The Tales of Miriela: Shadowborn

Chapter 1: Kline Wullmont

From the darkness, it came, and to the darkness, it returned. Death had come like a plague in the night. Torn bodies lay motionless, soaked in warm blood. The marks of battle had stained the soil, all around The Balen Hall.

"Your Grace, what would you have us do with those who survived? The Magee priests and the Esternlund soldiers," Asked Eadwig Alaine. Eadwig sat mounted on his horse, to the left of the King, as the Vanguard Commander always did in battle. He waited for Kline Wullmont to respond as rain fell from the sky and clashed loudly with the mud below. Eadwig wore a tense look upon his thin face. He was a small man, but as great as any general in Miriela.

A shimmer of moonlight reached down through the clouded night sky. It lit the ground around The Balen Hall, just enough to see the slain men that surrounded it.

But the king did not see the terror before him. Kline Wullmont only saw one thing, opportunity. The last of the invading Esternlund Army had been defeated, and at the hand of his Vanguard. The kingdoms of Miriela had been weakened by their attack, but the Vanguard remained strong through the Great War. King Wullmont had rid the lands of the Eastern invaders, and soon he would not only be king to Ferenor, but to all the kingdoms of Miriela.

But the power he so desired would not be achieved with mercy and compassion. Rage had filled Kline's heart and it had begun to change the young king, who's lust for power grew more with each day. Those who had survived were enemies. The Esternlund soldiers, invaders from the East, and the treasonous Magee priests who granted them shelter and food. There was but one fate which awaited them all.

"Burn them," Responded King Wullmont. "Gather the in the field, and burn them all." The King's face was still and his words were soft. He was stoic, numb to the chaos of battle.

"I asked about those who survived, Your Grace. Not the dead," Shouted Eadwig through the rain.

"They've acted in treason. And therefore, have a single fate, fire. Just as the faith tells us, Eadwig. Find me in the Balen Hall when you are ready, I want to watch the Gods deliver their justice," The King said. His gaze still remained lost in the distance, peering through the rain.

"Very well, Your Grace. I will have a group of men prepare a fire. I shall have another gather the Magee women and children and prepare for the march to Ferenor," Eadwig said to his King.

"Sir Eadwig, you are getting old, have your ears began to fail you?" King Wullmont turned to cast his gaze upon Eadwig as he spoke. "The fate of a treasonous people is found in the flame. All of them," Said the King.

"I will find you when the men are ready," Eadwig said as he left.

Kline took the reins of his horse and began to turn away. The battle was finished, and the king was to meet with his council inside the Balen Hall. But before the horse could trot away, an unfamiliar voice reached through the patter of rain. It was laughter. Kline looked down at the feet of his horse, where he saw a Magee priest, laughing as he slowly died in the mud.

It bothered him to see it. He wanted them all to suffer. Anyone who would dare challenge the throne he had taken, he hated. The mud splattered high upon his legs as Kline dismounted his horse. With the rain pouring even harder than before, Kline drew his dagger and knelt near the dying man. The dagger's steel sunk into the priest's flesh, not enough to kill, but deep enough to start a red pool of blood. Kline drug the priest's head from the filth and looked into his desperate eyes, searching for mercy but certain it would not be found. Blood started to slowly pour from the priest's mouth, as he fought to speak.

"You know not what is to come. You know not what waits for you in the North. Kaeon Dane has seen your fate, great king. He has seen the fate of Miriela herself. It won't be long before you too lay dead in the mud," The priest continued to laugh, as he coughed up blood and spit.