Shadow Touched

12. SOLDITCH

The province of Aspus was a hard day's ride from Castle Mirrador. Lord Solditch, who oversaw the province, was one of the wealthiest men in the country and, therefore, one of its most powerful. These two facts only made the pernicious relationship between the Crown and Lord Solditch all the more sensitive.

Even before inheriting his title, the current Lord Solditch had always been considered curious. Secretive and mistrustful, he was said to rule his lands with an iron fist. He turned the once prosperous province into a small fiefdom within King Vincent's lands. Those who were loyal to him were loyal to a fault.

As the years progressed and his wealth increased, his hubris grew, and so did his boldness.

The family Solditch harkened back to the Age of Gods, a fact the Lord was loath to let others forget. After all, how many families of the Atheccan nobility could claim to have walked among the gods? It was this that led him to believe himself the true heir to the throne.

The more he mulled this fact, the more resolute he became regarding his claim. Filled with indignant rage, Solditch proclaimed King Vincent a usurper. Calling him no more than a common man with no royal blood and no gods-right to the throne.

For most men, such a proclamation would end with their head on a spike. Solditch's wealth, however, had always afforded him a certain level of autonomy. Though Athecca was a wealthy country, King Vincent knew how precarious the Royal coffers could be. And so, despite Solditch's claims, his posturing and veiled threats, he allowed the man to live.

That is until five years ago when news arrived that Solditch was in the midst of fortifying his Keep. Gossip followed, hinting that Solditch, having truly lost the plot, was planning to walk on Varran City and claim the throne as his own.

At first, it seemed that nothing was to come of the whispers, though Solditch's Keep, already considered an impenetrable fortress, was so encased in magics it was barely visible to the naked eye. Rumours swirled that he'd sought protective enchantments from the Essentia Comedentis.

The province was caught in a permanent dusk. Darkness swirled around the Keep. Streaks of lightning peeled through thick grey clouds hanging heavy over the building turning the sky brilliant shades of silver. The weather, once known for its moderate temperatures, became frigid and sharp.

At first, the King's retinue scoffed and rolled their eyes at the gossip. Lord Solditch had not been seen in some three years. The man was a recluse—a madman, yes, but a recluse. Only General Roman, the King's closest confidant, believed there was truth to the rumours. Sagely, he reminded the King's men that the Gloaming and the Source—the power that seemed to control the Blight—was known to thrive in cold and darkness.

The whispers about Solditch ebbed and flowed, eventually quieting, and life in Athecca carried on. Until General Roman went missing.

After a week of no communication from the General, a missive was sent to His Royal Highness announcing the man's seizure at the hands of the mad Lord. The General's abduction was, however, kept quiet as earlier that day, the King announced to the country the start of the forty-second Gloaming. Not wanting to cause his people more fear, the King chose to keep the General's circumstances under wraps. He also feared the General's disappearance would make Athecca look more unstable to her enemies.

The events that would follow would see the shortest Gloaming in remembered history. By its end, Athecca's greatest general would be dead, the heir to the throne, Prince Greyling, would fight a fate worse than death, and the Lady Naima DeLumine would find herself banished from Varran City.

To many, Solditch's actions were a clear declaration of war on the sovereign. But, with the quick end to the Gloaming, his campaign against the King quieted, leaving most to believe the man dead, though His Majesty, Prince Greyling and Captain Finch Stewart knew better. They, however, chose to allow that rumour to stay, wanting to bring peace and quiet to the nation after so much devastation.

Five years have passed since the events of the last Gloaming. The Kingdom mourned the loss of the General and waited with bated breath to see their Prince pull through his mysterious illness. Though the King's inner circle had it on good authority, Lord Solditch had escaped unscathed, leaving Solditch Keep empty; the castle remained impenetrable. Every few months whispers of Solditch's whereabouts made their way to Mirrador Castle. But the man went unseen.

That is until ten days before the Royal Jubilee when Solditch Keep, which sat cold and quiet in its dead plane of land, surrounded by brush and overgrown trees in various states of decay, began issuing smoke from its eight chimneys. The smoke rose up over the dead forest referred to by many as the Crooked Copse, signalling to Varran City that Lord Solditch had returned.

And Prince Greyling knew, without a doubt, that the man had returned to finish what he'd started.

~*~