Our Troubles Begin

I was only a younger son in those days, and though I had once counted Vere a friend, by the time of his wife's death we were not close. I do not know why he chose to bestow on me the unusual honor of being one of Sive's attendents, but he did. For a few minutes I found myself in the company of the King, Uriel, and the Baron Harnack. I did not appreciate the irony at the time.

The procession did not last long, and we all took our seats. One consequence of my ceremonial role was that I found myself seated very near the front, if extremely to one side. The nearness meant I had a clear view of Vere's stunned face as Uriel cut the King's head off in one blow with his own sword, laid only moments before before the Queen coffin. The distance from the center meant I was not among those unfortunates caught between the advancing Jasbys and Harnacks and their quarry a few moments later.

The rush of armed men did not reach the front right away. Indeed, for several moments no one moved at all. In all our history, no one had ever assassinated a King of Chaos before; certainly not so blatantly. We all stood dumb, while our minds raced to come to grips with the implications.

The silence was broken, strangely enough, by the old Duke of Hendrake, rushing to the defense of his already dead King. A few other Hendrakes, part of the King's honor guards, rushed to follow suit, but before they could engage anyone were cut cut down by some of Uriel's followers, who in all probability were forewarned in some manner.

Unfortunately for those loyal to the crown, the majority of the attendees had come unarmed, or armed only with ceremonial weapons of little use in a real fight. I am still not certain how Harnack and Jasby got so many weapons into the hall. That they did is evidence in favor of the theory that coup was planned, and yet there is much about the day that seemed unplanned to me. I may never know.

The early fighting was very confused and very nearly went the other way. Had it not been for the Duke of Hendrake's fall early in the battle -- most likely in a pool of Vere's blood -- I do not think Uriel would have survived the day either. Instead, the old Duke was cut down by Jakov Harnack while attempting to rise, and I think this emboldened many of Uriel's more tentative allies, to see old Roland taken down so easily. I saw my own brother, Quinn, take a sword cut most liekly meant for my father and go down. My father dispatched his attacker and then ceased fighting to see to my fallen brother.

It was at about this point that Tybalt Minobee -- Duke then, but not yet Chancellor -- put a hand on my shoulder and told me to come away someplace safe. I saw then that several of the Minobees were attempting to get the non-combatants out of the chaos. Unarmed myself, I went, only after shouting something about seeing to my father and brother.

I saw little after that but the inside of Minobeeways, while the remaining Dukes and heads of houses tried to restore some semblance of order to the government. By the time I was freed -- nearly two days later -- Uriel was the acknowledged and hastily crowned Emperor and Tybalt our new Chancellor. The losses were tremendous: the King and most of his house, the Duke of Hendrake and Ardas, the Chancellor, several heads of lesser houses and a dozen or more heirs to various houses, not to mention several score of other nobles, many of whom just had the bad luck to be caught in the wrong place. I have heard also that several minor houses took advantage of the confusion to pursue old vendettas, adding to the death toll. Many of the last group immediately came out for Uriel, rightly expecting the might escape punishment by doing so.