The Storm King

The days following Leon’s strategy meeting with the top elders from the eight Tribes now loyal to him were packed, and little of it was of much interest to him. Meetings and meetings and more meetings with bureaucrats put in place by Iron-Striker when he was Thunderer, ensuring that each and every one of them were, if not loyal to him, then at least competent and trustworthy enough to continue on a provisional basis.

For the most part, the bureaucracy that Iron-Striker had built was quite limited in scope. The Ten Tribes had their own affairs, oftentimes with each Clan in a Tribe seeing to its own administration. The bureaucracy established in Stormhollow didn’t have much power beyond the city, and even then, the Ax-Bringer was still de facto mayor of the capital, overseeing much of what any other bureaucracy would handle.

So, Leon didn’t just have ten different bureaucracies to reconcile and streamline, he had nearly a thousand. It wasn’t hard to see why Iron-Striker had been having so much trouble without even touching on issues of Tribal rights and autonomy. This was a problem that would take years to straighten out.

Of course, a more concerning problem arose while Leon was dealing with all of these bureaucrats and how their administrative structure interacted with those of the Tribes: his political and administrative power. He was a King, but what power that title granted him wasn’t clear. The last time the Ten Tribes had a King, their confederacy didn’t exist; they’d been vassals of Jason Keraunos, who had been an absolute monarch.

While Leon was under the impression that he was granted all the power that his Ancestors had over the Ten Tribes, he wasn’t eager to push too hard and give anyone in the Tribes immediate buyer’s remorse. So, he didn’t issue any decrees dissolving their bureaucracies or make any attempt to change their internal power dynamics.

What he did do, however, was order each Tribe to allot a certain amount of land that would one day grow Hesperidic Apples. If he was going to appropriate their land, then the least he could do was build something on it that would benefit them directly so much that they couldn’t argue, and thus establish his right to do so again in the future.

He also directed each of the Tribes to send him one thousand of their best warriors. He was expanding the Tempest Knights to include one hundred from every Tribe to act as his personal guard and to be the most elite fighting force on Kataigida. This directive ran into some problems since the Lions, Hawks, and Bison still had their best warriors on the Sword, but Leon authorized them to carry out their own trials to determine who would join his knightly order.

Additionally, he worked with the Ax-Bringer to expand the mustering grounds to the city’s south and to begin construction of a massive theater. No shows would be played there; instead, Leon intended for all Ten Tribes to hold their bloodline awakening ceremonies within it, under his watchful eyes. His intent was to promote cooperation amongst the Tribes by having them participate in such ceremonies together, and starting with something so fundamental to their identities made sense to him.

Relatedly, he also decreed that all future Tribesmen who were given the transformation enchantment would receive it in that theater, and their first transformations would take place within, just as their bloodline awakenings had.

While he was out there with the Ax-Bringer, he also took the opportunity to inspect the army that Iron-Striker had built in more detail. He’d already received the obeisance of its commanders and had held several ceremonies where more of the rank-and-file could see and bow to him, but that had been his first real inspection.

He found himself rather impressed. The army had thirty-five arks of varying size, though only fifteen were armed enough to be combat aircraft. For their size, these arks he found were surprisingly unarmored. Asger, who’d accompanied during the inspection, explained that the kind of armor he’d put on his MALLs wouldn’t work at scale on arks as their propulsion systems weren’t strong enough for all that extra weight.

With his thunder wood, however, Asger was confident that they could start building not only more heavily armored arks, but also much stronger weapons to mount onto them—weapons, he’d assured Leon, that wouldn’t be rendered inoperable after only one or two shots.

On a more personal note, the elders made good on their decision to begin building a new Royal Palace for him. It was located between the Elder Hall and Lake Ontarii, with both the Bison and Tiger Tribes giving up a hefty amount of land to make room for the sprawling complex. Already, the—largely empty—palaces in that area had been demolished with architects and magic engineers swarming over the place ensuring the site was ready. Work wouldn’t truly begin, however, until Leon was finished checking over and adding to the ward scheme.

There was still so much more to be done, and Leon knew that would never change no matter how much work he did. Running a Kingdom divided into eleven parts, including Stormhollow, was a job larger than any one person. He needed to not only codify the powers that he had over the Ten Tribes, but he also needed to delegate that power to wise and experienced ministers.

He just wasn’t going to do any of that until he was sure he had Iron-Striker’s army on his side, his Tempest Knights were fully-staffed, and he had a functional administration.

Fortunately, he had the aid of many competent people. Iron-Striker left only a couple days after the meeting to bring the Bears under control, and many of the ninth-tier elders returned to their Tribal territories to see to elder business—the Bison, in particular, had to supervise the return of their elders to the Sword to defend the island. However, the Jaguar remained behind, as did Xanthippe, Ipatameni, Rain-Dancer, Sar, Asger, Tillan, and a ninth-tier Tiger named Isidore. These elders would act as the go-between for him and the Tribes, and while it had him feeling a bit nervous, there were no immediate problems with this structure.

It was an encouraging sign since he knew he’d have to keep the Tribal structure somewhat intact if he wanted to retain their loyalty. He’d just have to find some way to include them in the administration of the Kingdom.

His allies didn’t stop at the border of Kataigida, thankfully. Leon got in touch with the Director again and confirmed all that had happened, as well as his hope that Heaven’s Eye would provide all due assistance when the time came. For the moment, actually sending any people or material was out of the question, but the Director could start laying the groundwork for a more tangible alliance and supply chain now that he had the confirmation that Leon had been crowned as the Sky Devils’ King.

More importantly than the Director though, were Anastasios and the Grand Druid. It had been nearly two weeks since Leon’s coronation and he still hadn’t gotten into direct contact with either of them. In fact, of everyone back in Occulara, he’d only spoken to Elise, Nestor, and the Director. If his alliance with these tenth-tier mages was to last, he knew he needed to personally speak to them at some point, but he’d wanted to make sure that his position had been consolidated before doing so.

That meant dealing with the Bears, the Spiders, and Hector before making any announcements outside of Kataigida, whether private or otherwise.

Unfortunately, some bad news from Elise indicated that they knew something had happened, even if they didn’t know quite what, and Leon’s hand was forced. He had to speak with the de facto leaders of the Ilian and Sacred Golden Empires…

---

“Leon,” Anastasios drawled as he sauntered into frame. “Good to hear from you, my boy! I hope you bring good news?”

Leon smiled. He’d called Elise using his comm lotus a few minutes before and, since he had some time, asked her to grab the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid if they were available.

He was sitting in a private room in his temporary palace, and while he was making it seem like he was alone, there were a few others just outside of his comm lotus’ field of view. Cassandra, Valeria, and Maia were among them, as was the Jaguar, Sar, and Rain-Dancer.

“I’m doing quite well,” Leon replied. “Matters on Kataigida aren’t over yet, but they are trending upwards, shall we say…”

“Wonderful,” Anastasios replied. “Wonderful.”

A moment later, the Grand Druid appeared. “Leon,” she said in delight. “How is my favorite grandson-in-law?”

“He’s doing fine,” Cassandra replied as she slid into frame. “Hello, Grandmother.”

“Cassie, my dear,” the Grand Druid lovingly responded. “Are you having a child yet?”

Cassandra’s smile froze. “No,” she bluntly replied.

“Do think about changing that,” the Grand Druid stated. “It’s hard enough to have a child at your tier…”

“We’re not here to talk about children,” Leon interjected, to Cassandra’s subtle relief. “Honestly, I’m glad that I caught the both of you as there’s been some developments that I thought you ought to be made aware of. Almost thought I’d have to wait for someone to come and find you two…”

“We’ve made it a point to be available just in case you called,” Anastasios said. “What you’re doing down there is more important than just about anything else that we could possibly be doing, and we’re watching it with keen interest.”

“How much do you know, then?” Leon asked.

“A little over a week ago, several very fast arks were spotted moving about the Sword. They returned to the Sky Devil’s Hell, and the number of powerful Sky Devils on that island noticeably decreased. The Sunlit Emperor was scrambling to try and take advantage, but it seems the missing Sky Devils have returned…”

“Indeed,” Leon said. “I’m glad that Sunlit wasn’t able to move in time. Would’ve taken the wind right out of my feathers.”

“What has happened, Leon?” the Grand Druid asked.

Leon glanced at Cassandra for a moment, and, after a brief questioning look and a shrug, he replied, “Some might claim it’s only proper to refer to me as ‘King Leon’ now, but I won’t insist upon it…”

His words took a moment to process for the tenth-tier mages. Anastasios blinked in shock before suddenly looking very intrigued. The Grand Druid just grinned and leaned in closer.

“Cassie, dear,” she began, anticipation dripping from her voice, “are you now a Queen?”

Cassandra leaned back in the sofa she and Leon were sitting on, a smug look on her face. She didn’t verbally respond, but her expression was enough. The Grand Druid practically squealed in delight.

“Leon…?” the Lord Protector probed with a look of expectation.

“The majority of elders in the Ten Tribes have proclaimed me to be their King. I was enthroned just a few days ago.”

Anastasios burst out laughing. “Well done, well done!” he boomed. “I wasn’t sure you’d pull it off, but I must say that I’m pleasantly surprised! More than pleasantly surprised!”

“This is wonderful!” the Grand Druid exclaimed joyfully. “When are you returning, you two? We have to throw a banquet to celebrate!”

“Ah, well…” Leon murmured, dousing their enthusiasm a bit. He entwined his fingers with Cassandra’s, allowing them to put up a united front against the two tenth-tier mages and he said, “We’re probably not going to return for a while, yet. The situation down here still requires my personal attention. If we return, it will only be for a matter of days to take care of some kind of business.”

“Are you still committed to making peace, Leon?” the Lord Protector asked as his grin turned more calculating.

“I am,” Leon said as he watched the reactions of the watching elders with great interest. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see as all three of them were watching and listening rather impassively. “Formal negotiations won’t begin for a while, though. For the moment, I’m dealing with all the things a new monarch has to attend to—I’m sure I don’t have to elucidate on these to you two of all people. I’ll have more time for this sort of thing in a few weeks at the earliest.”

“What are your immediate intentions?” the Grand Druid asked as most of the joy on her face slipped away to reveal the politician beneath her grandmotherly air.

Leon smiled. “Deal with Tribal politics. For now, why don’t you two tell me what you’re expecting from all this? Our negotiations will have to start somewhere, so why don’t we just lay out what we all want. I’ll even go first: in my ideal world, the Ten Tribes and the Four Empires would make peace and work together for everyone’s benefit. When the Tribes eventually follow me to the Nexus, we will depart with the Empires as our friends, not enemies. There will be no reason to return to Aeterna for the purposes of revenge, for we would have left all of that behind us.

“I understand that’s so unlikely as to be a fantasy, but I don’t mind indulging fantasies every now and then. More practically, a peace that lasts long enough for me and my people to leave would be sufficient. A peace where I can access my resources without having to use pirates and smugglers as middlemen.”

“We want the Sword back,” Anastasios said as Leon finished. That finally drew some reaction from the watching elders, and none of it was promising.

“Reparations for Argos and the cities of the Shield wouldn’t go unappreciated as well,” the Grand Druid said. “Much of their magic is more advanced than ours; providing some of that would be one condition that I would levy.”

Leon hummed in thought. Leaving the Sword was possible under the right circumstances, but he felt he’d provided enough magical technology to Ilion and Evergold. It was easy for him to just write that condition off as one that would get dropped during more formal negotiations.

“There would be other conditions,” Anastasios said, “but this is where we’d start. If it’s peace that we strive to build, then we must show it with actions…”

‘Are you asking me to abandon the Sword right now?’ Leon thought, though he at least refrained from asking it aloud.

“We can work that out later,” Leon said with a neutral smile. “For now, it’s at least good to hear where the negotiations will start.”

Anastasios smiled back and nodded.

“How are Sunlit and Keeper doing, by the way?” Leon asked after a moment of silence.

“Both are determined to carry on the fighting,” the Grand Druid stated. “Peace is possible with us, especially since you’re married to my granddaughter. Peace with them… will be harder to achieve. Even now the Sunlit Emperor seethes at losing his chance to strike at the Sword while those elders were gone. Word in Evergold is that he might be preparing some kind of large operation anyway…”

Leon’s smile turned bitter. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Silence fell upon them again, and the Lord Protector eventually said, “You sound like you have much work ahead of you, Leon. We should let you get back to it if we want any possible chance at peace. But we’ll be waiting for word of when you’re ready to start the real negotiations…”

Leon nodded. “I’ll get back to you soon. Hopefully, some of my new friends will be willing to join me then.”

“We can only hope,” the Grand Druid stated. “And by the way, Leon… Welcome to Royalty…”

Leon chuckled, and with that, the two tenth-tier mages left. Elise returned to projected light screen a moment later.

“They left,” she said.

“Good,” Leon said as he waved Valeria, Maia, and the three watching elders over. “Thoughts?”

[Sunlit and the Keeper will not stop,] Maia immediately venomously stated. [They will not make peace. The only way to win against an animal like that is through superior force.]

“Well said,” the Jaguar stated appreciatively. “I couldn’t agree more. I don’t trust these Empires, but I would be a lot more comfortable forcing them to the peace table by crushing them at sea than I would be simply trusting their word.”

“Giving up the Sword will not be palatable for many of the Tribes…” Sar whispered.

“Certainly not to me,” the Jaguar added. “We fought hard for that island. Giving it up is impossible, even for peace.”

“We can work something out,” Leon replied. “We won’t give it up, especially not without a fight. So let’s get a good accounting of what we have on the Sword and what we can move over there if the need arises. If the Sunlit Emperor is planning on attacking the Sword, then we’re going to need to strengthen the defenses there.”

He looked around and found that the elders at least seemed somewhat mollified. He could imagine their fear that he might be considering turning over the island they’d won. That would hardly be a good way for him to start his reign, though, so he never would’ve just given it up.

“Beyond that,” he continued, “I think that the Sunlit Emperor is going to be less of a problem than the Keeper. The Sentinels attacked my home a few years ago and tried to kill me just for the threat I posed of coming here. Sunlit I think could be negotiated with if he’s forced to the table. The Keeper on the other hand… I don’t think will talk. That will make getting to my Clan’s capital tough…”

“We’ll get there, Leon,” the Jaguar promised. “Whether we march there with an Imperial honor guard or we carve our way through their land with fire and sword will be up to them. But if it’s your wish to see it, then we’ll go there.”

Leon smiled and clapped the Jaguar on the shoulder. “Thanks. Anyway, let’s start getting all of this planned.”

The elders bowed and departed to fulfill his orders, leaving Leon alone with his ladies.

“So,” Valeria said once they were alone. “What now?”

“Angling for something dirty, Val?” Cassandra teased.

Valeria’s cheeks reddened slightly, but in a fairly flat tone she replied, “No.”

“We don’t have much time, anyway, to my eternal regret,” Leon said as he allowed his eyes to travel up and down Valeria’s body without putting in even a token effort to hide it. Valeria grinned and struck a more flattering pose.

Leon took a moment to appreciate his lady’s beauty before rising to his feet.

“For now,” he said, “I want to talk to a few elders who tried joining the Tigers not too long ago…”