Young Writers Society

This is the complete synopsis of my book in progress Shattered Crowns, which I have been writing for years. It is a speculative fiction, taking place in an analogue of medieval Europe in a time where issues are not so very different than those we face today. There are spoilers below in case any of you would rather read the novel as opposed to reading this entire synopsis. I would just like to say that this synopsis is not particularly written all that eloquently, nor was that my intention. I just wanted to pen a detailed draft of everything that will ultimately happen in my novel, abbreviated, of course. When reviewing, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT waste your time on reviewing spelling and grammar, as that is not why I posted this. I simply would like to hear opinions on the plot itself, what I can do to fix it, and what parts are most intriguing.

I would also like to note that some story arcs are a bit out of order in terms of time-progression. The story takes place over the course of about twelve months. I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to feedback.

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Shattered Crowns

The book opens nine years prior to the events of the first chapter. A conclave meets in an unknown location to discuss certain matters. They are a secret society, and have been manipulating Caenterin’s events for the past two thousand years. It is an egalitarian organization. Antonio Gepetto is a carpenter from Kingsgate/Paletine (Paletine was its name back during the age of the Imperium, but I may leave it as Paletine, since, you know, Kingsgate sounds like King’s Landing). Together, at the conclave, they discuss the corruption of man and the deprivation of society. Many there wish to see the world cleansed, and for society to start anew, but another caucus, of which Antonio is a part of, wishes to give mankind a second chance. Madame K, a mysterious sage, agrees with him, and manages to convince those at the conclave that mankind deserves a second chance. If the corruption continues for twenty more years, they will reconvene and discuss how they will purge the world.

Fast forward ten years. Sally Helms is a maid living in the royal castle of House Windstorm, reigning family in the Kingdom of Albion. She is responsible for the caretaking of Prince Gregor, great grandson of the reigning queen. He wakes up from a nightmare, and she comforts him, and, through her words, she is revealed to be quite beyond her years in terms of her overall wisdom. Gregor has a “cousin”, known only as “Bas”. His grandfather, Prince Char, heir to the throne, refused to give the bastard of his sister a name. Char and Wylfred, Gregor’s father, have a bitter relationship. They fight at breakfast, and Wylfred’s wife, Katrice (nicknamed Triss) is wary of the constant fighting. The sudden bursting in of Wyl’s little brother, Harold, only makes things worse. Char receives a letter from the capital city, informing him that he and the rest of the family are to meet with the queen to discuss a certain matter.

While there, they learn that the emperor of the Alliance (a NATO type organization modeled after the Holy Roman Empire) died in his sleep several days earlier. The councilors are convening to elect a new emperor, and various nations in Caenterin, eager to take control, are sending members of their own respective royal families to Paletine in order to secure a bit for emperor.

The queen suggests that Wylfred does just that, but he is reluctant. Suddenly Char’s little brother Visyryn comes in. Visyryn seems like a humble and seasoned warrior, but he has a very dark secret, of which is unimportant at the moment. Wyl is nominated to run for emperor by the Alliance’s prince electors, much to Katrice’s chagrin. He agrees to go to Paletine to contend for the position, taking his wife and son with him, and Sally accompanies them. Harold is sent to go fight alongside his uncle against the Tarran resistance fighters on Swan’s neck, an isthmus connecting Albion to Tara, a bordering nation.

Stewart Fortman is the king of Boraelgrasp, and in his early to mid forties. He has six children: Hillard (aged 17), Mira (aged 16), Cayleb (aged 15), Helena and Jakob (aged 13), and Tessa (aged 9). It is the Yuletide, and he has organized a yearly hunt to chase the White Stag, emblem of his nation. While on the hunt, Jakob disappears, and so he, his son, and a couple men at arms go and rescue him from bandits. As it happens, Jakob killed the stag, much to Hillard’s chagrin.

Daegar Fortman is Stewart’s younger brother. They have not seen one-another for many years, especially after the falling out that they had back at the end of the war they fought in together. Daegar has decided to go and surprise Stewart for the holidays. He stops by a hold on the way to Whitehold, and there he runs into his young cousin, Bann, who too is on his way to Whitehold. They decide to travel there together.

Jakob sits in a tower. He spends quite a bit of time up there to think, and is contemplating the events of the past couple of days. He is joined by his twin sister Helena, to whom he is very close. They, in a way, compliment one-another. He is cynical and serious, whereas she is optimistic and good-humored. This chapter builds upon their relationship with one another.

Meanwhile, in the mountain kingdom of Albus, young Lord Jaycen Black looks down upon a curious session of court. Albus just suffered a humiliating defeat against the armies of Aogar and Stewart Fortman at the Teuton Spur, after King Ronin attempted to conquer the Fjord, a prominent city in the North. The Alliance placed a series of reparations, including but not limited to reduction of its military, shrinking of its borders, and the sending of a royal hostage to serve as King Aogar’s servant. Jaycen Black was selected. The king, husband to Black’s father’s cousin, is lamenting the alleged betrayal of a particular royal house against the crown, and is preparing to arrest and/or execute them. There is no proof of their treachery, and he is using the fact that intelligence of certain weapon manufactories were sold to Copenisle, a northern island kingdom, by a spy. He claims the spy is Saren Burgundy, the young son of Coun Zevran Burgandy. While the evidence is unfounded for the young man’s activity, he has mysteriously disappeared, last seen traveling North incognito. A prisoner is brought before the court, not much older than Jaycen, and he is promised freedom in exchange for accompanying a host of men to Castle Burgundy to arrest the lord of the castle. Baryn Geoffrey Black, Jaycen’s father, is selected to lead the host. Coun Zevrin Burgundy has agreed to send his armies to assist the growing threat of a culture called the Sarecs in the East. The Sarecs have recently been displaced by extremist organizations who carried out a series of coup d’etats on many countries in the Bara/Saerkland, and now the Sarecs want to get into Caenterin. Many of them have militarized, and are trying to conquer the Alliance to make a new home for themselves. Because of that, Coun Burgundy is sending his armies. His son Rodrick has already set out with the main force, and he was told by King Ronin that Geoffrey Black will meet up with Lord Burgundy and they will all set out together to fight the Sarecs. In court, many of the council members advise Ronin not to do this, but he refuses to listen, even to the enigmatic Madame K, who is now serving as an advisor to the king, going by the name “Kremen”.

Many guests are beginning to arrive at Whitehold for the festivities, but Helena does little but wander around the castle. Hill finds her and essentially, being a dick, tries to get her to stop being lazy. She runs away from him and he chases. She figures that hiding in her Father’s study would be best, but she intrudes upon a meeting, consisting of a famous grand admiral of the alliance and two dwarves, who are trying to petition Stewart to give them men to go reclaim their original homeland in the North. They are all old war buddies.

More and more guests begin to come, but Jakob is wary. He doesn’t like any of the people who came, specifically one of the houses, who’s be after the Throne for years. He goes to try to find his sister, but runs into his father’s cousin Aogar and his daughter Ellie. She is a very odd child, about eight years old, with a sickly, pale complexion and hair the colour of snow. Stewart and Aogar catch up on life, but are interrupted by the doors to the great hall being slammed open, revealing Daegar. They embrace. Daegar is glad to be back home, but is still rather unsettled. He is jealous deep down of Stewart’s prominence, as he has constantly been overshadowed in life. He does not know how to change that. He is an awkward, quiet man, who looks VERY much like Jakob. They have a lot of similarities. Daegar too had a twin sister named Helena, and her death many years ago still affects him. He constantly talks to a portrait of her, which he takes everywhere. He monologues to her in a very Shakespearian fashion. Eventually he talks to Jakob, and they discover that they have some similarities.

Meanwhile, in the city of Paletine, Matthias, son of my world’s version of the pope, is being inducted into the Order of the Gilded Hand, a group of holy warriors. He is a POV, but mostly later on in the book.

Jakob bonds with his brothers, and they recall the good times of the past, and Jakob is glad that the festivities are over. In a dare by Helena, he goes down to the dungeons to see if the rumors of a new prisoner are true. There, he meets a creepy man who says that he has no name. He was arrested for the kidnap and subsequent death of eighteen children in Wynter’s End, all of whom were flayed alive. He was accused of flaying and eating them, but he said that he did no such thing, and that his intentions were “pure”. He claims to have been a knight, a lord of a house, a veteran of a war that occurred nearly a century ago, and a Ghost Piper with the Wild Hunt. He speaks in riddles, which leaves Jakob unsettled.

Jaycen Black travels with his father and a few old friends of his to Castle Burgundy in the Coundom of Burgundia, in the lowlands of Albus. There, they are greeted and taken in by Coun Burgundy and his family. Jaycen, a cynic who has since given up on romance in the aftermath of a failed relationship, is smitten with Burgundy’s youngest daughter. Geoffrey Black does not want to arrest the Burgundies, but must do so for fear of what the king will do to his family. Jaycen, Eugeneus FitzHerbert (the prisoner from earlier, whom the king promised to pardon if he were to partake in this endeavor), Jaycen’s friend Willard of House Whitemane, and the Willard’s companion secretly open up the gates to the castle while everyone is drinking, and the entire royal army bursts into the castle. With a heavy heart, Geoffrey places Coun Burgundy and his family under arrest, but, amidst the fray, a few soldiers murder them instead, disobeying orders. Jaycen himself is attacked by a squire, whom he kills in self-defense. This is the first person he has ever killed in his life, and this fills him with a great deal of both guilt and trauma. As it turns out, they were given secret instructions to do this by King Ronin. Jaycen assists his father in investigating as to who was responsible in ordering the troops to slaughter every member of the house, including the object of Jaycen’s affections. They discover that a knight and a colonel, both of whom were traditionally loyal to House Black, were ordered by King Ronin to order the slaughter. They are placed under arrest and taken back to the capital in chains. Ronin, to spite the Blacks, has the two of them promoted and granted lordships of their own, saying that they managed to save the Blacks from the Burgundies, who initiated the brawl. The “Burgundy Matter” really effects Jaycen. Eventually he returns to Highgate, the capital, and is given an honorary knighthood by King Ronin, and granted the entire Coundom of Burgundy for his own, and he is to become coun when he returns from his tenure up North. The next day in court, several vassals try and kill prominent members deemed loyal to Ronin, including the Blacks and Whitemanes, resulting in a brawl that is quelled after just a few minutes. Jaycen himself is ordered to carry out the execution of a lord once loyal to his own family, which he does so begrudgingly. Jaycen appoints Willard as acting lord, and prepares for his journey. He goes to visit his cousin, Alistair Greywind, another POV, who himself is debating whether or not to join the Order of the Wards, an elite order of defenders. Alistair himself is conflicted about whether to do that and abandon everything he ever knew, including titles, or do what he, deep down, wants to do.

In the meantime, Stewart is requested to go to Paletine to present himself as an imperial candidate, but he rejects the offer, instead offering that Daegar go instead, and take his children with him to get “cultured”. Cayleb is sent to go study with the mages. Cayleb himself has magical abilities, and, in this world, practicing magic outside of the order is a crime. ANYONE, including royalty, MUST be sent to the Magi Temple to study and join the order. Stewart decides to send Helena away to the castle of a childhood friend, to live with his daughters and learn to be a lady. She and Jakob are saddened when they have to separate, and Jakob feels very alone. He is the only Fortman child left at Whitehold, but his father takes him under his wing, and basically shows him how to be a leader.

Wylfred, Katrice, and Gregor travel to Paletine, and, on their way, they stop in the Gaulish city of Republique, in which they witness a mass execution. A duke, a wicked man in life who claimed to have been cursed with immortality, and his entire household, are about to be executed. The duke claims to have changed his ways, which he really has, and his young bride, also ready to be executed, attests to that. They don’t listen, and each and every one of them gets either beheaded or hanged. The duke watches in horror as they are about to chop off his wife’s head, but the guillotine doesn’t work. They get people to come and fix it and just hang the duke instead. Katrice stops the madness, and convinces the Prime Minister to free the duke’s widow, a young brunette by the name of Belle. The minister reluctantly agrees, and, the girl, in mourning, and having nowhere else to go, asks Katrice if she can travel with her as her lady in waiting.

Alistair finally decides that he wants to join the order, and so he meets up with Jaycen and the travelers headed north. The company accompanying Jaycen consists of some wards, who are going to the Fjord in Copenisle to recruit. They travel there, and Jaycen is dropped off. He is introduced to King Aogar, to whom he will be serving. Aogar is surprisingly more kind than Jaycen thought, and he is given the same privileges he was given back home. In exchange, Aogar tells him that he must work extra hard at his duties, but he and Aogar come to admire one-another, and start to develop a kind of mentor/student type bond. There, he also befriends a young man by the name of Ranse Yandburg, the king’s other ward, and the personal tutor and guardian of the king’s eldest daughter, Ellie. Eugeneus FitzHerbert managed to escape from the prisoner cart that the wards were transporting the convicts in (Ronin was not true to his word), and shows up in the Fjord, revealing himself to Jaycen. Jaycen informs him that he should change his identity, and so he agrees to do so, taking the name Ulfric Struder and joining the royal guard due to Jaycen’s recent connections. Alistair, on the other hand, goes to Crossroads, the ancient fortress of the Wards, to become initiated. A large surplus of prisoners were taken with them, and on the journey each recruit was told to get to know them, and they did. Alistair bonded with this one prisoner in particular. The next day, the recruits and the prisoners are taken out into the yard, and the recruits given a dagger each. The prisoners are tied up, and each recruit is assigned a prisoner to execute. Alistair is forced to murder the one of which he befriended. That was the first trial to his initiation into the brotherhood.

Helena arrives at the castle, but she grows bored with life there quickly, and does not get along with any of the girls. While she enjoys embracing her femininity and develops an attraction towards the lord’s son, who does not care for her advances, she hates herself for it.

King Stewart decides to take his son Jakob on a diplomatic mission to another country, called Dale, which has been in a state of cold war with the Alliance for decades. They meet with the “King of the People”, Vlad Petrov, as they discuss the possibility of a potential treaty in the coming days, especially due to the rising conflict in the Bara, which also threatens the Dalish way of life.

Daegar, Wylfred/Katrice, and the rest of the other imperial contenders all arrive in Paletine at roughly the same time, and they all meet with the prince electors and the Holy Lyght. They participate in all of these political maneuvers, and Katrice and Wylfred become disgusted at all of the political backstabbing. Daegar is very good at it, and he is able to gain the favor of the Lyght, but he develops a rivalry with another Imperial contender, King Lotharis Bolivar of Espis, a very wicked man. Contrastly, Bolvar’s son, Cedwick, falls for Mira, and they have an illicit romance. Speaking of romances, the duke’s widow, Belle-Marie, falls for Matthias, who is now a dedicated Knight of the Gilded Hand.

Jaycen Black has gained Aogar’s favor, and Aogar, in a sense, is grooming Jaycen. Jaycen is confused as to why he is even doing this at all. He’s a hostage from an enemy country, after all. At this point, he begins hearing rumors from his new friends regarding Aogar’s family. Although it is often written off to be anti-royalist propaganda, there are whispers of the fact that the dynasty of House Maur, of which Aogar is a part of, might in fact be a fraud. Over a thousand years ago, a mage from Boraelgrasp conquered Copenisle and had the noorkings who lived there (the noorkings are basically scandanavians) build the Fjord, the largest city in the North, and he reigned as their king for a hundred years. After a few generations of powerful mage kings, a rebellion occurred, overthrowing House Nad, which was actually an offshoot of the ancient Fortmans of Boraelgrasp. Due to the fact that the royal family has recently stepped away from the public eye, there are whispers going around as to why, many people beginning to buy into conspiracies. One popular conspiracy theory is that the royal family are, in fact, dark magi, wishing to usher in a new era of autocratic magocracy. Jaycen has a hard time believing it, but he begins to see signs of it being…a possibility. He respects Aogar incredibly by this point, but he starts to notice his strange behavior patterns, specifically while around his son and heir, Bjoron, a very sickly child with ashen hair. But, while there seems to be something rather suspicious about Bjoron’s affliction, it is the pale, sickly Ellie Maurredottir who creeps Jaycen out the most. He finds her constantly spying on him, and he does not like the young princess at all.

Alistair is still recovering from the fact that he had to murder his only friend, but he learns to calm down. The second trial is about to begin, to cull the strong from the weak. The recruits are divided into two teams, and they are sent up to two different sides of the tallest mountain in the region. They are given no food or weapons. The objective is to fight the other team until everyone on the other team dies. A sort of “hunger games” type scenario.

Trouble continues to brew down in Paletine. As the imperial candidates continue to play their game, murder is afoul. Little Gregor, while playing, stumbles across the dead body of the Queen of Grecador, who was trying to make a bid for empress. Sally herself stumbles on it while chasing after Gregor, and, as she was the one who reported it, is placed under house arrest due to suspicions of murder. Paletine goes into an uproar, the voting process is put on hold, and the city is locked down. In faraway Grecador, the government collapses and goes into a state of anarchy. Nobles try to seize power, and the largest succession crisis in Caenterian history occurs. This gives the Sarec Refugee Army, led by the self-proclaimed “People’s Sultan”, an opportunity to invade Caenterin, since Grecador is the nation bordering the Western Approach (that leads to the Bara and Saerkland) and Caenterin itself. As a result, the Lyght of the West orders an army of knights to be sent there to stabilize the country, particularly to the city of Tyr Konstantine, which is a city shared by the two nations of Grecador and Agra.

Wylfred tries looking into the death of the queen, but ends up discovering (haven’t figured out the details of the investigation yet) that the murder might be linked to another one of the six remaining imperial candidates. He teams up with Daegar to extract more information.. Daegar himself promises to keep quiet. The next day, another candidate winds up dead. Fearing for her life, another candidate for empress ends up fleeing the city, leaving only five more. Evidence points to King Bolivar being behind the murders. He tells Daegar of his plan to arrest Bolivar personally and deliver him before the Imperial Council to face justice. Wylfred hires himself mercenaries from a gang known as “the Thugs of Gaul” and takes all of his Albanese Bloodcloaks to the mansion that the king is staying in. Wyl lays siege to his household essentially. Daegar, a master strategist back during the Noorking Wars, told Wylfred how to go about it. Wyl knows that, if this fails, he’s a dead man walking, and, of course, won’t be emperor, but, at this point, all he wants to do is bring Bolivar to justice. While he wants to do his nation proud, he also wants to prove Bolivar’s treachery. Unfortunately, nice guys don’t win. The situation gets so bad that Matthias is sent to arrest Wylfred, being given command of fifty Knights of the Gilded Hand. Wylfred refuses to yield, and a fight breaks out. He also wondered how the Order even found out, seeing as the siege was very low key. An all-out brawl breaks out, but Matthias soon realizes that even his knights cannot defeat Wyl’s men. The fight lasts for hours throughout the streets of Paletine. Seeing that he is losing, Matthias and the order build a barricade, but the mercenaries encroach upon their position. Matthias is trapped, and so he cannot return to get more aid. The mercenaries breach the barricade, but Matthias manages to stop the fighting. He convinces the mercenaries that his father will pay double to those who join him, and so they do. The next day, Wylfred and the remaining bloodcloaks manage to break into Bolivar’s courtyard. Just as Wylfred confronts Bolivar, the mercenaries return, but start killing the Bloodcloaks. Matthias returns with his knights and places Wylfred under arrest.

Daegar contemplates the past, present, and future. He is lost, and does not know who he wants to be. He looks to his sister for guidance, continuing to monologue to her portrait. He really wants to be emperor, but is still very afraid of what is happening. Part of him feels guilty tipping offthe Order about Wylfred’s plan, but he realizes that he is just one step closer to becoming emperor. It was actually he who killed the first candidate, covering his tracks to make it seem as if it were Bolivar. He suspected that Bolivar killed the second candidate the whole time, though, ironically being inspired by Daegar’s own murder of the empress weeks earlier. Bolivar, being Daegar’s rival, was learning how to play the game well. In turn, Daegar staged an assassination of his own. It is here when we begin to realize how ruthless he really is. He monologues in front of his sister’s portrait, rationalizing with himself that he did the right thing, and that it is for his family. He is unable to accept the fact that all he cares about is himself and power.

Katrice is appalled upon hearing of what Wylfred did, but she is unable to save him. The city is placed under martial law after the events that happened, and riots are on the rise. Katrice is not allowed to talk to Wylfred, and she fears for his life. She is both mad and scared for him. Sally is still under suspicion, and remains under house arrest. Fortunately, a loyal knight of the bloodcloaks, Syr Walter, a friend of Sally’s, is approved to guard her. He ends up getting drunk, and while on duty, rapes Sally. Katrice finds out, and later learns that Sally, along with every other suspect, is expected to be thrown into the ancient Imperial dungeons. Having friends in the North, Katrice sends her away incognito.

Alistair’s team comes out successful, and they are thrown a banquet to officially induct them into the Order of the Wards. However, once they sit down, they are only served wine. The doors are locked, and behind each boy is a man with a blade. Each person has a glass of wine in front of them, and are told that one of them is poisoned. They must take a leap of faith and drink from the goblet. One of the boys gets up and refuses, but he is killed by one of the men of the order. They all drink, and Alistair collapses to the floor.

In the Dale, Stewart continues with his negotiations with Petrov. A ball is thrown in Stewart and Jakob’s honor, it was a trap. A mysterious man known only as “Haytham” informs them that they are going to be murdered at the ball. While guests begin arriving at the ball, Jakob and Stewart are forced to flee the city.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (AKA the Fjord), Jaycen begins to grow wary of the royal family, but tries his hardest to trust that Aogar is an honest man. Yet, the more and more he begins to hear these conspiracies about his family, the more and more he begins to believe them. Aside from FitzHerbert, now known as Corporal Struder, Jaycen grows very close with the king’s other ward, Ranse Yandburg, who also seems to be intrigued by the conspiracy surrounding the royal family. He ends up making a new friend as well: a girl whom he woke up next to after a heavy night of drinking - an albanese maiden named Sally Helms, sent to Copenisle to avoid arrest in Paletine. They four of them become inseparable friends, although FitzHerbert starts to distrust Ranse. Jaycen continues avoiding his daughter, and surrounds himself around his new friends instead, but they just give into his fears, especially Ranse and Sally. Along with the two of them Jaycen decides to launch an investigation of his own to discover the secret that Aogar is hiding. While Jaycen does not tell Aogar about his suspicions - which are essentially that one, if not all, of the members of the royal family are secretly psychopathic mages descending deep into madness. While he does not tell Aogar, he realizes that the man actually cares about him. He has also noticed that Aogar too, for some reason, has grown afraid in a sense as well, believing that something is not quite right regarding whatever it is that he is hiding. Aogar and his family become more and more reclusive. This still confuses Jaycen, but he lets it go. The more and more pieces of the puzzle begin to be put into place, the more Jaycen believes that House Maur are actually descended from Leego the Conqueror.

Back in Boraelgrasp, Helena begins to come to the conclusion that she hates it at the castle in the meantime, and thinks all the girls she is around are way too stupid. She dreams of running away. Stewart and Jakob return, but they find out that a huge army of Northern mercenaries have the entire capital city under siege, and so they are forced to find a way to stop them.

Wylfred is rotting away in prison, but, using the help of Antonio Gepetto, the mason who designed the prison structure, Katrice manages to free him. Together, with what is leftof their household, they attempt to flee the city, however, the fact that it is under martial law makes things more difficult. They manage to make it just past the first gates when they are caught by Knights of the Gilded Hand. Wylfred tells Katrice, Gegor, and Belle-Marie to run while he, Syr Walter, and three surviving bloodcloaks held the knights off. Wylfred is slain.

Jaycen is reading late at night, when he comes across an ancient legend about Leego the Conqueror. He had turned in early after supping with Aogar, Ellie, and Bjoron, the ashen-haired prince, It was that evening when he noticed a peculiar birthmark on the boy’s right arm, shaped like a hexagon. Staring at a picture of Leego the Conqueror, a portrait from his life, he notices a similar birthmark. He could have sworn he saw it somewhere else before too. He hops out of bed, and runs to the gallery to find the portrait of one of Aogar’s ancestors. He finds the birthmark. He looks at several other portraits, and the same birthmark is present. He also notices something else: each person in the portrait has ashen hair, and each were mad mages of incredible power, known for their tyrranical ways.

Paletine is still in an uproar, especially after Wylfred’s death. This leaves only Daegar and Bolivar as contenders. They both understand one-another. As the sun begins to set, they meet each other in the sanctuary of the Chantry of Light to discuss recent events. They both profess their desires to be emperor, but Daegar, who is rather neurotic, begins to realize that Bolivar would make a fine ally if he were emperor, particularly to Boraelgrasp. After their talk, and an argument as to who should become emperor, Bolivar asks Daegar one simple question: “How would you like to be king?”

Alistair awakens to find himself in the infirmary at Crossroads. He is informed that there was no poison after all, and that it was all a test of faith. He is made an official ward, along with his new friend Bridger, who is revealed to be Aogar’s own bastard.

Katrice, Grecor, and Belle-Marie are now safe in Albion. During their absence, The old queen has died and Char stands as the new ruler. He attempts to try and foster Gregor, in order to mold him into a proper heir. Gregor begins feeling stirrings though, senses of some sort. He feels that he can do things that others cannot. The court mage recommends that he be tested. Char refuses, but the mage invokes the Law of Mance and inspect his vitals anyway. Char is distressed, hoping that Gregor won’t show signs of magic. Katrice, who is pregnant, continues to mourn the loss of her husband.

Stewart manages to recruit a group of mercenaries to help them break the siege at Whitehold. News has not been able to reach the castle for days due to the siege, but they find out that the whole thing has been a diversion. Arl Granning, leader of a house that has been after the throne for years, has declared open rebellion against the crown and, with Royalist forces scattered, has managed to gain a footing in the South, along with the help of Noorking allies. Arl Granning managed to convince a Noorking holdout to help him secure the crown in exchange for land of their own. Stewart prepares to march his armies south to meet them in open combat.

Being a silly child, Helena thinks it’d be a good idea to just run away and head back home to be with Jakob and her dad. Not to mention the fact that Whitehold is under siege! Helena breaks out of the castle and tries heading west, but she accidentally ends up going east. Whoops.

Matthias is saddened by the recent events that have unfolded. Belle-Marie has left, and things are going to shit. On top of that, Daegar has mysteriously disappeared and the three Fortman children in the South have vanished. Bolivar is now emperor by default, and the coronation day is being set. Tensions are rising even higher in the East, and there are reports that the Sarec armies have pushed through Tyr Konstantine and into Grecador, which is still in the middle of a Civil War. Matthias finally receives his first orders: he is to lead an army of knights and papal soldiers to Tyr Konstantine, where the fighting is heaviest.

Alistair is awakened in the middle of the night by horns after Ward Outriders return to Crossroads. Apparently a large Sarec army has broken through Tyr Konstantine and is marching through Grecador, trying to push into central Caenterin. The Wards assemble, and march towards the fortress of Olive Mount, in central Grecador.

Jaycen is startled and angry, both at himself, and of Aogar, and the king’s daughter has been screaming in the night again, and Jaycen sees the girl’s face in his dreams. She started giving him nightmares, but what troubles him just as much is Bjoron, whom he now knows for certain is the mage being harbored by King Aogar. The castle’s staff has been reduced to only essential personnel, and the guardforce has increased, most likely to conceal Bjoron from the public and keep the magi from discovering the secret. Syr Vaiken, Aogar’s nephew and the General of Copenisle’s armies, has locked down the entire palace district all of a sudden. This attracts the attention of two visiting magi, who go to the castle to investigate. Aogar attempts to turn them away, but they were drawn to the city on a mission to recruit potential mages. Although Jaycen respects Aogar as almost a brother by this point, he is still concerned for his own safety. Aogar has been hiding something, and Jaycen has been unable to get it out of him. He does not want Aogar to suffer, but he knows that there is something afoul within the castle, possibly linked to Aogar’s children. The mages question around the castle, inquiring as to why there is no court mage. Jaycen debates whether or not to tell them his findings or not. He does not want Aogar to be taken away. Yes that would rid the kingdom of the potential rise of a tyrant, but it would also lead to a succession crisis, which may even be worse. Additionally, if he tells the mages, it would mean the end of Aogar’s reign as king, and his family would be removed from power, along with King Stewart of Boraelgrasp, whom Jaycen is also certain knows of Aogar’s secret due to correspondence he found talking about his afflicted child. It is now between betraying Aogar, or singlehandedly overthrowing two of the North’s most powerful kingdoms, enemies of his own nation, and returning home as a hero. It is a difficult decision at this point, yet he still does not have nearly enough evidence to confirm that Bjoron truly is a mage, or if it may be someone else he is secretly sheltering. He tries searching for more clues along with Sally Helms, hoping to possibly find more letter between Aogar and other Northern leaders.

Mages have also arrived in Char’s court to inspect Gregor, and they find that he has magic within him, and inform Katrice that they are going to take the boy to the Order. This breaks her heart and angers Char. Luckily Katrice was impregnated before she left, so perhaps a son is on the way.

Stewart and Jakob and the Northern Army reaches the Southern Plain of Boraelgrasp. The Noorkings and some Granning soldiers have encamped themselves there. The armies are about evenly matched, but the Granning forces have the benefit of being on the defensive. Although a gambit, Stewart orders the assault. The battle is chaotic. Jakob, who was only supposed to stand on the side, gets caught in the middle of it. Finally, the Noorkings surrender, but the son of Arl Granning escapes with his men. Jakob is nowhere to be seen. Stewart thinks him to be dead, until he sees him emerge from the battlefield, the head of a man in his hands. He tries to stand there proudly, but looks back down at the head and vomits. He reaches for an axe and cuts the head off of a dying man, takes his head, and then then takes them to his father. Stewart looks upon him approvingly.

Helena realizes that she has a shit sense of direction by the time she reaches a farm near the Rhunish border. The farmer, realizing that she is the princess, gives her one of his horses to head west again, where she meets up with a group of merchants on their way to Wynter’s End, claiming to be the widow of a local miller.

Matthias arrives in Tyr Konstantine, where he and his detachment of the papal armies and the Order of the Gilded Hand meet up with a joint coalition of Agrans, Dorians, and men from the Order of the Temple. The city is a contested hotzone. The Sarecs control the Eastern side of the city, and are using it as a staging point for their invasion. They mobilize and fight against the invading Sarec army, and keep them from crossing the river and reaching the west bank. They manage to hold them back, and Matthias orders the deployment of a weapon of mass destruction/weird fantasy bomb thing to destroy the entire Eastern District of Tyr Konstantine. They follow orders, and the bomb is deployed. Half of the city is destroyed in the process, along with the Sarec Army. Unfortunately however, reports reach them of how the Refugee Army has already began pushing its way through Grecador, and headed towards Olive Mount.

Helena returns to Whiteholde and Wynter’s End. At that point, she arrives after the siege had been broken and her father headed South with Jakob. She is greeted by the people in the castle, but after only two nights at home, she is kidnapped by Granning infiltrators and taken out of Wynter’s End.

Alistair and the rest of the Wards arrive at Olive Mount and begin to set up perimeters. They have heard that the “Sultan” himself is leading the Refugee Army through Grecador. The only thing slowing down his approach to Olive Mount is the chaos and infighting between the various lords of Grecador as a result of the succession crisis. The Wards come to reinforce the mountain, which is commanded by none other than Rodrick Burgundy, believed to be the only surviving member of the family who had already departed with the main bulk of the Burgundy host shortly before the massacre. They prepare for the Refugee Army to come. It is only a matter of days.

Jaycen Black continues to wrestle with whether or not he is going to tell the magi about the situation or not. They are becoming gradually nosier, and questioning all members of House Maur: Aogar, Idun (his wife), their younger daughter, and Vaiken through a series of deceptive covers. He finally makes up his mind that he is going to tell the royal family, but FitzHerbert, happy with his post, says he wants to part in it, but Sally and Ranse both agree. Jaycen, amidst his investigations, decides to suck up his irrational fear of the princess and decides to question Ellie, although the girl was regrettably unable to meet with them, according to Aogar. She came down with a bad case of the influenza. Afterwards, Jaycen talks to Aogar in his study, and Aogar promises to tell Jaycen what is going on in time. After hearing the screams of his daughter having another one of her night terrors, he rushes out of the office. Taking advantage of the situation, Jaycen looks around for some more clues. He can’t help himself. He has to get to the bottom of this soon, or else he feels that all hell will break loose. He finds a series of letters between Aogar and the king of Corona on Veil, a southern city state, discussing the nature of his family’s “affliction”, obviously referring to the fact that they were powerful mages. Again, he feels that Aogar somehow plays into this, and that the mages were hot on Aogar’s heels. Then Jaycen finds what he is looking for. As it turns out, for some unknown reason, Aogar feels that none of his children are fit to rule. He is searching for a young man to be his heir, and has been for the past two years. Jaycen does not know why, but he assumes that it is due to the fact that Bjoron is, in fact, a mage, Ellie is a sickly child, and Anaeleene, the youngest daughter, would simply not be fit to rule for some reason or another: that, or Aogar was firmly against female leadership in the monarchy, which had been an old Copenian tradition.

With the situation in Tyr Konstantine taken care of and the Knights of the Temple tying up any loose ends there, Matthias and the Knights of the Gilded Hand travel through Agra and past the Western Approach, into the Near Bara. There they camp, but a scout spots mysterious activity to the South. Thinking that there are Sarecs in the area, Matthias sends outriders to investigate, but they do not return. The force travels farther South, but they are ambushed in the middle of the knight by the same outriders that they sent out…only they all have pale skin, black eyes, and pitch black hair. Scared, but remaining composed, Matthias orders the troops deeper into the Bara, where they meet and do battle with another force of Sarecs. Their leader surrenders and informs them that they were recently attacked by their own men as well. They team up and journey deeper into the deserts together, when they come across an entire plain filled with those strange, ghoulish things. Their joint force destroys the “nightwalkers”, as they have been aptly dubbed, and they come across a small band of refugees who state that the nightwalkers were the true reason they were fleeing their home.

As it turns out, the religious junta that took over the various countries throughout Saerkland and the Bara was not in fact controlled by fanatics, but strange, manipulative magi, disguising themselves as religious extremists. They have been turning the populace into these things, but other than that, nothing else is known…not even their leader. Matthias thanks the refugees and the Sarec soldiers, but orders them killed, so he betrays them, and then he orders his men to march deeper into the deserts, which become more blighted and blighted as they go on.

After Stewart and Jakob return to Wynter’s End, they are informed that Helena had returned and been captured by the Grannings, who most likely plan on using her as ransom. Stewart decides to send a diplomatic force out to reason with the Grannings of a proper exchange. Other than that, Whitehold is pretty much back to normal, and Stewart is in his study doing Stewart things, when suddenly there is a commotion in the courtyard. Swords are clinking and Stewart looks and sees that his men are being killed. Daegar walks into the room, a broadsword in hand, raising it and walking towards Stewart. Stewart asks him what he is doing. Daegar replies: “Succeeding you.”

The Wards stand at Olive Mount and they see the armies of the Sultan incoming. They are vastly outnumbered, but at least they have the mountain fortress on their side. Unfortunately, Alistair is sent to fight down at the base of the mountain to assist Rodrick Burgundy, at the first line of defense. The line breaks and Alistair flees, but the Sarecs are on his heels. He and Rodrick flee into a cave, and crawl through a tight crawlspace. They get stuck and cannot free themselves physically.

One day, Jaycen sees a note on his pillow, written by his good friend Ranse Yandburg, who’d been a great help in the investigation. It said to meet him in the royal library at midnight, that he learned one final piece of information regarding other letters that Aogar sent to various high-profile individuals to whom he was close as well as the exact details regarding the origins of Bjoron’s magical affliction, and, of course, to bring vodka to share. He informs Sally and FitzHerbert. FitzHerbert himself is skeptical and seems not to care about the investigation anymore, and Sally urges for him to go. Being the raging alcoholic that he is, Jaycen drinks quite a bit before heading to the library. There, he meets Ranse, who tells him the final piece of the puzzle. Believing to now know everything that he has to know about the conspiracy, Jaycen thanks Ranse, who asks for the bottle of vodka. As Jaycen hands it to him, Ranse stabs him in the stomach, calling him a fool and informing him that a quick-acting poison was at the end of the blade, saying that he deserves it for always having treated him with respect. Ranse said that he was playing Jaycen this whole time, and that he was just trying to get close to him to await for this moment. Ranse Yandburg then reveals his own secret: he is, in actuality an incognito Saren Burgundy, whom Aogar agreed to take on as his ward after he did, in fact, exchange vital strategic information regarding King Ronin’s military productions. Suddenly, Ellie comes into the room, gasping and nearly crying that Jaycen has been stabbed. Saren yells at Ellie to come along and he pulls her by the hand, but she runs free. Saren calls after her, but then turns around to face Jaycen, asking him if he has any last words. Suddenly, Saren falls to the floor, revealing a knife in his back. Standing in the doorway is FitzHerbert, who threw the knife at Saren, and he screams for help.

The mages come and begin to take Gregor away. Char yells at them, demanding that they release him since he is his heir. They refuse, and there is a heartfelt goodbye between Gregor and Katrice, who just looks on as her son is led away from the castle.

Alistair and Rodger have been stuck in the hole for nearly two days. They think they are going to die. Somehow, they end up freeing themselves and rush to the top of the mountain, where the Sultan is cutting down every man that he sees. Alistair sees a break in his form and stabs the Sultan through the chest. Leaderless, the Sarecs flee, granting the Wards a pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless. They stopped the Sarec advance.

Jaycen awakens in a hospice to FitzHerbert and Sally standing over him. The doctor says that he was found just in time. FitzHerbert himself reveals that, after learning of the letter, he had been following Saren all day, and that he trailed Jaycen to the meeting because he was quite skeptical. After suspecting that Saren fabricated some of the clues, Jaycen is upset, believing them to be back at square one, but then FitzHerbert reveals an old journal that he found belonging to Queen Idun, which discusses the mage that she gave birth to. This is all the evidence that Jaycen needs. The signs are clear now: Aogar is hiding the fact that his family has magic blood. Jaycen is confused as to why Aogar would want a new heir, but he suspects that it is because he sees the possibility of his children becoming tyrants if they were to ascend to the throne. At the same time, it appears as if he is also trying to protect his children. Believing that Aogar’s plan will ultimately fail, Jaycen seeks out the two mages and agrees to tell them everything, showing them the diary entry. He starts to lead them to Aogar’s study to confront the king when suddenly Aogar’s Ellie is spotted strolling through the hall. The mages stop, as if they sense something, and then turn on the girl. They try grabbing for her, and she begins to cry. The girl has been the source of Jaycen’s nightmares for nearly a year, but she is his foster father’s own blood. He can’t just let her get abducted by these two strangers. He realizes that, even if she frightens him, she is still the closest thing that he has to kin. On a knight statue, he grabs a pike and points it towards the two magi, and they laugh, knocking it to the side and pinning him up against the wall. Right as they are about to kill him, the girl unexpectedly unleashes a ridiculously strong surge of magic onto the two men, killing them instantly and saving Jaycen. Jaycen is speechless, and impressed by her swiftprecision. It starts coming together now. She does something unexpected. She walks up to Jaycen and hugs him. He stands there, awkwardly.

Helena is imprisoned by the band of Granning scouts, who are taking her to the Southeast. The scouts are then attacked by a band of mercenaries: the Thugs of Gaul, who take Helena for their own, heading south.

Jaycen is placed under house arrest in his own bed chamber for several days by King Aogar, guarded by two of the king’s most trusted knights. He is visited in secret by both Sally and FItzHerbert, and Jaycen tells them what happened, and says that, if Aogar has him executed, that they must spread the word. Both of them agree to do so, and say that if things go wrong, they plan on getting out of the Fjord with the next ship. Finally, Jaycen is summoned to Aogar’s office, the former questioning the latter on what exactly had happened. Answering each question with honesty, Jaycen tells him that only Sally and Corporal “Struder” know the secret, which has Aogar relieved. Jaycen reveals the whole truth, even admitting to having carried out an investigation for months, as well as the whole situation with Saren Burgundy. Aogar informs him that Burgundy did indeed know, that Ellie was a mage, and that he was her protector. Bjoron’s being a mage was simply a red herring, and his own ashen hair was a result of the White Plague, which he is dying from. Those with the powers of Leego seen in the picture did not have ashen-hair, but rather a pale blonde, similar to Ellie’s. Aogar reveals that his daughter is, in fact, a mage and that they are indeed direct descendants of Leego the Conqueror. The usurpation from House Nad a thousand years ago was a sham, the coup being staged. Bjoron is surely going to be dead within the year, and, with that, Ellie shall be the heir apparent. Aogar is trying to not only keep his daughter from ascending to the throne, in order to protect his own image and the image of his legacy, but is also trying to keep her out of the hands of the Magi Order. Jaycen understands. Aogar gives him two options: return home and be relinquished from his service, on the condition that his mind me erased by magic, or stay in the Fjord and be Ellie’s new protector. Jaycen asserts that there’s really nothing left for him back home, so he decides to stay. Aogar invites him to the inner council, on the condition that he serve as the princess’ guardian and tutor. He agrees. Aogar concludes by saying that he has big plans in store for Jaycen in the near future. Jaycen’s arc ends as he walks into the gardens, and he sees the princess sitting on a bench. He kneels down and talks to her, and she hugs him again. He returns the hug this time. They discuss the future, and what their coming relationship will entail. He offers his hand to the little girl and she takes it. Together, holding hands, the two of them walk through the garden. Jaycen says something along the lines of “I think this is the start of a...amusing relationship”.

Sally herself, for knowing Ellie’s secret, has been made Ellie’s personal nanny, and FItzHerbert has been promoted to lieutenant and is now one of the princess’ elite guard. Sally is glad that she has found a new home in the North, but swears to herself that, this time, she swears that she won’t ever let anything happen to Ellie, and will not ever lose her, as she did Gregor.

Daegar sits on the throne, feeling empty, even though he is king. Jakob is nowhere to be found…at all. He’s had his guards search high and low, but he cannot find them. The two dwarven lords from earlier, whom Stewart was going to help retake their home, come before Daegar and request that he lives up to his brother’s promise, but he promptly refuses. Two packages are delivered, containing the heads of Hill, Mira, and Tessa, respectively. King Daegar retires to his chambers, and stairs up at the portrait of his long dead twin sister. It is as if she just sits there, mocking him with her mysterious smile. He has a Macbeth moment and does some nihilistic rant, all aimed at his sister.

Jakob has been hiding out in the city for a week, evading the guards whom he knows are searching for him. He has been ducking in and out of taverns and barns, getting very little sleep. He is trying to find a way out of the city, then he spots the disgruntled company of dwarves leaving. He climbs aboard their wagon, stowing away. As he makes his way out of the city, he looks up on the rooftops, and sees a mysterious man with the tattered robe of the Wild Hunt playing the pipe, children gathering around him to listen. He looks over and makes direct eye contact with Jakob and smiles. Jakob, scared and alone, settles into the wagon, making his way north.

Alistair stands at crossroads, and is being commended for his bravery during the battle. He is given the rarely bestowed title of “Hero”, and gained the nickname “Al the (insert something clever here). Alistair singlehandedly held off an invasion that could have brought the continent to its knees…although another one may be coming soon (Dun Dun Duuuunnnnn)

The epilogue ends with these two ranger deserters standing upon the Unbreakable Ice, a glacier in the Far North, looking over the world below them, marveling at its beauty.