Someone had to be The King.

 

 

 

At least one representative of every noble family, both great and small had arrived. Most of the minor families sent the current head of the family. The dukedoms had sent their successors. The wolds were busy preparing for the expected war with Eirin and the leaders could not be expected to devote time away from that, even if Eirin was claiming ignorance and stating they wished nothing but peace. The only families not present were those who were determined to have been an enemy of the crown. Darkwold, Riverwold, and Cornwold had remained neutral as events unfolded, mostly because they didn't understand what was going on.

 

Seawold had been a backer of Arthur because they had fallen on hard times, being the weakest of the Wolds, and had received promises for future returns in exchange for their support. Heartwold did as well, but that was to be expected because Heartwold covered the center of the kingdom, including the capital. A very traditional faction, they would support whatever the king wanted, period, whoever was declared king. As soon as Arthur died, they withdrew all support and vowed neutrality until such time as a new king was declared. They might be present at the meeting but were not expected to participate in the upcoming political battle.

 

Everyone had gathered in the great hall at long tables set up for the guests. In the back by the large double doors, there were some long pews set up for important commoners to watch, but not participate, as guests. At the other end was the throne on a dais, flanked on either side by a long, thin table where important people sat. Their individual livery hung over the edge towards the audience so you knew who each was in turn. At the table on the left sat the queen, Lance, Morgan, the chancellor, the headmaster, and the spymaster.

 

At the other sat General Knox, leader of the Lyonesse's army. The nation had no standing army, but as needed could raise militias, so he was in charge of maintaining the reverse units of the nation. Next to him was Sir Ector, leader of the White Knights. This was the order of knights who were professional soldiers and they were often dispatched around the country as needed. Next to him was Sir Robert, leader of the Knights of the Watch. This second group of knights was tasked with protecting the king and patrolling the capital. Next to him was Lily Ratliff.

 

This requires some explaining.

 

Redcliff is the barony that the Ratliff family rules over and concerns itself mostly with just the port and city. Unfortunately, this is the only port that Lyonesse still controls, so Seawold mostly concerns itself with its interests on the seas as well as in other countries. This is because two wars back, Lyonesse lost its other two ports that were deep enough for sea-going vessels. So, while Redcliff is under Seawold's protection, it isn't under its control. Seawold does control the rest of the coastline which has quite a few fishing villages, but that was it.

 

It was Seawold's maneuverings that resulted in Lionel making the bad investments that almost destroyed the Ratliff family. If the family had collapsed, Seawold would have been the one to step in and buy everything up at the fire sale. However, since the Ratliffs had survived, and because Seawold backed Arthur, Lily was picked to represent the nation's naval interests, both as a show of faith in the Ratliff family by the crown and as an insult to Seawold.

 

Needless to say, Lily was smiling as nicely as she could, while sweating buckets on the inside.

 

She would have been having a harder time, if she didn't take small comfort in the fact that next to her sat her half-brother, Reed Demonslayer. Reed sat at the table behind his livery of a barcode.  He was the leader of the Ugly Eight, chosen of the All-father, and a national hero, so placing him at the table of the country's military assets only made sense. There was some discussion as to what his livery meant among the crowd. Most livery had great symbolism and bragged of past achievements. To have a livery that was a series of black lines of various widths, made no sense. The conjecture was that it was a symbol of his unwavering dedication to the king; Straight, inflexible, incorruptible, and unbroken.

 

Finally, at the end, sat the Saintess.

 

If Lily's stomach was twisted from stress, the Saintess's gastrointestinal tract looked like the Gordian knot. She was here because she needed to be here and it was explained in no uncertain terms that if she wasn't the Saintess, she'd have already been executed. She was here to lend legitimacy to the proceedings and represent the church, nothing more. A church that had in private expressed that perhaps now that a new light elementalist had presented themselves, someone new might need to represent the church going forward. It would be unheard of to declare a new saint because everyone knows there is only ONE saint or saintess of a god at a time. 

 

One of them would have to go.

 

This was the situation as Kyle stood up from his seat and took center stage. He glanced over at Ryan and made a hand gesture, pointing to a spot next to himself.

 

Ryan leaned closer to Lily and whispered, "I gotta go be heroic and make this ceremony look legit." He gave her a pat on the shoulder as he stood up, "Stiff upper lip." Then left with a wink to go stand beside the Chancellor. When Ryan snapped to attention next to the tall, green-haired man, Kyle cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

 

 

Everyone went silent.

 

 

"Greetings one and all. I trust I do not need to review the events of the past week. We are gathered here because we have a succession crisis." He paused for the inevitable murmuring as the various factions exchanged words and knowing glances. A great deal of political maneuvering had taken place. Everything had been worked out in advance. Everyone already knew what was going to happen next.

 

At least, they thought they did.

 

"After discussing things with the royal family and both legal and historical scholars...." Kyle glanced over towards the two princes and paused. It was as if there was some sort of silent question being asked because both of them nodded as if encouraging the chancellor to proceed. Kyle turned back to the gathered nobles and took a deep breath, "And having reviewed the laws and declarations of the previous kings of Lyonesse, it is clear who legally is to be appointed the mantle of rulership of our fair country."

 

He squared his shoulders, "Ninty two years ago during the reign of King Pierceforest Dracobane the second, a similar situation had arisen. The king was incapacitated and he had not yet chosen his successor. Since he had three sons, the Chancellor took over ruling the country, and that resulted in what historically is remembered as the summer of long knives, whereupon the Despot Sovran attempted to wipe out the Dracobane line and solidify his control of the country."

 

The Chancellor paused to push his glasses up his nose a little before continuing, "What isn't well known is what King Pierceforest, upon his recovery, put into law concerning succession."

 

This caused the entire room to start to murmur and glance at each other. It was true that not much was known from that time period, as it had been a rather dark epoch in the country's history and much had been lost. Ryan pointedly cleared his throat and bounced on his toes a little. This got everyone's attention and people quieted down.

 

The Chancellor glanced towards Ryan for a moment before continuing, "Firstly, no chancellor can assume control except in times of crisis, and then for no more than ten days by which time he must pass all authority onto another. There is a long list of who is to be given control of the country in the advent the royal family is destroyed and no one remains alive, which does not apply in this case."

 

He took another deep breath, "Our current situation is covered under the section, who is to represent the king in the advent he is incapacitated without a clear successor. Since there is no clear, appointed successor, authority is to be passed onto a Regent who will represent the king's interest. The regent will be invested with all the king's authority until such time as the king recovers..."

 

"...or dies."

 

The murmuring increased exponentially. Nobody had talked about a regent. All the political maneuvering assumed that there would be a new crown prince declared. The chancellor raised his voice to speak over everyone as he continued, "The law is crystal clear on this matter." He then went silent.

 

Everyone else in the room went quiet as well.

 

Kyle paused to glance at Prince Morgan with a look that screamed, 'Are you SURE?' Prince Morgan nodded and gestured with his hand in a rolling fashion to urge The Chancellor to proceed. Kyle turned back to the gathered nobles with closed eyes and swallowed before speaking, "The Regent is..." He took another breath as he realized he couldn't stall any longer.

 

"The head of The King's personal knights."

 

This did not spark outrage so much as confusion. Everyone started talking with one another and looking puzzled while eyes started to turn toward Sir Robert.

 

Ryan turned around to look at Sir Robert and gave him a thumbs up, "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you!" He spoke in a hushed tone while holding his hand against his mouth to direct the words towards the knight.

 

The Chancellor glanced skyward for a moment then down at Ryan, "Not... Sir Robert. He leads The Order of the Watch."

 

Ryan looked to Kyle then quirked an eyebrow as he hooked a thumb at Sir Ector, "That guy?"

 

Kyle closed his eyes and shook his head, "No. The regent is the head of the king's PERSONAL knights."

 

General Knox and the two knights next to him stood up in unison, as if on cue. They began to walk around the table past a confused Lily and Saintess. The trio deliberately and purposely approached Kyle and Ryan. At the far end of the room, a voice cried out, "Sweet Mira, No!" Many people turned in the direction of the Darkwold successor who had a look of horrific realization upon his face that matched the dread in his outburst.

 

Ryan was one of those staring at Lilith's brother. Ryan muttered out of the corner of his mouth toward Kyle as he tried to figure out what disturbed the horrified heckler so greatly, "Soooooooooo... who's in charge of the king's personal knights?"

 

Kyle kept his eyes closed as he explained, "During the last war, near the end, there was an assassination attempt on King Uther. All of his guards died protecting him. On that day, he vowed to never accept another oath from a knight, as it hurt too much to replace them. Since then, the King's protection has been handled by the Knights of the Watch." Knox, Ector, and Robert came to a halt a respectful distance from Ryan, equally spaced. Ryan slowly turned to stare at them as his brain began to put everything together. 

 

"A vow that he broke the day he accepted your oath as his personal knight."

 

Ryan spoke in a voice so soft that it barely reached the volume one could call a whisper.

 

"oh god no."

 

Kyle raised his voice as he continued, "His... ONLY... personal knight."

 

Ryan's head snapped back around to face Kyle, who had begun to kneel simultaneously with the three military leaders of the combined armed forces of Lyonesse. They spoke in unison, heads bowed as if they had planned this out in advance. It was obvious the intent was to make it clear to everyone present that no matter what they may think or feel, the military was in lockstep and backed what happened next one hundred percent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"All hail Sir Reed Demonslayer!"

 

 

 

 

"King Uther's Regent..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"And acting ruler of the Kingdom of Lyonesse."