RyderTheWriter — Roleplayer Guild

Centuries had passed and yet it felt like yesterday that Merrick and his Soturi brothers and sisters stormed the Ivory Palace and drove the hordes of Helvetti back into the deep from which they came. Merrick still had the scars to prove that even he had fought in those days.  He was surprised at how easily he had managed to take over the Soturi Order, an order tasked with protecting the peoples of the earth. Protecting innocents was all well and good but Merrick felt that Soturi belonged in a higher level of society than they were granted. They were dying by the thousands in the war, and for what, to save innocents? He scoffed at the very notion. No. He would see to it that he got his reward. And so he had. First taking over the order and then declaring himself King when the war was won.

There were whispers of overthrowing Merrick, of restoring things to the way they used to be. There would be none of that, not while Merrick had anything to say about it. The reason the talk of mutiny was in hushed tones and behind closed doors was because of the fear Merrick inspired. He was gifted with the ability to control light, ordinarily not thought to be a terribly useful or powerful skill. That is, until Merrick learned how to manipulate light to orchestrate illusions, they were small at first but now he could orchestrate them on a much larger scale.

Those illusions are what had done the original Soturi order in. Merrick tricked the Soturi into killing each other off until only a few remained, his inner circle – the ones he trusted. Eventually he had to get rid of them too, there could be no one left to challenge him. So he decided to outlaw the birth of any future Soturis. He knew some would escape his net but they would be too afraid to stand against him and even if they wanted to, they would be untrained.

Despite his best efforts there was a rebellion forming, and they had so imaginatively called themselves just that, The Rebellion. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be much concern, especially since they were unable to find leaders for their resistance movement; but, what struck fear in the King’s heart was that they were seeking out Soturi and Magi. An allied force of Soturi and Magi was not something Merrick wanted to face. No, he had to head this off. But how? By giving the rebellion exactly what they were looking for, a leader. A leader who would fall precisely when he needed them to.  Yes, that would do nicely.

“Send guardsmen Iles to see me when she arrives this morning,” Merrick said to his own royal guard. He waved the man away when he offered the customary salute. 

Kate Iles would not find anything unusual about him calling her to him. He often asked her to perform work outside of her duties as a royal guard. She had proved herself quite useful even at her youthful age. He knew of the mark she hid on her wrist and had often toyed with the idea of making an example of her. But this…this would be a much better use for her death.

Merrick’s pale blue eyes were fixed on a point in the distance, he wasn’t actually looking at anything outside, he was just lost in his own thoughts for a time. He heard Kate enter the throne room but he didn’t deign to look at her. No, she found it much more unsettling when he didn’t look at her.

“You wished to see me, Sir?” Kate offered a customary salute, bringing her right closed fist to her chest with a shallow bow before letting it fall back to her side.

 “I have a guest I would like you to persuade to tell me what they know about an annoying group of traitors. They call themselves the Rebellion. I also suspect our guest is a Soturi. Should you discover that they are, I trust you’ll take care of it?”

“Of course, your majesty,” Kate bowed before leaving.

Merrick smirked. Even now he knew she was running through all the escape routes out of the castle. She would only be able to take one, the one he wanted her to take. The river would carry her out of reach of the guards and she would be resourceful enough to escape, this he knew. He just needed her to get to the rebellion for his plan to start taking shape. There was too much potential in Kate and her abilities as a Soturi to not use her as a Rebellion leader. They would be fools to not  follow her. Which is why she would be the perfect target of his plan.

He had not anticipated a couple of things, like Kate taking the gnome with her that he’d forgotten was still in the dungeons and Trent escaping through the very castle. But it provided him a golden opportunity to blame someone else he had been meaning to get rid of. Soon he would be calling for the purge of the house Meagher, but he would have to wait until there was sufficient “evidence” of their hand in the “plot to kill the King.”

Perhaps things were going better than he thought.
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