Back on the Island of Gistlidia. Rerhud had found himself and his army defending the wisdom tree. The news of King and Queen Parucha’s plight had reached far and wide. Raiding parties were coming to take over Gistlidia and destroy the wisdom tree.
Rerhud had been reinforcing all the Islands defences. Training men to fight and defend their Island. Night after night, week after week the raiders came. The wisdom tree was hacked, chopped and its’ branches pulled off. There were even some attempts to set it alight. The tree wasn’t looking its best. Rerhud feared that if there were any more attacks, the tree would completely die.
He had to think of different ways to defend it. Speaking with his advisors they decided to start a whisper campaign. Telling people that the tree had been destroyed and that only a stump remained.
He ordered posters to be made up showing a tree stump and miserable Gistlidians weeping around it. They were to be given out down by the docks. with hopes of spreading this bad news to all the raiding parties.
The campaign seemed to work the raids became fewer and far between. The wisdom tree was then boarded up so no one could see it. The islands best artists painted on the boards blending it into the environment.
After weeks and weeks of painting, it was finished. The tree looked as if it had vanished. The Gistlidians were forbidden to visit the site. The Gardeners who cared for the tree were ordered to stay in the castle and weren’t allowed to leave. They had no contact with anyone outside the castle walls.
After a few months life returned to some normality and the raids stopped. Rerhud relaxed and started to enjoy being the ruler of Gistlidia. His defences continued to be improved and he never stopped the training of the Gistlidians.
Rerhud would protect and defend this Island with his life. Until king and Queen Parucha returned or he was ordered to step down by Queen Astra
. ♫ Relax & listen to music from this story ♫
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/