Child's Play

The Scorch Valley Stand

As Merrick took in the full scope of Scorch Valley, he realized that he was overwhelmingly unprepared. He had spent countless hours learning about everything from diplomacy to war tactics, but nothing he had been taught could ready him for something of this magnitude-- he was going to have to start his own kingdom.

Of course, this wasn't a "for real" kind of thing. Merrick wasn't trailblazing a path through the wilderness for his citizens to follow. Rather, his father, king of the Dragon Sector, had thrown his own son in as a gamble with the other sectors in the hopes of gaining more land. Though Merrick had been trained in preparation to be king, it still made him uneasy being the only member of Dragon Sector royalty in Scorch Valley, especially knowing that three other sectors had their heirs in there as well.

The four participating sectors each had one royal heir in the valley, along with a decent number of civilians and gifted folk. Laws were to remain present within sectors but not between them, so previous alliances were null to everyone in Scorch Valley. Given that combat was back on the table, the goal was to survive, but the best outcome would be lasting as the only remaining sector in Scorch Valley. Winning meant gaining all the land in the valley, but it could be split between two sectors if they formed an alliance during The Stand.

Regardless of the situation, Merrick was still going to have to rule over his sector for the first time. Glancing behind himself, he finally took a second to look at the people he was going to have to lead; most were peasants or military personnel, but there were a few scattered merchants and upper-middle class. Nobody stood out to him as one of the gifted folk, but they were always difficult to pick out of a crowd.

To his left stood a uniformed bodyguard that had been assigned to him that day. It did not make Merrick feel any better about The Stand to know that she was fresh out of training, even if she had been at the top of her class. Had anyone but his father told him to, he never would have stood along so many people knowing how weakly guarded he was.

Merrick moved to address the crowd. Hopefully one of the gifted folk could help him make a fortress.

*****Author's Note*****

Alrighty so a friend of mine has been begging me to write. I never promised that it would be good, but I've been meaning to write this story for a while anyway. I'm planning for it to be pretty long, but I've only got bits and pieces so far. We'll see how I end up splicing them together...

My characters are going to be based loosely on people I've come to know in real life. Some of these connections will be more obvious than others, so let me know if you or another person have any problems with this. Also, let me know if anything is too confusing because I really want this to be a series of sorts and the first chapter has to be pretty solid for that to work

Fun fact: the name Merrick means fame, power, or a fork in a path

None of my stories are going to be "puppy dogs and rainbows" kinds of things, so please prepare yourself for some moderate to severe combat muwahahahah

Peace --Lyn