The Undying Emperor [Grand Conquest Fantasy]

A transcript of the speech Lucius gave upon arriving in Rackvidd :

Men and women of the south, I know that times are hard. Winter is upon us and there is much to be afraid of now that a king does not sit upon the throne. The guiding light of our kingdom is lost. All we have is one another but that is enough.

We have been attacked, by men and by monsters. Peace is not an option. Look among you. Can any of you see a man or a woman who has not been assaulted by pirates from the east? When there isn't enough food in your shops, you are reminded of the shipments lost to this protracted struggle. Entire ships of food from the Misty Isles have sunk beneath the waves or been stolen away when they should be here, in your hands, feeding your children.

Do not tell me you need the word of a king to know what must be done. You do not need those in authority to permit acts of justice. You know it in your chests that this one-sided aggression must be stopped. They have pillaged Giordana. They marauded through the Misty Isles. The rebellion in the central kingdoms was at their behest, masterminded by their agents. I have fought them back time and again, but still! When we were at our weakest, turning blades upon one another in the name of revolution, they stabbed at the heart of our kingdom. The port of Hearth's Bay is in ruins. A dozen ships sunk and all their crews lost. Hundreds died to their ambush because they thought we were weak.

But, we drove them off. We crippled their fleet and we slew their war beast. They may have bloodied us, but they will learn who they have wronged. The very day the winter storms stop, I plan to sail to the east and do what is right.

To this end, I have been granted titles and authorities by the National Assembly. They named me the Supreme Commander and bid me win this war, but it is not titles that will win this war. Has it ever been mere titles? Wars are won by people, and every bit as important as steel in the hand is the righteousness of the cause. What more righteous a cause is there than peace? We will march to bring an end to this fighting so that our children and our children's children may live free and safe. That they may look at the sea with wonder and not fear black sails amongst the waves.

I am Lucius von Solhart and I have fought for this city, this kingdom, here and abroad, alongside many of you. You might have heard that I was not born a nobleman. I was born to nothing but the rocks my family mined. But today, as at the founding of this kingdom, we are all nobles. We all are the blood of the kingdom and we have been called to action.

We are men of the seas but we will march into the fey wood. I call on you all of able body to heed what is right. Take up the sword and join me!

As is the nature of these things, much more time was spent at the lower levels of administration, discussing all the minutiae of responsibilities, pay, distribution of labor, and so forth. Far more men were interested in supplying the goods and services that the army would need than were interested in marching to war. Selling an army cartloads of leather boots and barrels of hobnails carries much the same sense of moral reward while imposing none of the risk, leaving a man with his family, and enriching him.

But, Lucius was in Rackvidd, where much effort had been spent rooting out the most zealous revolutionaries and his Wavefront Corporation had firm alliances with the old merchants of note. He had promised them that he would ascend through the chaos if they gave him their support, and for a time, there was no higher person in the kingdom. The National Assembly itself sat above him, but no single man could be said to command the National Assembly. The merchant Faezel and his cohort thus prepared a king's welcome for him. More importantly to the boy, through their networks and influence they had undone the brute pillaging of the port city's palace.

The whole building buzzed with workers as he strode through the building. There were framers returning paintings as maids fussed about the reduced arrangements. Cooks and scullions lamented every piece of crockery and porcelain that was found missing or broken. Everywhere there was the whisper that Lucius had been intended as the lord of Rackvidd, by the late Lord Raymi himself. A few eager knights–they refused to be called squires ever since the decree of ennoblement–went so far as to attempt to recreate the duels between Lucius and Gabriel fought for Felicia's honor years prior.

Lucius found Felicia sitting with Aisha in one of the balconies overlooking the mock duel. Little Alexander caught sight of him first, squealing in delight before either of the women realized he was more than another servant.

"Back from basking in the cheers?" Aisha asked as she adjusted the babe to keep him from crawling out of her grasp.

"Basking?" he asked as he scooped up the boy and hoisted him overhead. "I spent the entire time watching for an arrow to come flying at me."

Felicia scoffed and smiled. "You're hardly a man to assassinate."

"Not from Aillesterra. No, the… Cyclops would not do that. That would be doing me a favor. I was worried Amurabi would think it an advantageous spectacle," he said as he returned Alexander to Aisha. A consideration, I should note, that I had to discard as there was no feasible way to blame it on the easterners. "Felicia, is it good to be home?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She smiled, but her eyes fell. "It's just a place… but, it was good to pay my respects to my father's grave. I swear, everything of value in the palace was stolen, save for what was in the crypts. I have the followers of the Shepherd to thank for that, but I think you have some pardons to issue. It wasn't entirely peaceful keeping them out of the crypts."

He scoffed and pulled over a chair from another table. "Pardons they'll get. Have you gotten your gifts yet?" he asked, eyeing Aisha who could hardly disguise her smirk.

To answer, Felicia brushed her hair back and exposed the silver chain of gems hanging from her ear. "Yes, but I don't think I want to know how they got my mother's jewelry back. They didn't seem the kind of men to pay thieves." A suspicion I can confirm. Quite a few small fences, pawnbrokers, and so on had their teeth knocked in and bones broken.

"But those were just the appetizers," he said.

After a moment's consideration, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "You didn't steal something from the royal treasury, did you? I won't let you buy me, Jarnpojke. Nothing you can give me will change the fact that you lied to me for years."

Lucius turned to Aisha. "She thinks I'm trying to buy her good graces with things. Aisha, did I ever buy you off with things?"

She grimaced. "My dear, I don't think I'm the example you want to use. You might recall you bought me with my own life?"

"Oh, you make it sound like that's how I met you."

"I met you gambling in a tavern and trying to provoke a fight. Are you sure you're as charismatic as you've been acting? And, I'm just saying, you could be buying me things instead of giving me research projects."

Before their test of wills could result in the rapid depletion of his accounts, he returned his gaze to Felicia and said, "I bring better things than material goods to offer. For example, the most trustworthy maids in the kingdom, though I can't vouch for their ability to clean, or cook, but they certainly know the capital's fashion sense and I know you'll appreciate their company."

She didn't smile back at him. "Lucius, I'm trying very hard to remind myself of all the reasons I like you, but I'm still a woman. Bringing more women back with you like war trophies isn't the gift you seem to think it is. I'm terribly sorry, Aisha, I didn't mean any offense to you."

The redhead said nothing, but lifted Alexander up to her chest.

Lucius pushed himself back to his feet. "I think they're with Lupa right now, preparing a feast I hope in the private hall. You'll come with me, won't you?"

Curiosity got the better of her and together they retired to the residential dining hall of the palace. Lupa's exasperated harangue reached them in the hall long before the door was opened. "Both of you have been served your entire lives, haven't you? I know that you know exactly how this is supposed to be done. I do not care that you think it's beneath you. Do you want people thinking you're too stupid to do simple jobs correctly?"

Kassie's quavering voice answered her as Felicia hesitated. "You have abducted me! Why must I put up with this horrid treatment! I'd rather be locked away in a dungeon where at least I would have my dignity!"

"You would have no dignity sleeping in your own filth, Kassie, and they'd just find a reason to hang you before long. Lupa is trying to help you and you're going to drive her insane," Frederika said.

"From what I hear, Lucius doesn't even use servants. He cooks his own food and made Felicia live like a commoner whenever she visited him, so why must this be the lie? We need only wait for Gabriel to return, have we not?" Kassie demanded as Felicia pulled the door open. The two noble ladies were in unornamented dresses, their hair dyed earthen brown and their faces bare of makeup. Only their posture spoke of anything more than a servant, and even that could be overlooked. Lupa was ready to bend the princess over her knee and spank her like a child, but the tension in the room was entirely forgotten as soon as Felicia stepped inside.

The two girls ran into one another's arms, their greetings soon replaced by sobs. Frederika kept her distance and her composure. As Lucius thanked Lupa for her patience, Frederika strode around the table and curtseyed. "Supreme Commander."

He eyed her. "What are you doing?"

"What? I've been practicing," she said as Aria quietly joined the room and sat with Aisha before a steaming platter of beef. The Solhart girl was undoubtedly the most affected by the night of the revolution, but much time would be needed to rejuvenate her spirits.

Sparing a glance back to the rosy cheeked girls behind him, Lucius took one of the jugs of wine and ripped the cork out. "Don't tell me you're enjoying this?"

She laughed. "I'm enjoying the irony, so long as you don't ask me to do it for anyone else. To have the boy I once dressed up as a knight now be the supreme commander of the kingdom, it's so absurd it belongs in a children's tale. You wouldn't happen to be a foreign prince who lost his memories, would you?"

Once he had a goblet poured, he spread his arms and grinned. The commotion had brought in the last of his cadre save for Leomund. More wine flowed, and much vanished down Lupa's throat before any toast could be made. All of them together were guarded against the chaos of the world not just by the walls, or the guards, but by the status he had taken.

"Of course not. Look at me. I am the noble savage, the untamed man of nature who has come to reject the world entirely. Armies have been trampled under my boots. Kings give me their last words. Angels come to me for their secret wishes. When the laws of civilization tried to bind me, it is they that broke. And now look about me, my wondrous bounty. All that I truly care to have is here and safe."

One by one the room began to laugh, jest and toast. They had a few short months of work and peace to enjoy before the great wars began.