Part 1: Time is of the Essence
As Moghs of 1883
began, a cold spell brewed a stronger winter storm that what normally rolls down
the Hoganmar mountainside. This storm would cover from Mistfell through nearly Gearford.
Starting as rain, but ending up as freezing ice. The sound and fury of the
storm turned to a brutal and savage beating upon the woods. First bending in
homage and awe. Then snapping and breaking whole trunks with cruel and
merciless authority. To from the two cities, movement slowed and then stopped
as if trapped in a frozen pond.
The peak of this
freeze would be on 10th of Moghs. The Revolution.
( Antiford on Air : The Anitfordian Revolution )
Moghs 20th, 1883,
Ten Days Since The Revolution.
Eight Days Since Leaving Gearford in Route to Mistfell
By the second night, Gearford had been liberated from the
shackles of the old order. Technocracy had won, and rolling out a new era. With
the capital under control, it was determined that the next stage to secure the Antiford
homeland must commence. Under this new banner, several with strong connections
to other areas were tasked to secure them. I along with my brother my brother,
Alaric, were tasked to return to our family home of Mistfell in order to secure
it. The freeze, however, had the echo of the sovereign’s death rattle. It
prevented travel by air ship and hindered progress towards Mistfell on land. Under
normal conditions, direct travel from the capital to Mistfell is only four
days. However, before us was a situation of wood clearing and reinforcement of
the singular and winding path from the adjourning Mast River. This reclamation of
travel from nature would double our travel time home.
We Engineers of Wrathchilds have had a mix reputation over
time. Lauded for our guile, but considered iconoclast. Our family’s penchant was
to get our hands dirty in which would typically considered below our station. Our
detractors mocked us for it, as a means to hold us back when they found no
other appropriate flaw against us. It meant little to us Wrathchilds. We
codified it. “Statuit Sibi Victoriam”, “Self Determined Victory”. We got the job done when others couldn’t. It
was our touchstone to our family position within the House of Engineers. And to
true to our family, Alaric and I added our man power to in clearing of the ice
and wood that block our way forward.
As we finally exited the forest line, we came upon familiar fields
and mills. On record these mills would be of ownership of the royal house of
Twyford, the generational defenders of Mistfell. In practice, the Twyford
family had little involvement. They at this point only saw that the Engineers
of Wratchild made the mills work. And by work, they were profitable. And thus for
their foresight and so-called wisdom, the Twyford Family was respected and
beloved by those under their see. In time, the so called dirty secret of
Mistfell was that to deal with a Wrathchild meant you might as well be dealing
with a Twyford instead. In bringing a new order to Mistfell, this single fact
would be our supreme leverage to keep things bloodless.
The counter leverage to bloodless change of power was that status
of being the Defenders of Mistfell has seen house of Twyford be cajoled into union
with House of Besswick. The royal House
of Besswick rose to prominence in Antiford though a reputation earned, rightful
and some not so rightfuly, earned upon it martial prowess. As such Lord
Besswick had been deployed in service of the last Anitford push across the Prodigious
canyon. Complicating things further is the fact that a generation before the
Twyford union, the Besswick family had been married into the sovereign’s house.
Simply put, the Twyford had married the cousins to the now deceased king. And with the expulsion of the sovereign’s
line, the Besswick were one house with a serious and legitimate claim to the
next bankrupt and decrepit sovereign. With
news of this reaching him, his first action would board his airship and return to
Mistfell. Thus time was of the essence for us to return to Mistfall before Lord
Besswick could form a new royal defense and rejection the new order from there.
Failure to arrive before him would mean the Mast River would run red. Failure
to stop Lord Besswick’s meant that Antiford would fall into Civil War.
Part 2: Past and Change
Mistfell had always had two references to it. The first being Mistfell Proper, the city nestled into a notch in the Hoganmar range. The city arose from being a point for trade from Antiford into the lands north of the range in Titania. The city plus the lands, fields, forests reaching down south from the range to the edge of the desert formed the area known as the Domain of Mistfell. By necessity given the distance from Gearford without a rail line, Mistfell retained the perception and practice of being its own city state within Antiford. Indeed, a fact which traditionally had been very much vexing to the capital bureaucrats
Moghs 21, 1883,
Eleven Days Since The Revolution.
Within the Domain of Mistfell Heading Toward Mistfell Proper
We had exited the Outer Woods and entered into the Domain of Mistfell. With night fallen we were now forced to push through the night with our horses instead of switching the carriage over to the local boxen. For the first time during the trip home I was alone in our carriage with Aldric. He turned towards the center, his eyes low in the same manner since leaving Gearford.
“I’ve seen that look on your face before, Aldric. And more so, you’ve had that look since we left the capital. We’re alone here and not beyond tired from the physical labor of clearing the woods. So tell me. What weighs on your eyes down as such?”
With a nervous twitch, Aldric moved up to look at me. “Gilbert, we’ve left a trail of fire, blood, and death in Gearford. How does that not weigh you down?”
I took a moment to think and sighed before responding, “Because we tried and looked at many other possible means of salvation. And in the end, this was the only path forward. It was the only path with any chance for us to succeed. Don’t think I’m walking away with no no regrets or baggage.” After saing that I raised and looked at my own hands.
Aldric was taken aback at my works. Never before in our conversations had I ever invoked the Technocractic Salvation Front so tightly. And had done so for good reason. We had greatly differing viewpoints on the matter. It was no surprise when he glared towards me.
“Don’t be so high and mighty with me about Salvation now.”
“I wasn’t.”
A tinge of anger rushed through Aldric’s voice, “Please, when you called for me you were working on an ‘Airship’ weapon. Tell me now, when did it occur to you could turn and deploy Desert Flame upon our countrymen. Or set ablaze the south side of the capital aqueducts?” Aldric paused one moment before taking one more jab at me, “With you, it’s more likely that was the plan all along. Just an important detail you conveniently left out.”
“You’re not going to rake me over for what your your Democrats could not. Or more so, succeeding where you wouldn’t never have dared to consider. “ I stopped and sighed. “And yet. now here’s where we’re at. At each other instead of unified.” I stopped again as I dipped my head. “I did not lie about it being intended for an airship. That was the original intention.” Looking back to my brother as I continued, “So that was at least true, But after you came back with your solution. You. You brother, opened up possibilities for it. I just saw them and ran with it as I’ve normally done.“
“My god, there was no secondary plan. No fall back. It was all or nothing. You saw the opportunity went all in.”
“Yes. And much more than you know already. Aldric.”
“And what of Besswick?”
“As in how we are racing against Horatio Besswick to get to Theodore Twyford first.”
There as a moment of pause before Aldric responded next “Gilbert, are you sure about the bigger picture here?”
“I’m not sure what exactly what you mean. Are you talking about how Theodore has had foresight to endear himself to the public. Or how his family is the linchpin in everyhing. Which way Theodore goes, Mistfell will follow.”
“That’s the trees for the forest. It really hasn’t dawned on you yet, has it?”
“What do you mean, Aldric?”
“You’ve been so taken by the wave of blood from this new order, you’ve assumed or forgotten about the remaining royals who could claim the sovereign. Such as the House of Besswick”
A moment of thought sat between both of us. It was an awkward moment that lingered between us as I began to realize what my brother was getting at. “Horatio could, but won’t right away. He’s more tactical than that. His first move won’t be to establish a claim to sovereignty. It’s to establish a base of power. And to do it, he’ll enjoin with Theodore to force the line into the house of Twyford-Besswick.”
“That would have the strongest claim. and the other houses would fall in line behind that.”
“True as it may be. Horatio cannot build enough support to engage in an honest campaign. His efforts would stagnate into a long civil war. First with the new order and then with the Houses for the Crown. And that leads me to my second point. And with the royal vault cleared by hooligans, we’d see multiple crown made to replace it, each one claiming something more outrageous than the last to prove their stake. ”
Aldric shakes his head at me, “I’d think you’d have a better word than hooligan to describe your brother, Gilbert.”
I look back puzzled and confused at Aldric as he stands up and unlatches the cushion next to where he is seated. Lifting the seat up, he reaches into the storage access and tenderly lifts a plain wooden box. Opening it as he turns around it around for me to see the contents. The interior of the box is silk lined with a sheet covering the contents.
I slowly remove the silk sheet covering and see the contents. I am in awe by their beauty. I am sad as I recognize the authority they confer from a time now gone. I am shocked they are here in my the sight. Before me are glorious and holy items of Antiford Coronation. Eleven nights previous during the confusion as Gearford burned, there had been a fight at the royal vault. It has left bodies from both Salvationists and Royal Guards. And in the aftermath these items were gone. With both sides pointing fingers at each other for removing them or allowing the vault to be looted. As news of this spread acroos the city the next day, It would join the litany of the crushing and demoralizing defeats that brought down the remaining Royalist support.
Aldric watches me as I am processing just seeing the items before me. “Now you know my story of that night. I am looking not at the hear and now. And unlike you, I am not so self-assured that your new technocratic order will hold. The bigger picture, brother, is being ready for when it all comes crashing down, bringing an interregnum to an end. And if it comes to that, I intend for us to be the kingmakers.”
Turning my view away from the items, I look out through the carriage window. We have still a good distance to travel, but at least now I can see the guiding light of burning pyre above Mistfell Proper. I stand up and pull a velvet bag from the overhead storage. My voice drops in tenor with darkness. “That day will be without me brother. For I cannot go back. … I will not go back!”
I reach my hand in and begin to pull the contents out. The velvet bag falls and lands and covers the holy items. Glaring at Aldric as I turn and place my arm out towards him. He reacts immediately upon seeing the item in my hand. It is one of the masks worn by those who lead the charge into the palace eleven nights ago.
After a moment, Aldric eyes become wide open, now in horror before him. For at this moment it finally dawns upon him that he’s looking at blood stained mask of Skret. More importantly, mask of the man who struck the killing blow on Hardold III, the last king of Antiford.
“I have lopped off the top and formed a trapezoid!”
Citizens Of Antiford 