Book I: Lords of the Whorl
Fracture
FLORET, CROWNLANDS, KINGDOM OF SOUTHSWARD
Castle Floret may be in open panic, but Lord Becker Swalestrom was not.
He remembered that King Gideon entered the council chamber with more haste than was necessary. The squirrelking was followed by his recent appointments to the council, all of them mice. The otterlord had previously suggested a few squirrel or otter appointments to defy Triel's expectations, but his liege decided to bide their time.
The consequences of the Second Range War were catastrophic for Southsward. Southsward's armies crossed the Greatrange to secure its hold over Burelas and Deilart, leading to six seasons of border warfare. It only took a few victorious sieges against mountain forts for King Ferrant of Triel to be lured into open battle, and that idea backfired with surprising efficiency, as three losing battles within one season was able to force Southsward to its knees, and the Parmans were unable to assist them, being preoccupied with the Valnainers. Triel was able to finish her weakened opponent off by placing the Southard capital under siege, enabling a complete victory and total submission.
Never again would this happen to Southsward.
Lord Harmon rushed through his report about how Crestworth forces were cleansed out of Meraholmer, leading to a few surprised gasps from the other lords, and even the king himself. They even kept their surprised looks after the meeting was adjourned. Only the elder Lord Swalestrom's face remained calm, which was not usual for the volatile and lively lord.
The beast behind him tapped him on the shoulder. Garrion Swalestrom was almost his father's total opposite. While the father was outgoing and adventurous, the son was timid and cynical, with an overweening pride of his sticking out like a sore claw. Even then, he was considered more humble than Becker's two other sons, and for good reason. Even their dress reflected their differences. Both wore gold and blue, the colours of Southsward, as opposed to the red and silver of Triel, despite the fact that red was also an Otterguard colour. But Becker was in more official dress, with his medals carefully hidden back in Castle Terrace. Garrion wore what little accomplishments on his chest for all to see, to his father's erstwhile annoyance.
"We have indeed lost this battle, father." If only Lord Canute could have waited for two or three months, thought Garrion. He could have gotten a crown on his head, but his rashness got him only a rapier through the chest. He is too rash to be a king.
"Not as much as Erlend would have hoped." The Swalestrom brothers were born in an era of peace, and proceeded to stir up conflict within the span of a few seasons. Becker, as the elder brother, inherited his father's old post of Skipper of the Floret Otterguard, while Erlend recieved his father's sworn lands back in Dravania. The two immediately took opposite sides when they came of age, as one was loyal to the cause of restoring Southsward to its independence, while the other saw it expedient to align with Triel to protect his Dravain interests.
The emnity between shared blood only managed to rise from there. The brothers supported opposing sides in the Parman War and cemented marriage alliances with both belligerents. Erlend was wedded to Lorelei solely for the Duchy of Thavnair, while Becker's marriage with Anzeka Baleblood grew into love on both sides.
"The death of Lord Canute probably means that our original plan has been sunken for now. Lord Valdemar believes that his father's death could be prevented if we had interfered, but he simply doesn't understand that we do not have the time and resources for a sea-borne enterprise."
"But Meraholmer is a highly strategic location." Garrion countered. "You told me yourself that whoever controls the isles will control the trade to Parma!"
"Trade? Southsward is close to war! We have better things to care about than trade!" Seeing the confused glares of the other lords, his tone shifted from a lord lashing out at his underling to a father educating his son.
"I know that you care about what happens next, but we should focus on the present instead of what is to come. Take a look. King Garmund of Triel only cares about keeping Southsward under his footpaws. Southsward is nothing to him but a route for safer trade, and a method to avoid the Jaysian toll over at Obring Strait! If something is not done, Southsward will simply be bled dry!"
"Father, I understand the situation will surely worsen if we don't break free just as well as you do! However, if Canute did take Meraholmer, then your Trielian brother can be flanked!"
Erlend may be both a vassal of Southsward and Triel, but Gideon of Southsward simply did not have the force to bring him into true submission. Slowly and gradually, Erlend of Thavnair rose from a lowly second son to a massive thorn in the tail for Southsward and her king. Gideon would have had to act fast for the thorn to be torn out without any lasting consequences. He did not succeed.
"Then we can be simultaneously pummelled from both sides of the Sound. Great idea. Thordan Skyward may be old, but he is not senile. He could just as easily bring Parma into the opposing side just for a better trade deal. As if the ones we are forced to offer now aren't good for them already!" Lord Becker raged as he kicked at an invisible foe.
Garrion's eyes gasped wide while he realised what his father told him. Triel and Parma standing together against Southsward! What once had been a faraway possibility is now a possible fate for Southsward, and the Swalestroms (of Floret, anyway) would not let that happen under any circumstances.
Becker must have seen his reaction. "Worry not, boy. I'll patch up our relationship with Lord Valdemar in no time! But first, we need you to keep Floret safe." Looking at his firstborn's flummoxed reaction, he decided to elaborate. "Yes! You! You just need to check if the forts alongside the arena are adequately primed and ready! Godred's already begun to fortify the East, and Bedric has just arrived at the Greatrange, so it would be time for you to actually do something! We may not try to start a war, but we would do anything but that for an independent Southsward! For King Gideon and House Swalestrom!"
Garrion nodded. "Yes. But what are you doing in the meantime?"
Bedric grinned. "Planning! You couldn't just rush into independence without knowing what is going on beyond the Range and the Sound! Diplomacy is key to our enterprise for independence, and I might even have to head to Arnet for a better shot at it!"
Garrion gave a smile in return, but as he walked away to obey his father's orders, he couldn't help keep a thought inside his head.
Why do I get the feeling that he's hiding something from me?
When General Ralos was invited to a small gathering with King Gideon was to be held between them and Lord Becker Swalestrom within Castle Floret, the squirrel knew that he had missed something very important.
He had just returned after accompanying Lord Bedric Swalestrom to Fort Tiernan near the Trielian border and thought of taking a short rest when the invitation was discovered. Rumours were rife about islands invaded and lords slain, so he had every cause to be worried.
In fact the last time he was as worried as this was when the Grey Horde invades two seasons ago. It was his first test as the General of the Southard Order of Defense, and he swept the invaders back into the north after they were within seeing range of Floret. The situation was so surprising that both Swalestrom brothers, Becker and Erlend, ceased their plotting and bickering, and lead a pincer operation into Mossflower, liberating it from the vermin from the Lands of Ice and Snow.
If only the campaign took longer for the brothers to reconcile, Ralos thought to himself as he walked through the streets of Floret.
Fort Riddian and Castle Floret were on opposite sides of the city, so it took a while for the general to traverse through. Houses and cottages were closely packed together, and children were called back into their homes by impatient mothers. I used to be a child like them, but I have taken more arrows than one could imagine. Gates. What good has decades of active duty done to me?
He recalled as he and Lord Gavin Swalestrom stood alongside each other as their soldiers were cleaving their way into the Doman lines, while the young Prince Garmund of Triel rallied both Southard and Trielian together to stand against the mighty King Otto of Parma back at Balv.
Some would say that war was glorious, and there is no better honour than to die for king and land. Others would tell tales about war's brutality, how it wrenches friend and friend, father and son, brother and sister, husband and wife. But when he stood near his future enemies at Balv, celebrating with friends who could and for those who could not, he knew the truth about the nature of war.
It was both.
He stood at the gates of Castle Floret as doorbeasts pushed them open. The castle interior was as well-polished as the hundreds of times he stepped through these gates, and the reception was as warm as a wet blanket as usual.
He ascended stairway after stairway, until he was met by guards, who let him pass after showing the invitation letter to them.
Only one of the three prepared seats was filled. Lord Becker calmly sipped his Parman damson as he noticed the General's presence. He was a beast of forty seasons, too young to fight alongside his father as he fought and died at Balv, his wounds festering so much that no healer would save him, but too old to be in open battle now. His brown eyes reflected the affability of his mother, and from this affability bred playfulness and mirth.
"Hello there," Ralos greeted.
"General Ralos! You were a bold one back in my father's days, and it seems that you still are. Please sit!"
Flattery right at the beginning? Typical Becker. He wants something from me. His tail bristled at his mental warning, and Becker caught onto the much older beast's confusion.
"You need not worry. King Gideon will come. He's dealing with a Parman messenger. Care for a glass?" Lord Swalestrom teased.
"Thank you, but that would not be necessary." The last thing Ralos wanted or needed was to wake up disheveled when there was so much to be done.
"I was away for the previous seven days, so could you tell me about what happened in Meraholmer?"
Becker's face contorted when the squirrel mentioned the island chain at the middle of the Sound, and his previously blithe tone faded out. "Lord Canute is dead, and my br- the Duke of Thavnair's son has been confirmed as the Lord of Meraholmer." He took a sip out of his glass. "All while you and I lay down idly, waiting for good things to happen. Brilliant."
Before Ralos can rouse the highborn from his atypical sarcastic despondency, King Gideon entered the room, and unlike the grand commanders of the armies of Southsward, he was actually in high spirits.
"Thordan's dead! The King of Parma is to be a threat no more!"
Ralos was shaken so much by the sudden news that he forgot to greet his king, but it also had the effect to revitalising Lord Becker. "Your Majesty, this is good news indeed. This calls for a small celebration!"
Ralos managed to compose himself. Thordan fought on his side at Balv, and was offered the Parman throne after Otto Crestworth was deposed after the battle. They were acquaintances once, but if his death would help Southsward in the long run, so be it.
"Your Highness, you wouldn't happened to have done something, had you?"
Becker spoke faster than the king. "No. We had no part in his death."
Gideon added, "He was old already, and his heart must be fragile enough from all that ruling. No wonder one day it just simply burst! But I would just like to ask you one thing." Ralos edged his snout further, waiting for the king to speak up.
"After all the injustices we have suffered from the paws of the Trielians, would it be better for Garmund to start a war than for me to start one?"
"It would appear to be so, Your Majesty." Becker affirmed. "Being the defender brings an advantage to the moral cause. All Southards would flock to join us!"
Ralos chimed in. "We cannot afford to fight an offensive war. It would be better to fight back with any allies we can gain than to be trampled under Triel after we get overconfident."
"I am indeed glad to see that you two agree with me. You must be ready for any Trielian declaration of war."
"We may not try to start a war, but we would do anything but that for an independent Southsward. It is my duty as Skipper to do what you order me," Becker added.
"Very well then. In order to achieve our goal of a free realm, we would have to commit acts that others consider to be extreme. Lord Becker, is reconciliation with your brother still possible?" The king asked from out of the blue.
Clearly taken aback by the question, Lord Becker forced his mouth open. "Alas, it is no longer a possibility. He is loyal to King Garmund just as I am to Your Highness."
"Then he is Triel's weakest link. Lord Becker, there will be no opportunity to earn your brother's forgiveness after this moon ends. You two can return to your residences, and we have mere days to prepare evreything for anything."
Had Ralos knew what was playing out in the heads of the two younger beasts, he would have retired from his post and fled to the ends of the earth, hidden from all that would seek to abuse his talents. For unbeknownst to the veteran squirrel, this is the exact moment where the crumbling peace fractures completely, burying the two kingdoms within a bloody spring.
A/N: Happy Easter! Sorry for the hiatus last week. I did not have access to my laptop, and posting on my phone was a risk I cannot take.
We finally get to Southsward! Yay! It is a very different place from the Southsward you know, as hundreds of seasons have now passed. King Gideon, Becker and Garrion are Jade's characters, Garrion appearing in a flashback in Chapter 32: Intermission III of TBBU, and Becker was mentioned in the same section. I fleshed them out, and added names to Garrion's two brothers who were hinted in TBBU, and their mother as well.
Killing off King Thordan was a necessary step, as the plot simply needs him dead. You'll get to see more of him in future chapters though, so don't worry! How? You'll see soon enough!
Chapter 2 (Weight of a Whisper) will be out on 24/25 April (back on track)!