Mortance: Summer's Snow

Angus Ⅱ

"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded to know as I strode into a gathering of my father's council. "Why have I been summoned?"

"My prince," Lord Richard Kingson of the east greeted me. "Welcome home."

"Now is not the time for pleasantries," Henry Smyth of Windon reminded my uncle.

"No," the king agreed. "But we may take a moment's rest from the news to celebrate my son's return. How fared your journey, my prince?"

"Well enough, I suppose," I said. "I'd hoped to show my betrothed around my home, for she's not been here awhile."

King William smiled. "So the Calders shall have a marriage after all, it seems. Well done, my son."

"Would that we could celebrate, but there are more pressing matters," Lord Stanley Sailsman said. "Your grace."

"Yes. Please take a seat, Prince Angus."

I took my seat next to my father's brother and across from my other uncle. Lord Sailsman's eyes did not leave me as I did. "My spies in the south have brought ill tidings, my prince."

"Tell me, then," I frowned.

"Elsinct is coming," the king said in a booming voice. "And that's hardly the worst of it. They've armed themselves with dwarven iron from The superiority of those arms greatly troubles me."

"Ser Jon was in Servawd. Shouldn't we be the ones with dwarven iron?" I asked.

"We are not," my uncle Richard said sadly. "It may be assumed that Ser Jon has passed, murdered in foreign territory."

"A sad thing," Stanley Sailsman agreed. "And who would fill his seat now he's gone?"

"Perhaps Ser Gregory could," I suggested.

"He may well be the best swordsman in the realm, but a good swordsman does not always make for a good commander," my father pointed out. "Besides, I think there's an even better candidate among us now."

"Few so young have had the role," Henry Windon pointed out.

"There's been younger," the king's brother said.

"Not under a good king."

"This is not to be debated," King William the Third's voice boomed over the table. "My son, Prince Angus Kingson of Sacreon, shall take Ser Jon's place as lord commander of Sacreon's armies."

"Truly?" I breathed in disbelief.

"Truly," my father smiled.

"I shan't let the realm down," I vowed.

"Good."

"Brother," Richard Kingson the Eighth motioned. "This war cannot be won simply with promotions."

"No," the king said. "So let us move on from the death of our friend and address the war at hand."

"East Sacreon continues to suffer raids from both Elsinct and Viri, more so the latter. Many a lord has written to me of burned crops and stolen food."

"It is a good thing it is summer then, brother. Food is plentiful," the king said.

"It is not just East Sacreon that is being raided. Lords all along our southern border-" Lord Windon started.

"This is nothing new," the king interrupted him. "Elsinct shall be dealt with, in time."

"Not if they deal with us first," Lord Stanley Sailsman spoke up. "There is something I left out of my earlier report, for when the prince joined us."