Chapter 10 - Coup

Miranda and I were currently riding towards a sprawling city in the distance, we have been riding for a little over two weeks, stopping at inns when needed. The trip was honestly quite mundane, not because the places weren’t interesting, but because we continued onwards unceasingly except for food and rest, apparently, we even crossed the border into the county of Malania during our trip.

The city is the capital of Malania, compared to Belra, it was rather flat, rather than reaching for the skies, the buildings seem to just flatten the further from the center they are. The centermost building is an incredibly tall spiral tower, the one notable feature of this city, and supposedly a wizard’s tower. The city is unwalled, so we stride straight towards the Featherson residence. There was no entering the city, density simply picked up the closer you traveled to the center, our surroundings transforming from a small community to a bustling metropolis. Miranda directs us toward the wizard’s tower, when we arrive I see a square estate built to encompass the tower, with a garden further yet encompassing the estate and a gated wall propped up on the outskirts of the garden. Arriving at the gates, Miranda works her magic, using her crest to gain notice from the Feathersons, an attendant runs out, directing us inside to a waiting room where we, well wait. Not too long later someone in flowing blue robes with artistic golden trimming walks up to us, he looks youngish, mid 20’s and has long black hair with a large nose and friendly eyes, he greets, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Juren Featherson.”

Mage ?

Miranda and myself curtsy with Miranda returning the greeting, “Miranda Verin, the pleasure is all mine, but I have some dire news that I believe must be heard now, if possible, I would like to speak with your patriarch immediately.”

He considers us for a moment, saying, “Very well then, follow me.”

The estate is mostly large open spaces, far more pleasant when compared to the ancient castle of Belra and its enclosed hallways. We arrive in front of a door, Juren knocks, and we hear a muffled, “Enter!”

A surprisingly small room opens up, inside is a thin old man with long white beard with shortish hair sitting at a desk, also in blue robes except with no golden designs, a pile of parchments and books are piled all over his desk. The room is filled with magical trinkets, odd rotating orbs, magical lights and a few intricate golden rods, wands? Books

Currently scribbling some notes, without looking up he asks, “Juren, who might these guests be?”

Mage ??

The patriach briefly glances at me with his eyes but then refocuses on his task. Juren bows to the him, saying, “They are here on business relating to the Verins, as to what it concerns, I’m not quite sure.”

The patriach nods, raising his head a blue shimmer shoots through his eyes as he glances between us, he then looks to Miranda insisting, “Go on, speak.”

Miranda bows, “High mage Yung Featherson, I have a request, if you will allow me to speak freely.”

“Granted.”

Miranda stands straight, her face a mask as she focuses on Yung, “I will make this brief, my father baron Maximilian Verin who is married to your granddaughter Quella Featherson, will request aid in a coup for the county. I am here to ask that you instead support me.”

Juren gapes at her and the patriarch raises his eyebrow as he leans forward, saying, “Ohhhh, so you’re my great granddaughter, and why do you think we would support you? Maximillian is married to Quella after all.”

She instantly replies, “And I am her daughter, as you know, I may lawfully change my family name should I become house head, were you to help me, the county of Farok will be united by house to the Feathersons, moreover I am willing to enter a magical agreement to fulfill the promise of changing houses.”

The patriarch mulls over Miranda’s proposal, his eyes wandering as he leans back, he redirects his attention to Miranda, asking, “Explain to me how you intend on taking control of the county.”

Miranda deeply breathes in as she collects her thoughts, then confidently explaining, “I do not need much from you, only your assistance to eliminate my father and your support to validate my claim on the county. With your support it will prevent any outside powers from getting involved and allow me to more easily pacify the barons, letting me assume control of the side faction, four of the barons are directly under me already so I should be able to persuade most of them to instate me as the new faction head. So, with your support and the side factions support, it will be feasible to perform a successful coup d’état, culling the count’s family.”

Even the patriarch’s eyes widened a little in surprise, suddenly he scoffs, “Hah, the actions of a tyrant. To think a young lady of such ambitions would descend from me, very well, you have my support, if only to see where this will lead.”

He brings out a new piece of paper and starts writing a letter while saying, “I will call in a favor to ensure the imperials don’t meddle, I will lend Juren here along with a party of house-trained mages to assist you in killing Maximillian so that you can gain claim to the county.”

Her mask cracks a little as she nods sullenly, “I would be most grateful High mage.”

He stops writing down and focuses his attention on Miranda as he smirks knowingly, “I can’t help but think that you orchestrated all of this, I read some reports a few months ago of a young scion who had gathered support from a few barons, not too long later Urela is assassinated and now you’re here, just ahead of your own father.”

Miranda visibly sweating at the brow, remaining quiet, eliciting the patriarch to scoff, “Bah! Fine if you don’t want to elaborate, then so be it, just don’t let a talent such as your friend here fall to some petty noble conflict, now begone, I have some work to do, I bid you good fortune.”

He waves us out. Outside, Juren stares at us horrified, I can’t bring myself to care as I thoughtfully consider the patriarch’s last statement, glancing up at Miranda who still has her professionally frozen expression. Did she plan everything? Her reasoning was always to get out of her betrothment, yet look where we are now, I never even considered how far everything has escalated, I have just followed through with Miranda’s will. Do I ever do anything myself…

It’s been four days and we are riding with a group of 8 mages, 6 archers and about 30 warriors as we ride to an ambush location. I haven’t properly spoken with Miranda since our meeting with the patriarch, partly because she seems incredibly tense and focused on the matter at hand, and partly because I’m scared, scared to ask her if I was just a pawn, a marionette in her play. Even now I feel like I am merely drifting through the happenings around me, the people all leagues stronger than me, I am only here to witness the spectacle brought about by my prior work.

Our horses pull up at the entrance of a small valley, Juren orders the few mages and archers to split into two groups and perch themselves on either end of the valley, the warriors to hide somewhere near the entrances of the valley, he then sends two scouts out a day’s ride forward, then we wait.

Five days later we spot the scouts in the distance riding towards us at their absolute fastest pace, they ride straight to Juren, notifying us of Maximillian’s impending approach. Indeed, just two days later soldiers convoy a carriage with the Verin crest, slowly approaching the valley. The amount of soldiers alarming, we are outnumbered at least 4 to 1, and I can even see a frown adorn Juren’s face. Once the carriage is in the center of the valley Juren yells “Attack!”

Suddenly magic erupts from the mages, the earth shifts, earthen spikes piercing out of the ground, fire cascades from the mages blanketing the inner valley. The warriors that were hiding run out to engage the enemy soldiers, an intense melee breaking out on both ends of the valley. After a few minutes the intense blur of magic lessens as the mages tire, fortunately the archers are there to rain down arrows and continue disrupting the enemy, however while we have decimated a large chunk of soldiers, the fight still seems to be stuck in a deadlock due to their superior numbers.

Maximillian finally leaves his carriage after our mages let up, a longsword made of some strange blue metal that shines with a deadly gleam, he eyes the battlefield before bursting into action, his agility immense he seems to fly through the air in a blur as he swings his body with interesting movements, his sword twisting oddly as it cuts down his foes, the battle swinging in the opponent’s favor. Juren seems to cast a spell, expanding out a magical forcefield on himself and then forming multiple balls as fire, jumping from the valley he somehow glides down toward Maximillian, casting spells at his shifting form.

Even with Juren engaging Maximillian I note the increasingly worse odds, so I slide down the side of the valley activating [Hashashin’s dodge] I skid down the slope at extraordinary speed, my form an ethereal mist difficult to detect in the chaotic battlefield. Appearing behind an enemy soldier my blade flashes into his neck, not pushing deep due to his incredibly high endurance, however my attack distracts him enough so that my teammate can cut him down. Surprisingly my abilities make me a menace on the battlefield, I flash over to another enemy performing the same action and felling him easily. Some of the enemy soldiers take notice and run over to me, knowing I’d lose in a direct confrontation I [Hashashin’s dodge] away continuing my disruptions elsewhere on the battlefield. While I’m not as powerful as Maximillian, my meddling has more impact than him, I can drift among the enemy lines and perform critical attacks that allow our soldier to gain the upper hand. Whenever I am about to be encircled, I activate [Hashasin’s dodge], my body twists past the blades of the soldiers, occasionally nicking me.

Level up!

Level up!

The battle nears to a close, my involvement having a rather substantial impact on the outcome of the fight as we are the clear victors. Juren stands over Maximillian as he is huffing and leaning on one knee, looking past Juren and toward Miranda who is hesitantly approaching, he says emotionlessly, “Congratulations Miranda, I hope this is all worth it in the end.”

“If you made me the heir, it wouldn’t have come to his,” she says coldly as she nears him and looks him down.

Laughing mockingly as he coughs out a chunk of blood, “I know you don’t believe that, ever since you were young… you had great ambitions, I doubt this county will be the last thing you will steal before you die a miserable death.”

“Hmph,” she turn to Juren, callously saying, “Kill him.”

Juren obliges, summoning a great ball of fire that burns Juren to ashes, the heat spreading out among the battlefield. She looks at me, her expression unreadable before turning back to Juren, “My thanks for your assistance Juren, we will return to Farok from here to perform the last part of our plans.”

He nods, his face a mask of exhaustion, “Fare thee well Lady Verin, I hope the next time we meet you are countess Verin.”

Miranda nods back then walks over to me, whispering, “Come let’s get you cleaned up.”

A day later we are in a town currently inside our room in an inn. I study Miranda’s face as she peacefully sits on her bed, I raise from my bed with my arms crossed, asking, “So, are you going to explain yourself? You made it seem to me like you were just following the flow of events. Clearly that’s not true, why would you lie about that to me? You know I would help you, regardless of the circumstances.”

She looks at me, considers for a moment then opens her mouth, but closes it right after, finally she speaks, “I…I’m really not quite sure, you’re right though, I’ve been a fool, not letting my closest ally know of my plans.”

I frown sadly, and dejectedly ask, “Is that all I am to you? An ally?”

She shakes her head strongly and insists, “No! Of course not, you are a dear friend, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

I just sigh, asking, “Yes ok, well can you at least give me a good reason why you didn’t tell me your whole plan, that seemed unnecessary.”

Her face drops, she looks down with a downcast expression, finally saying, “Because, because I didn’t actually know you would help me. I was scared, everything I have is because of what you have done, ever since you completed your first mission, I formulated a plan based on your abilities, I, I just didn’t want you to think I was using you. Because I was, even though I consider you a friend, I cannot deny that you were a pawn on a board in a game of nobles.”

I am shocked still, even though I suspected the truth, no, not suspected, in denial about, I feel devastated her actually confirming it. Sniffling I lay down on my bed, turning my head from her, I just want to sleep these feelings away, she calls, “Hey Fera… Fera?”

After a little while, she gives up.

Four weeks later I in a carriage with Miranda going towards the main castle, today is the day of the coup. When we returned to the estate two weeks ago, Fera replaced her father as the faction head and hence became baron in his place, using the Featherson name as a strong deterrent against any wanton behavior of the barons in the faction. We were on our way to a meeting of sorts, as Miranda’s officially appointed spymaster, I was allowed to come along as a servant to a baron. Miranda’s face looks stone cold, but I can tell that’s just to hide her turbulent emotions beneath, today is the day that she either dies, or achieves greatness. Entering the castle courtyard, we dispatch, entering the castle and arriving in a meeting room where a few barons are chatting. Miranda walks up to them and begins casually talking about factional politics, until finally a servant of the count yells out, “The count invites the lords in.”

We walk down a hallway, which opens up into a large meeting room, a long table stretches across the room, with a chair at the end of the table that could be likened to a throne. The count sits on it, his face stuck in a constant frown, his short hair fully grey. He looks over at Miranda, “It is interesting to see Maximillian’s daughter as the one who inherited the barony, I, gave to him.”

Miranda just smiles politely but says nothing. The barons sitting in their seats, each with a servant a step behind them, me being Miranda’s servant. Suddenly Miranda stands up unceremoniously, some of the barons stare at her weirdly, but then a few barons follow, then more than half the room follow, everyone from the side faction. Miranda speaks loudly and intently, “Count Thomas Verin, I hereby proclaim myself countess Miranda Featherson of the count of Farok.”

The count raises from his chair, angrily shouting, “What foolishness is this?”

Without warning all the barons draw their weapons and dash toward the count, he looks confused as he fumbles for his blade, the other barons in the room start standing to do something, but all the attacking barons are already upon the count. He defends of the first few strikes, but there a simply too many attacks and he starts getting impaled by multiple strikes. The main faction barons prepare to engage the traitorous barons, however Miranda shouts, “Halt! Know I have the backing of the Feathersons, supporting the count means you go against me, and consequently them.”

They stop, but it would’ve been too late anyway, the count lies on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. The door smacks open, as guards rush in, confused at the scene brought to their eyes.

In the coming days, a purge occurred as the main Verin family, and their loyal servants were killed. The castle now being occupied by Miranda and her supporting barons, the main faction barons imprisoned.

In a room with Miranda, we discuss the conclusion of it all. Miranda looks at me, asking, “So what are you going to do now? I can give you a barony and make you county spymaster, everything I have now is because of you.”

I shake my head, “I’m not interested in those things, I will be hanging around for a few years then head off to a mage academy when I’m 13.”

Miranda sorrowfully nods, “Ah, such a shame, I admit, I will be lonely when you leave, my first and only… friend.”

I smile, “Hey, cheer up, I’ve still got 2 years until I leave, and even when I do leave it’s not like I will be gone forever, we will always be friends.”

Miranda’s eyes glaze over as her face becomes thoughtful, I feel excited for my prospects, after seeing the fantastical abilities of the Featherson mages, I can’t wait to see what the academy will bring.