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Chapter 61: A Storm on the Horizon
Chapter 61: A Storm on the Horizon
The candlelight flickered as Queen Alice’s eyes traced the inked words on the parchment. A list of names. Some she recognized—corrupt nobles, disgraced generals, merchants who held too much sway over the kingdom’s economy. They were all individuals she had either dealt with or had on her watchlist. But two names stood out like a dark omen, names she had hoped to never see together on any document. The Kingdom of Shambell. A powerful entity to the west, its presence had loomed over history like an unspoken threat. For years, it had remained silent, seemingly uninterested in the affairs of neighboring lands. Too silent. Their absence from political dealings was unsettling, but many had dismissed it as isolationism. Now, seeing them mentioned in a letter from White Raven—Alice felt the weight of something inevitable. At the bottom of the letter, a final note was scrawled in the familiar sharp yet elegant script:
"You might be confused while looking at all this. But I said what I meant—the storm is coming, and that storm is war. But why not? I will gladly take care of it for a year. The only reason I’m doing this is because I live here, and it’s nice. Well… it will be nice. So I can’t leave."
Alice sat back in her chair, her heart pounding against her ribs. War. Not a distant possibility, not a mere political struggle over power, but a real war. The kind that tore kingdoms apart, that left cities in ruin and people in despair. White Raven had always played her own game, interfering when she saw fit, dealing with problems in ways no ruler could. But this? This was bigger than anything she had ever done before. The audacity of her words struck Alice as both reckless and terrifying—was she truly planning to handle an entire war alone? More importantly, how did she know about it before anyone else? Shambell hadn’t made an official move yet. There were no declarations, no troop deployments that the royal scouts had reported. And yet, White Raven spoke with the certainty of someone who had already seen the board move. Alice’s hands curled into fists. She had underestimated her once before, but this time, she needed answers. If White Raven saw the storm before it arrived, then it was already closer than Alice had thought.
A sharp knock at the chamber door tore Alice from her spiraling thoughts. She quickly slid the letter into the drawer of her desk before straightening her posture. "Enter," she commanded, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her mind. The heavy doors swung open, revealing Commander Darius, clad in his signature black and silver armor. His expression was grim, his stance rigid with urgency. "Your Majesty, you need to see this," he said, stepping forward and handing her a sealed document. Alice broke the wax seal with a swift motion, her eyes scanning the parchment with increasing dread. Troop movements. Supply lines shifting. Shambellian scouts sighted near the border. The letter in her drawer was no mere warning. It was confirmation. White Raven had been right. The pieces were already moving.
Alice felt a chill creep down her spine, but she did not let it shake her. Instead, she looked up at Darius, her voice firm. "Summon the council. Immediately." The commander nodded and left the room, his armored boots echoing down the corridor. Alice exhaled slowly and turned to the window, gazing out at the capital. Somewhere in the darkness, White Raven was already in motion, weaving her way through the underbelly of the kingdom. Was she already making her move? Had she seen something even worse than what was on the reports? Alice did not know—but what she did know was that this time, she would not sit idly by. This time, she would not be the last to act. If war was coming, she needed to be prepared. And for that, she needed to understand the game White Raven was playing.