'Diplomacy'

Christian's journey time was cut in half when he gained his mount, he arrived at the entrance to the steppes in the evening of the same day. The entrance was covered in the dead bodies of knights who had lead battles against the Steppe lords, there were some dressed in the armour of the Dunehill family, some wore the armour of the Azure kingdom while others wore armour that Christian did not recognise.

The bodies were strung along a small wooden fence that blocked the entrance to the steppes themselves, they were obviously meant as a deterrent for any one to enter the steppes however Christian made his horse jump over thee fence and continued on his way towards the fields.

As he cleared the mountains surrounding him, a large grass field came into view, on the right side of the field there was nothing of note except a small lake and a stream that ran across the entire field. On the left hand side of the field there was a small settlement that consisted of a few tents that were surrounding a larger tent. To the right of the tents was a small pasture that had animals such as goats and cows in it, Christian decided he would get closer to the settlement and see who was in charge.

As he rode closer a fire could be seen spreading from south-east of the camp, Christian rode in that direction at a quicker pace. When he arrived he saw a battle going on nearby, it appeared that the tribe that had settled here was getting beaten badly, they had been pushed back up to next to the settlement and the enemies archer's had set some of the tents on fire with arrows.

Christian shouted"Someone get this fire put out now, you do not have time to mess around, if you idiots want to live get it out."

Christian then rode off towards the ongoing battle, he had decided that he would attempt to become the leader of this small tribe and make it the largest and strongest in the steppes before turning his eyes towards his old home. The horsemen were pushed even further back when Christian caught up to them, he instantly summoned his skeleton warriors and commanded them to hold the enemy back for as long as they could.

Christian then rode up to the settlement's commander, who was a tall woman with short brown hair, he looked her up and down and said" A female commander in the steppes is a rare thing indeed, I will be taking charge of this battle from here on in. Anyone who can ride will charge with me when i give the signal, it will be clear for all to see. In return for saving your tribe I want you all to swear your undying loyalty to me for the rest of time, if you do I will lead you to the modern age where we will conquer the world."

The woman was outraged by Christian's demands and she Shouted" My name is Agnes Carmine and I refuse to bow to some noble who has no idea how the steppes work, you use demons to fight for you while you sit here and make demands of me. Why should I ride with you? What benefit is to me or my tribe to listen to you?"

Christian raised his head to meet her dark brown eyes and said" You will ride with me or die in this battle and lets be honest, no one with such beautiful brown eyes should die on a plain like this one.."

The woman gave Christian a weird look but before she could say anything, Christian kicked the sides of his skeletal mount and rode into combat alongside his warriors, he jumped from his mount as it rode past the commander of the opposition forces and launched his spear at his throat. The blow was blocked by the commander's sabre however the force flung him off his horse and this gave Christian the time to close the distance between the two...