Ghersengs, the royal guard

Weeks passed on and people were starting to move back into the capital city. The grey skins also moved to the capital. the tribal leader followed the instructions of Doreen and had persuaded many of their kin to move to the burnt capital and make their new homes there, hoping they would force the humans and grey skin into cohabitation and learn to respect each other.

No large-scale fighting happened between the two races, but they were unable to be too friendly to one another. The animosity between them was too great to go away with simply living next to each other. The scars that both races had were too deep to go away by simply saying to get over it.

The two races had been ordered not to harm each other, but it still didn't mean they would have to accept one another's presence. The two races formed their districts in the capital, with some for the grey skins and some for the humans. Hardly any mingling occurred between the humans and grey skins.

The armies were disbanded, and the people were sent back to collect the harvest for the upcoming winter. The refugees started to rebuild the city up from the rubble while the grey skin also tore down burnt buildings in hopes of being able to make a permanent residence in the new capital.

As the soldiers of the rebel nobles were sent back, most of the grey skin warriors also had decided to head north to help with the migration of their tribe towards the new lands. Only around a couple of thousand soldiers were left in the capital.

The most prized warriors still stayed behind in the capital.

The grey skin tribal leaders were so grateful to Rufus they decided to create a personal guard for Rufus. Every tribal leader gave one of their sons or a prominent warrior of their tribe to join this elite guard. They were all given heavy armor that was colored in gold with glaives as weapons. They wore a helmet, with all wearing the same typical grey skin mask that had a depiction of a rising sun on the forehead.

These elite guards were named Ghersengs meaning golden lions. All of them had in some way some kind of divinity making each Gherseng a mighty and fearsome opponent. One Gherseng warrior could be even considered an even match for the knights of the black sun.

They were loyal only to Rufus and Rufus alone. They followed him everywhere, almost to the point that Rufus had to start running away to get some peace and quiet.

On one such occasion, the mighty Raja escaped back to the riverside to get some alone time.

"It seems you really are having a hard time," Haley said who found Rufus easily.

"I mean seriously. When I needed to shake friends with an old friend I had to ask them to turn around. Who needs to ask something like that?" Rufus complained.

"Oh, they just like you so much. Think of it if they could trust the other humans, as well as they, trust you," Haley said.

Haley sat down next to Rufus.

"Remember when you worked here on the river docks. Unloading boxes from boats and doing other menial labor. Now look at you. The most powerful man in the kingdom," Haley said and smiled.

"Yeah, but let's see. This entire situation might just explode all over us," Rufus said back.

"Why would it. It is not like it will come rushing through the door saying that the shit has hit the fan."

The Ghersengs rushed into the building where Rufus was hiding. They had looked all over the city in hopes of finding the elusive Raja. Rufus felt extremely annoyed that his peacetime was again disturbed.

"Raja. We need to get back to the palace," A Gherseng said fast.

"See Haley, it always comes rushing through the door.....Has something happened?" Rufus asked feeling like something was wrong.

"An enemy has appeared in the east. We are at war," the Gherseng said.