Original Prompt: “The King of the North, The Queen of the South, The Emperor of the East, and The Prime Minister (barely hanging on to a minority coalition while trying to pass a new budget) of the West.”
Prime Minister Miller climbed the stairs that ascended to the meeting room. His staff quickly walked behind him.
“Do we have a statement for the press?” His secretary asked.
“No official statements until we have all the information. We do not comment on rumors,” Prime Minister Miller said.
“What about the meeting with the Finance Minister?” She asked.
“We’ll have to push it back. See if we can get him in early next week,” Miller said.
They made it to the top of the stairs and pushed open the large, wooden doors. Miller and his entourage of staff stepped into a large meeting room.
Glancing around the room, Miller saw that Queen Isabelle Beauchêne of the South and King Anders Eriksen of the North were talking to one another. As Miller entered, they both turned to face him.
“Well there he is. The Prime Minister of the West is here,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“Are what they saying true?” Prime Minister Miller glanced to his right.
“First of all, who is ‘they’ and what are ‘they’ saying?” Queen Beauchêne asked.
“My press core has heard rumors from the war in the East,” Prime Minister Miller said. “Is Emporer Syng-man here?”
King Eriksen took a seat at the head of the table.
“I’m afraid not, Prime Minister. That’s why I called both you and Queen Beauchêne here on such short notice. The war is escalating in the East,” King Eriksen said.
King Eriksen guestered towards the other chairs.
“Please have a seat,” He said.
Prime Minister Miller sat down in the seat between the two other leaders while Queen Beauchêne took her seat to the South
“What’s going on?” Prime Minister Miller asked.
“Things have gotten much worse for the Eastern Empire since the last time we all met,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“I have heard reports that we are losing the war front. Our caravans of food and supplies have been unable to reach The Eastern Forces,” Prime Minister Miller said.
“It is far worse than just caravans,” King Eriksen said. “All communication with the Emperor has gone cold. Neither he, nor any member of the royal family have been seen for over 48 hours.”
“Is he…. is he dead?” Prime Minister Miller asked.
There was a brief moment of silence as the three leaders glanced over to the empty chair to the East.
“We don’t know,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“But we do believe that the far-Eastern radicals have successfully breached the capital city,” King Eriksen said.
“Blood in the streets. Roaming black outs. Sounds terrible,” Queen Beauchêne said.
Prime Minister Miller rested his chin in his hands.
“What do we do now?” He asked.
There was a stirring of voices from the staffs of each leader.
“What do we do? I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to pull my troops from the Eastern Empire,” Queen Beauchêne said.
The two other leaders turned to her.
“What do you mean?” Prime Minister Miller asked.
“The Eastern Empire is lost. The rebels have taken control. There is no need for more of my people to go die for a worthless cause,” She said shrugging her shoulders.
“We need to fight for our brethren,” King Eriksen said.
“Emporeor Syng-man is not my ‘brethren’ and I will no longer send my people to fight this war for him. For all we know, he is dead!”
Queen Beauchêne stood which silenced the entire room.
“If you want to continue to funnel money and soldiers into the East, you go right ahead, but I have no such interest,” She said.
“Queen Beauchêne, you pledged your aid to the War in the East -” King Eriksen began.
“The war is over. The Emperor is no more,” Queen Beauchêne said.
Both leaders starred each other down.
Prime Minister Miller cleared his voice.
“I think Queen Beauchêne has a point,” He said. “If the Emporer is truly dead, then I see no possible way that this war can continue.”
“Prime Minister, we do not just give up on our allies,” King Eriksen said.
“Last time we all met, you forced my hand and made me give food aid to the Eastern front in order to prolong the war. In order to afford the extra production, I had to cut funding to many of the far western villages in my country. Cuts that hurt people dearly. I had to fight every day in Parliament against both the Minority Conservative Party, the Far-Left Party, and even people from within my party.”
Prime Minister Miller continued.
“I then had to survive a grueling recall election. Luckily it worked out well and we were able to pick up a few seats while aligning ourselves with the centrist party. I survived as Prime Minister in charge of a minority government. All of this to say, my country is tired of war and foreign aid and honestly, so am I. I want to focus on my homeland. My people. Not this endless war in the East.”
“You are both traitors!” King Eriksen yelled. “Empoerer Syng-man was a strong ally to the both of you.”
“If he is even still alive,” Queen Beauchêne reiterated.
King Eriksen stood in silence, but he was full of anger. The lines of old age across his face were exagerated and his fists were tight.
“King Eriksen, if you want to continue to supply troops to the Eastern Front, you are free to do so, but as sovereign nations, we are also able to choose our own paths,” Prime Minister Miller said.
King Eriksen turned to Prime Minister Miller.
“I hope your country never needs the aid from my Kingdom, because those pleas will fall on deaf ears,” King Eriksen said before turning away from the table.
He stomped out as a ruckus of voices started up all at once. The whole chamber was filled with noise as King Eriksen left through the large, wooden doors with his royal advisers and other staff members.
“The old man has gone senile,” Queen Beauchêne said as she leaned over to Prime Minister Miller. “Truly a relic of a time past.”
“That’s rich coming from a Queen,” Prime Minister Miller said.
“I can adapt to the changing landscape. He is as solid as the glaciers to the far north,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“Yeah is that why you changed your whole ‘whatever it takes to keep blood off my soil’ stance?”
“That was when the war seemed winnable. Now it is too far gone. The Eastern Empire we once knew and dealt with is no more. No matter if Emperor Syng-man and his family escape his palace, he is no longer in control of the Empire. Whoever the rebels put up will be the next one to have a seat at the table,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“King Eriksen would never give the seat to the far-Eastern Rebels.”
“He may have no choice. Or maybe the inner turmoil will spread to the Northern Kingdom as well. Who knows,” Queen Beauchêne shrugged. “It’s possible that this institution is also a relic that should be tossed.”
“I don’t think we should cease communication between the sovereignties.”
“No probably not, but we all do range from such different states. It makes these world meetings so hostile when we can’t get along.”
“A bunch of people unable to get along. Sounds like home.”
Queen Beauchêne smiled.
“Congratulations on your election by the way. Amazing that you survived,” She said. “It was too bad that O’Connor had those scandals come out. I was almost looking forward to meeting him.”
Prime Minister Miller studied Queen Beauchêne’s face as she said scandals. She almost held on to the word for just a little too long.
“Oh well. I guess I’m stuck with you for a little bit longer,” She said, the smile never leaving the face.
“Did you -” Prime Minister Miller began, but was cut off.
“Look at the time. I must be off. Important meetings I’m afraid. Plus I must declare the war in the East over. My people will be so happy,” Queen Beauchêne said. “We’ll have to pick up this discussion another time.”
She stood up from the table and Prime Minister Miller did the same.
“It was so nice talking to you, Prime Minister,” Queen Beauchêne said.
“Nice talking to you too, Queen Beauchêne,” Prime Minister Miller said.
“Hopefully next time we meet, it will be under better terms,” She said.
Prime Minister Miller doubted it, but held back those thoughts.
“Yes I hope so too,” He said.
Queen Beauchêne began to leave, but then stopped and turned back towards Prime Minister Miller.
“Remember Prime Minister. The world is changing. Powers are shifting. Not only in the East but all over the other states as well. Just try to stay on the right side of the history so that when the dust finally settles, they will put up monuments in your likeness instead of burning effigies of you in the street,” She said.
“Keep your head off a pike,” He replied.
Queen Beauchêne let out a chuckle.
“That’s also very important,” She said before making her leave.
Prime Minister Miller stood there in the chamber with his entourage of people.
“Sir, we need a statement for the press,” The secretary spoke up.
“Yeah we do,” Prime Minister Miller said. “Get something prepared. We need to address the war in the East as well as the removal of our troops and all supply caravans from the region. King Eriksen is going to use his state media to attack us so we need counter points. We’ll also need talking points for tomorrow’s Question Period. I want to introduce a farm bill immediately. Something that the centrists can get behind.”
Prime Minister Miller left the room and walked down the stairs.
“Never a boring day around here.”
Header Photo Credit to Unreal Engine
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/slug/fantasy-great-hall?lang=en-US
Original Prompt submitted by u/sketches1637 on r/WritingPrompts
Allen The Writer 