Kingdom Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
“I love all my children. But when one of you is bad, an example must be
set.”
“Father! Please—“
“’Father please.’ ‘Father please.’ You all say father please when it
comes to punishment, but what were you saying when you were committing your
transgressions?”
Bon was silent. At least he is smart enough to do that, thought Roland. Father
was seldom a happy man, but today he was especially ireful. Father was no fool. Bon had conspired with
elders from another realm. Which realm exactly, no one was sure of. There were
enemies to the east in Halania and to the west in Sul. And there were any
number of tribes spread out all around that would want to see the kingdom
toppled. Roland had no great love for his brother, but it still hurt him
immensely to imagine his brother a traitor willing to turn against their
father.
Shogarten was a wealthy land, full of mineral resources, lush farm lands
and most importantly a route to the sea. There was trade and commerce and
fishing and travel and the many benefits that came with seafaring. This gave
the land an unfair advantage over its neighbors. It allowed for wealth and
growth and riches. It led to certain dominance in the region.
An unhappy balance had always been accomplished, but often at great cost.
Relationships seemed always to be strained. No one likes it when someone else
has the power. That’s just the way that things go.
There had been political entanglements and wars and various struggles
between the nations and the various regions. That had always been the case. But
now a truly vicious war had come. Not a war as in the past, not some minor
struggle for one plot of land or because of some offense or contrary custom. No,
this was a battle of battles. There was ferocity and a blood lust and men fought
with the desire and dedication and possession that came when someone’s entire life
and nation is threatened with annihilation and the only way to survive is to
kill first. The stakes were high, with nations out to utterly destroy their
enemies and raze them to the ground.
Bon was a fool. He lusted for power and somehow thought that conspiring
with enemies would help him gain that power. His father had been days from a
separate peace with Halania and Sul. If peace could have been reached with
them, then the other smaller powers and weaker tribes would have been no match.
They would have fallen in line or been eliminated. But that peace would not
serve Bon. His father would still be alive. And his brother Roland would still
be a challenger to the throne. Bon was a fool and an impatient one. He had no
need for peace. He had need for the chaos that comes with war, where he would
be free to act and try to make his own fate.
A league of assassins had attempted to kill the envoys that had been sent
to broker peace. The assassins had succeeded in killing almost everyone at the
meeting. There was no evidence where they came from or who they worked for.
They killed everyone from all three nations with equal vicious cruelty. One
wounded man had survived long enough to tell what had happened.
Coincidentally at the same time as that attack, their father had been bit
and poisoned by a rare and venomous snake.
If the envoys were murdered and their death could be placed on an enemy,
the fighting might continue. If the king had been assassinated too, that would
only prove an enemy had been responsible for both evil deeds.
Roland firmly believed his brother would never be so stupid as to try
something like this on his own. Unfortunately, Roland also knew his brother
might be stupid enough to listen to the wrong people and be influenced. It came
as no great surprise when their father ordered Bon to be arrested and locked
away. Roland did not speak up to protect his brother. No one had much of a
doubt anyway. No one wanted to stand out and be accused of being a potential
co-conspirator.
Their father was sick, but he was a robust man. Given time, he might
fully recover. But during war there needed to be strong and decisive
leadership. The murder of the envoys had momentarily stalled the peace process.
The realm was suspended in uncertainty. The slightest shift either way could
have explosive results.
Bon was shackled and carried away. He was not formally charged, but seven
other men were rounded up and executed due to their suspicious associations.
Father rested in bed. The council of advisers was all but prepared to
assume command. No one was sure what would happen if that took place. Peace was
always possible, but many in the nation still hungered for total control of all
the kingdoms in the realm. One thing for certain, if the war continued, no
matter what power was gained, there would still be a great loss of life,
resource and wealth. And one could never be quite sure of the outcome. Many
powerful nations had fallen, faced with their own vanity.
It was no great shock when word went out that Bon had been killed and
Roland assumed the throne. Everyone agreed that this was a prudent course of
action and best suited to promote stability within the nation. No one
questioned or spoke too much regarding the method of Bon’s demise, but there were
hushed whispers and exchanged glances. Bon had died overnight – death by rare
and venomous snake poison.
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