A messenger stepped into the conference room and kneeled. All of the important family heads of the River Caldera stood around a map that was clamped to the table. They had been trying to iron out trade routes, as the center of the Caldera was currently off limits. All of them were now looking to the kneeling man.
Elder River sighed, he just wanted to get this disaster over so he could hand off a stable throne to his son. Unfortunately, life seemed keen to take that away. His son was not a prudent man, and his granddaughters were also unfit. One was too rebellious, the other was too compassionate, at least they could be married off.
The River Caldera had been blessed with a once in a generation talent. Sure, Kerri was a bit entitled, but so was every Elder. All that was needed was for Elder River to file off his more antagonistic edges and marry him to Eve. Then he could finally retire. Maybe get some great grandchildren.
“Speak,” Elder River said.
“This message was sent by Landin, the current acting captain of the River Fort,” The messenger declared.
“Was Kerri not the leader of the fort?” One of the family heads asked.
“The message explains everything,” The man said.
Elder River felt a chill. Had the crabs crossed the trench? Did his future grandson-in-law die? The Elder mentally cursed the other Elders for not obeying him and eliminating the mythical beasts. No they squabbled over simple resources that should belong to the head elder of the six Caldera’s, himself.
“An expedition was set up by a Lesly Golden Heart from the Stone Caldera Fort. An acquaintance of the alchemist was found and sent to procure a plague to wipe out the crabs. The people on the mission were the brother of Lesly, your granddaughter Eve, a warrior by the name of William who was killed in transit, and the alchemists acquaintance, Tristan, who has a tier one metal kern.”
“My granddaughter was sent through the plains with only a single warrior escort?” Elder River was furious.
The other family heads grumbled in disapproval. Eve had shown a dislike of Kerri, enough that she refused to be under his command. Unfortunately, as part of the head family, Eve still needed merits to be accepted in leadership. A solution came as Elder Stone proposed an exchange of heirs. Elder Stone did it to spread out his children, in the event the Stone Caldera fell, they would survive. His city was known for its construction and builders, not warriors. Making his granddaughter happy was just a beneficial side effect.
“Yes,” The messenger said, “Landin did not expound on that part.”
Elder River calmed down. One thing he had learned in his long years in power was that you must always respect messengers. If one antagonized them, they would quit for less toxic posts and malcontents and spies would replace them. He motioned for the man to continue.
“The Stone Fort was aware that the alchemist would not work for free, so they sent Song Strike as payment for the production of the plague,” The courier inspected the reactions of the family heads, “Kerri seemed to be concerned about the well being of the Elder’s granddaughter and chose to escort the lady to Alchehall with the elite warriors.”
“He did what!” One of the family heads yelled, “River! This is the person you would have succeed you. He is acting like a dog in heat.”
Elder River winced, it was a lapse in judgement to run away, but Kerri had also ran off with more than half of the Forts strongest warriors. Landon was a capable man, but he was a brawler not a commander. He had shown good judgement in sending a messenger immediately to report Kerri’s erratic actions.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
However Elder River’s mind caught on a different topic, “You said the Song Strike? Is that the grand relic that general Ajax once held?”
“I don’t know,” He pulled a picture out of his pocket, “this is a rough sketch of its appearance.”
Indeed it was Ajax’s hammer. It was not common knowledge, but the grand elder Sai was originally part of a more powerful force, before he settled in the caldera. One of the leaders of that larger force was a hero named Ajax and he used to wield this hammer. It was just as powerful as the abyssal chalice in the River Calderas ancestral vault, only oriented for slaughter.
Elder River gritted his teeth. Both Elder Forest and Elder Stone had set up a situation where he either opposed the welfare of the caldera by confiscating the powerful artifact, or let his arch enemy, Hadrid step into the realm of heroes. His rule was coming to an end and that man had one of Elder River’s heiresses. All they would need to do was get legally married and the alchemist would have a legal right to the position of Elder River.
To make things worse, if he was successful at getting rid of the ghost crabs, Hadrid might even get the support of the people. All of this despite the fact that he was a silver blooded devil. Forest and Stone were really crafty. What they did not expect was that he cared more for his family than for the Caldera. If he didn’t, River would have attacked Hadrid regardless of the cost to his granddaughter’s wellbeing.
“Prepare a team of assassin warriors,” Elder River said to the shadow beside him, “ Kill everyone on that team except Eve and Kerri. Bring me Song Strike.”
A brief haze came out of his shadow and the puddle of darkness became less deep. No one saw him leave, but a tier three assassin had just left Elder River’s shadow and went to collect his team. They would be gone for Alchehall in less than thirty minutes.
“Thank you,” Elder River was slightly embarrassed have the men around him see the news unbalance him so much.
“Uh esteemed Elder” The messenger said, “That was only half the message.”
Elder River felt a chill at that, “What is the rest.”
“Landin claimed that this was just his speculation,” The messenger said, “he finds it odd that they arrived at the River Fort at all.”
“Why,” one of the family heads asked, “This would be an excellent place to pick up an escort, if theirs had been killed. I would even call it prudent.”
“Landin was also unsure,” The messenger said, “the instructions they were given led them straight to the River Caldera, however they thought they were going to the Lake Caldera. Landin thinks they were intentionally sent here.”
Elder River could almost scream. He probably would have if he were alone. Kerri’s proclivities were no secrete in the Caldera. He was hot headed and rash, the boy would most certainly pick a fight with the alchemist. The future events played out in Elder River’s mind.
First, Kerri would attack or offend Hadrid in some way. The alchemist would crush him like a bug. All four elite guards would be honor bound to avenge him, and they would be slaughtered. Eve and the Golden Heart boy would be caught up and killed. The Forest Caldera would demand that Elder River take vengeance for the death of two different important people dying.
The River Caldera would be split into a two front war, ghost crabs on one side and Hadrid on the other. Once the crab issue was dealt with, both the alchemist and the River Caldera would be dramatically weakened. Elder Forest, was not funding a fort. Many of their people would be fresh, and ready to dominate the weakened party. River would have believed it to be a masterful scheme, if he was not the target.
“Thank you,” Elder River realized that this man knew too much, he would need to have an accident in the near future, “You are dismissed, we always value loyal messengers.”
The man smiled at the praise, “Thank you, I will be going back to Landin, do you have any orders for him.”
Elder River shook his head, “No, that will be all.”
He turned back to the head families, they had noticed the same things he had, “Do we need to prepare for war?”
“No,” Elder River said, “We need to pull our soldiers from the rim and wipe out the ghost crabs.”
“We will be vulnerable to Mythical Beasts though,” Another patriarch said.
“Sure, but we already have some mythical beasts inside our borders,” Elder River placed both palms flat on the table, “More importantly we need to get rid of Elder Forest or there really will be a war.”
“That would destroy the grand elder’s pact,” a family head said.
“Unfortunately, they targeted us first,” Elder River said.
What he did not say was, they targeted my grandchildren. He would break any pact, kill any man to avenge them. If his shadows were too slow to save Eve, their next target would be Elder Forest.