Within this great legend, other figures warrant discussion. One such is the lady Rhaella of House Ignora. Her cunning was known to lack any boundaries. Approximately at the time the young king was on his journey to Yonoros, Lady Rhaella was en route to the city of Renous. However, she'd be arriving from the west, for she'd been gone many years within the Bestia Lingum. She'd left her post when the word had arrived. Her presence had been long requested by the lord of the city, for he wished to demonstrate the damages that had befallen them. For Rhaella this was another chance to convince the lord to join her in marriage.
Rhaella had now collected many years and had no desire to go unwed. To her, there was no better suitor than the proclaimed, "Soldier's King'. Rhaella arrived in the city upon her great beast. Her beast was the first in the kingdom in hundreds of years. However, the lady would learn soon that the castle had been attacked by a black beast, making hers the second to arrive in the kingdom. Kadeus had not requested to be proclaimed "Soldiers King" and for some reason, it concerned him. Perhaps his desire to be a commander instead of a king had blinded him to the fame of the title. He did not desire the position of lord nor was he supposed to have gotten, yet there he was.
She learned quickly of the damages, for as she approached it, smoke billowed from the now-empty castle. The clouds seemed to coalesce above it, casting dark shadows everywhere there was a touch of light. The lady had feared that there was no lord ruler any more, but she was mistaken and glad to be as such.
Upon noon, the lord rode to meet the Lady, now that she'd arrived. However, when his destrier saw the beast, he was forced to unmount. The fields were still slightly recovering, despite the many months that had passed. The two would make conversation within the field and uneasiness was not apparent in either person. Rhaella conveyed some form of excitement that the lord of Renous did not fear her drakan outwardly.
The lord was more than celebratory for the arrival of a drakan, as news had spread that a man had made it away with the Tome. He of course knew who that man was, but there was no sense letting the Lady of the Ignora know that. Of obvious course, the peasantry was not pleased with their religious idols' work being defiled by a criminal. In fact, many requested the lords, often pleading that a war be declared on somebody. They did not want the insult that had been delivered, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. This news had the predicted effects, many peasants demanded a war. Such a precious tome should not have been so lightly guarded, let alone allowed to escape.
However, the royalty only spent their time enslaving those who spoke ill of the king. Yes, the king had grown quickly to enjoy the lack of care for his people. And there he ran logistics to be able to enslave as many people as he could afford. This inspired a great amount of fear, so none dared to bring up something so terribly close to the king's reputation. Instead, they spoke in low tongues and whispered in the shadows what couldn't be said in the light.
The lord and lady's conversation was found productive, and the lady managed to arrange a marriage between her daughter and the lord. This was because the lord had reminded her of his age, and that he wouldn't marry someone of older age. The Soldier's King managed to call the banners his house had to the wedding which would take place within the next year. The lord's side of the deal was that he'd be given command over all armies under the control of the Ignora after the joining of the fiefs. This held great sway in his mind as the lord, Kadeus of Renous, did not desire lands.
As the lady Rhaella was staying with lord Kadeus, one night they witnessed an army coming in from the north. They flew the king's banners and so Kadeus sent out men to meet the soldiers, he wanted to know the reason they were there. His answer came back to him in the form of only one of his retinue. They refused to answer for their presence and took up a place in the castle.
However, before they could mount an efficient attack on Kadeus, he moved his camp from near the castle. He moved further east and settled for a moment before the lady Rhaella realized what happened. Knowing the threat of the king's men were on her doorstep, she took careful thought, she did not know if she should provoke their men. She knew why they'd come, they wanted the head of the Soldier's King.
There was no chance for them to claim his head, for less than a fortnight after they'd come to the castle, Rhaella burnt it once again. Her beast was of a size that could only be described as that of two great sailing ships. Her beast's body was well conditioned and its skin was that of almost perfect armor. Its flames, while not as hot as that of Sphinxes who burnt the ground farther east only a few generations before, were still great. The beast burnt the sleeping soldiers in the night and their screams ran into the air to die like their makers.
This attack only served to speed up the movement of the retinue. Kadeus of Renous allowed for a full movement to the seat of the Ignora. There he married Rhaella's daughter, Relana, in a grand wedding, and by order of Kadeus, the soldiers were given the food the lords did not eat. He wanted it to be a gesture of his goodwill and only hoped to be the leader of soldiers and not a lord. This gesture would be well rewarded in the future.