The Prince of Morley

Chapter I

Storms Brewing

The warm southern breeze blew in his face as his ship docked in the lagoon. He turned around to see the sun setting in the west making a glittering line along the retracting water behind the ship. In the lagoon there was a small town, one of those secret pirate lairs that existed on the eastern archipelago of Serkonos. Here, scum from all lairs of society could be found; the broken and abandon, the disillusioned navy men and exiled nobles. It was for the latter that he had come here. Prince Liam O'Judge, the self-styled "Prince and rightful heir of Morley" was the one he was looking for. Prince Liam was the last of the line of the Kings of Morley who had ruled for hundreds of years before the rise of the Empire. After Morley was finally subjugated and joined the Empire, the O'Judges were allowed to remain the rulers of the island but merely as Grand Dukes of Morley and no more.

Sixty years ago Liam's Grandfather Grand Duke Willem rose in rebellion against the Empire and declared himself King of Morley like his ancestors, igniting what became known as the Morley Insurrection. In Morley this rebellion was known as the War for Independence. The rebellion was crushed not in small part due to the Gristilian navy who was absolutely unchallenged at sea. Heavily armed Gristilian soldiers stormed the capital of Caulkenny and killed King Willem in a ruthless display of power. The surviving O'Judges fled into exile in Serkonos.

After the O'Judges were deposed and driven into exile, the Empire assumed full control over Morley. A local nobleman was chosen by the invaders to assume the newly created post of Viceroy of Morley. The Viceroy was, however, nothing but a puppet. The real power was held by a high ranking Gristilian military officer that held the title Governor-General of Morley. The position of viceroy only existed so the nobility of the isle wouldn't rebel against the Empire, the proud Morlish nobles would never accept a direct rule of a foreigner.

Now he was here, in this secluded lagoon far from home he was here to offer his services for this final royal runt, to aid him on whatever crazy adventure he might have come up with in his royal, inbred, mind… for a price.

He went off the ship once it docked at the makeshift jetty. He saw men lug off cargo from the ship, all manner of stuff. Fruit, squealing pigs, crates full of rum, whiskey, wine and all sorts of cheap stuff that these pirates drank. He didn't bother think about it and set off for the town. Town might be an overstatement; it was just a bunch of shacks and huts surrounding the only somewhat proper structure of this hole, the tavern. The tavern was called the Black Cat. From the outside he could hear the laughing, the drinking, the fighting and all sorts of other fine activities that men of their line of work indulged themselves with in their pastime, pirates.

"Scum of the earth" a noble man had once told him, "Nothing more than hoodlums and rabble that steal from honest folks half the time and drink the rest!" He only knew too well that this nobleman sat on his highborn ass all day and drank while his poor employees worked their fingers to the bone for scraps. Hypocrisy was something he was used to in his line of work, just barren and lazy reasons to justify the stuff they wanted him to do, bastards. In a way he felt that these pirates were more honest than him and all his like and employers combined. When they went out they prayed on the weak for a profit and drank it away as soon as their ship was docked safely at shore. Most didn't feel remorse for their actions and even fewer of them tried to justify them. They knew what they were doing and they didn't care about the consequences of their actions, they just kept on living day after day, in their own way until they drowned in the endless sea, got their skulls bashed in during a bar fight or hung from the mast of a navy frigate, satisfied with the fact that they had lived their life on their own terms.

He made his way out of the pitiful excuse of a town and started climbing up towards a guard post on the side of the cliff overlooking the harbor. On his way up he glanced at the ships below. There was an odd mix of new and old in the lagoon; wooden ship, steel ship, mast and sails, engines and whale oil, big and small. The pirates weren't picky when it came to the choices of their ships. At the end of the cliff there was a tunnel and two men guarding it. As he approached the guards they were sitting at a table playing a game of Nancy.

"Ha! The royal executioner! Pay up you chauffer!" the big one shouted triumphantly. The smaller man sitting across from him sitting to the side with his legs crossed and his left arm resting on the table with his cards in the left hand and his cup in the other, just cleverly smiled as he looked at his cards and then looked at his companion. He dashed his hand down on the table showing what kind of cards he had. The big guard's jaw dropped as low as humanly possible when he saw what hand the cards formed.

"The Master of Arcane!" the smaller guard said in a sly and devious way. The big guy grunted and fell back in his chair with an angry and disappointed look on his face.

The dark clad stranger cleared his throat to get their attention. Both guards looked his way. The big guard got off his feet so fast that his chair fell back behind him. The big guy got right up in the strangers face, menacingly looking down at him as he was almost a head higher than him.

"Now just what the fuck do you want!" the grunt said as intimidatingly as he could. The stranger studied him for a moment. Tall, muscular and broad shouldered the most stereotypical brain dead wall of meat and muscle he could imagine.

"I'm here to see your boss" he said plainly.

"And what if I told you that the boss don't wanna be disturbed?" the grunt replied.

He started to feel irritated. He hadn't come all this way to get sent away by some dog set to guard the door!

"Back off Hank!" the other guard said behind him.

"But I…" the big guy started.

"I said back off Hank! Go sit down and have yourself a swig of rum you meathead!"

The big guy called Hank went and picked up his chair and sat down on it with a grumpy and irritated look on his face.

"Pardon my partner" the other guard said in a surprisingly polite way. "He's just like that, see? You gotta look a little intimidating to ward off all the beggar children that come this way. Now why have you come here?"

"I'm here to see your boss!" the stranger repeated irritated.

"Yeah I hear you say that but what makes you think that I'll just let you in?" the guard replied.

The man put a piece of paper in the guards face. The guard took the paper and read it, looked up to study the man in front of him and read the piece of paper again.

"I see" he finally said. "Follow me. Hank watch the entrance and don't try to club anyone down while I'm gone won't you?" Hank just grunted as a reply.

The stranger and the guard went into the tunnel entrance. The sun had already set and the only light in the tunnel was the torches and the guard's lantern. The steps went downward into the cliff. The man wondered to himself how the headquarters of the "Prince of Morley" looked like; was the prince hiding in a cave in some rock off Serkonos or was it some more hiding deep beneath.

He heard voices at the end of the tunnel and as he got closer he heard working of hammering and machinery. It triggered his curiosity; what was hidden deep in the cliff side. When they got to the end of the tunnel they were greeted by a bright light. Momentarily blinded, the stranger put his hand in front of his face to block the light. When his sight turned normal he was awestruck.

Deep into the cliff of this Serkonan rock there was a large cove, in the end of the cove there was an exit big enough for a ship to use but that wasn't the impressive part. All around the cove there were machinery, workers, men discussing and arguing and loads of weapons. Swords, pistols, rifles, armor and large compound bows that he had seen the tallboys use in Dunwall. But the most impressive part was in the middle of the cove, in the water. In the water there was a large ship, not like the ones in the harbor in the lagoon, this was a serious ship, one of those big destroyers you found in the dockyards of the navy. The ship was clad in iron, it was obviously engine powered but it had two masts, one on the forward part and one in front of the stern where the elevated command deck was. In the middle of the ship there was a huge engine part that dominated the central part of the ship. The ship had cannons blistering along its port and starboard side but the most impressive part was two large cannons on the bow of the ship in a rotating turret.

His gaze wandered to the very stern of the ship where the large windows of the captain's quarters were. Above the windows he saw the name of the ship in black letters surrounded by golden oaken leaf engravings. The name was a strange one; he had seen all sorts of ship names before in his travels, often boasts like Vengeance, Obliterator and Executor, or a woman's name like Martha, Lily and Anna or a combination of the two put together but he had never seen a name like this, a single ominous message The Sins of the Fathers. The name puzzled him for a moment before the guard dunked him in his shoulder.

"It's time to move" he said "let's go see the prince."

The two moved through the crowd, there were at least a hundred people in the cove as he could see. They made their way towards the ship and climbed onto the large dock that the ship was docked at. They moved aboard the ship, the wooden floor made a thud as they jumped aboard. Sailors climbed the rigging and did chores around the mighty ship. Gunmen cleaned the cannons, deck boys scrubbed the deck and officers moved about, shouting orders to the men.

The two made their way to the back of the ship where the entrance the captain's quarters was.

"I'm afraid I have to take your weapons" the guard said pointing at the weapons belt around the stranger's waist.

"Very well" he replied slightly puzzled, the abnormal politeness that was shown in a pirate den in Serkonos confused him.

"This way please" the guard said after handing the weapons to a guard near the door.

"…the squadron need to move on Wynnedown at once and then towards Freaport."

"No admiral, the fleet must take Alba and move into the Straight of Gristol, Caulkenny needs to be blockaded before reinforcements from Gristol can be brought in."

"Your Highness, there is a large chance for the fleet to be intercepted by the Imperial Navy if it remains near Caulkenny for too long."

"The closest Navy base to Caulkenny is in Driscol, south of Alba, they will not attempt to move at the blockade as long as the city and its coastal guns are in our hands."

"Assuming, of course that they are still functional after we capture the city."

Two men were discussing at a table. From where he stood he could see small figures on the table but nothing certain could be seen from there. The guard cleared his throat to get the men's attention.

"Your Highness, Admiral, I present to you the Assassin you sent for." The two men studied the stranger clad in black for a moment. One of the men wore a green coat with a blue and red vest under. He had black hair and a scarred face, no doubt gained from many an adventure at sea, but the man standing next to him was more impressive. The young man standing next to the officer had golden brown hair and a carefully trimmed beard. His uniform was a spotless white one with golden stripes along the sewing lines of the uniform. His eyes, however, were hard to describe, they were green with a hint of brown, giving it a greenish hazel color. They gleamed with a young wisdom and stubborn determination as he looked the dark stranger in the eyes.

"Very good then, leave us." The young man said to the guard, the guard placed his right fist on his chest and bowed before turning around and walked out the door.

"So you are the famous assassin that I have been hearing so much about? Forgive me sir but I seem to have failed to catch your name." the young man said to the man in black. The man looked at him for a few tense seconds before opening his mouth to utter a single word:

"Slar"

"Hmpf, now what kind of name is that?" the officer next to him asked condescendingly.

"Quiet Admiral!" the young man snapped at the officer.

"Sorry, Your Highness." The officer said bending his head. The young man gave the officer a stern face before walking over to the assassin to stretch his hand out. "A pleasure to meet you Slar, I'm Liam O'Judge." Slar looked at the hand for a second before conceding and grabbing it.

"A strong grip, I like that." The Prince said.

"A loose grip can't kill a man, Your Highness" Slar replied.

"Ha ha, no it can't!" the Prince was clearly amused by the assassin's remark. "Now to business." The Prince turned and walked back to the table. Slar followed him and placed himself on the other side of the table, now he could see why the small figures were on the table. On the table there was a map, or rather the table was the map, a map of the Isles about two and a half times one and a half meters large. The figures were those of ships and soldiers, kind of like small toy soldiers. They were placed around the Isles, representing military forces. Red colored ships were placed around the Isles of Gristol and Morley, and red soldiers were placed on Morley itself. Just on the waters around south off the capital city of Dunwall there were several yellow ships representing the blockade that the other nations of the Empire had forced upon the city to prevent the rampant plague that had fallen upon the city from spreading to the rest of the Isles.

Slar was standing on the northern end of the map, where Tyvia was located, the Prince and the admiral was standing on the southern side where Serkonos was located. At the archipelago stretching out from the east coast of Serkonos, there was a collection of green ships.

"Now Slar" the Prince said, "your mission will be one of utmost importance." The Prince used a stick the men of high command used to move forces around on big maps to shove all of the green ships towards Morley, "My plans are simple, land my men on Morley, reclaim my birthright and liberate my people, but for that I need a foothold from where to reconquer it." The Prince pointed at the southern tip of the Isle "Alba is where the invasion starts. If we can take the city and the coastal battery that is located there intact we will control the entire shipping traffic coming south into the Straight of Gristol." Slar took a look around the room. The walls were decorated with a thick tapestry of maps, plans and portraits of men and women, some of whom had darts thrown at them.

"Give me the map of Alba." The Prince ordered. One of the guards in the room took a map down from the wall and placed on the table. The map showed the city schematics (streets, docks, landmarks you name it). The city and the harbor was placed strategically in a large bay, the entrance to the harbor was nothing more than a kilometer wide facing south. On the western cliff, overlooking the entrance and the harbor, there was a big fort.

"It is there where the coastal battery is located." The Prince said. Slar studied the map carefully. The fort had most of its walls located towards the cliff with only a narrow wall facing inland as the primary way of entry. The fort was in no doubt built to have any attacker to pay a terrible price for takeing the city and the fort.

"The fort will be too hard a nut to crack if a conventional assault is to be mounted." The Prince said with a sigh "But there is one flaw they didn't take into account however." The Prince pointed towards the eastern side of the fort "There is a storm drain which goes all the way down to sea level and it is accessible at the low tide at night, you will strike at that moment!" Slar was skeptical to the idea; a storm drain isn't the safest way to make an entry, even if it had to be a subtle entry. The climb would probably be a long one considering the height between sea level and the top of the cliff, not to mention the risk of being flushed back out again like he was some night shift guard's shit.

"How high is it between sea level and the top of the cliff?" Slar asked.

"About fifty to seventy five meters." The Admiral replied.

"Yes, Admiral Fairway once served at that fort. His intimate knowledge of the fort will serve us well." The Prince said.

"Yes. The plan is for you to enter the fort and open the gates for a landing party to storm in and secure the fort." Admiral Fairway said "Once past the storm drains the task should be relatively straight forward, you only have to get past the barracks and the courtyard to the gate, then you must aid the landing party take the fort. Once the fort and the coastal battery are secure you must signal the fleet and we will take it from there." The plan seemed well enough thought out but one thing kept nagging Slar's mind; how big a fleet and an army could an exiled prince and a disgraced admiral, who by the look of his age wasn't an admiral at all but had been elevated to that role by his prince, could possibly hope to muster. He was impressed by the ship that they currently were present on but how many of these could he produce when he knew that the Navy had dozens of ships like it.

After the briefing, Slar was shown to his quarters. The officer quarters were right underneath the war room and Slar was shown to one of them. The room was small and simple; only a bed, a trunk and a small table. Slar sat down at the table to sort out his gear; he'd had his gear returned to him after the briefing. Once satisfied that all his stuff was still in his possession he laid his satchel in the trunk for safekeeping. Before he closed the trunk he pulled a small picture out of the satchel. Slar sat back down on the chair and looked at it for a long time.

He knew the picture; he knew every detail of it, he'd had it for so long, ever since…no, he didn't want to think about that right now. He put the picture in an internal breast pocket in his coat, close to his heart, and laid down on the bed to sleep. At first light the vessel would cast off and make for the rendezvous point to meet with the rest of the fleet. Slar had to admit to himself that he was a little excited to see what this fleet would comprise of.

Slar woke up to sound of boots tramping on the deck above him. Still drowsed from the sleep, he dragged himself out of the bed and looked out the porthole. It was already very sunny outside. Slar lost his balance and fell back into his bed. Startled, Slar wondered if he lost his balance because of his tiredness or the rocking of the ship. He got back to his feet and confirmed his suspicion; the ship was definitely out in the open sea. Slar composed himself, got dressed and left his quarters to get back onto the deck.

The deck was teeming with life. The sailors were working all over the ship; climbing the rigging, scrubbing the deck and tinkering with the monstrous engine block that occupied a large part of the mid deck. Slar climbed onto the command deck, there he saw the Prince. The Prince was standing in front of the driver's cabin dressed in his white uniform which shone even brighter in the sunlight. The prince was looking ahead, studying his men intently as they did their work. He turned towards Slar when he saw him making his way up the stairway.

"Ah… there you are! How was your sleep, sir?" the Prince asked in friendly manner.

"Good, Your Highness." The assassin replied.

"Good, good. Will you walk with me?" the Prince winked for him to follow. The two men started walking down the stairs back onto the main deck. They looked rather contrasting as they walked; the prince in his bright white uniform and the assassin in his dark clothes.

"We will be at the rendezvous point soon, I am sure you are interested in knowing how sizable a force I do command?" the Prince said, walking with his hands behind his back and his head held high as he admired the work of his men.

"I have to admit, Your Highness that I'm very interested in what kind of force you have been able to muster." Slar said as he was walking alongside the prince in a regular manner.

"Well my dear sir, you would be surprised with how many a man the name O'Judge can call upon when the need arises…" The Prince interrupted himself to help a sailor tie up a knot which the sailor was struggling with. Once done, the Prince smiled at the sailor and shucked his shoulder before telling him to get on with his work. The sailor climbed back up into the rigging with the Prince looking after him for moment before resuming his conversation with Slar.

"So as I was saying. I have sailed the seas all my life, the sea is in my blood! I have sailed with all manner of "scum" as the Lord Regent call them and honestly many of them are good people that are forced into a bad situation by circumstances beyond their control. Surely they aren't all good but they aren't all bad either."

"I didn't expect a man of your status to associate yourself with us down on the bottom of the ladder." Slar remarked.

"Ha ha, you would think so!" the prince said laughing "My father taught me that arrogance is the roots to a man's downfall. My grandfather, blessed be his memory, was a fool to rise up against the Empire when it was at the power level it was on at the time."

"And now you are going to do the exact same thing?"

"Now it's different! The fair Empress is dead and soon the great city of Dunwall will be nothing more than rats and corpses! This Empire that has lasted for hundreds of years is on the verge of collapsing in on itself! The Lord Regent's power is slipping and now it is only to kick in the door and the pillars that have been weakened by the hordes of hungry rats will come crashing down! And out of the ashes the people of Morley will rise like the phoenix once again and reclaim their freedom and independence!" By the time the Prince had finished his speech, the two men had gotten to the bow of the ship. They stood beneath the mighty turret and looked ahead. In front of them there was a large assembly of ships anchored up close to a small island. Slar counted them and in the end he concluded with there been at least thirty ships. The ships were in all shapes and sizes. There were smaller wooden vessels used by pirates for quick hit and run attacks and larger steel ships with guns bristling along their sides, there were even a few converted whaling ships among the ranks. Suddenly cannon shots were heard. Slar quickly took cover alongside the railing and dragged the Prince with him.

"It's alright my friend, these men won't harm us" the Prince said laughing. Slar looked up and saw flags being raised in the ships' masts and heard cheering from thousands of men. The cannon shots were clearly not meant for aggressive actions but as salutes, salutes for the prince. The flags were a tricolor flag; blue, green and red from left to right. In the center green field there was a red shield with a golden crown over it flanked by two standing golden lions. Written on the shield were two letters in gold: L and O, Liam O'Judge. Once The Sins of the Father had joined the rest of the fleet, the Prince ordered all ships to gather around it. Once all ships were in positions around The Sins, the Prince climbed onto the command deck and looked over the vast crowd of men and ships that had gathered around him. A complete silence had descended over the gathering as the Prince opened his mouth.

"Brothers!" the Prince's voice rang through the ranks "We have been outcasts all our lives! We have been shunned and spat on by the so called leaders of our own country! They call us traitors! Cutthroats! Pirates! Today is the day that all that changes! We are united together for this noble crusade! We will sail home to Morley and we will free our brothers and sisters from the tyranny that has driven us from our homes and our families! We will bring the swift blade of justice to those who wronged us! We will force the corrupt and the decadent out of their homes and toss them out into the cold! We will bring our people freedom! And as long as there is air in my lungs and my heart beats I will never surrender! Brothers! We sail for Morley!" A huge cheer spread through the ranks as the Prince finished his speech and the sailors started chanting "Morley! Morley!"

In the middle of the crowd onboard The Sins of the Father was Slar. He watched as the Prince chant with his men and could not help but think to himself: "What have I gotten myself into?" That night the fleet sailed off with its course poised northwards to Morley.