"Nope, it is not happening." Dom declared in a serious voice. A couple hours had passed since earlier and he was now stood, wearing his polished black armour stood beside a grinning Crassus. Dom now knew why he was laughing earlier when he had seen Andrew and he wasn't confident in how to respond.
"Your Red Hare is a stunning beast, perfect for leading the men in to Battle. But the Sigil of the Lazarus Line is a Sabre Tooth Tiger. Imperator is the biggest of all of the Sabre Tooth Tiger's that have been spawned in Riverside's Beast Hall so far. Centurion Chen Lu specifically chose Imperator as your mount a few weeks ago when he arrived." Crassus explained, whilst Shang Yang looked at Dom with a serious expression.
"Riding your horse is symbolic, but riding a Tiger will show the Civilians and our Guests that not only are you the Warrior King you have been, but that the Lazarus Kingdom is greater than where ever they have come from." Shang Yang explained as Dom looked at Imperator. This Sabre Tooth Tiger was the size of a small horse, he wasn't quite as tall as Dom's Red Hare, but he was close to the Steppe Horses of the Horse Archers. Whilst he wasn't the tallest, he was wider and more muscular, towering over all of the Sabre Tooth Tigers that Dom had seen so far in his Kingdom. Dom suspected that Crassus had been up to other things in the background, but didn't dare challenge him right now in case those surprises caught him out.
"Look, he even has a saddle for you, and a place for your spear and your sword placed on it." Crassus replied as he pointed at the saddle on the back of Imperator who lay on his stomach, watching Dom with surprisingly kind eyes. However Dom knew that behind those kind eyes was the most dangerous creature he had even been near.
Dom approached Imperator, putting his hand towards the Sabre Tooth Tiger's head, who seemed to push it forwards in to Dom's hand for a stroke, the sound of a deep purr soon following like a large kitten. Imperators tail moved from side to side, not quite like a dog, but an excited cat that was happy to be shown some love. Dom relaxed slightly as he moved his hand down Imperator's muscular back and towards the saddle, where he began to climb on to.
As soon as Dom sat in the saddle, Imperator stood up, as if he had been trained to do so, with Dom finding the Sabre Tooth Tiger comfortable to sit on. Actumerus who was stood nearby walked forwards, unafraid of Imperator as he passed Dom his Zhan Lu Jian Blade. Actumerus then grinned as Crassus shouted an order.
Suddenly, a side door opened at the rear of the Town Centre where they currently were and four more Sabre Tooth Tiger's, all close in size to Imperator but slightly smaller, appeared. They also had saddles on them and Dom realised that these were the mounts of his Batavi Emperors Guards. He now understood the new armour slightly more, to bring it in line to closer to what the Forbidden Guard Sabre Tooth Tiger Riders wore.
"Now that is the sight of a King." Shang Yang smiled, and Dom couldn't disagree with him, he wondered how Andrew would feel when he saw him riding the back of a Sabre Tooth Tiger. Part of him wasn't sure if he'd be able to ride Imperator properly at all.
"Looks like our guests have arrived." Crassus commented as Dom turned, seeing in the distance the top of what looked like Golden Rings that normally appeared when he was leaving to or returning from a quest.
"Are you joining me?" Dom asked Shang Yang and Crassus, knowing that who ever had arrived would be important as they needed to recognise the Kingdom or he would fail the Kingdom Founding Quest and have to try again in the future.
"I need to make the final touches and await your arrival with Cicero and Umako in the Town Centre." Shang Yang replied, his Prime Minister currently dressed in an extremely impressive red robes that were gold lined. Crassus beside him wore a spotless red toga, also with gold lining on it's edges. He had a ceremonial sword strapped to his waist.
"I will come with you, you need some of your leadership supporting you." Crassus grinned as he mounted his own Red Hare that had been prepared for him, the chancellor looking the mighty General that he once was, a general that had defeated the largest Slave uprising in Roman History and had dared to fight against Rome's greatest enemy at the time.
Dom signalled for Imperator to begin moving, the fierce Sabre Tooth Tiger marching towards the Inner Gate, following the pathway from the rear of the Town Centre. The sides of the path were full of Civilians who cheered as he passed them, the five giant Sabre Tooth Tigers and one Red Hare Horse marching down at a gentle pace. They passed the hundreds of cheering Civilians, some of whom Dom had recognised from the many times he had used the daily spawn or some were from Towns they had conquered or claimed during their Quests or at Tongpai Town.
Eventually he reached the Inner Gate that was currently closed. A squad of Sabre Tooth riding Forbidden Guard waiting for them, with four other Red Hare Horses. On the back of the horses were four recognisable figures. A well armoured Subutai with a big grin on his face and his bow by his side. Xun You and Xun Yu, both dressed in similar robes to Shang Yang, as well as Zhou Yu who was dressed in armour of his own.
"Imperator is impressive isn't she." Xun Yu grinned, the Character that Dom would have said was closest to being a true friend if that was possible.
"Was he your idea?" Dom asked, as Xun Yu shook his head and looked towards Subutai.
"Hopefully having Imperator means that you are less likely to be injured in battle again." Subutai stated calmly as Dom felt a slight ache in his shoulder at the mention of the recent arrow. "Shall we meet our Guests?"
"Let's." Dom replied as his four S Grade Heroes joined the procession. The Gates swung open as the forward Forbidden Guard walked forwards, with Dom following on Imperator with his Guards and Heroes, with more Forbidden Guard following behind.
There was a large number of Civilians outside the gate, also stood cheering his arrival, as he headed towards the now two Portals he could see in the distance, a slight lump of worry in his stomach as he headed forwards through the Military District.
Both sides of him were now lines and lines of Warriors who were stood at attention, he recognised Zhao Yun in the distance with five hundred of his Cavalry; Huang Zhong stood with over a thousand Legionaries; Tomyris stood with a similar numbers of Hoplite. He also saw the newly arrived Pausanias and Xanthippus stood amongst another group of Hoplite. Liao Hua was also there, behind him a large group of Horse Archers and Lancers. There were also some selections of the other units, such as the Balearic Slingers and Wu Dang Archers.
To the south of him, on the Calm River, the towering Louchuan was stationed, having travelled from Tongpai Lake, with the Bellona and other ships surrounding her. There was another Quinquereme there that Dom didn't recognise, most likely his newest reward.
"You have been busy." Dom whispered so Subutai who was beside him on his right, with Crassus on his left.
"This was all Xun You and Zhou Yu. I am impressed myself." Subutai replied as he looked forwards at the Golden Rings himself, as if feeling vulnerable that these could bring people to Riverside who weren't who they had chosen to bring here.
"Is that Sun Shangxiang?" Dom suddenly stated, his voice louder than expected as it left his mouth. In front of him he could see both of his wives, however neither looked how they normally did. Sun Shangxiang was currently on the back of a Titanaconda, in her hand was his Slaying Spear. Beside her was Gan Ning and a small unit of Titanaconda riders and some of the recently retrained Wu Legionaries under Cheng Pu. She was wearing armour and a golden headband.
On the other side was Meritamen, beside her was Tomoe in her heavy armour. Beside them were some of the Dire Wolves and a unit of Mounted Cavalry, a mixture of Lancers and Archers. She had his Harpe at her waist, a strange look for a woman that was dressed in stunning Kalasiris golden dress, with a golden headband. Dom had never seen Meritamen with a weapon before, and was confused as to why his wives had both stolen two of his favourite items.
"It is." Crassus replied at Dom's comment. Before laughing and continuing, "Your wives wanted to be Warrior Queens for their Warrior King's guests."
Suddenly, Dom saw the people in front of them both. Armed Warriors and smartly dressed Civilians in front of Sun Shangxiang, wearing the familiar red armour of her families Warriors. He couldn't see who was there clearly, but he recognised the Sun family images on the Banners the Warriors proudly held high. Dom wasn't sure who had arrived, but he knew that Meritamen had somehow brought people from Sun Shangxiang's families State here, a State that dwarfed that of Riverside in both land and people. Hundreds of people stepped through the Golden Ring before it disappeared, with row upon row of carts behind them. However, what worried Dom was the people in front of Meritamen.
He first saw the sign of the recognisable Chariots that flanked Meritamen's guests, the golden brim across the woodwork, and the lightly armoured Warriors on the back of them. Behind them was Cavalry, lightly armoured on stunning horses and camels. Behind them was a long line of people on foot, some with weapons, but the majority were unarmed. They also had carts behind them as their Golden Ring disappeared, however Dom couldn't see who Meritamen was talking to.
Subutai came to a halt, as did the rest of the procession, as if allowing Dom's wives to speak to the guests for a few moments before they were brought forwards to see Dom. But Dom felt worry as he looked towards Meritamen's side, whilst some relief when he looked towards Sun Shangxiang's.
"She has done well." Subutai commented, acknowledging who Meritamen had brought. If Meritamen had brought a representative from her own family, then the Egyptian Royal Family also dwarfed the Lazarus Kingdom. Both arrivals were giants in comparison to the current Lazarus Kingdom, but both had huge impacts on what it had become today. Subutai could see Dom's worry and smiled at him, "As long as it's not her father we should be ok."
Sun Shangxiang dismounted her Titanaconda, as she began walking beside a Warrior and a well dressed robed man, Dom didn't recognise them at first, but as they got closer he could see their faces and breathed a sigh of relief slightly. The Warrior was Lu Su, which surprised Dom as last time he had seen the strategist he was dressed in Robe's similar to Xun Yu and not Armour like Zhou Yu. Beside him was Zhang Zhao, Sun Quan's close advisor. Dom had met them both at the Battle of Jiangxia.
Meritamen also approached, Tomoe on one side of her and two armoured men with her. Dom recognised one of them as General Tau, who they had fought beside at the Battle of Kadesh. The other man was extremely well dressed and Dom didn't recognise him, but the familiarity between him and Meritamen showed that he was most likely one of her many brothers and judging from his age, a senior one at that.