armour enhanced by royal signets and a royal red mantel, covered by the same white fabric everyone else has dragged. She rides with one hand holding on to the saddle strings, and the other resting on her side. Her face is mostly covered by a black helmet, but if it wasn't, her annoyed expression would be all too visible.
Their attention is all on her, she is the centre and the only thing that matters.
"Two thousand prisoners from their side, three thousand from ours."
24 years of war. Endless years spent on the battlefield. Scars, soldiers, wounds and swords to prove it. A completely destroyed and dangerous border. Rising poverty and unrest. That is all this war has brought for the Empire.
And for the late Emperor, this war has brought nothing but glory, riches and more political power from the hands of the court. He has not seen the destruction, only his own gain. Ensi sees it, too. She sees all of what he must've seen in this war, and now that she is left alone on the throne, she is finally beginning to become mature enough to realise how wrong he was about it all.
An Empire must not be ruled through the Emperor's perspective, but from the perspectives of the people.
"And that's all of them?"
Ensi feels the burden of an entire Empire on her shoulders, with enemies pressing in from the west, and no allies to help her either at court or outside the Empire's borders. She is all alone, and will forever be all alone. But that is the role of an Empress, the life of an Empress.
The Empire of Ophion is the greatest on the continent. It is her home, and it is hers. Her Empire, hers to rule. 
It is surrounded by water in the south, with large sea port cities all along the coastline, including the large capital. Then, in the West, half the southwestern border to the neighbouring kingdom of Zeleon is made up of a river that flows from the south sea. The rest is mostly mountain range and empty forest. In the northern parts, there is a desert, and then eventually the Zainerian Empire. But Ensi has never been bothered by these northern parts or her northern neighbours, which is why she has never been this far up north in her kingdom before.
What she is constantly bothered by, however, is the west. The Kingdom of Zeleon is large, not as large as the glorious Ophion Empire, but still large. Together with its allies, other smaller neighbouring kingdoms in the west, they have fought against Ophion in a seemingly never ending war, ever since Ensi's father sat on the throne. Ever since his first few years on the throne, actually. And now, that war is finally going to end.
"Yes, Ma'am. And as you already know, they have agreed to moving the southwestern border in exchange for the marriage and the adjustment of their recent losses up north."
Ensi inherited the throne 3 years ago. She only began to think about peace a year ago. It feels like just yesterday she sent peace negotiators to the west. She was confident in their capabilities back then. Now, a year later and with the contract in the hands of the captain of the guard? Not so much. Ensi sighs. "The agreement is far too positive for them. Did our negotiators not have a sense of pride for our empire when they wrote it up?"
She can't help the annoyance that practically seeps through her tone. This just isn't a good day for her. "They should've been advised to visit the temple of wisdom, as I was." Ensi mutters. She holds onto the saddle strings of her black horse, following a few soldiers on brown and white horses as they travel through the desert, with hundreds of soldiers behind her. The sun has tortured them all the way here, and Ensi has hated every moment of it.