Chapter XII Coup D’état
3rd Era, 845, 10th of Lost Souls
Sepheran Kingdom
Province of Skyhail, Sepheran Capital of Sephera
Vaeylon Vale
The people in the capital arched their eyebrows when black armored men rode through their streets towards the palace. Most assumed they were here for reasons that did not concern them. although the riders raised the eyebrows of the city guards they all presumed everything was in order. if they weren’t supposed to be here they wouldn’t have made it through the gates into the Sephera. Perhaps they had been commanded to Sephera by the King for some campaign. Many a whisper went around, yet none guessed the right reason. Had any commoner thoroughly eyed the main gatehouse into the city they would have found black armored knights of House Vale instead of city guards.
With 3,000 knights at his back Vaeylon and his half-brother Draegon galloped towards the city guards barracks and the palace. Men was about to shut down the gatehouses into the city, ensuring that no one could escape. Vaeylon knew that their time would start to run low now. Any moment word could reach the palace and he couldn’t let the lords supporting the King escape. And he couldn’t let them take Lady Elisabeth with them. he wouldn’t let her be a hostage because he was too slow.
Elisabeth Cantillon
Elisabeth was still waiting for something to happen. To get word from her father about this coup theatre idea. She had pacing the red hallways like she had done for days. She paced the garden, her chamber and the endless beautiful hallways. She couldn’t barely curb her anxiety. She was worried about what would happen if her father’s plans went wrong. Then she would be trapped here and would probably get locked up, at best. Worst…she couldn’t even think about it.
Tiberius brought her out of her state of mind.
“Have you heard if your father will soon return?”
“Eh, no. I’m sure he’ll be back soon though.”
He offered a warm smile.
“I’m sure. I have no doubt he would like to be back when Victus returns so he could demand an apology,” he supposed. “Your marriage will be back on schedule in no time. My sources tell me Victus will soon make port in Vanderhold.”
If you only knew, she thought. She wished she could confine in someone. About all of this and Tiberius was the perfect friend for that. Yet she knew she couldn’t. she definitely couldn’t confine it in Cassandra. They were best friends but Cassandra was still a mere servant and there was limits what she could be told. She was her confidant on many matters, but not grand political schemes. Nothing like this. Treason.
Again she asked the question she had asked many times in the past. Her father was cunning and plotting by nature. This hadn’t been a sudden idea of his. He had thought of a way to overthrow House Gail for years probably. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had confided in Duke Aemon of House Vale and Duke Benedict of House Artois before.
She decided to steer them in on another subject.
“When are you returning to Heartfall? I’m sure they need their Duke back soon.”
He chuckled lightly.
“My council is doing a good job in my absence, but yes. I will leave soon. Another week or so of palace politics before I’m returning home,” he said.
“When Victus gets here?” She assumed.
“Why yes. That’s it. I have matters to discuss that requires his attention.”
“May I know what is concerns?” She tried.
He shrugged lightly.
“A number of things. For one, six hundred of my cavalrymen sailed with him to Tundra Island. A message delivered by raven informed me that none survived and I wish to find the reason as to why all my died. I noticed that Houses Stark and Howard’s men suffered far lighter fatalities.”
She imagined that he was suspicious about that. Lord Colton had to had discussed it with him already, so Tiberius mustn’t have taken that explanation on face value since he was waiting for Victus. Unfortunately he had no idea that everything was about to go to, shit, to use a common term. She wondered if Tiberius would join them or fight for Victus. God she prayed that he wouldn’t join Victus. She didn’t want her friend to become an opponent, or worse. A rival if he wanted to claim power for himself.
Her thought was broken when a man in knight armor came towards them with heavy boots clanking against the floor.
“My lord,” he bowed to them both. “My lady.”
“Speak Captain,” Tiberius told him.
So it was someone from his entourage. Elisabeth studied the man. He had red padded pants trousers and a puffy red and white striped shirt and a steel Cuirass protecting his upper body. His hair was long and had a rough look too it and his beard was a dark shade of brown and a thick mess of hair reaching across his chin and touching on his throat and cheeks. A sheathed sword was slit into it. What time of sword escaped her since she knew nothing about sword or any weapons for that matter.
“An urgent matter requires your attention sire.” His voice was tense and if she noticed Tiberius certainly did too.
Tiberius glanced at Elisabeth for a moment. She had been glancing at him and quickly stared elsewhere.
“Forgive me, I’ll be back shortly.”
She nodded.
“Of course.”
Tiberius disappeared down the hallways with the guard.
Elisabeth paced over to a window and looked passed the vase of dandelions. She could see the palace barracks and the banner of House Gail flapping in the wind. It was divided down the middle in a white and a grey field with a large green tree atop it all. To her understanding it was supposed to symbolize House Gail’s ancient ties to other Houses. A good number of medium powerful Houses in the north of the Kingdom had been founded by House Gail members centuries ago. Supposedly she had heard that it also symbolized their loyal nature.
She snorted.
Loyal. Yeah, they were very loyal when they overthrew Richard XXIV Darbonne, and Lord Praetor Augustus was equally loyal when he assassinated Tiberius’s father and all three uncles. No one had proven it but everybody knew that he did it. She-like many others-saw the Gails banner as a joke. Loyalty wasn’t a famous trait with them. For example Victus’s grandfather wasn’t called Victus the Mad for nothing.
“Lady Elisabeth!”
As if the days theme, she was snapped out of her thoughts.
She saw a group of Gail Household guards jogging towards her. Their red cloaks revealed that they were a part of the royal guards. There was five of them coming towards her and it honestly made her nervous.
“We are here to escort you back to your chamber milady,” one of them explained.
“W-why?” She asked.
“There is a situation,” he explained in a firm voice. His voice quickly turned hard as stone. “On the orders of Lord Praetor Augustus you must remain in your chambers until the situation is solved, for your own safety.”
It was clear to her that he wasn’t asking, and she didn’t have a choice. No matter how much she doubted that Augustus had her well-being in mind, she had to comply.
“Of course,” she said in a monotone voice, keeping any emotions away.
They led her to her chambers like an armored wall surrounding her. when she stepped inside her chambers the man in charge of the group told her, “We will remain outside.”
His voice was as hard and rough as before and she was growing to dislike him. If he wasn’t an armed guard she wouldn’t let him talk to her that way. She was nobility and deserved proper respect. First she tried to read but she couldn’t focus. She wanted to know what was happening and couldn’t concentrate. Only a few minutes went by until she heard clashing of steel and voices yelling outside. She froze. Was it a battle? Outside her chambers.
Her hands trembled and she stared at the closed door in terror. Her heart started beating faster and faster and she felt her hands trembling. . She had two scared young maids cowering by her side. She was just as scared as them but managed to somehow gather enough courage to put her arms around the young teenage maids. They cowered behind her double bed, glancing over the top at the door.
She recognized the hard voiced man yelling an insult. Something about ‘having a sexual relations with a swine’. Shortly afterwards it got deadly quiet.
When the door slammed open she thought she would just drop dead of fear alone. Miraculously she didn’t.
Elisabeth drew a sigh of relief when she recognized the armor fitted to the man that stepped through. The black armor was only worn by one sort of knight. Those serving House Vale.
“It’s okay,” she whispered to the girls.
The man wore a Great Helm and wielded an Arming sword and a Kite shield with the heraldry of House Vale. Or so Elisabeth thought for a second, before she realized it wasn’t it was very similar, so he served a member of the Vales. Her soon-to-be husband perhaps?
He looked at the three girls when he saw them.
Elisabeth gathered all her strength before she stood up and spoke,
“I am Lady Elisabeth of House Cantillon, daughter of Duke Markus Cantillon.”
“I serve Duke Vaeylon the Strong of House Vale milady,” he proclaimed in a voice that was kind, soft and had what she would call a ‘sense of honor’ to it. “The palace will soon be under our control. With your approval, I will bring you to my lord.”
She nodded. It was time to meet her future husband for the first time. A man ten years her elder. The fact he was nicknamed ‘the Strong’ made her curious.
She gave the maids hands a gentle squeeze and let the scared girls come with her.
“Come on. Everything is okay. You’re safe,” she promised them.
Outside she saw four of the Household guards dead. a fifth was wounded and leaned against the red wall and his blood dripped down on the white marble floor.
She took the effort to avoid looking at the stomach turning sight to keep her dinner intact. She followed three knights through a few hallways and corridors, through a hall and into the entrance hall. She felt sick when she saw Household guards lying dead here and there through the royal palace. Blood puddles on the marble floors and a handful of dead Vale knights. But not nearly as many as the guards.
Her eyes fell upon a man with messy black hair and stubble. Was that him? her husband-to-be? He was holding a sword in his hands and to Elisabeth’s horror it was dripping with blood from edge to hilt.
He looked up at the right time to see her and locked eyes with her for a moment. She was about to flinch and glance away when he half-turned around.
“Brother!” he raised his voice.
“What is it Draegon? Did you find something?” Another man asked.
The man referred to as Draegon looked back at Elisabeth and grinned.
“Sure. Found yer wife.”
Elisabeth slowly continued walking towards the man he had addressed. Vaeylon the Strong. Well, that description was pretty fitting for him. He rose two heads taller than her and from what she could tell-since he had the armor on-he looked very strong. His black hair revealed him as a Vale. He had a braided goatee and his long hair was braided and unlike many knights and Men-at-Arms she had seen, it was kept perfect. His brown eyes was quick to lock with hers and he returned his sword to its sheathe. He sucked air in through his nose and breathed out through his lips.
She had let go of the scared maids and they stopped a few paces behind her as she stepped up to her husband-to-be.727Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfjIRzzxEL
