Another Route

When the news that the Vampire King Cliff Narcainan of the Bloody horizon was dead, all 300 Vampires back at the sanctuary of Vestis in the southwest, were in shock. No one would have believed it if the body itself hadn't been paraded through the streets as proof of his passing. This was the tradition for the Fallen Vampire kings, one that Ingrid hated with a passion.

From her point of view they were making an unnecessary spectacle of her father. Couldn't their people just take their word that the king was dead? Why did they have to give them absolute proof?! It was absolutely revolting to her. Her brother Lupin shared the same sentiment. Whether she wanted it to be her family's day alone to mourn or not didn't matter. All the Vampires of Halvor were mourning the night the king's dead body was paraded through the streets of Vestis.

Soon the event was over, and once it was, the coffin was carried off into a room in the Castle where it would sit until it was due time to burry it. The three siblings sat in silence around their father's coffin. The room was dark lit by only the candles that surrounded the hand-crafted burial case. The same question was weighing on all of their minds. A successor had not yet been named, so who would take the throne as the new ruler of the Vampires of Halvor?

Ingrid was the eldest, an enchanting beauty with deep emotions and an empathetic heart. Regardless of her usual empathy, she grew more and more hateful towards the humans who had taken her father's life. While not a particularly clever person she could sense what people needed and tend to that need better than most.

Audrey was the middle child, a level-headed manipulator who could take advantage of any situation and turn it in her favor regardless of whether or not the initial situation was meant to harm her. She was more studious, and more versed in proper etiquette than her other siblings. Being as it was, she was the most educated and carried herself the absolute best, so had she not been a woman, she would have been the obvious choice.

Lupin was the youngest and the only son. From a traditional point of view, he should be the one to take the throne, but Cliff was very keen on making sure only his best child would be successor and thus declared they must earn their position if they wanted to be that person. Lupin was the quiet one always carefully thinking through every situation. He also was the strongest fighter among them with the ability to best even the best Vampire warriors their kingdom had to offer.

Put together the three of them were an unstoppable force, but individually they all had their strengths and weaknesses. Soon they would be brought before a counsel and questioned, and if none of them could provide that counsel with the right answers, then a commander such as Yosef would be chosen to fill that position instead.

Right now in this moment though, the three of them were broken, grieved by the loss of their father. None of them had imagined the scenario they were now in, and none of them had any clue what to expect next or how to prepare for it. The only one who was remotely in a stable state of mind was Audrey and even her voice trembled when she tried to convince herself that she would get through this.

A few hours later, King Cliff Narcainan of the bloody horizon was buried in the cemetery for the greatest of the Vampire Nobility, and that was the end of it. The memory of Cliff Narcainan was now a gravestone surrounded by gifts of various shapes and sizes, all left by the many Vampire of Halvor who wanted to pay their respects.

Among these gifts were the many colors of flowers, embroidery, paintings, and charms. The smells of incenses and culinary dishes filled the air, and there were poems and songs scattered everywhere, penned and written with the finest inks and paper. All of Cliff's life, all his endeavors, relationships, skills, and glory had all been reduced to this grave, where it would forever rest and be forgotten many generations later.

Ingrid mulled over all the gifts brought to the grave and picked out a poem from among them and started reading it out loud. The poem read as follows:

Every day is a new dawn.

Every moment from here you are gone.

The fire has gone out.

We now live on another route.

He faithfully protected his own

and now the gratitude from us all here is shown.

With our gifts, and our words,

with our songs and every sherd.

His will never faltered,

his reign history altered,

now in a life beyond our venue,

will his influence continue.

Forever in the Horizon he rests

a man who's passion like fire besets

bewonder, inspiration, duty, and praise,

this final anecdote unto him we raise.

Ingrid shed tears then grasped the poem wrinkling the paper up. She then tossed it back into its place. Giving the tomb a long empty glance. Lupin kept his distance, and Audrey stayed behind Ingrid trying to reach out her hand to her, but never quite taking it all the way. Accompanying them was Yosef, the commander of the Army, and Cliff's most loyal friend. He dare not look them in the eye, not even when they spoke to him.

Yosef was the person Cliff always confided in first, so he was well aware of Cliff's original intentions to have one of his children succeed him. As they were walking back to the castle, there were carriages parked outside and Counts giving orders to their servants and greeting the children as they passed. They had started arriving since the news had been announced to the public, and since Ingrid, Audrey, and Lupin were of the royal family it was of course their duty to host these men that had gathered.

Once inside the manor, Yosef turned to go his own way with a clear goal in mind. Ingrid and Lupin went to their rooms, but Audrey followed Yosef to his carriage before he was about to leave to press him on a certain matter on her mind.

"These men here. They are gathering for a counsel are they not?" Audrey asked him.

"It's a council to choose a successor." Yosef replied bluntly.

"This soon?"

"Were these normal circumstances it would just be a meeting to establish the next successor, but this is a rare case in which there is none. Do well to heed my warning though that none of these men are to be trusted. Assume all of them are your enemies prying to gain power over your decisions, influence and sense of morals. That is all."

Yosef then had his driver take off to the south so that he might intercept and meet with a certain Count Derreres who had not yet arrived in Vestis. Derreres was one of the 10 Counts of the Halvor council that helped with decision making in the Halvor faction of the Vampires. Derreres was not originally from Halvor, in fact, he was from a nation further west called Anson.

Derreres followed Cliff and Yosef to Halvor about 200 years prior. There was a conflict in Anson, one in which allies were called from Halvor to assist in. During that conflict, Derreres had established a friendship with Cliff and Yosef and had even had his life saved on 3 occasions by Cliff. After that conflict had ended, Derreres made the decision to follow them back to Halvor and eventually made his way onto the counsel.

It was 2 days before the meeting was supposed to begin, so Yosef was pressed. His hands kept shaking, and his eyes kept darting to look around him as he exited his carriage and was led through Derreres' manor. Yosef wasn't overly fond of face to face meetings and discussions which was the primary reason he had little desire to become the next ruler, but as he entered the room and was greeted by Derreres, his shoulders relaxed and his hands stopped shaking.

"Thank you for meeting with me under such short notice Derreres." Yosef said.

"I can tell it's something urgent, so don't tarry with your words and tell it to me plain as you wish to." Derreres responded, knowing how much Yosef detested long winded dialogue for the sake of etiquette.

"As you wish then. I have a ridiculous request. I want you to convince the council to hold off on the meeting to choose a successor."

"How long?"

"6 months."

"Indeed. That is quite ridiculous. Pray tell your reason?"

"I need you to swear you won't tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you."

"(sigh) I swear on my father's name, that I won't tell a soul."

"Forgive me for making you do such a thing, but it seems that there's evidence that there's a traitor amongst the counsel, and it is for this reason that I can not in good conscious, let a successor be chosen if that successor is to be chosen under the influence of one who has seen to the death and betrayal of our late King."

"A traitor? Ah... of course. I'm sure everyone has thought the same thing, though you are the first person to come out and say it. Now that it's clear, I agree that something needs to be done, but before I can go before the counsel with that request, I'll need another reason, one that they can agree to, and one that won't reveal the true reason. So Yosef... what will be your reason?"

"You want me to come up with a reason?"

"Indeed..." Derreres confirmed with a harsh, cold expression.

Yosef gritted his teeth then looked away. He slumped there in silence while Derreres kept his eyes glued to him with a smile. Yosef looked out the window and looked at his hands. Time was against him so there was only one thing left to do. Yosef stood up then bowed.

"Please forgive me. I'm not wise enough to rise to such a task. I came to you, because I know that you are smarter and more keen when it comes matters such as these. I've spent too much time on the battlefield and training soldiers to begin to understand how the council works or what words I could use to persuade them. I know that I am showing weakness right now, but even so, will you help me on this matter Derreres?" Yosef asked earnestly.

Derreres let out a hearty laugh upon hearing this, which caused Yosef to lose expression and remember something. Derreres then placed both hands on Yosef's shoulders as Yosef looked up to see a determined look on Derreres' face.

"Of course I'll help you! I knew you wouldn't be able to come up with a good reason, I just wanted to hear you say it yourself!" Derreres assured Yosef. "Ha! It's been awhile since I saw you beg like that! It was just the thing I needed right now!"

"Of course..." Yosef muttered while scowling. "Once again you have made me a fool for your own amusement!"

"But be rest assured friend. I will convince the council to hold, not for 6 months, but for 12."

Yosef's mouth dropped.

"Can you really do that?!" he asked.

"Watch me! I have a haunting suspicion who the traitor already is, so I would love nothing more than to see them exposed and brought to justice. If my hunch is correct, it's Haydar Manco. After all, wasn't he previously a part of the Vestes Faction?"

"I will admit, I do suspect him... but at the same time, wasn't he the first to swear loyalty to the Narcainan family after the Verstes Faction was exposed?"

"All the more reason to suspect him."

"I believe that my business here is concluded then. I shall leave the specifics to you. Just know, that I am in your debt Derreres."

"It shall be done old friend. It's been awhile since I had cause to create trouble like this. It shall be very amusing for me while at the same time meeting your current need. As a friend of Cliff I assure you that I shall move earth and hell so that your request is met. You can count on it!"

Yosef made one last bow then left on his way. Outside was his carriage and driver waiting to take him away. Yosef let out a sigh of relief as he made the trek back to Vestis. Now that the matter was in Derreres' hands he could focus on finding the culprit behind the betrayal. Next thing he knew the carriage had swerved to the side all of a sudden, and then it shook as a spear went through it piercing the carriage and splintering the wood that held it together as it lodged itself into his shoulder.

He took a moment to recover as the driver accelerated their speed. Yosef took the spear out of his shoulder and scowled as he looked at the head of it. It was made of Silver. He tossed it aside then took a look outside to see some men outside with a taut rope tied between two trees and against a long firm table. The spear must have been fired from that contraption. He then ducked for cover grimacing at the pain in his shoulder every time the carriage rocked and bumped along the road.

This could mean one thing... that someone knew his purpose for being here and wanted him dead before he could discover who the traitor was.

"Are you okay my lord?" The driver called back.

"I took it in my shoulder. It was made of silver of course, so it isn't healing right away! Make haste and take me to the home of Donat Medved, he's a retired soldier who used to be in my division."

"I will take you straight away then."

Donat Medved's house was about 5 miles ahead of them in the woods of Audroh. Once the carriage pulled up Donat rushed outside and was surprised to see his old commander there in such a state. All Donat need to see was Yosef's distressed face to understand what needed to be done. He helped the wounded commander out of his carriage and into his house then used a spell to wipe the scent of blood from the air.

Yosef sent the driver away with a final instruction to find him in three days. As far as the traitor case was concerned, it would have to wait. Despite this setback, if Derreres did what he promised it would be of little consequence if Yosef lost a few days.

Yosef was glad more than ever that he went to Derreres for help. It seemed that this matter went a little deeper than he had previously thought. Were the assassins who just tired to kill him working for the same traitor that sabotaged the Ivayla Village attack? Or were they a separate faction trying to scramble for power now that the seat of leadership was empty?

If it turned out to be the latter, putting off the council meeting to choose a new successor might prove to do more harm than good, because the longer the seat of leadership was empty, the more desperate certain groups would become to seize that power.

There was now a new mystery, and even more work to be done than previously before. Soon though, Yosef fell asleep from his weakened state and his ever growing list of troubles. At his side was Donat making sure to dutifully watch him. As the night set in, the retired soldier could barely sleep so eventually made the decision to just pull up a chair beside the General to watch him as closely as possible.