Forest and Trees problem

Okay, we all get into something so deep sometimes that we can't see what should be an obvious solution. This thread should be used by anyone with similar questions or requests for suggestions that might solve a WIP stumper.

Here's mine. It's a medieval-level world slowly repopulating and rediscovering a lot of things since the collapse of a highly technical world more advanced than our own. An enemy king has offered to produce some kind of token to show his good will in an offer of a full truce he is making to the allies so that his few remaining ships can actually do some trading for goods his kingdom desperately needs (lumber and metals). He is making this known to the allies through the officers of a small boat that mistakenly entered his territory whom he has decided not to attack simply because he believes the boat carries a hidden talent whose power is sufficient to destroy what's left of his fleet and his port city along with him and his palace. He's encountered a hidden talent before with disastrous results. Okay, so there's no real subterfuge at this point. He really needs a truce because another kingdom is emerging as an equal threat to the allies and to him. So, what suggestions can anyone offer as to the token he can give to show his sincerity? A slave is out of the question. His people are like badly-treated serfs, but otherwise free.

Okay, I've already locked myself into a thousand-year gap between the fall of the technologically advanced civilization and theirs. Except for a few objects recovered from places where they were protected, such as a crate of plates and glasses lost in the sea and recovered from protective mud and silt, virtually everything was destroyed in the fall. In other words, very little is intact and even less is still functional. During the fall, one side was fanatical and willing to die in order to kill the others. They even released biological agents that had no cures. The only thing they do have is advanced biological knowledge passed on by word of mouth, but they don't have advanced equipment.

As far as the boat that is there, it's basically a harbor boat enroute to its new station, so it doesn't have anything more than a captain, some officers, and the men and women who operate the boat. Furthermore, they don't trust the king because his forces before he took power attacked one of their ports and wiped out the apprentices who surrendered. Their boat is even named the Breedport Terror after that port that was wiped out.

Militarily, the king has four ships left. The allies have well over a hundred trade ships and hundreds of harbor and river and lake boats which are all basically the same size as each other with minor differences, though smaller than the ships. However, though the vessels all carry weapons, it's at the medieval level -- no gunpowder. They all have weapons equivalent to what the Romans possessed. The allies do not have standing armies, but the king does. However, he has only four ships so his army is useless since it's on a different continent. Two of the allies are on the same continent, but both are separated from his kingdom by mountain ranges with passes that can be defended easily and are patrolled. Plus, they're regularly supplied by their other ally across the ocean with what they need. Though one of the allies on the same continent has access to plenty of timber, they also have the services of a witch with more than enough power to wipe out the king's army if they cross the mountain range. Though she's called a witch, she's really a DNA modified descendent of the survivors of the fall who modified themselves in order to give themselves an immunity to the artificial diseases. In doing so, they also hit on the ability to generate and handle electricity like an electric eel, thus they can shock others with killing force and even use it to affect the atmosphere enough to create small storms.

I know, it's gotten complicated. I have a feeling that the captain is going to decide to leave before the king expects out of suspicion. Still, I'm hoping for some other possibility.

I forgot to mention that the only horses that survived the fall were also modified and resemble unicorns as a result. Other beasts were similarly created during and after the fall. The survivors took an oath that wildlife, regardless of how dangerous, should never be mishandled or wiped out just to harm people as happened in the fall. Consequently, they believe in killing beasts of any sort only for food and to defend themselves. Otherwise, most of the people consider themselves the conservators of the wildlife, some of whom are minimally intelligent and cognitive.

Answering the last one first, a pair of binoculars have already been found and are owned by another harbor boat.

I should mention that the harbor, trade, river, and lake boats are from a continent named Aluria and that the ports operate independently like the old Greek city states. So, there's no centralized government kind of like the US under the Articles of Confederation before the Constitution and the strong central government came into being. Consequently, it's not practical for the king to give a hostage to each.

No, but I'm trying to put the political situation into perspective.

I have to admit that the son or daughter hostage is one of the better sounding ideas, but the king doesn't have any yet. In fact, he's an unmarried king unwilling to share his power yet. However, this does inspire me to give that some additional thought. It might even become a central element.

At the same time, one of the other problems that has to be kept in consideration is that his country just before he overthrew the throne had sent a force against the Alurians and in a move meant to set back their naval and trading superiority had slaughtered several hundred young apprentices who had surrendered in a battle. So, his country and he, by extension, are considered very dishonorable and untrustworthy. The Alurians would easily believe he was trying to trick them again based upon attempts they have deflected already. In other words, they believe he does not value the lives of children, possibly even his own, even though the reader knows that he does based upon previous encounters as a sea captain where he ordered his men not to harm any children.

Well, let's hear your problems. Those deserve a shot, too.

Well, what the king considered valuable is the position he holds. He would like to rule more than just the lands he now holds.

He was formerly a sea captain who deposed the self-proclaimed emperor who deposed the previous king who was his cousin. At that time, the king placed all his relatives in charge of various units so that they could always be sent somewhere else to keep them from getting too ambitious and from conspiring easily with each other. However, the current king went up against the Alurians at a very bad time, namely just after the development of a new long range spear thrower. Still, though defeated several times, he managed to steal one of the weapons and make copies of it for his ship. When he later encountered the squadron that the emperor sent to wipe out the Alurian training port (after they'd done the deed), he fought with them to take over control and increase the size of his forces. Because of the new weapon, he quickly gained the upper hand and won. Then with doubled forces, he went back to overthrow the emperor.

He is sneaky and has already betrayed some of his loyal officers when it suited his needs. Faced with the threat of a witch coming to his palace to destroy him personally, he chose to deny responsibility for the forces in her land and claimed those were rogues whom he wasn't supplying. They and another officer who felt threatened joined forces to escape from the witch's land and seek shelter on another continent where they formed a new city state intent on overthrowing the king. However, their plans required them to use subterfuge since their forces weren't sufficient to face his on land or sea, so they've resorted to raids meant to look like his forces were still active against the Alurians in hopes of getting them and the king to fight each other so that one or both would be weakened.

Hmmm, why not have your villain use his magic to make it appear that someone else was to blame at first? Of course, that individual would then be found dead and unable to prove his innocence. Then the villain could appear to be trusted and accompany Katerin and Bear to the school.