New allies

Stubrandt, Corvas and Seralys had met up with Stubrandt his crew after they crossed the streets of Asahar. At the edge of the city, twenty soldiers had been waiting for Stubrandt. They looked exhausted and their armor was obviously not built for this hot weather. Yet they also looked fierce and powerful. They were not men to be messed with. The men observed Stubrandt his new wife, but none of them talked about her or Zereen. Yet Seralys could feel them silently judging her and her dragon. She didn't feel like confronting them, though.

After some time and a little speech of Corvas, Stubrandt gave everyone the command to leave the city and head for Monodias. Thus, they made their way through the desert of Ra.

It had been a long, silent and boring trip so far. No one talked besides Corvas and Seralys prayed that the spirits would make him shut up as soon as possible. He did talk a lot, but all that came out of his mouth was just so boring to her. However, the trip unfortunately quickly became more interesting.

Suddenly, in the distance there were around 30 horses with men and women on them approaching. They were Asaharians. But obviously not friendly ones who liked tourism. Seralys recognized them and so did Stubrandt. They were bandits and they made a lot of noise. Only Seralys could recognize  what their chanting and shouting meant.

'Stay back! Corvas and you two, take my wife and the dragon back! Now!' Stubrandt commanded the three men to ride away from here. Corvas and the two soldiers forced Seralys to go with them. But she struggled.
'No, wait! Let me go back-'
'You heard the Lord his orders, my lady!' Corvas obviously felt panic. Seralys noticed and responded with a calm, yet demanding tone.
'And you heard my orders, didn't you? I am his lady, indeed. I am his wife and I command you to take me back there. That is my order.'
'But...' Corvas hestitated.
'Do you want your lord to die? If so, by all means continue to ignore my commands... Or you could be a wise man and follow your orders. I know what to do about those bandits. Your lord doesn't. Step aside. Now.' Seralys sounded threatening. Yet she saw Corvas his doubt. But in the end, he let her go. She immediately rode back to Stubrandt and his soldiers. The bandits were already at the scene. They appeared to be shouting at Stubrandt and his army and Seralys guessed that they demanded money and supplies. It sounded like they were threatening Stubrandt. Stubrandt heard the outraged cries of Zereen as he saw his wife approaching. He looked at her with a slightly worried expression.  However, she remained calm.

'Valondis sino nandoro!' Seralys shouted. Stubrandt had no idea what she said, but he did see the effect it had on the bandits. Most of the bandits looked at her and some even dropped their weapons immediately.  Seralys continued to talk in a language that was unknown to Stubrandt. The more she talked, the more bandits dropped their weapons.
Corvas, Stubrandt and his army couldn't believe what they just saw. The girl who appeared to be as fragile as a flower, blossomed into a confident woman who meant business. Somehow, this woman had made all those bandits drop their weapons. The bandits even seemed terrified.

'We're sorry, we didn't know who you were... We really didn't! Please, no dragon fire! We're so sorry!' A bandit girl with black hair couldn't stop apologizing. Seralys tried to reassure her. This time, she used the common tongue instead of the foreign language.
'You don't have to apologize. No harm has been done yet. However, we can't let you all get away with this.' Seralys looked at Stubrandt, but it was obvious that he had no clue what to do with the bandits except for killing them. Seralys however, had different plans. The bandit woman continued to beg for her life. Seralys decided to interrupt her.
'We are truly sorry! We-'
'Sh, calm down. There's no need to be frightened. This is a good day. Today is the day I'll give you all a chance.'
'A chance?' The bandit girl looked confused.
'Indeed. You see, you have three options here. One, you fight us here and this will result into your deaths. Two, you run away and my father will hunt you down. This will once again will result in the deaths of many. Or three, you throw away this pitiful bandit life and start a new life with us. This won't result in any death, obviously.'
'Pitiful bandit life?' For a moment, the bandit woman seemed offended. Seralys noticed.
'Well, perhaps that's not the right word. It's more a harsh life, isn't? You have to do dishonorable things to survive, don't you?' The bandit woman nodded.
'I bet you all didn't choose this dishonorable life. None of you. In your new life, you don't have to do anything the spirits won't approve of. No more stealing, robbing, raping and plundering.' Seralys smiled friendly. Stubrandt remained silent.
'That's... our way of life!' A bandit screamed. He was obviously not happy.
'Not anymore. From now on, you will only follow the commands of my husband, Stubrandt von Garstabrygga. You pledge your loyalty to him and follow his commands without question.' Seralys felt their doubt and continued to persuade the bandits a bit more. '... Or you refuse my generous offer and die. The choice is yours.'

The bandits looked at each other. They waited for who was going to make a move, for what was going to happen. Then, the bandit girl with the black hair made the first move. She bowed to Stubrandt. A few joined her and eventually all the bandits were bowing to their new Lord.

They all fell quickly, one after another, like dominoes.

Meanwhile their new Lord couldn't help but stare at his new wife. She succeeded in making their enemies their allies. She did something Stubrandt wasn't able to do in ten thousand years. Stubrandt was an intelligent man, no doubt. But he didn't exactly have a way with words. He actually preferred silence over chit-chat.
But now he saw the effects words can have on people. He now saw that not only armies are weapons. Words could be used in exactly the same way. The words of his wife became a weapon just now! He stared at her, fascinated. She smiled and obviously knew what she was doing. For a moment, Seralys stood as tall as a queen: a queen worthy of Stubrandt.