Tales of the Lorekeepers 01 - Rise of the Red Dragon

anybody else in his shoes, Vortigern was convinced they would have tried to cast off Constantine’s sons and take the crown for themselves. Most likely, they would have succeeded. However, Vortigern was no ordinary man. He liked to think of himself as a master strategist, and one of the first things you learn from playing politics as he did was to always use timing to your advantage. Successfully dealing a blow to your foes was easy enough, but inflicting one that would last a lifetime was much harder. It needed preparation and precise planning. If he had stolen the throne from the three brothers immediately after their father’s death, he would have risked an uprising from the people and maybe even the army. Perhaps he could have clung to the crown for a year; probably less. Eventually, he knew, the heirs to the throne would have prevailed and overthrown him. He had needed more time to put all the pieces in motion.
    So he had waited for the perfect opportunity to strike a lethal blow, one that would ruin the brothers’ reputation and cast them away forever. He needed to not only seize the throne, but also prove he was the only one skilled enough to lead the Britons. He had to gain the trust of the people. With the feeble Constans nervously doing his best to look like a king, struggling to deal with the public outrage stemming from the constant raids on northern villages, Vortigern knew his time had arrived.
    He had thought of using another assassin to kill Constans, but in the end, he had decided to do it himself. For all the schemes and the planning he was doing, getting your hands dirty once in a while was an excellent way to keep an edge over your opponents. Convincing the generals and the nobles that the monk was not a suitable choice for a leader had been easier than expected, and within a few months, he had plunged a sharp blade into the heart of the fool.
    As the morning mist slowly crawled up Dinas Ffaraon, Vortigern recalled the most crucial part of his plan, in which he had finally seized the throne for himself.
    Before the two brothers could react to their elder’s death, Vortigern had quickly unleashed the most violent and ruthless raids of the Picts in the north. The savages had been true to their word, and the raids had pushed the public disgust to the brink of rage and rebellion.
    The diversion had worked as planned.
    The people forgot about the struggle for the throne of Britain and clamored that something be done to stop the violence and the pillaging of their countrymen. Vortigern had quickly stepped up and declared war on the Picts. He had proposed a simple solution to their problems: employing the Saxons to eliminate the Picts. The country quickly agreed and the people were ready to welcome Vortigern as their new leader. When Ambrosius and Uther asked questions as to why the Saxons were already on the island, he had declared them outlaws and traitors. He went as far as to pin the raids on them, inventing stories about forbidden relationships with Pict women.
    When the Saxons crushed the Picts, the whole country was grateful for Vortigern’s swift action and strongly supported his every decision, even those regarding the two surviving sons of Constantine. Any attempt at an uprising by the two brothers had been rendered impossible, crushed before it even started.
    The plan had worked. Vortigern was now king and the two brothers, caught off guard, had been unable to mount a rebellion in time. Everything was as it should have been in the first place, with the island’s future safely in the hands of its new leader.
    Then, unexpectedly, the Saxons started to bring more of their people, constantly asking for more lands and requiring more food. When their incessant demands were not met, they threatened to kill nearby villagers and steal what they saw as rightfully theirs. Vortigern should have known these barbarians were up to something. He should have foreseen they would go back on their word. He should have expected they would eventually turn on him and declare war on the Britons. All along, they had planned to take over the island for themselves.
    Then again, how could he have known?
    Was it his fault he thought every man had a minimum of dignity and honor in his heart?
    He was convinced he had been right to take the throne, but fate had decided to reward him with a war.
    At the time, when the Saxons started to attack the Britons, he had thought the conflict would only last a few months. He had