Return of the Stormcriers

CHAPTER 31 - UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP

Leonardo Bernoulli slammed his fist heavily on the grand desk in the Royal chambers, upturning papers and fancy knickknacks with the impact. His hand pulsed with pain from the blow but he ignored it. The continual elusion of the two princes had the potential to entirely upend his plans, rendering the years of plotting and the life threatening risks he had taken over the last several days completely meaningless.

Since his appointment as Steward he had wasted no time in moving himself into the royal wing of the castle. Being savvy enough to understand the terrible optics of making himself at home in the High King's chambers, he had taken up residence in a long unused room that had been prepared for the eventuality of a larger royal family in the future. Castius' former office, however, was fair game as far as he was concerned. The polished mahogany desk that he had just struck leant an air of studious sophistication and grandeur as he poured over reports that had covered the desk at the time of the High King's assassination. While in his previous position as personal advisor to Castius he had already been privy to much to the information contained within the documents, it felt different somehow to freely search through the most secretive and important information pertaining to Verden. The amount of troubles that the kingdom faced, both internal and external was overwhelming, he understood why the High Council had been created. No human had the time or mental prowess to take on the weight of all that information alone. If only the council members were not so stubbornly selfish and idiotic. He would need their help if he was to correct the course of Verden and fix the mistakes made by the former High King. As much as he had attempted to advise Castius on what he believed to the best courses of action for Verden, his liege often as not made poor decisions on his own.

Bernoulli shook his head in irritation at the memories, the ineptitude of Castius had no doubt been a driving force behind the creation of the resistance movement. He had no delusions that much of the advise he had given over the years had not been self serving, he was not, after all, leading the kingdom merely for the betterment of its people. He envisioned a strong Verden, more powerful on the world stage than they had ever been before. For almost the entirety of their history they had been ignored by the other continents, with no one willing to help them in their struggle against the dragons. Even when they had thrown off the shackles of those great lizards they were not taken seriously; Svet had even launched a full scale invasion of the newly formed kingdom while the other nations of the world looked on and did nothing. Even now, large scale trade with other economies was a fairly recent development. He was the man who could change all of that. It would take an iron fist, and many tough decisions, but he could change Verden for the better, no matter how many people had to be forced to bend a knee to his rule. He was doing this for their good, even if many of them would not be able to see it; did that not make him the greatest patriot of all?

He turned to Arthur Arlington, who he had promoted earlier that morning to the position of Captain of the Stormcliff Guard. Arthur's face wore a heavy bandage over the right side where he had been burned the worst by Nathan's powers, giving him a creepy, half mummified appearance.

  Where would we be without magic? Bernoulli thought to himself wryly. In the space of a day Arthur had gone from bedridden with injury, to almost fully recovered. Healing spells were such a fascinating subset of magic. If only he had the aptitude to learn. He shook his head again, forcing himself to focus on what he was about to say, irritated at himself for letting distracting thoughts and tangents interrupt the flow of his thinking. His head had to be clear if he was to stay alive as ruler of Verden.

  He studied Arthur's scarred appearance for a moment in silence. As livid as he was about Nathan's escape, Leonardo did not hold Arthur responsible for the mishap. He should have sent more men to kill such a powerful Stormcrier, the soldiers had never stood a chance. His closest ally had nearly been killed by result of his hubris, a mistake he would not allow to happen again.