Chapter X Calm before the storm
3rd Era, 845, 29th of Last Nightingale
Sepheran Kingdom
Province of Riverlands, Valiant Castle
Markus Cantillon
“I believe Houses Ice and Cassius will support Victus,” Aemon Vale stated. “Add to that Mormont. All of them owe their governorships to House Gail.”
Markus agreed with his old friends assessment. All three Houses owed their lands and status to the Gails. They had been granted islands to govern over a century ago. They would be small Houses without Gails support. House Gail had intervened in the conflict between House Howard and House Ice three decades ago. Duke Howard wanted land and engineered a conflict with House Ice for a foothold on their island. In the end King Augustus III intervened and crushed House Howard’s navy. They had to pay a hefty sum for their breaking of the peace.
But that didn’t mean that Howard would join their side. They had an alliance with Houses Gifford and Kenneth and he was pretty certain that they would wait to see who would win before they did anything. They might even take a stab for the throne if they feel they had an opportunity, but they weren’t very powerful amongst the ruling Houses. They only hand one province each to draw upon.
“House Ambrose will likely support us,” he said. “Since they defend a part of our eastern borders they cannot declare for us openly though.”
“Then why mention it? What does it matter?” Benedict of House Artois asked.
He stood beside Markus as he stared at the wooden carved map in front of them.
“They won’t send any troops or supplies to help the King,” he explained.
“Hmm. Point taken. Aemond, have your spies told you anything about House Stallion? Anything from Dread Marsh?”
Markus glanced at Aemond.
“I believe Duke Stallion will do what he always does.”
“Sit back and watch,” Markus understood.
Aemond nodded. His hair wasn’t set into a ponytail today, but it appeared to be trying to escape in many different directions. He grabbed the goblet of ale and emptied it in one sweep.
“We must make a decisions about Darbonne, Markus. We cannot be indecisive in our opening move. Everything might be lost than.”
Markus saw Benedict looking at his from the corner of his eye. He rubbed his bearded chin.
“We cannot be sure what they will do, not completely.”
“No, but if they declare for themselves we’ll sit there with a third party, completely unprepared for it.”
There was no errors in that logic for him to pick at. His friend was right. He preferred a cautious approach to Darbonne personally. He hoped to convince them to back Vaeylon and Elisabeth for the throne.
“If they would ever back our children, they will demand something in return,” Aemond argued.
“Land,” Markus knew.
“Which we cannot give them. their territory would become too large. They are already a threat to the throne.”
Benedict snorted, crossing his muscular arms over his chest.
“It has been three-hundred years since the last Darbonne King. Richard. It is deeper in our history and easier to remember than the Vale Kings,” he proclaimed in his hard voice.
“Aye,” Markus agreed. “1,500 years of Darbonne rule. Commoners doesn’t know every King, but history will back our claim up. Every Vale King was a great conqueror, greatly just, a great diplomat and so on.”
Aemond nodded at that.
Markus noticed a servant enter the room.
“My lord,” he bowed to Aemond. “Lady Black wished you to know that dinner will be served in one hour.”
“Very good. Bring us another bottle of ale and three goblets.”
“As you say my lord.” The man backed out and blocked the thick doors behind him.
He had to admit he could use another drink. Especially since they were rounding up the planning. Everything was ready, they just went through the Houses and events a last time.
“What do you say then Aemond, Benedict, shall we cats a vote about Darbonne?”
Both men nodded.
“Very well then. I say we need to convince them to join us. If we grant them land and influence it will only increase the risk of a Civil War after we depose Victus.”
“I say we attack them,” Benedict the Giant declared with a grumble. “I don’t trust that little Tiberius to stay neutral or join us.”
Markus looked to Aemond.
“It falls to you my friend.”
He was already predicting what he would say and accepted it.
“We need to assume Tiberius want the throne back,” Aemond stated, as he had predicted. He put his hands down on the table between them. “We must march against him too.”
Markus sighed inward and wrinkles formed in his forehead.
“And so we shall.”
He looked down on the map. His fingers followed one of the rivers in Dread marsh. Until he reached Caer Caspian Castle. It was a bit into Echo Falls and intersected a river from Cantillon ruled Dark Hollow. That crossing had to fall in the beginning, otherwise Darbonne could hold a strong fortified position. it could quickly cut their supply lines in they weren’t careful. Markus played with the idea that they may be able to cheat their way inside. If they send a party of knights and request entry and rest for a night, most likely they would be let in. well inside they party could overpower the gatehouse guards and open the gate for a waiting army in the forest could run inside and cease Caer Caspian Castle. They his younger brother and him could lead an army to take Echo Falls and form a route to connect Dark Hollow with their other lands.
“Remind me Aemon, how many men can Vaeylon muster?”
“Almost 20,000. But he’ll ride with 3,000 to take Sephera. The city is lazy and unprepared, not to mention-”
“-A smaller army is less suspicious.”
“Yes, indeed. One of my bastards, Draegon will go with him. Both boys has grown into excellent soldiers and skilled tacticians. It’s probably in the Vale blood.”
Markus snorted amused.
“Probably.”
“House Vale doesn’t have bad apples.”
“No? What about Ryokan?”
Aemond waved it off.
“Nah, he was a bastard. Not true Vale blood.”
“A bastard that almost conquered all of eastern Sephera. Until he marched into the Dread Marsh and Stallions army ambushed and picked his men off.”
“Didn’t the shit drown?” Benedict bellowed, chuckling darkly.
Markus half turned to him.
“Tried to swim across a river in full steel plate armor,” he confirmed. “Not very smart. I mean, he fought against Sarah the Holy so he didn’t have a real chance.”
3rd Era, 845, 30th of Last Nightingale
Sepheran Kingdom
Ocean of Ice, Royal Warship Mule of the Coast
Victus Gail
The waves occasionally threw ice cold water over the deck and made any man in its wake shivered in the cold. The equally cold breeze coming in from the north could make even a Northman frozen. Some items an unexpected gust of wind slammed into the crews faces. They had to shout to be heard over the wind once it started picking up. The two-hundred meter long warship cruised through the large waves. Worst of all perhaps, was the rocking back and forth. At least for Victus in his cabin below deck.
He had been traveling on the open sea for six days now and he hated it just as much as when he traveled in the opposite direction. But at least they would reach the port in Vanderhold any day now. Or so they told him.
The only thing that kept him going was seeing his siblings and future wife. Elisabeth. The first thing he would do was kiss her hand and deeply apologize for his absence. An King’s job never tires. There was always something and since her father was Duke Markus of House Cantillon she would probably understand. It wasn’t like he was insulting her or intended to be gone for this long. No of course not. He’d just have to make it up to her.
He smiled when he thought of how beautiful she must be. He had heard of her beauty, but only now would he meet her. This entire campaign would be worth it when he laid eyes on her for the first time.
His cabin was a quite fancy one. It was decorated with wooden carved statuettes in the corners and on the bed poles. The cabin had one window and it was carved by a man named Dort Rivers, wildly considered to be one of the greatest architects of Victus’s father’s generation. He had died just a year ago. His Spymaster Koyvin told him that Dort had ungracefully had a heart attack and fallen off his horse. Victus’s bed had beautiful red linen covers with bear fur inside and the outer edges and corners was lined with gold. He was curled in under two layers of them. It was incredibly cold and he didn’t have a fire anymore, like in Caer Nora Castle.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yBtVrVJ5J
