Part IX: Tyranny’s end by Scholar Bernard

This tale from the Animal Kingdom is considered to be “official”, although only the copy of the book series has been found. Scholar Bernard is long gone, and there is no actual proof the scholar is the author.

Although, there is an interesting tidbit about Bernard. Just before his passing, he asked “What door?”, while standing before a massive wooden door, when he died of a heart attack. There was no formal autopsy following Bernard’s passing, but apparently, he was getting blind. Intriguing, to say the least.

Author’s remark: The images seen in this blog may not be related to the characters or the places of the story.

The royalists had sacked the entire capital, taking every piece of grain from the storehouses and moving it to the citadel. In their effort to inconvenience the approaching army they had also poisoned all possible water sources. Everything to make the siege of the citadel as taxing as possible for the prince’s army.

The tyrant and the remaining loyal part of his army were safely stacked away in the citadel, with supplies that would last them at least a year. The populace of the capital was left behind and without any food remaining in storage they were left starving by the indifferent king.

When prince Lav arrived, he found his entrance into the capital uncontested by any royalists. What he did however find was a malnourished populace on the brink of starvation. One of the first commands Vincent ordered when entering the city was to evict all remaining citizens from the capital and relocate them to temporary shelters in the private royal estates.

Most of these refugees would set up shop permanently in these estates, giving birth to the new capital we have today in the Redwood Forest. After dealing with the civilians, it was time to set up a siege. The walls of the ancient citadel were not easy to breach as it was carved out of solid rock directly in a steep cliff face. Even with the help of the birds the prince’s army was not able to crack the defenses of the bastion, even after weeks of trying.

The prince knew that he could not supply his army for much longer, nor could he allow the royal affairs in the remainder of the kingdom to go unattended. Without a system to oversee them, the nobles and magistrates of the kingdom had taken it upon themselves to bend the rules and regulations for their own benefit and comfort.

This behaviour could not be tolerated much longer as the prince was advised that soon there wouldn’t be a kingdom left to rule. It was then that he made the decision to call upon a cadre of his most trusted companions, to make one of the most difficult decisions the young prince had faced in his life and would scar him for years to come.

Initially, the prince had liked to see the tyrant brought to justice, to make his brother see the error of his ways, but those delusions could not last, the tyrant king would have to die and the royalists that still clung to his rule broken. And this would have to happen as soon as possible…

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