Aqer
In the Palace of Chariots, Lord Regent Aqer stands on the glass throne, swirling his long beard while inspecting the fine texture of the crown that he has placed in his hands.
What's taking them so long he questions himself, when he spots his brother, Renzio Sunsfly, Chief Commander of the Military, entering the room alongside the Master of Coin, Ken. Ken was a human, and a young one at that, you don't see many wondering around in Acenath, except for the slaves, that is. Renzio takes his seat, while Ken approaches the Lord Regent. Aqer places the crown back on his head, with only a tint of a smile on his face, as Ken bows elegantly before his ruler, showing off his expensive clothes and good intentions. “My lord, the council will be here shortly.” he says, with a wide yet somehow twisted smirk.
“Took you long enough...From my understanding we have a lot to talk about”
“Yes my lord, however we have to do so without Lord Arcanicus and his sister.”
“Of course, we have to find someone else to take care of people opinion and interior affairs”
Ken tilts his head up, looking straight into Aqer's eyes.
“I am well suited for such a position, my lord. The merchants hear a lot, and I get to hear it all from them. I strongly suggest-” his words were cut short as Aqer raised his hand, signaling him to shut his trap
“Lady Thea will take Diana's place. I am sure your duty as a coinlord will keep you busy” Ken frowned, and left the regent's company after another respectful bow.
After a few short minutes, the throne room was filled with the council, who all took royal seats on the table opposite the throne. Aqer sighed, but before he could speak, his brother, Renzio, rose from his seat and adressed the king
“Some troubling news, my lord...” he was wearing the same armor as Arcanicus and had long blonde hair, kept as a ponytail on the back of his throat.
“William Junglesong, the colonist leader, has died of old age. His Bastard, Carl of the Desert has taken over the colonies before we could assign someone else. He requests 5,000 more men to help him on the colonies against the tribal warfare he's been facing” Aqer rose an eyebrow, then looked over at Thea, who could barely hold back her tears. William was her father, and Carl her step brother. She hasn't seen either since she was married to Arcanicus. William's death certainly took a toll on her
“Make sure Carl's request is met, I want the tribesmen taken down. Send an ambassador to Clan War-Blade, maybe his men can help us in this war” Aqer said as he placed his hand to his chin. Renzio sat down, somewhat disgusted, leaving room for Indaril Fire-Setter, the ministry o Foreign Affairs, to talk freely.
“My lord, Clan War-Blade suffers from a shortage of able fighters, and they have a civil war to take care of. I'm afraid they can't help us on this matter.” before Aqer could reply, Renzio begun debating the matter
“Even if they could, I'd rather hire sellswords then asks the milk-drinkers from Sondhein for help!” eyes from the entire room were set on Rnzio
“Brother, war breaks out in the north and there's no telling if we might be dragged into it. We need capable allies, you have to under-” Renzio rose from his chair once more, this time letting it fall to the ground.
“If you ally the elves with those mindless fanatics...” he turned his back and begun leaving the room
“....you are no brother of mine!”
Arcanicus
Arcanicus signed the documents, leaving a sealed letter on the table, directed only for Einarr's eyes.
With that, he took his prized seeker and left for Dawnhold, the capital of the Covenant. A place known for beauty, wealth, and spilled blood. On the ship, the bored elf starts talking with his new traveling companion.
“So, you're one of those...Seekers, right?” the man nods, and Arcanicus raises an eyebrow.
“What's your name?” the elf asks, but the seeker shrugs.
“You don't know your name?”
the seeker shakes his head.
“Tell me your story, and I'd better hear something this time. This damned ship is too silent." “My lord. I was born a slave in Raven Rock, as well as an orphan. Didn't knew my name, because I had no parents to name me. I went to study magic, and than I became a seeker.” Arcanicus takes a sip from the bottle of wine next to him.
“That's it?” the man nods.
“What did the other seekers call you?” the seeker shrugs. Arcanicus sighed, then placed his hand on his new guard's shoulder
“Your new name is Silanus, just as the elven Sun God. You should be honored.” he chuckled, while taking another swing.
“Call me as you wish, my lord. But I only serve the God King Einarr”
Arcanicus rolled his eyes, and as he tried to drink again, he spilled the wine all over the wooden floor, as he smashed his head against the wall of the captain quarters. The seeker fell of his chair and rolled all over the floor. It became clear a second afterwords, as the screams of fear and pirate shouts could be heard by the anyone – the ship was under attack. And it wasn't capable of defending itself, it was a simple merchant vessel, but it carried the Arcosiceni Flag, which, for any dumb pirate, meant it was filled with riches. Arcanicus left the captain quarters to fight them off, and he only had to glance a little to see no track of Silanus.
The damn fool must have ran off He thought to himself. As he exited his quarters, he saw a large frigate, opposite of the ship, it could carry up to 50
pirates, 20 of which were on the elven ship, plundering everything they could find. They happened not to kill anyone, all of Arcanicus's crew was taken captive. But as soon as the pirates saw him exit his quarters, they charged at him. He took out his long glass sword and parried an axe blow from one pirate, then proceeded on swinging at him, tearing his face apart in one strike. The next 5 pirates had already surrounded Arcanicus. Three of them confidently charged at him, but he ended two of them with a charged chain lightning bolt, and thrust his sword into the other one's poorly armored gut before he could get to the elf. The others yielded as they saw the elf drop his sword and send bolts of lightning at them, purposely missing them by mere inches. After the merchant vessel was secure, Arcanicus looked at the pirate ship, to witness an unpredictable sight.
All of the pirates were dead, and the only one standing was no one but Silanus. The elf lord started laughing as he took his sword from the ground and sheathed it.
“We got ourselves a new ship boys!” Cheers could be heard from all across the vessel. They changed the flag, dropped the bodies in the water and moved the cargo. The spared pirates took kindly to this turn of events. Arcanicus took the wheel and sat sail towards Covenant lands.
Diana
Lady Diana and her new handmaiden companion, finally reached Duwdeml, alongside golden league solders.
The golden league counted up to 2,000 men, but Diana was accompanied just by twenty. They were skilled battlemages, veterans from the civil war, and, as the name would suggest, they wore gold plate armor, hardened by moonstone and ebony steel. The golden league was in charge of protecting the young queen, although most of them resided in Taharka, and the queen was guarded only by a quarter of the league. The city seemed very strange to the elven maiden, not by the way it was built, but the simple fact the elves, and men with elven ears stood on the fields, and worked like the slaves back in Sunspear. Only those elves seemed somewhat happier – they had a little more freedom. As she walked the streets of Duwdeml, people pointed at her and whispered, most of them smiling, some cheering with joy. She walked over to a tall tower in Duwdeml, as she was instructed, her royal guard following her closely. She then sat at the peak of the tower, with only an open window that sighed the deserlands of south arken. A man, dressed in expensive imperial silk came at the tower and bowed before her.
“My lady, your beloved Tancred will be journeying through the desert, and then climb onto this tower, to find the princess that was promised to him!” she let out an obviously fake smile and then signaled him to leave, turning her head on the window.
“It's just like in the stories!” Summer said, looking up at Diana.
“The Prince travels and risks his life just to meet you!”
Diana smiled, and softly touched the girl's face. Summer was young, and clearly fed up with stories.
“If only it was like that...” the girl's smile faded away as Diana continued
“The prince's journey is but a symbol, a silly human tradition. He shares no love for me, I'm sure.”
Diana starts swirling her hair.
“But...what about you? Don't you want to marry him? He's a prince, he will whisk you away to a life of adventure, and love a-and-” her speech was stopped by Diana's chuckle.
“I never met him, dear. I don't even know how he looks like. I lived all my life in my brother's shadow, and now I'll become a princess, my son would be a possible heir to the Imperial throne. I'll achieve something he can't. That's all the motivation I need to marry this boy”.
Summer was confused, but somewhat bold in her questions.
“Your brother...he's the butcher usurper , right?”. Diana was impressed by Summer's knowledge
”Yes, that's right. Do you know why they call him that?” the girl swallowed dryly, but didn't hesitate to reply
“He murdered the elven heirs and killed the past king. I once red that he chopped off king Riendal's head, and wore it on his belt as he was praised by his solders while walking through Sunspear” Diana rose from her chair and begun walking around the room.
“You know an awful lot about elven history for a handmaiden in service to Einarr...” Summer let out a playful smile
“I used to sneak around the library and steal some books, the ones that the mages never seemed to touch.” Diana smiled. She liked this girl already.
“Weren't you afraid of the God King's punishment?” Diana asked with a tint of sarcasm
“Not at all. I've seen him myself, he isn't a god, he's just an old geezer that knows some spells.” Diana started laughing, but soon calmed herself down
“So you don't worship Einarr?” Summer looked away
“Not really...” she eyed Diana once more
“I like thinking the elven gods are real. Stories such as the destruction of Acenath, and the endless daylight are so fascinating, worthy of worshiping. Einarr has no story...he's a very secretive man, almost like he fears something. A god isn't supposed to fear anything, right?”
Diana chuckled again and layed on her bed
“Of course not, sweetie”