The Lull Before - Part 1

They were about two days from the capital of Ilyos, nearing Lake Doley, which was technically Simonese, though Ilysian fishermen illicitly relied upon it. The air was growing colder and there was a breeze over the land – Baptist was unsure if it was from the lake or the ocean to the west. Prince Heiko had been quiet for most of the ride, straight backed and facing forward, towards home. His home.

The boy didn't want to break his thoughts, and for the first few days he followed his resolution. After that, though, his mind began to gnaw at him, growing incessant and vexing. Prince Heiko's words were rolling over in his thoughts like they were directives from the gods, piercing down to his very core. He guided his horse forward, bidding it beside his master's tan gelding.

"I have a question," he stated.

"You've had a question since we rode out two days ago, Baptist. And you've wasted so much time since then." The prince turned his bright, suddenly lively eyes to the boy. "Are you planning on asking it or are you simply going to let it continue to fester as you've been doing?"

Baptist was unaffected by the goad, mostly because it was far from the wittiest thing he had heard the prince utter. One loses a taste for fruit when they have eaten honey.

"Simo was behind the king's death."

"Ah, that," exhaled Heiko. "Not all of Simo. Just my brother. Ingo, not Alfred. Alfred doesn't have the mind to fell dynasties unless it's through battle."

"You knew he was planning to kill King Anselm and the royal family?" Baptist pressed.

The prince appraised him.

"Then you were a monarch supporter." He posed it as a question, but it was not, and so Baptist couldn't be bothered to reply.

"My father was still alive when the Burkean monarchy fell. No one knew it was my brother. Not even me. If my father ever caught a whiff of what Ingo was planning - what he had done - it's highly unlikely he would be currently seated on the throne. My father was not friends with Burke, he was friends with the Carmodeigh House. He would not have stood for treason against them."

"If you did not know then," Baptist said. "When did you finally realize?"

"You needn't remind me of my shortcomings." The prince snapped, sharp eyes on the slave. "I should have seen it, I know, but I didn't, and the past cannot be corrected."

Doing so wasn't Baptist's intention, and even though the apology was poised on his tongue, Heiko beat him to the silence.

"When my father died, there were still loose threads to be mended with the Republic of Burke. My father carefully composed all of his accords with Burke to specify that it was not the kingdom, but the king that he was making his agreements with, which caused legal issues when there was no more king to uphold the agreement. My father could've easily overlooked it and continued trade with Burke, but instead, he was biding time. I didn't know what for. I still don't. But when Ingo was crowned, his first royal action was to revise all accords."

Baptist furrowed his brow. The Simonese suffered a defeat at the border of Ilyos, which felled the king himself. Creating an allegiance with a neighbor that Simo had a peaceful and symbiotic history with sounded not only logical, but sagacious. Certainly not iniquitous.

"You don't follow." Heiko huffed. "This is why you are not a king. Gunter Carmodeigh. The nephew of the murdered king of Burke. He was a close friend of my brother Ingo until the Burkean Revolution. King Anselm, Queen Bridget, Prince Anrai and Cian, all murdered. Nothing was said of Gunter. As I'm sure you know of your own history, Gunter's father Armin was older than his brother Anselm, but was lame and sick most of his life, and ceded kingship to his brother. With Armin dead, along with Anselm and his heirs, Gunter – being the last of the Carmodeigh line – is the rightful king of Burke. Wherever he may be.

And if that rightful king happens to be a 'close friend', one would be correct in assuming that instead of accepting the Senate as the power of Burke, one ought to find that close friend and return him to his rightful throne. And yet my brother did no such thing." Prince Heiko turned to Baptist. "What does that say to you?"

It said to the slave that he was not ready for the game that was royal politics. He was not ready to gamble with armies and kingdoms. He had yet to gain the aptitude. Perhaps he never would.

He looked away from his master, stomach twisting.

"Don't worry, Baptist. The Senate will not stand long. I must replace the Carmodeigh line on the Burkean throne before I can take Simo, so it seems as though your kingdom will be reestablished before mine." Prince Heiko exhaled a derisive laugh. "What a kind master I've turned out to be."