Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 187: Broken family

Geowulf, the Great Knotur of the united tribes, walked slowly through the stone halls of the Royal Palace of Sarlan. Each step echoed softly in the cold, empty corridors, the solid clack of his boots against the polished stone alien to him.

He had spent nearly all his life on the rugged, windswept white plains and mountains, where the snow was soft beneath his feet and the howling wind was a constant companion. Here, there was no wind. The thick, impenetrable walls kept out the biting cold he had known all his life, and though the stillness was unfamiliar, Geowulf found a strange sense of peace in it. These walls, once a symbol of the power of the Sarlan kings, now belonged to him. @@novelbin@@

The royal city had fallen quickly—far more quickly than the proud nobles of the kingdom had expected. Geowulf's forces had surrounded the city in a swift and brutal siege, their giants protecting the man below from arrow, as they created a foothold for his infatry to sweep in on the walls. Once his men got inside, chaos reigned as the city's once-mighty defenders were overrun. The battle had been short, brutal, and decisive. The royal family—once the heart of Sarleon—was no more.

Geowulf had made certain that no member of the royal bloodline survived the fall of Sarlan. The king, his sons, and every man related by blood to the royal house had been executed, their line severed completely on a first correlation descendance . No one who could claim the throne through direct descent remained. The dynasty that had ruled Sarlan for generations had been eradicated in a single, bloody stroke. 

He paused in front of a large window overlooking the ruined courtyard, his gaze sweeping over the smoldering remains of what had once been a proud city. Perhaps during winter he could force some of his new subjects to restore the city they had destroyed, but for now, the beauty of a destroyed city suited the Knotur's taste.