“No matter how pretty a cage might be, it remains what it is: A prison that exists to restrict those kept within it.” - Saying attributed to the Bone Lord of Ptolodecca.
Former Royal Palace of Posuin
Oleynuos
Western Alcidea
1st Day of the 2ndWeek of the 10th Month, Year 20 FP.
Murad Al-Aswar Ibn Haroone could be considered to have lived a pretty blessed life, even if his present situation was a disheartening one.
Born as the eighth and youngest prince to the Emperor of Al-Shan, he never truly had any ambitions or designs for the throne. Part of the reason was because his father the Emperor passed away when he was still a young boy at the tender age of thirteen. As if that was not bad enough, his father just had to die without naming an heir to the throne, too.
The resultant succession war that followed raged over the year as most of his brothers and sisters raised their own forces to make their bid for the Imperial Throne. Murad had been too young to have such thoughts back then, but he had his own retainers and guards, amongst whom was a young prodigy from the military sent specifically to guard him by his doting father.
When it became obvious that his trying to stay out of the way was not good enough for his older siblings, Murad was forced to tie his fate to another, and he chose his fourth brother Sadiq, the only one of his siblings that shared the same mother with him. Because of that tighter blood bond the two were closer to each other than most of their other siblings were.
It proved to be a prescient choice as Sadiq’s forces – with Murad’s hand-picked bodyguard leading the charge as his general – ended up triumphant in the end, with Sadiq enthroned as the new Emperor of Al-Shan soon after. Of his other siblings, five died in battle, while another two fled and practically exiled themselves.
The only children of the previous Emperor that remained in the Empire were Sadiq and Murad.
While relations between the two siblings were close as usual at first, Murad found that it had not taken long before his older brother started to grow paranoid and worried that others might be aiming for his throne. Murad understood enough and sought to help alleviate his brother’s worries, willingly relinquishing most of the power he held and handing them over to his brother instead.
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He lived a relatively carefree and quiet life in the years that followed the succession war, practically just coasting off his privileges while doing nothing of note. He hoped that such a clear show of attitude would help his elder brother take his mind off his worries. Unfortunately for the young prince, life was often unpredictable.
Over the years, his brother the Emperor kept growing more paranoid, seeing threats where there were none. Several erstwhile supporters of his ran afoul of that paranoia and paid for it with their wealth, titles, rank, or for some unfortunate ones, even their lives. Even Murad was not exempt from that paranoia, and as he grew older he noticed how his brother grew ever more guarded against him.
Which was how he found himself sent off with the first wave of the Imperial Army’s expedition, nominally as a vice-commander, but in practice, he was actually being sent out in the hopes that he would get himself killed along the way. A quiet way to remove obstacles without the Emperor actually taking the blame for the matter.
As much as Murad loved his older brother, he drew the line when it came to such an extent of unwarranted suspicion and paranoia.
It was not that Murad had no allies of his own. The Tiger General – his former guard – was arguably more loyal to him than his brother the Emperor. He had taken the title and made his oath because at the time Murad and the Emperor were on the same side, but it was well known that he was very close to Murad, almost like another older brother to him, even.
The Dragon General, who was the head of the expedition’s first wave, had a more neutral stance. Which was probably why he had not sent Murad to the front lines – as that would be well within his authority – but instead treated him more like a staff officer and kept him under pseudo house arrest. Murad knew that it was likely done for his own safety, and felt gratitude to the old general for that kindness.
Had the old man wanted to ingratiate himself to the Emperor it would have been easy to send Murad off on a suicide attack of some sort instead.
If anything, Murad found himself mostly bored. He whiled away the time by working with the civilian staff the army brought along to help manage the conquered territory for them. He did what he could to ensure that the occupation went smoothly, for both the Imperial army and the conquered people. It was a minor thing, but since he had nothing to do anyway, he might as well help others where he could.
Which was why he was rather surprised to see the old Dragon General suddenly enter the room he had been borrowing to use as an office with a stormy look on his wizened face. Murad had heard the news that the northern detachment of the expedition faced some setbacks, but he was not privy to more details due to his rather complicated situation.
The way the old general looked, though, Murad was certain that the so-called setback they faced was likely a serious one. One important and urgent enough to warrant the commander of the expedition himself to make the trip from the south all the way to the north where he was. It was not a good sign, for everyone involved.
“What brought you here, Long Jiangjun?” asked Murad formally using the old general’s title as he stood up from behind his desk. While he was a prince, he had relinquished most of his titles and power so the old general was his superior in most every way at the moment. “I thought you were in the south, still.”