Silver sat behind his new desk while his brother stood in the corner and sifted through a box. Silver watched him rummage about in the box with a mournful gaze. His brother may have come from the same branch of the Royal family as him, but he was proving to represent everything that was wrong with the Royal family. After a painful long time, his brother let out a triumphant yell and pulled out a half empty bottle of liquor. Smiling, his brother poured himself a tall glass of the amber liquid. His brother had the decency to offer Silver a glass while he smelled the aroma with an addict's eagerness. Silver declined the offer and his brother took a seat in front of the desk.
'It is no wonder that the Raven's have struggled. He is a wreck. He has likely made the situation worse at every turn.'
"To speak true, I do not envy you. I came into this position with the same hope and confidence as you. I assume some measure of doubt has found its way into you after Flicker told you of the troubles we have been facing."
"I never doubt, rather I try to give all things the appropriate level of attention. The issues facing the Knights appear serious." Silver replied to his sibling with honesty.
"They are." The Royal stopped to take a long drink before continuing.
"The rapid increase in strikes we have faced in the last five years is unprecedented. We kill a number of the attackers during every ambush, but we still lack any useful intelligence on them. Every raid that was repelled successfully failed to capture a live prisoner. They commit suicide every time we take a prisoner. The only thing that we know is that the Flower Queen has gained foreign aid. I know that you are coming from the front and believe it unlikely that anyone has been able to bypass our front. However, you should not forget that there are two foreign forces we face not just the one that our armies continue to destroy."
"I agree with you. Too many merchants are allowed to cross the border for there not to be leaks, and that does not even account for the difficulty of watching the entire border. It's too big to be held securely. Regardless, the ability our enemies have to not only identify young Oculars en route to the school, but also kill the Magus that is escorting them is not something that should be possible. Hundreds of prison carts move in the Empire every day. Despite the sheer number of them, the Flower Queen has shown to be capable of properly identifying the ones with Oculars."
"Well I am glad that you agree. We have thought for months if there is a network of earth Magus spread throughout the Empire. The belief was that they were using there abilities to identify the prison carts moving children. However, the Magus that brought that new boy told an interesting story. Evidently, he came across the communication by chance. As soon as he came across it, he kept the message to himself. The fact that the first Ocular to make the entire journey without being accosted in three months was brought here without a proper report being filed disproves my theory. Now I understand that there are traitors in our bureaucracy. I wasted the last five years being convinced that there was a secret force when the real issue was some angry paper pushers." As he finished speaking, he took a large gulp from his glass.
'He is not a fool. He is broken and furious. Here I thought that his drinking caused his failures, but I had it backwards.'
The broken Royal stared into his glass for a long moment before speaking with a voice tight from emotion. "I will not have a chance to redeem myself from this."
"What are you saying?" Horror filled Silver, because he already knew the answer.
"A message from the Triumvirate arrived this morning. I am now stripped of my status as a Royal. They have named me a cousin."
Silver breathed in sharply. He had anticipated that such complete failures over the past five years would lead to a punishment. However, Silver had anticipated a less than ideal assignment, not complete removal from the promotion hierarchy. This man had reached the rank of Major, and one failure was rarely enough to end a career at that point.
"Did our branch give you a new name." Silver asked with a twisted fascination. He was looking at someone living the worst nightmare of every Royal.
"They have named me Morton. Baron Morton. I am to oversee three fishing villages and a mining town. Take caution in this job. It could see you rising to prominence if you succeed. I researched where past holders of this position ended up. If you are successful, the worst you would have to look forward to would be claiming a large town. Some even stole provinces. All provinces are taken, but the Empire is expanding. If we take enough land, you could rule there. Regardless, last I counted there were still two cities that are ruled by appointed governors rather than those outside of the promotion route. If you do well here, then even a failure like mine down the road could see you ruling a city. That is not a bad life brother." Morton's eyes remained fixated on his glass as he did his best to sounds honest in his hope for Silver's life.
"I agree it is not a bad life. I know that you likely do not want to hear this, and I know that you dislike the lack of prestige that you will have, but you will have considerably more freedom managing fishing villages." Silver attempted to cheer Morton, he no longer looked down on the failed superintendent.
Baron Morton gave Silver a bemused look. "Yes I will have freedom, but it seems like such a waste. There is not a soldier on the front that could match me in a fight. Yet, I will be stuck managing fish markets." Morton finished his glass with in one gulp and emptied the rest of the bottle into it.
"I don't think that fishing villages have fish markets." Silver quipped with a smile, but Morton did not appreciate the levity.
"That is not the point Silver. Royals possess the power to break lesser men. Now I will use that power to count fish."
"Royals are meant to rule Baron." Silver spoke in a flat tone and Morton flinched at the use of his new title.
"Promise me that you will kill her," Morton whispered.
"Who?"
"The Flower Queen. I know that you are smarter than me. The entire family knows about you. You have the most potential out of everyone. You could actually rise to stand next to the Triumvirate. Please, use your brains and kill her. I could not manage it. I couldn't even manage to find out how they were tracking out agents bringing the Oculars. I need you to succeed, if only so that she feels pain comparable to mine."
"I certainly intend to. I was more fortunate than you. You spent five years having no trouble. Suddenly, Oculars began to disappear, and Knights began to die. An attack from within our borders was an unprecedented challenge. I am fortunate to start with the knowledge that they have someone working in our organization. We just don't know who or where." Baron Morton stood suddenly as Silver finished speaking.
"I will leave you with your mystery. I am being transported to my next post in a few hours, and I will need to prepare. Best of luck, Superintendent Silver. I hope that the title is kinder to you than it was to me."
"Good day Baron Morton, I wish you fortune in your endeavors."
After Baron Morton left, Silver began to explore the halls of his new school. Silver now needed to balance two duties. One was controlling the Raven Knight's operations, and the other was training the future Raven Knights. When Silver was the soul holder for Flicker, he had been given the opportunity to watch a significant amount of the training. The Raven Knights assigned to train the next generation took their job seriously. Moreover, there were three junior Royals that oversaw the training. Each Royal was assigned to two classes. In this area Silver was not concerned. He knew from experience that he did not need to do anything other than ensure that everyone else was doing their job. The Raven Knights alone would ensure that the students were groomed into the fiercest fighting force in the Empire. However, managing the operations side would be a true challenge.
Silver made the decision to stop at a rail above one of the seven large training areas in the school. Silver watched the newest class of Raven Knights while mulling over how he would begin to address the operation struggles facing the Ravens. There were only 30 students in the class. This was 20 students less than the typical class size, and it was clear evidence of the issues that had led to his predecessor being named a Baron. Silver shivered at the thought. To make it to Major and still only be named a Baron is one of the fiercest punishments Silver had heard of outside of torture and death.
Leaning on the railing Silver watched the young Knights spar. At this point in their training the students were all but forbidden from using their powers. After several years the students would be expected to train their powers on their own and learn to use them in unconventional ways. So long as the students did not hurt one another or attempt to run away there would be no punishment. Even before formal permission for individual training was given the only thing that the students would get punished for was being caught. Officially, the punishment was for using their powers unsupervised. However, everyone knew that it was actually for being stupid enough to get caught.
One pairing of students caught his eye. It was a girl and a boy sparing. The girl was very good, and she wore the gold mark of the class leader. Silver watched her move. She was fast and her footwork was precise. While the rest of the class looked to be emulating the moves that they had been shown, she moved as though it was natural, effortless. Silver guessed that she would retain her class leader status until they graduated. Few students as young as her managed to fight with that degree of grace.
Juxtaposed from her was the boy she spared with. He was a stumbling mess. As Silver watched the boy threw a lumbering punch at the girl's face. She glided under it and knocked his chin with her shoulder. A quick movement of her foot found the boy laying on the ground. The girl helped the boy up and gave a quick demonstration on how to better throw a punch. They then continued the sparring session with the boy continuing to find his way to the ground.
Silver noticed that a number of the other students were watching the two fight. He could tell from their glares and winces that they did not envy the poor boy. The girl was not necessarily being cruel, but she was not pulling her attacks at all. In just a few minutes, the boy managed to add a split lip to his many bruises.
Silver slowly stopped paying attention to the student learning a hard lesson about fighting. His eyes glazed over as he began to review the conversation that he had with Baron Morton. He thought about how the Inquisitor had stopped the report from going up the chain and as a result managed to be the first inquisitor to bring an ocular to the school unaccused and unescorted in nearly six months. Silver thought about the reasons for that and thought about how he could go about discovering the identities of the traitors. They were bloody, cruel thoughts.