[PK] BENEATH THE EAGLE'S WING

[Timer 1978]

 

Spoiler

 

 

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Erwin Barclay departed the walls of Leonstadt without banners nor the sounds of horn. Nor were there summons or a call for court. He left Leonstadt as if it were a house he long tended; he took nothing that would be missed.

At dawn, he passed the final roadstone, alone. He’d carefully lay the belongings he took with him by the rich treeline; he had no use for them anymore. He’d set aside his blade and instead elected to carry a stick worn by his many travels to assist him as he continued into the wilderness.
 

The forest did not bar his path. The earth yielded beneath his boots as it had for many others before him. He did not carry the typical gait seen in a Chieftain, he allowed himself rest when his breath shortened. He did not feel the urgency he typically felt, instead he walked without haste.

Once evening arrived, he’d find a quiet rise overlooking the land. There he sat upon a stone; he enjoyed the freedom of the earth. This peaceful rise is where he would rest, he decided. He’d lay his back onto the earth and stone, his staff placed aside.

 

When the new day had broken, he did not wake. He knew peace beneath the eagle’s wing.
 

---

Erwin Barclay
1981-2065

 

Spoiler

Thank you @Gandhi @juliaINC @Morphine @Mayios @BuilderBagel @Ramon @YeeterTheThird and @SethWolf for the fun journey

 

[Mayios 542]

First

[Ramon 5186]

Sir Rudolf Barclay lamented the passing of his father greatly. And though he was thankful death had taken him in old age, and after a life well lived as Rodimar the Chieftain reborn, rather than before his time as many of that generation in which he had been born had received from fate, was sure to continue to miss him bitterly in the years to come.

"The Prince is dead, long live the Prince,"

He was, however, to echo stoically still once news had reached him. Just as he had been taught. His schwur, sword and ultimately his life now owed to his brother Siegfried rather than his father now that the wheels of time had turned. And as far as those things were concerned he had no intention of disappointing.

[Mescaffier 6197]

The young Johanna Barclay turned in her sleep, restless, as she heard the commotion throughout the palace. So it was, their Grandfather was dead – and thus, their father would soon ascend the throne ... whatever that meant, she did not know.

 

 She squinted at the light seeping beneath the door, and signed sloppily the Lorraine (as they were taught they must when someone speaks of death), before turning over to go back to sleep.

[yeeter2k 247]

In the lands of Wesenburg, a now middle-aged Aerik von Wesenburg recieved the word of the Chieftain's passing. He poured himself a drink, sitting in the empty halls of his keep, reminiscing on his memories of Erwin's rule...

"An excellent Chieftain to the end..." He paused for a moment to sip. "I may hope to strive to achieve what he has for our tribe. Alas, I can only hope..."

[Morphine 823]

"You and mother were the pillars that kept this nation from total collapse. It is by your guidance, your model of leadership, I can only hope to mirror."

Siegfried sat in silence near the warm hearth of his otherwise dark and clammy room. Questions of the future, feelings of regret, fear of failure; all of these speculations, laid bare at his feet.