*Duke Are*
“Volen!” The Duke screamed, then cursed and tried to make his voice deeper and less shameful. “Volen, what the hell is going on?”
“My Lord,” Volen was already cowering behind the throne, he had no backbone whatsoever… “We are under attack!”
“No,” Duke Are’s voice was thick with sarcasm. “I thought it was a fucking party, of course we are under attack you incompetent fool! Who, where and how many?”
“I- I don’t…”
“By the Three,” Duke Are cursed at the useless Volen. “Captain! Give me some kind of report!”
Duke Are was terrified, there was fighting incredibly close to him and no one seemed to have any idea what the hell was going on. The captain of his personal guard had taken a few soldiers to try and recover his son, but was now returning without Tyr and missing more than a few of the soldiers he left with.
“Where the hell is my son!” Duke Are roared, rage threatening to overcome his fear.
“My Lord Duke,” the captain bowed, ignoring normal etiquette which would have demanded he kneel. Are didn’t care, it was not the time for that. “Soldiers claim the Lord General took several soldiers to go and secure the Lord Hero, the entirety of the Palace is in chaos.”
“Who is attacking?” The Duke sat back down, now that he finally had a subordinate competent enough to do their gods damn job!
“It is a three way battle out there my Lord,” the captain shook his head in dismay. “There were cultist traitors among our soldiers and it seems like a third party composed of mages from the front line and some of the minor nobles forces are fighting both our soldiers and the cultists as well.”
“A third party?” The Duke was bewildered, “What could they poss- Oh, I see. The cultists struck at the same time traitors struck, a rebellion and a coup d'etat at the same time!”
“My Lord, we should withdraw.” The captain stepped forward, “They likely have some influence at the garrisons, but we could likely convince the generals to let us leave for the capitol and we could complain directly to the Crown.”
“You are talking like we have already lost!” Duke Are was sweating now, his voice trembling. The captain wouldn’t know, but the Duke was not welcome in the King’s city. He had gotten drunk at a party and gropped a woman who had turned out to be the second princess… Are was lucky to have escaped execution, but now that the prince had formally become the Crown Prince… He didn’t think he would be so lucky. Still, he was terrified to stay here, he was caught in a trap… He wanted to run, but there was no place to run to!
“With respect, Lord Duke.” The captain’s voice had no respect in it whatsoever, but the Duke could hardly care at this point. “The soldiers still loyal to you represent a minority of the forces fighting out there, with mages on their side the nobles will likely suppress both the cultists and our forces in short order.”
The Duke ground his teeth, well if his death here was certain…
“Damnit!” The Duke growled, “We will retreat to the garrisons and throw ourselves before the mercy of the Crown.” He could only hope that they would prefer him over these traitors!
The guards began to gather in formation to leave, but before they could the door to the hall opened revealing…
*Lucas Jaeger*
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“Greetings Duke,” Lucas stepped into the hall which was filled with what remained of the Duke’s personal guards. To Lucas’s surprise, they had been quite excellently picked. The Duke’s personal guards had no traitors from either the cultists or Lucas’s group in their midst. “I was hoping we could have a bit of a conversation.”
“Now is not the time for that Hero!” The Duke snarled, “Are you blind to what is going- Heidall? What are you doing here?”
The Duke was stunned to see his first son step in with Julian, the Ladies, and a small group of soldiers from assorted nobles. What he didn’t see was Blade slip into the room, though in fairness, no one else did either. However, Lucas knew he had and was moving through the shadows even as they spoke.
“I am here because I think it is about time for you to retire Father.” Heidall’s voice was firm and his stance steady, a contrast to the trembling uncontrolled mess that was his father. “To be honest, it is well past time. Stand down and we can end this here.”
“You traitorous scum?” The Duke spat on the floor, “You would betray your own family? It is meaningless, I will never give up my seat to the likes of you!”
“Please consider your position,” Lucas raised his eyebrows. “I mean, they told me that you would refuse to stand down unless you were pulled down, but I never really believed that you would actually refuse when we reached this point.”
“Ha!” The Duke laughed, but he was trembling so much it did not have the desired effect. “My soldiers outnumber you three to one here! Why should I do anything?”
“It isn’t like our side has incredibly skilled and powerful mages after all,” Julian replied with sarcasm. Indeed, Julian alone could likely handle the soldiers in the room, for that matter even Lucas could with his new found ability.
“I am the Duke!” Are roared, “This city, this Duchy, is mine! I will not hand it over to traitors no matter what you do!”
“This does not seem like you to be honest,” Lucas sighed as he considered that he might as well use his magic and massacre them now. Well, he would if it wasn’t for Blade’s presence somewhere. “I would have expected you to be kneeling at my feet begging for your life.”
“You bastard!” The Duke’s face turned red with rage, “Guards! Kill the- erk!”
Blade appeared next to the throne and smoothly cut the Duke’s throat before fading away again into nothingness.
“With my father and brother dead,” Heidall announced. “The Duchy falls to me, you are all to stand down!”
“As if we would allow a patricide like you to take the throne!” Most of the guards had similar feelings and attacked, only a few stood back and laid down their weapons. They were slaughtered in short order and Heidall ascended the bloodstained throne, taking the crown from his father’s body and placing it upon his own head.
“The coup is over,” Heidall’s voice was, to Lucas’s surprise, filled with command that he would not have expected from the monk. “But the cultists still stalk my halls, wipe them out to the last.”
*Cultist*
They had failed. Messengers, risking life and limb in the chaos, had spread the word throughout the castle. The Duke and his second son were dead, and the first son had taken the throne. The Cleansed fought with vigor and faith, but the unclean had the advantage. The castle soldiers had stopped fighting the rebels and had joined with them, by orders of the new Duke and everyone was focused on eliminating the true faithful.
“Oh Purified One,” a cleansed soldier ran up to him to give a report. “Our escape is cut off, we are surrounded on all sides.”
“Then we show them the strength of our faith and go down as martyrs to the cause.” The Purified Cultist answered calmly. Death was always a possibility, but humanities mistakes would be rolled back even if it cost the blood of every one of the faithful to do so.
It was frustrating though. To have gone to such lengths to give barriers to so many of their number… The Lords would not be pleased, he could only hope that their rage would be mollified by his death here. He raised his blade and charged into the fray.
*Lucas Jaeger*
It was several hours before the fighting ended, and soldiers were still sweeping the shadow, with the help of Blade, to find any hidden cultists that might have slipped away in the chaos. It would be weeks before the castle could truly be determined as safe.
However, Duke Heidall Are would be much better for the Duchy as a whole, and had thrown his support behind Lucas’s teachings. The books he had dictated would be copied and published and used to improve the agriculture of the Duchy far beyond its current limits, and the way was clear for Lucas to begin examining this world’s medicine.
The past two weeks had been full of painful surprises for Lucas, and a few good ones to, but he looked forward to a more productive future from here on out. It was time to begin transforming this world.
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