Side Story: Three Kings And A Father

He made his way through the halls of the capital fortress, idly taking in the various images along the wall depicting the former rulers of their people. Each dressed in red, green, or blue as a designation of which King they were.

Briefly he paused in front of a portrait of a female King in red and silver, one who had already passed their crown to a prince and was likely enjoying their retirement training the various recruits for the military as she had with him before becoming King.

He’d like to believe he’d done her proud in the war, especially since they were on the cusp of signing a peace treaty that would finally end the hundred year war they’d been fighting since his grandfather’s grandfather lived. A concept many hadn’t believed a possibility until the decisive victory he and his King had accomplished just a few weeks prior.

It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t glad his son wouldn’t have to fight in this war.

While he believed he’d done his mentor proud he also knew he’d killed enough of the enemy's people -both soldier and not- that he knew his final judgment would be a trial. Even if the old kings of war praised him the old kings of the people would abhor him regardless of how kind he was to his own people, meaning in the end it’d come down to whether the old kings of trade to decide his fate. (‘Which is why you should never burn banks or farms.’)

He couldn’t help but shake his head at his mentor’s old words on avoiding damnation. (If only it were that simple.)

Deciding that he’d meandered long enough he continued on to his meeting with the kings to discuss the security details of the upcoming peace summit, because while they knew everyone on their side had tired of war that didn’t mean the other side lacked in warmongers seeking to continue a blood feud older than any of them.

(Hopefully if they do have a traitor we’ll be able to keep the peace summit from falling apart.) He wanted to believe they could all put their weapons down, but he’d spent enough time fighting to know what the enemy was capable of in their darkest hour. (Nothing that you’re not capable of too.)

He stopped in front of the door to the Kings’ chamber and gathered his thoughts -while pushing some away- before nodding to the guards on duty that he was ready to enter.

Both guards gave him a standard security check to make sure he wasn’t armed with an unauthorized weapon and was in fact who he was supposed to be. His high rank was the only reason they let him enter the chamber with his old war knife, a gift given to him by his mentor upon completing his apprenticeship in the arts of war.

The kings’ chambers was a circular room with four doors large doors, three with a throne in front of it and flanked by a set of banners in the given king’s colors and with their domain’s markings. To his left was a blue banner depicting bronze book over a set of herbs for the king of the people, to his right a green banner with a gold set of scales surrounded by grain for the king of trade, and finally across from him were the red banners bearing a set of silver swords over a shield for the king of war.

“Ah, the man of the hour.” A fit man wearing a red and silver mix of formal wear and armor, similar to what he wore, laughed offering him a hand. “How fair you on the eve of this momentous occasion?”

“As well as I can.” He smiled, clasping his king’s arm with his own.

“Good, I haven’t been able to catch up with you since our return and wanted to make sure you were doing well.” The king of war nodded. “Have you had a chance to see your son since your return?”

He shook his head. “Sadly, he’s still at the academy, but should be home to enjoy the celebrations of the upcoming summit.”

“Lad will make an honorable warrior just like his father I’m sure.” The king assured him.

(Honestly, I’d prefer it if he was more honorable than me.) He nodded in acceptance rather than voicing that thought. “I’m honored you think so.”

“Quite, right. Come now we have much to discuss.” The king nodded back before motioning him towards the center of the room where the other two members of the triarchy stood with their own guests.

“So he’s the one you’ve chosen then?” The king of trade -a thin but tall man- asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Yes, he is.” The king of war nodded. “In addition to leading the decisive victory that gave us this unique opportunity, he was also the previous king’s apprentice prior to her ascension to the throne. In truth if not for his age at the time, I have little doubt she would’ve made him her prince instead of me.”

That was… much higher praise than he’d been expecting.

In truth he knew exactly why his mentor had no desire to declare him her prince for when her time as king ended, and it had little to do with his age and more that fifteen years ago he’d just had a son and lost a wife. A situation that left him in no position to fulfill all of the responsibilities of a prince and then a king.

“A ringing endorsement.” The king of the people laughed with far more compassion than someone who had done what he’d done deserved. “And if he was passed over once, well, it’s good to know you’re man enough to give him the second chance he deserves.”

“Hm, I may be prideful at times but there truly is no greater warrior in our lands. Be it a marksman, swordsman, strategist, or ship captain. He is the best.” The king of war assured his counterparts.

(Honestly, it’s less that I’m the best and more that I’m the most ‘vicious’.) He thought, forcing down his frown before blinking as he registered what the king of the people had said. “I’m sorry, but ‘second chance’?”

“Yes, that is the reason I have brought you here.” The king of war told him with another smile. “While it is still a few months away, our current king of the people will be retiring, passing his crown onto his prince.”

Now that he took a second look at the king of the people’s guest, he did recognize the woman as the current prince of the people. With this revelation his attention snapped to the king of trade’s guest as it clicked that the man was the current prince of trade.

His eyes drifted to the king next to him. (Meaning…)

“Meaning, that the time has also come for me to declare my own prince.” The king of war continued, placing both hands on his shoulders. “And I can think of no greater warrior to fulfill that role than you, my old friend.”

“I… I don’t know what to say…” He admitted in his stunned stupor. “I…I am unworthy of such an honor.”

“Nonsense.” The king of war dismissed. “As I’ve said I can think of no better heir to the crown, and both of my counterparts have agreed that after your astounding record that no one else can match you for the role. So what do you say?”

This was a momentous thing, an honor that he truly did believe himself unworthy of given how he already knew his judgment when he inevitably met the kings of old.

(Though that judgment could change…) His mind whispered.

While he knew his judgment was likely grim from all but the king of war, as a king himself things could change. As a king his record was changed merely from the duties of any other man, and to that of his king’s domain, namely to use the military’s might to protect the innocent from all who would do them harm.

What’s more, with the upcoming peace treaty he’d be the first king of peace in over a hundred years, the current king’s mantle already red from the previous war. Meaning if he could keep and maintain the peace for the entirety of his own time as the king then even in the eyes of the old kings of the people, (I could be redeemed… I could be reunited with…)

Swallowing down this revelation before it could consume him, he kneeled before the king of war. “All I can say is that I humbly accept this honor, and shall do my best to honor the kings before me.”

“I’m sure you will.” The king of war nodded with a pat of his shoulder. “But still you won’t be prince until the next king of the people’s coronation.”

“Of course.” He accepted, nodding towards the prince in question. The one who would grant him his right to rule upon becoming king.

“Still, while this is a joyous occasion that we will be celebrating, I do believe we had something else to attend to with this meeting.” The king of trade pointed out, reminding them that their duties went far beyond the line of succession.

“Bah, don’t mind him. He’s always been a bit of a killjoy.” The king of war whispered just low enough that the others wouldn’t hear him. “Hopefully the lass will be a bit more fun when you become king. Still,” The king clapped no longer whispering. “Do you mind if I fill my prince in about the situation?”

“Certainly.” The king of the people smiled. “We can make this the first of his lessons as your heir.”

“Quite right, quite right.” The king of war laughed, before gesturing for him to follow to a table in the center of the room where a number of documents were on display. “Now I’m not sure how aware you are of all this, since you’ve never been positioned as a palace guard, but while we are given control of our domains outside of overlapping interests, it is still considered a courtesy to inform the other kings of any major operation we may take on.”

(That explains why most of these documents are about the war and supply lines rather than just the peace summit.) He figured idly looking over some of the documents on the table. (They must be doing an inventory as they get ready to pull back from the war front.)

“This is especially true should our domains face potential overlap.” The king of trade added. “In this case while we all trust the king of war to fulfill his duties as effectively as possible, the fact that everyone here will be present means we have a little more say in this operation than usual.”

“With your safety on the line it makes perfect sense that you’d want to be aware of all the security details.” He agreed in complete understanding. “I’m sure anyone would be when they’re the ones most at risk.”

“Yes, that’s a compassionate thing to keep in mind.” The king of the people agreed. “My own predecessor warned me of a previous king of war that readily used his own prince as bait without warning them.”

“Ah, I remember my mentor’s… issues with that.” He grimaced, given how the woman had spent a good three hours complaining about the king nearly getting her killed while he tried to keep her from waking his son.

“Don’t worry that’s not something I intend to do.” The king of war assured him before giving him a pat on the back. “Hells, I’m pretty sure any plan I present to you you’re bound to be able to improve several fold over what I can come up with.”

“Perhaps not that much.” He grinned wryly, because the only way he was the superior tactician to the current king was when he… (fires raged all around as bodies littered the ground, none having been expecting this onslaught)... bent certain rules of conduct that he’d regret more if it didn’t save the lives of his men.

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“Let’s put that to the test shall we?” The king of war laughed, before rearranging the documents on the table to show a map of the site they were to hold the peace summit. “Our recent victory has given us a unique opportunity, and while it does require that the three of us be present in front of our enemies, it also requires them to do the same with their own leaders.”

“Which is why we need to set up a proper security line and evacuation route for the… pardon, less combat oriented kings.” He finished, understanding that they were getting to the part he’d actually been informed of this evening.

“Of course, that was the first thing I did.” The king of war nodded, showing a map with three separate colored lines. On this map the blue and green lines split off from the core placement in a full on retreat, while the red line took a separate repositioning that would offer both a decent defense from the opposing side and a solid overview of the battlefield. Showing that the king of war intended to stand his ground and defend his counterparts retreat should the other side betray them. (As any true king of war would.)

“You split their retreat?” He asked, with a frown despite his king’s valor.

“Aye, it may split their defenses but should worse come to it’ll also split the enemy’s attention, while preventing them from capturing both kings in a single maneuver. Thoughts?” His king smiled, excited to hear his counter proposal.

“Given the size of the forces we can reasonably bring to bear, we could create two decoy units with more easily intercepted routes, and should the other side manage to capture them they’ll find a squad of prepared soldiers rather than the more… peaceful kings.” He suggested, drawing out two slightly different paths with dotted lines of the two kings' respective colors. “Then once we have confirmation that they’re in pursuit of the decoys we send off a third route from our defensive position with the actual kings and a smaller much less notable group.”

“That could work.” The king of war admitted. “Truthfully the route you're drawing for their mutual escape is the one I’d planned to use should the situation become unfeasible and we need to retreat ourselves. Part of the reason I had their other routes spread out was to also spread the enemy opposition out so that we wouldn’t have to deal with one overwhelming flood of their own troops.”

“Yes, that would be an unfortunate positioning.” He agreed, having been forced to defend against such a position himself, and knowing full well that they hadn’t won this war due to having more soldiers or better equipment than the other side but by having better tacticians and infiltration units.

“But your decoys should make an even better split off due to being an easier target, while negating the risk to my fellow kings.” The king of war applauded him. “What’s more, instead of risking any of our soldiers with the escape caravans we can simply fill them with as much Dragon’s Breath as we can and have our soldiers light the fuse before fleeing the site.”

“A solid strategy, though I doubt bringing our all-chemists’ best to a peace summit is a good idea.” He confessed, knowing his king had a tendency to become excitable at times. “Should they be discovered then the entire summit will fall apart and we’ll lose whatever chance we have.”

“True, their security will want to inspect everything to make sure we’re bringing no more than the agreed upon defenses.” His king of war nodded, before shaking his head. “We’ll have to figure out something more subtle. Perhaps we could have a few spies infiltrate their camp and sabotage their supplies, given how long they’ll be standing still for we should consider this more a skirmish between encampments than the usual trench warfare.”

He couldn’t help but glance at the rest of the kings and princes at that suggestion, all of them watching with considering looks. “My king, that poses a similar risk to the Dragon’s Breath. Even if we could slip them in during the security inspections, should our infiltrators be discovered then the summit will again fall apart.”

“You’re right, we’ve built up too much of a reputation for such tactics. Anyone we send into their camps will have twice as many eyes upon them.” The king of war sighed.

“But alternatively when our own inspection leaves without causing any trouble that should reaffirm their belief that we truly wish for this peace summit to succeed.” He tried to console his king.

“Aye, and the more we can lower their guard before striking the better.” The king of war agre- (Wait, what?!)

“I’m sorry, my king, I think I might be misunderstanding something, but did you say, ‘before striking’?” He felt the need to ask.

His king stared at him for a moment before making an expression of dawning comprehension and swatting his forehead. “Ah, I see what you’re misunderstanding. We jumped straight into the fun parts without dealing with the more boring details. You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve always been excitable when it comes to my warfare, I’m sure you understand.”

“It’s fine, my king.” He accepted easily, more than a little reassured that he’d just been misunderstanding the situation and not that-

“We’re intending to use this summit to eliminate the enemy's leadership and a fair few of their forces.”

“What.” He swallowed, his attention snapping to his king with a disturbing intensity.

“I know, I know, the idea that we’d settle for a simple ceasefire was probably weighing on your mind this entire time.” The king of war laughed before clapping his shoulder. “But don’t worry after losing so many of our men to these savages we have no intention of ending this war until we’ve won, something I’m sure we’ll be able to pull off now that we have you on our side.”

His eyes snapped to the other two kings. “And you two are alright continuing the war? I know that it may be the king of war’s domain, but together you do have the right to overrule this decision.” (Please, overrule this decision.)

“I’ll admit, I myself am against the continuation of the war.” The king of the people confessed with a frown.

(Thank the kings of old…)

“But after how long our people have been at war and how ruthlessly they’ve attacked us over the years, the number of mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters we’ve had to bury… Our people will not be safe until we have completely wiped out the enemy forces.”

His heart stilled with the king of the people’s short speech.

When two kings agreed on a course of action then there was next to nothing that could be done to change it, (but I still have to try.)

“And you’re alright, funding the war effort?” He asked the king of trade as casually as he could, hoping that he might be able to convince the other two to change their course. “I’ve seen the costs on the requisition forms, and if we’re going to continue the war it will be costly in a way that will require your cooperation.” Because if they couldn’t get the other two to see reason, then the king of trade could influence things enough to make the war unsustainable and force them to retreat back onto their lands.

It wasn’t something he wanted, but (that option is still better than another hundred years of war.)

“Hmm, yes I suppose given what you’ve seen you’d think I’d be against continuing the war. What most people don’t realize though is after a hundred years of it, war has actually become quite good for our economy, especially with the plundering of enemy resources.” The king of trade smiled, ruthlessly killing the last of his hope for aid from the kings.

(They’re going to continue the war and I can’t stop them…) He realized, his heart pounding in his chest as he thought about being forced back onto the battlefield.

“See there’s nothing you need to worry about, you’ll have whatever resources you need to win this war just like you’ve won every other battle you’ve been put in charge of.” His, (no), the king of war assured him, wrapping an arm around him in a side hug as if that was a good thing.

He may have won countless battles but he always hated himself for it, because the methods he used were the kind he knew would see his damnation when he met the kings of old. He was a vicious monster who’d burned down entire villages of innocents, who had killed and tortured people in the most horrific ways to complete his mission objectives. And while he’d done it all in the name of his survival and to make sure his son didn’t become an orphan, he had hated every last second of it.

“Ah, I just thought of something that’ll really make you proud about this whole thing.” The king of war said before placing a battle plan on the table. “Tell me if you recognize this?”

In a state of despair there was little else he could do but follow the king of war’s orders as he looked over the plans and realized, “This was my plan…”

“Well, I may’ve changed a few details, but aye it’s yours.” The king of war admitted. “I know it was a few years back, but the way you orchestrated that prisoner exchange and then turned a losing battle around by stabbing them in the back. Oh, I’ve never been able to get that plan out of my head, and inspired this whole maneuver we’re pulling off today.”

“I inspired this…” He realized almost breathlessly.

“Aye, can you imagine the look on your boy's face when you tell him you’re responsible for the maneuver that turned this whole war around in our favor?” The king of war laughed.

He could and it wasn’t a look of pride.

It was one of his greatest guilts, just how much of his military career he lied to his son about, a son who proudly thought him a great war hero rather than a savage war criminal. A son who’d joined the academy to be just like the father he was so wrongly proud of, (just like I did for my father.)

It was a horrific revelation, when he considered the fact that he’d become a soldier to be like his own father, who had become a soldier to become like his father before him, and so on for as long as this war had raged.

(Did… did this war make my father a monster?) He wondered, before a more important question formed. (Will, will it make my son a monster too?)

He looked down at his shaking hands and for just a moment he saw just how much blood was on them before swallowing as he came to the most important realization of them all and curled his hands into fists, the image of his son’s innocence at the forefront of his mind.

(I won’t let it.)

His eyes shifted between the three kings and their heirs, all watching him as they saw determination filling his gaze. A determination that they attributed to a war hero that would do their kingdom proud, instead of the war criminal that would do anything to complete his mission of ending this war.

Taking a calming breath he put his hand on the table above a pen and turned to the king of war.

“Ha-ha, I can tell you’ve got that fire in you now! You’re going to end this war and they won’t even see you coming!”

“No, no they won’t.” He admitted, before stabbing the pen straight through the king of war’s windpipe and fatally ripping it out.

Before the king’s body could begin to fall he turned his attention to the prince directly across from him and climbed onto the table before taking two steps across it.

The prince of trade barely had time to process what was happening before taking a boot to the face hard enough to send several teeth flying.

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!” The king of trade shouted.

He turned a cold gaze to the king, “Like he said, what I have to do to end this war.”

A short hop had him sending the king crashing to the ground beneath him, as he felt several of the king of trade’s bones breaking beneath him, disorienting the man long enough for him to stomp the king’s throat, killing his second king of the day.

He rolled his shoulders as he turned to the king of the people who had begun to yell for the guards to come.

As the guards from outside the entrance to the king’s chambers opened the doors, he reached down to the still breathing -if painfully- prince of trade and grabbed him by the base of his jaw and the top of his head before snapping the prince’s neck.

Seeing this the guards raised their weapons towards him and he rushed to the prince of trade, wrapping an arm around her throat.

“Try anything and she dies.” Admittedly he was going to kill her either way, but this gave him a moment’s respite to assess the new threats. (At least a dozen of them, going to be a problem.)

“W-why are you doing this?” The prince of the people whimpered.

“Like I said, to stop the war.” He told her, figuring she deserved to know why she was dying. “Little known law about the three thrones, if a king dies with no princes to take their place then the title will revert to the king before them if still alive. Hasn’t happened in two hundred years, but the law is there.”

“How, how does reinstating the old kings end the war you mad man?!” The king of the people screamed, backing ever so slowly towards the guards.

“Because with the confusion of replacing the kings so quickly, and the fact that they’ll have their hands full catching up to date on everything, they’ll have to follow through on the peace summit rather than using it as an ambush opportunity. Especially if I destroy said ambush plans.” He explained lowering his free hand to his side.

“You accomplished that when you killed the king of war, so why did you kill the rest?!” The king of the people yelled.

“You and the king of trade agreed to prolong the war, and I can’t actually tell how much your princes agree with that decision so killing them is my safest bet.” He shrugged, twisting his fingers as the king of the people started getting a little too close to the guards.

“I-I don’t!” The prince of the people shouted. “I-I don’t agree with continuing the war…”

“Maybe, but unfortunately with the current circumstances I can’t just let you go.” He admitted. “So sorry about this.”

He threw his mentor’s knife at the king of the people, the blade piercing between his eyes deeply enough that he wasn’t concerned with the possibility of the man surviving. With that done he shifted his grip on the prince of the people’s throat and with a subtle twist tossed her corpse to the side.

With a sigh, he took a quick inventory to make sure that all three kings and their princes were dealt with before turning towards the dozen or so guards staring at him in horror.

“Given how you lot weren’t planning on prolonging a hundred year war I’m going to give you one chance to walk away, because I have zero intention of letting you make my son an orphan.” He warned them.

His eyes drifted between each of the guards before he rolled his shoulders and raised his fists. “Well then, let’s get wild.”