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Amphitheater

Exit to Lakelands

     The Winter Festival was opening on this very day. A crowd of over five thousand was assembled at Dragonspire keep. This year's was to be the biggest Festival to date, with people from all across the land coming to attend in the Empire's glory.

     The crowd surrounded a stage, and the court's Bard, Mandolf, performed a solid hour of music, before leaving the stage for a speech by the emperor. There was a delay for a half hour, but the crowd was still ecstatic

     A group of Bodyguards came out of the keep, surrounding a man cloaked in a fire-red cape. Pyros filed through the crowd to the stage. There was a dais placed there. He then moved to the dais. "Welcome, all of you, to the First annual Winter Festival!"

     ****-Mandolf

     Just as Emperor Pyros said that one line, Mandolf approached the Dais and bid him down a moment. The two discussed something, and then they returned into the keep.
     A moment later Pyros again emerged from the keep, and returned to the Dais. He carried on with the speech for another half hour. After that, he called several people to approach him for different civil awards. As they approached, two black shapes darted from the crowd. One of them was cut down by the bodyguards instantly, the other overtook the feeble guards, and leapt onto Pyros. The two fell to the ground very quickly. In no time, the guards had the imposter dead. But alas they were too slow.
     Pyros lay dead, his throat slashed.

     -Kordan, son of Mandolf
 

     THE TRUTH OF PYROS' DEATH
 
 

     The amassed crowd of the empire stood in shock. There emperor lay dead. The guards took the body into the keep
     immediately. Nobody knew what was happening. 

     Three days later, a public ceremony was held. People were shocked when they learned that their Emperor was indeed alive.
     This ceremony was being held for another's death.

     ***************** Three days Prior *****************

     "I am not sure what to do, you tell me there are assassins out there, but this crowd isn't going anywhere. So one way my people mourn my death, the other way they wish for it." "My lord, it'll be alright, we'll find a way."
     Valiant looked at his liege, knowing the trouble in store for him that day. Mandolf, just entering the chamber after sending Pyros inside a moment earlier, spoke in a hushed tone; "My Emperor, there is one way we can all hopefully be happy and alive at the end of this...that is for me to be you." Pyros nearly choked on his tongue. "What do you mean? If either you or I go out there we are as good as dead."
     Mandolf, barely controlling the fear about him, continued; "My Lord, you have the best guards in the world. If they cannot protect their emperor in a key moment as this, then that person deserves to die. I am a bard, a minor Baron. But nothing in the long run. You are a symbol of all we have accomplished. Let me do this, I promise, all will be well." Valiant looked at the bard.
     "If you can pull this off, I'll make a duke out of you."

     So Mandolf went out into the crowd, looking and sounding like the emperor himself. Wow, he thought, this is how he must feel. Being no stranger to large crowds, Mandolf began to speak in his "Pyros" voice. After the initial matters, he carried on to do several other tasks. Toward the end of the speech, Mandolf called several citizens to the dais for commendations. That is when it happened. 

     From out of nowhere, these two dark-coloured bodies launched themselves toward him. The guards around him caught the first of them, but the second of them made it to him and all it took was one deft movement. Nobody will ever know what must have went through Mandolf's mind before that knife ended his life.

     ***Present Day***
 

     Chancellor Valiant had just finished a speech to explain what had happened, and how the Emperor was fine. He finished the ceremony by revealing a piece of paper. This is the last known piece to be written by Mandolf. I think it fits the occasion. And it so said:
 

     The winter snow 
     has settled down
     the autumn's time has come

     Whiter snow has found my hair
     where my scalp is not bare
     perhaps my time has come

     I know that my time has been not long
     but my bones themselves remain not strong
     I pray my time's not come

     The dusk will soon be setting in
     but it's been a full sun
     (fill in here later)
     To be a chosen one

     (fill in here later)
     I'm no longer lost
     Thank you all so very much

     -Mandolf's Requiem (never to be finished)
     -Mandolf, Bard of the Empire, Late Baron of Soliath