Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 161: Call from sea(2)

Ten minutes had passed, and Blake now stood in the center of the Call of Sea. The walls of the stone amphitheater rising around him like the jagged teeth of a beast. Above, the sky was overcast, casting a muted gray light over the assembly. Around him, seated in the semi-circular rows carved into the mountain, were some one hundred and fifty lords—each representing their own pirate ships or coastal territories. Their faces were hard, weathered by wind and salt, and their eyes bore down on him with a mix of curiosity, suspicion, and hunger for what was to come.

Blake felt their gazes like the weight of the ocean itself, but he stood firm, his back straight, shoulders squared. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The murmurs among the lords, their whispers of doubt and excitement, buzzed around the stone chamber.

At the top of the amphitheater, seated upon a throne carved from black rock, was the Elder of Blacktide Cove. His hair was thin and white, his skin like worn leather. He held a long, twisted staff in his hand, and when he raised it, the tip scraping the stone floor beneath, all noise ceased. The echoes of murmurs were swallowed by silence, and all eyes shifted fully onto Blake.

The elder butted the stick against the ground with a resounding thud, the sound bouncing off the rock walls, sharp and final. The room fell into absolute stillness.

Blake stared up at the elder, meeting his gaze. It was time.

The old man, seated upon the black stone throne, tapped his staff against the ground once more, the sharp sound cutting through the stillness like a knife. His voice, though aged and gravelly, carried authority across the amphitheater.

"Silence," he commanded, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the faces of the gathered lords. The weight of his words pressed on them all. "We are here to pass judgment on Blake lord of Ela , the accused may step forward."@@novelbin@@

Blake stepped forward from the center, his boots echoing against the stone. His face was hard, unreadable, as he stood tall before the assembly. The old man's piercing gaze settled on him, and for a moment, the world seemed to still.

"Tell me," the elder began, his tone sharp, "I have heard troubling whispers. Tales of a ship raiding in the imperial seas for weeks without end. Is there truth to these stories?"