Chapter 48

Jeraddin wandered through the Vinolian camp, his head was filled with troubled thoughts.
It had soon become clear that taking Guanaca by force or cunning was a pipe-dream, the city was too well-protected for that and so, Jeraddin had ordered his army to encircle Guanaca, making it impossible for anyone to get in or get out.
By now, the siege had lasted for almost a year and yet, the gates remained closed.

In the Vinolian camp, the morale was becoming dangerously low; the rations of food and water had had to be cut in half and as a result, the men were getting restless and irritated. Almost daily, Jeraddin received reports of fights having broken out, often between the soldiers that were naturally born Vinolians and those who came from the conquered territories.

Oh, how Jeraddin wished he could just pack up and leave this dry, hot land with its merciless sun behind and return home. Home to Vinoli, where the cherry trees were no doubt in bloom, by now. Not that such an opinion was open to him. Taking a deep breath Jeraddin allowed his mind wander. It traveled back in time and for a moment, Jeraddin found himself standing on the carpet in the Queen's study, on the day of the Vinolian army's departure:

"We do not need to inform you, General" Argath told him, her fingers caressing a signed document lying on her desk. "What a benefit to Vinoli it would be if Guanaca came under Our influence. We do not care what methods you use to accomplish this or how long it takes, but it must be done."

"I won't fail you, Your Majesty" Jeraddin  answered. Wishing, as usual, when in the vicinity of his monarch, that he could be anywhere else.

"See that you do not, General." The Queen's eyes narrowed slightly. "Should you fail, We might seriously consider looking among your officers for someone to take your place."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Argath told whoever it was to come in and the door opened and Lorenzo appeared on the doorstep.

"Sorry to interrupt, Your Majesty" the fox said, using the casual tone, which no-one but him would dare address the Queen with. "I thought I'd tell you that the ambassador from Garzola has arrived."

"Escort him to the pavilion and tell him that I shall be with him shortly" the Queen replied, temporarily dropping the royal 'we' she usually employed when addressing her subjects. "I trust that the refreshments have been prepared, as I instructed?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Argath flashed her fox one of those smiles she bestowed upon people when she was pleased with them. Having done this, she turned back to Jeraddin:

"You may leave, General. We look forward to receiving news of your victory. One more thing; King Faljan has insisted on accompanying you on this campaign. Make sure nothing happens to him, will you?"

Jeraddin left the Queen's study feeling a bit pale. He knew all too well what the consequences would be should Argath choose to replace him. As he walked through the palace corridors, his heart pounding in his chest, a female voice called out behind him

"General, please wait!"

Not recognizing the voice immediately, Jeraddin had turned around and saw that it belonged to none other than Miranda.

"Can I help you?" He asked, wondering what she could want from him.

Having been the one calling out , the female raccoon now seemed overcome by a sudden shyness.  Her eyes darted back and forth and she bit her lower lip as if embarrassed. Eventually, she had managed to gather up enough courage to respond to his question:

"Its Nasari, General. She heard you had been called to the palace. Unfortunately, she's busy doing her chores and can't come to take farewell as she would have liked, but she asked me to give you something..."

She  motioned for Jeraddin to bend down. He obeyed , wondering what Miranda had in mind and then, his eyes widened as a pair of unfamiliar lips pressed against his own.
At first, this action had taken Jeraddin completely by surprise. He had quickly composed himself and, having putting one paw on Miranda's shoulder, returned the kiss.

"That one is for you to bring back to Nasari when you see her" he explained and having bid Miranda farewell, he left the palace and headed for the harbor where the Vinolian army was ready to embark.

Running his paw across his face, Jeraddin returned to the present. He stared up at the walls of Guanaca. There they stood in the sun; tall, white and seemingly impenetrable. For a moment, it seemed to the lynx as if they were mocking him, as though a high-pitched laughter could be heard coming from their stones.

I have been too long in the sun, he thought to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow. I had better lie down for a bit.

And with that, he turned around and headed towards his tent.

*******

Perhaps Jeraddin and his men would have found their situation easier to cope with, had they known that the situation on the other side of the walls was not much better than outside of them? In Guanaca, food was becoming scarcer by the day and the citizens had begun to grumble.

"To think the King had our private reserves confiscated, because the amount of food stored in the warehouse turned out to not be enough" some of them complained. "Now, those stores are almost completely depleted and we do not even have our own food to eat. Food that we earned with our money! What of our families? They are going to starve!"

"King Bashar should just give up the Crown" others muttered. "He is never going to beat the Vinolians, but he'd rather that we all starved to death than not be King anymore."

It did not take long before this sort of talk reached Bashar's over-sized ears. The King ordered any dissidents to be thrown in jail and then summoned his council for a meeting.

"The situation is becoming unbearable" the King ranted, as he paced agitatedly, observed by his councilors, who were all seated on cushions in a circle around him. "If we do not do anything about this siege soon, we are going to have a rebellion on our hands!"

This ominous statement, caused the listeners to turn and look concernedly at the person next to them.

"True, Your Majesty" said one of them, a boar with only one tusk. "But what can we do? Engaging the Vinolian army in direct combat would be tantamount to suicide."

"We had all figured that they would have gone home by now" a sand-cat, lounging on his cushion, chimed in. "That if we waited long enough, the climate would cause them to yield. He stretched and yawned. "Apparently, we've underestimated the tenacity of our foes."

A murmur of  frustrated agreement filled the room. Then, the King's Vizier requested the floor. It was granted to him and so, the gila stood up while Bashar sat down on one of the cushions.

"Your Majesty" the Vizier began, bowing to the King, then turning to the others. "Honored council, I believe I may have the solution to our problems."

Everyone, including the King, looked at the speaker, anticipation on their faces.

"If you do, then do not keep us in suspense" Bashar said, leaning forward. His voice was firm and yet, there was a sliver of a plea in it. "Tell us what your plan is."

Savoring the feeling of being the center of attention, the Vizier cleared his throat and began to speak.
Why, the Vizier asked his audience, was the other nations of the World content with sitting on the sidelines and watching this conflict between Guanaca and Vinoli, unfold?

"The Reason, I believe is this: During his time on the throne, His Majesty has proven himself a fair and capable ruler, well deserving of leading our country. I think we can all agree with that, can we
not?"

Here, the Vizier paused and fixed his eyes on each member of the council, all of whom nodded eagerly.

"Alas" the Vizier continued "many of Your Majesty's royal colleagues do not see it that way. In their eyes, you, my king, will always be a usurper. To them, its the person out there, the person who has entered into an alliance with a woman whose ambition is only equaled by her depravity. The Person who has brought a foreign army to our gates, who is the rightful ruler of Guanaca."

And to emphasize his words, he pointed in the general direction of the enemy.

"Get to the point, Vizier" Bashar interrupted, he was beginning to grow impatient.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty" The Gila said, bowing apologetically. "My point" he went on, "is this; the other Kings and Queens of the World may not look with disapproval upon the Vinolian army having entered our land, since Your Majesty's cousin is with them. At the same time, Faljan's presence is the only thing that, in their eyes, adds an air of legitimacy to the Vinolian's being here. As long as she has him, Argath can claim that her army is only there to restore the rightful King, nothing else."

"I see what you mean" the King said, stroking his chin thoughtfully, his eyes gleamed. "Without my cousin, international opinion would turn against Vinoli and they would be forced to withdraw, is that it?"

"Precisely, Your Majesty. After all, the other Kingdoms may not necessarily like you, but none of them would want Vinoli or any other kingdom to have control over Guanaca."

"So, how shall we to get rid of my cousin?" Bashar asked. "Any ideas?"

"His Majesty could challenge his cousin to single combat" proposed the boar. "Winner gets the crown."

"Do not be absurd" the Vizier said, shooting the speaker a dismissive look. "The Vinolian General is no fool, doubtlessly he's aware that His Majesty's prowess in the martial arts far exceeds that of his cousin."

"They could each pick a champion to fight for them" the boar argued, though his voice had lost its strength and his eyes were drawn towards the floor.

"And what if my champion should lose?" King Bashar said, shaking his head. "No, its too risky a gamble. Vizier, you said that you had a plan. What is it?"

Touching the red ruby on his turban, the gila-Vizier drew himself up to his full heigth (which was not very impressive) and began to explain his plan. As he did, he soon saw the smile he now wore reflected on the faces of everyone else in the room.

"Vizier" Bashar said, his face divided by a widening grin and his voice expressing sincere admiration.
"You are a genius."

The Others agreed and the Vizier closed his eyes, basking in the glow of his sovereign's praise, thinking of the honors that would be his when this was over.

Chapter 47

It seemed to Bashar that he had barely closed his eyes, before the sound of someone knocking in the door woke him up.  Before the King could tell whoever was knocking to enter, the door opened and his Vizier stepped inside.

"Your Majesty" the Gila said, bowing. "My apologies for disturbing your rest, but...."

"They are here, aren't they?" The Fennec said grimly, as he got out of bed. "The Vinolians."

Moments later, Bashar, now fully dressed and his Vizier, stood on Guanaca's ramparts. As he gazed down upon the massive army which encircled his city: An army whose ranks seemed to fill the desert, the King's eyes widened slightly and for a brief moment, fear touched his heart.

Then, he noticed two people standing at the head of the Vinolian army: One of them was a lynx, tall and powerfully built. He was unfamiliar to the King. The Person standing next to the lynx, however, was not.

"King Bashar" the lynx called out, his voice loud and strong. "My name is Jeraddin, General of the Vinolian army. I have a proposition for you."

"What proposition is that?" Bashar called back, though he could already guess what it would entail.

"Open your gates and surrender. Restore to your cousin the crown you usurped. In exchange I promise upon my solemn word that no harm shall befall you or any member of your household."

On the ground, Faljan turned and stared aghast at Jeraddin.

"General, this cur is a traitor!" The Younger fennec said, practically shaking with anger. "I want his head!"

"Your Highness" Jeraddin replied, lowering his voice. "Her Majesty has ordered me to take this city in whichever way I seem fit and if that goal can be accomplished without any unnecessary bloodshed, than that is how it shall be done."

Faljan was just about to retort that no blood that was spilled in the service of getting him what was rightfully his could possibly be unnecessary, but ultimately, decided to hold his tongue. There would be time to deal with the usurper later.

Bashar listened to this offer while gritting his teeth. Who did this lynx think he was? As if he would give up his throne, the throne he had rightfully earned by proving himself superior in cunning to his unworthy relation? Why, the mere thought was enough to make one's blood boil.

"Don't be so sure of your victory, General!" The King cried out,"Its true that you outnumber us, but look at these walls that tower up before your eyes! They have served as our shield for centuries and there has yet been an invading army that has managed to conquer them! I have listened to your proposal, General! Now, here is my answer..."

With that, Bashar raised his arm high into the sky, so that it seemed to eclipse the sun. Sensing what was happening, Jeraddin positioned himself in front of King Faljan and raised his shield.

"Quick!" He shouted to his men. "Take cover!"

The Vinolian soldiers quickly followed their General's command. In the next second, King Bashar's arm came down and in its wake, steel-tipped arrows fell like hail over the Vinolian army and those unfortunate soldiers who had been too slow in getting their shields up, sank to the ground; turned into pincushions.

Thus began the siege of Guanaca.

Fanny & Alexander

Greetings, Dear Reader and welcome to a new year for this blog. Not just a new year, but a new decade as well. Yes, we have left the 2010's behind and must now venture forth into the uncharted waters of the 2010's. Best of luck to both of us.
Anyway, I thought I'd begin the 2020's on a positive note. Namely, by doing a little post on one of my favorite movies. So, here we go:

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but I am an admirer of the filmography of Ingmar Bergman. Admittedly, I haven't seen everything he made (far from it), but what I have had the opportunity to see has been of a consistently high quality and that there is no doubt to me that Bergman deserves his reputation as a director.

That said, if I had to pick out what is, in my opinion, the man's Magnum Opus, my choice would fall upon the movie that is the subject of this post:

Fanny & Alexander.

Fanny & Alexander exists in two versions; one made for television and a (comparatively) shorter cut released in theaters. Bergman himself considered the TV-version to be the correct one and so, that is the one, I've decided to focus on.

The Film takes place in Sweden in the early years of the 20th Century and focuses on the Ekdahls; a large and wealthy family ruled over by the grand-mother, in general and two of the children in that family: Fanny and her brother Alexander, in particular. Following the death of their father, the children's mother remarries the local Bishop and the three of them move into his home; a place of strict rules and punishments.

The TV-version of Fanny and Alexander lasts for five hours and not once during that time does it feel as if the story is dragging its feet. One major reason for this is the characterization, which is quite simply top-notch. With a few exceptions, pretty much every character that are introduced to the
viewer is well-rounded and interesting.

Take, for example, uncle Karl. While his treatment of his wife and bitter resentment towards his brothers  and self-pity hardly makes him a sympathetic character, we also see him get along well with the children during the Christmas party and much later, it is he who goes to negotiate with the Bishop in order to save his late brother's remarried widow. In short, he's not a cardboard character but a human being with both good and bad aspects to his person and this goes for almost every character in the cast.

Then there's a villain of the story, who stands among the all-time great screen-villains. Bishop Edward Vergerus is, in many ways, the epitome of the wicked step-parent and yet, as horrible as he is, the Bishop never strays into the realm of cartoon villainy, but remains a chillingly believable figure throughout.

At the beginning of this post, I called Fanny & Alexander as one of my favorite movies (or films) and I've kept referring to it as such throughout. However, I would also call it one of my favorite series. While most commonly thought of as a movie, the TV-version was originally intended as a mini-series and can be watched as such. In fact, the DVD/Bluray box-set even refers to it as a "TV-series".

That said, at the end of the day,  no matter what label one chooses to apply to it, one thing remains true: Fanny & Alexander is a masterpiece; an enchanting tale of great richness, covering every human emotion. From hope and joy to fear and terror, aided in no small part by the cinematography of frequent Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist. If you haven't seen it already, you definitely should and if you have? Watch it again, like most great works, its worth returning to every now and then.