Vignette:The Sunrise Plot

From Anterra
Jump to navigation Jump to search


The Sunrise Plot

Aboard the Vattebdabsare, on the Hemalin river, Hemmen, Kingdom Of Kotama
9 August 1648


I

sak Ludvig Anders stood amongst a grouping of fellow captains aboard the aftcastle of Vattedbabsare. The ship's hull was slowly dragged along the cold morning river by the oars that had been fashioned in place through its lowest rows of gun ports. The 1st Rate and her sister, Skjuta I Mörkret En Sval Natt, had been crewed by the most loyal gunners from across the royal fleet, and their magazines had been filled with shot not designed for battle but instead for siege.

"Our time approaches." One of the many silhouetted figures surrounding Isak stated, peering up from his pocket watch. It was the first that any of the small gathering had said since they began their journey up the Hemalin River. The man's voice was hushed, so low in fact that it could be mistaken for one whispering to themselves. Isak instinctively looked to the banks of the river, expecting hundreds of house lamps to suddenly light as their plot was foiled by the quietest of whispers. The citizens of Hemmen were beyond the reach of sound made aboard their vessel. But while the man could hide his voice from those who slept, he could not hide the tone with which he spoke. It was a tone that relished in the horrible act that they were to undertake, as if lusting for its barbarity.

"Be silent." Isak hissed back. He hated the man's words. The man spoke with such revelry and lust for the actions that they were soon to commit, and yet he knew such distaste for those actions that he could not even say what they were to do. So embarrassed was he at their mission that even by speaking of what they were to do, he would bring shame to his own morals. And yet, the man, whomever he was, had less to weigh on his conscience than Isak himself, who had fully ingratiated himself in the cloak and dagger politics that had led to the planning of this night. He swallowed his weary thoughts as the buildings of Hemmen gave way, first to the large stone wall that separated Castle Andra from the rest of the city, and then to the long open parks that made up the riverfront gardens of the palace. The grounds were empty, as had been planned.

Within the palace lay an innocent man and his family, whom had all been marked for death because they had so happened to find themselves with crowned heads. The entire city became lit, not by the rising sun, but by the beginning of their dreadful regicide. The port docks of the city erupted in an explosion so violent that even at their distance, Isak had to shield his eyes from the spectacular flash. A moment later, the upper gun deck of his two ship force glowed with similar explosive intensity as their bombardment began. A bombardment that would crumble a building held deer by the people of his nation; a family innocent in their actions; and a dynasty held in sacred fervour by their subjects. But a bombardment that would create a future for the nation that would not truly be able to understand his actions till long after his own death.

Return to Top