Broken Soul

Michael

Michael was sitting in the high chair at the end of the Emall great hall, looking down on his vassals. At least the vassals who weren't in chains in another part of the estate.

They were uncomfortably quiet as they filed into the room, followed by other prominent members of society, merchants, and noble family members. Michael was used to them being a loud bunch. There was always someone arguing if you put two nobles in a room after all. Now, though, they were as quiet as a group of dead men.

Michael wasn't sure if he preferred their uncomfortable mannerisms to the normally lively bunch, but it was definitely to his advantage if they felt at least a little dread towards him right now. These were, of course, more prevalent among the members of the neutral faction than the loyalists.

The doors shut behind the last member of the nobility, causing some of them to jump a little and others to look even more nervous. The only soldiers present in the hall were from House Rowan and House Wallsten. Michael was sure that every single man present here had considered this to turn into a purge at least once.

Michael rose from his chair, and the entire noble body fell to a knee in unison. He couldn't help but smile at the obvious show they put on.

"Rise, my friends, you have nothing to dread and no one to fear here," Michael announced with as much warmth as he could.

His words had some effect as some relaxed visibly. It wasn't enough to take all their concerns from them, but he didn't need it to.

"I have called on you for two reasons. The first is to announce our victory over the Rangda and our newly reforged bond with House Grim and Grent," he announced and got polite applause in return.

They all knew this already, and it definitely wasn't the news they wanted to know about right now.

"The second reason is a less joyful one. From the subdued atmosphere here, I would assume everyone is aware of the arrests of eight barons and some lower-ranking nobles. I also assume that you aren't aware of the reasons behind what many would call a tyrannical act," Michael continued while carefully watching his subjects.

The reactions were pretty much split between the loyalist and neutral factions. The loyalists seemed more curious about what had brought their liege to take such drastic measures. They rarely got along with the noble faction, and there were many personal feuds between members of the two factions.

The members of the neutral faction were more mixed in their reactions. Some of them badly hid their outrage, while others appeared openly scared. The neutral faction was the smallest of the three factions, with only five barons being part of it, plus an assortment of lower noble families. They mostly kept up their influence by having the loyalist and noble faction vying for their support in matters, and now the noble faction had been arrested in its entirety.

Curiously, it was Baron Fidumar Uger, the head of the neutral faction, who didn't seem overly concerned about the developments.

"We are not aware of the reasons, milord," Baron Uger said loudly and then added with contempt in his voice, "Not that there is a lack of reasons to be found with the noble faction. But we have heard rumors."

He is already starting to play politics, Michael thought, amused.

"Well, you will find out now. I ask you to step back and take your seats in the gallery, and then we can begin the trial of the noble faction. Most of the important evidence we have gathered will be presented to justify this arrest. I have already made up my mind, but I wanted to make sure that everyone was as convinced of the rightfulness of my actions as I am," Michael explained.

After the nobles had taken their spots on the left side of the hall, he ordered the prisoners to be brought in. The guards pushed in eight men, who had been stripped of their rich cloaks and dressed in simple linen. Some sported some new bruises, but none of them looked seriously abused.

The guards quashed some outrage by the prisoners and forced them to stand in a line on the opposite wall to the nobles. In perfect view of their former equals.

Viscount Telp stepped forward and began to speak.

"I have been appointed by Lord Rowan to convey the facts of the matter. I assume there are no objections?"

No one objected.

"Good. I will not mince my words, as their crimes are abhorrent. The members of the noble faction are accused of attempting to assassinate our liege Count Michael Rowan in the forests of the Rangda. A heinous crime was attempted by none other than Baron Redric Plon's own son, Dittrich Plon. They have broken every vow they have made and gone against every value we hold dear as followers of the One Who Remained."

Chaos erupted the moment Lord Telp revealed the reason for the arrest. He raised his voice to finish, but Michael doubted that everyone heard him. The nobles on the stands started talking wildly to each other, some hurled insults at the prisoners while others simply gasped loudly.

"Fucking Traitors," Richard Tengel yelled, and if he had had anything to throw, he would have. Michael had never seen the normally calm baron so red in the face.

The ruckus was even louder on the other side of the room as most of the chained nobles began to loudly insist on their innocence and that they had no knowledge of any of this.

Lord Telp threw Michael a questioning gaze, and the young lord signaled him to leave them be for the moment.

He allowed them a minute of chaos before he banged the tip of his sheathed sword onto the ground. The guards mirrored the move with their spears, and the hall fell silent.

"I understand that this revelation is hard to accept," Michael said quietly. "I myself was shocked when I thought that I was found by a loyal knight, just to have him draw his sword and try to strike me down. If it weren't for my uncle's timely intervention, I would not be sitting here today."

"Off with their heads!" an older baron of the loyal faction called and got some supporting shouts.

The prisoners began to shout back, and the hall devolved into a shouting match again. This time, Michael didn't allow it to go on for long.

"Quiet down," Michael calmed them down. "We are not animals. We do not punish without first hearing the evidence. I, of course, am aware of the evidence and also have been present for the most damning of it. I wish for you to confirm the decision to arrest these criminals, so that no one shall doubt my judgment."

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"This is but a sham! You have already taken out the opposition. No one will resist your tyranny now," Redric Plon interrupted him. A guard raised his baton, but Michael waved him off.

"You are right, Lord Plon. I have made my judgment already, at least concerning you. You will die, and so will your son. An attempt on your liege's life is nothing that can be overlooked. Neither can the crimes that the other accused have committed. I do not know who of the present was part of this conspiracy, though, and it is still open to determine the entirety of crimes each of you is guilty of and who else had a part in them," Michael offered readily.

The prisoners went pale as many understood the implications. It was up to Michael to condemn each and every one of them to death for treason if they couldn't give him a good reason to declare them innocent and punish them for their lesser crimes. The more likely reason for their increased distress was his hinting at being entirely open to condemning not only them but everyone around them.

Michael wasn't sure if he would or even could go that far. Wiping out the entirety of the noble houses was definitely the most thorough way of making sure that he would never be challenged by them again, but it wasn't him.

'Therefore, any cruelty has to be executed at once, so that the less it is tasted, the less it offends.'

It was a quote from the book that Thomas had given him to read. He certainly understood the merit of it, and sparing the families of traitors could lead to him having to commit more cruelty in the future.

Either way, this decision was still in front of him, and the threat of it was more than effective enough for his current purposes.

"Now that we have settled that this is not about me making up my mind, let's hear the evidence," Michael said and motioned for Lord Telp to continue.

- A day later -

"I understand and commend this decision, Lord Telp," Michael said to the viscount. They were sitting in what was normally the viscount's office, but it had been abandoned for years, with the man being housed in Reen. Now it had gotten a little life back with Michael using it for his stay.

"I would like you to announce this decision after the trial has concluded. It should seamlessly merge with the uproar about the verdict and not prolong the nobles' distress."

Lord Telp nodded when a knock came from the door, and Silas stepped in. "Milords, Baron Freye is here to speak to you," the knight said after a quick salute.

Michael motioned the knight to send the prisoner in. The man had asked for an audience after the first day of the hearing, and Michael was happy to receive him.

He was young, barely an adult, and dressed in the same chains and linen as all the prisoners were.

"Welcome, Lord Freye," Michael greeted the young member of the noble faction and then glanced at the chains around his wrists and ankles. "Can we get rid of those chains, please? I don't think he wishes to make trouble."

"Thank you, milord," Lord Freye replied with his voice shaking.

After Silas had taken off the chains, he stepped back and allowed Lord Freye to step in front of the table. He was forced to stand as Michael and Lord Telp occupied the only two chairs in the room.

"So, you wished to talk to me, Lord Freye. What can I help you with?" Michael said with a friendly tone, which seemed to unnerve the man even more than yelling could have.

Lord Freye fell to his knees and lowered his head. "I have come to beg for your mercy, Lord Rowan. I have not been privy to the conspiracy, and I haven't even been a voluntary member of the noble faction. My father accumulated a lot of debt with Lord Plon, and he forced us to side with him. Please have mercy on my house."

After the last word, he threw himself even lower and remained in that position while Michael threw Lord Telp a seeking glance.

The chancellor nodded back at him, and Michael rose from his chair to better see the groveling man.

"So you are telling me that it wasn't your fault because House Plon had your debts to lord over you?" Michael clarified.

"Yes."

"I see, but you have still committed crimes against the county and my house," Michael noted and took a sheet of paper that Lord Telp offered him. "We have evidence of you bribing workers, paying bandits, and refusing to enforce my laws. What do you say to those charges?"

Baron Freye was honestly the tamest of all the barons in the noble faction, which was also why Michael chose to meet him and not one of the other nobles.

"I was ordered to, milord. I had no choice. Please, you must forgive my failings," the young baron pleaded pitifully.

"Ordered? I don't remember ordering any of that. Which means it must have been you, Viscount Telp, as the only other person to outrank the good baron in this county," Michael said and looked at his chancellor with an amused expression.

"Huh, I must be getting old. I can't remember ordering any of this either," Lord Telp said and tapped against his chin with a finger.

"It was Baron Redrick Plon," Lord Freye explained, and Michael wasn't sure if the man was dense or too scared to understand the point he was trying to make.

Michael sighed and turned back to the table. He sat down and shuffled a couple of reports around while the baron was still prostrating himself on the ground.

"Very well. I am not without mercy, Lord Freye. I will spare your life and those of your family, but you will not keep your title or your lands. You will be reduced to a small part of your fortune to allow you a chance to build something new and prove your value to the people of this land," he finally relented dramatically.

"Thank you, mil...."

Michael interrupted him before he could finish. "But you will testify in front of the gathered assembly to all the crimes of your fellow noble faction members and only the crimes of those."

Lord Freye tensed up a little, but after a moment of hesitation, he agreed.

"Good. Sir Silas, take Lord Freye and interrogate him on his planned confession. Cross-reference his words with the Officio reports and let me know if there are any problems." This was more of a threat than something Michael thought overly necessary.

The gruff knight grabbed the disgraced baron and quickly dragged him out of the room.

Michael and Lord Telp sat in silence for a few moments until the viscount said, "Do you intend on finding someone else to show mercy to?"

"Hmm, I don't think so. One should be enough, and I am not gonna chop every noble's head off anyway. The barons will have to go, though," Michael replied.

Lord Telp nodded in agreement and then noted, "The neutral faction has stayed strangely quiet this whole time."

Michael had noticed that too. They had to know that if the entire noble faction fell, the influence every noble held would plummet in the face of Michael's centralized power.

"You think Baron Uger is planning something?" Michael questioned his chancellor, but the man shook his head.

"No, I do not believe he is. They just seem oddly content with the whole situation," Lord Telp replied.

"Perhaps they have already resigned themselves to the way things will be from now on," Michael mused. It was still curious that they didn't seem to argue at all.

"Perhaps," Lord Telp replied, sounding like he believed that about as much as Michael did. "I think I will poke around a little bit and find out what is happening."

"Thank you."

Michael was sitting alone a few minutes later, looking at some documents that had arrived from the House Plon estate.

Most were just confirmation of things he already knew, but one particular stack of letters was concerning. Someone had supplied the noble faction with resources, intel, and ideas to hinder Michael's plans. It wasn't overly surprising, but still not great to have confirmation of an external hand in all of this.

All of them contained a phrase instructing the recipient to destroy the letters, which obviously hadn't happened.

It wasn't hard to guess who the sender was, though. Michael had known for a long time that Duke Wulfen didn't appreciate the rise of Praanen, but to have proof that the second most powerful man in the kingdom would take such a risk to harm his rule was dangerous.

Thankfully, Lord Plon's tardiness in destroying the evidence left Michael with a good chance. To be fair, it probably wasn't tardiness but Lord Plon wanting some insurance against the duke, but the reason for the existence of these letters mattered little.

"What to do?" Michael asked into the empty room as he regarded a letter about destabilizing his power by sending brigands to raid the southern mines.

Of course, this never happened. Michael assumed that Lord Plon didn't want to push his luck that badly before, but to be fair, he tried to murder Michael, so that reasoning might not hold much sway.

Whatever the case, Michael would have to deal with or make a deal with the Duke sometime soon. He couldn't have such a powerful man trying to sabotage him after all.