Rys-Nevrakis Conflict

The Rys-Nevrakis Conflict is a major conflict within The Crown & The Flame Series. It occurs following The Massacre at Stormholt. Initially the only families involved in the conflict were the Rys Family and the Nevrakis Family, but other families joined the conflict afterwards.

The conflict began right after King Luther Nevrakis's treachery at Queen's Adriana Rys attempted peace treaty between The Five Kingdoms, also known as The Massacre at Stormholt.

The conclusion of this war ended the Nevrakis Family's occupation of the Five Kingdoms, and also greatly decreased the power of the Nevrakis Family as a whole, since they got stripped of their ancestral home and suffered great casualties during many battles.

Massacre at Stormholt
Right after Queen Adriana Rys makes a toast in order to officially seal the alliance of The Five Kingdoms, King Luther Nevrakis and his son Marco reveal their true colors and signal a group of Nevrakis soldiers to enter the Great Hall. The soldiers slaughter all the nobles they can find, including the Queen, but except for Princess Kenna Rys, her bodyguard Gabriel Amarne, and Dominic Hunter, who barely escape with their lives.

While the Princess and her companions try to escape Stormholt, they come across Prince Tevan Drammir fighting a Nevrakis soldier on his own. If Kenna decides to help the Prince, she will kill the soldier and recruit Tevan as one of her allies. If she doesn't help him, Prince Tevan will die during the fight.

Later, Kenna and Gabriel (and Prince Tevan, if he was saved) ride away from Stormholt in the night. While they are escaping, Kenna thinks of everything that Luther took from her: her home, her mother and the lives of many good men. At that moment, Kenna makes a vow to herself that one day, she would return to Stormholt and take her home back from the Nevrakis Family.

Ambush at the Rajkur Temple
Two years after escaping Stormholt, Kenna and Gabriel had taken shelter in a temple run by monks loyal to the Rys Family. One day, after sparring with her training master, a duo of Nevrakis Scouts sneaked inside the temple and noticed Kenna. They tried to run away in order to alert the Nevrakis Family about Kenna's location, but they were defeated by Kenna and Gabriel. However, a Nevrakis Scout managed to survive.

After some time, Dominic discovered that Marco was planning to send a small army to the Rajkur Temple to have Kenna and her supporters killed, so Dominic sent his hawk to Kenna in order to warn her.

Thanks to his warning, Kenna and Gabriel managed to plan a small ambush against the Nevrakis Soldiers. Together, they managed to kill some of them, but unfortunately, they were too many. Kenna tried to warn the monks of the coming threat, but when she got to the temple, she found it ablaze and surrounded by Nevrakis Soldiers.

Luckily, the monks managed to escape in time, everyone but one, Kenna's training master. She wanted to reveal herself and save the monk, but Gabriel persuaded her that the only way to stay alive was to escape at that exact moment and leave the monk behind, so they both left.

Later, when Gabriel and Kenna camp in a forest, Kenna blames herself for everything that happened, and decides that now, the time has come for her to find an army and crush Marco and his soldiers.

Liberation of Aurelia
After acquiring the loyalty of Severin's mercenaries, Kenna realized that she still doesn't stand a chance against Marco, if her soldiers aren't well equipped and fed. Val tells her about the hidden city of Aurelia, full of gold and riches beyond imagination, and also offers to lead Kenna there herself.

Later, Kenna, Gabriel, Leon, and a few hundred soldiers march towards Aurelia's location. There, after removing a boulder near a mountain, they discover a secret passage towards the city. They go through it, but they are stopped by two Aurelian Guards who demand them to state their intentions immediately. Kenna explains that she seeks an alliance with the leader of Aurelia in order to reclaim her home and defeat her enemies. The guards are convinced by her words and give her permission to enter the city, but she can only bring five people with her, and they all have to give up their weapons.

The guards then lead Kenna and her companions to the banquet hall of Aurelia, where they meet Annelyse Adair, the ruler of Aurelia. Kenna explains her situation to her, but Annelyse doesn't think that joining a war will make the nobles of Aurelia happy, but still, Annelyse offers them drinks and entertainment.

The next morning, Kenna meets Annelyse in the banquet hall again. She states that unfortunately, they won't be able to celebrate today.

Suddenly, Marco storms in surrounded by dozens of Nevrakis Soldiers. He forces Kenna to be his servant and serve him wine, claiming that, if she serves him well, he will keep her as a slave instead of executing her. He also decides to take over the city and add it to his rule, much to Annelyse's dismay.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kenna spots Raydan Lykel, Annelyse's spymaster, so she distracts Marco with a fake marriage proposal. Raydan takes advantage of Marco's distraction and kills a few guards. Together, Kenna, her friends, and Annelyse follow Raydan and escape from the city.

Later, in Kenna's camp, Kenna tells her soldiers about what happened in Aurelia. She explains that, if they let Marco rule the city, he's going to take the city's gold and become invincible, so they must go back to Aurelia and take it back.

Later in the night, Kenna and her army march towards Aurelia. There, Annelyse leads them into a secret mining tunnel below the city, that should bring them to the city's garden. After a while, they get out from the tunnel and into the city. Tey stealthily kill a few guards and go to the city's banquet hall, where Marco and his men are. They try to take Marco by surprise, but Marco's bodyguard, Helene, immediately notices them, and a fight ensues. While Kenna's men battle Marco's, Kenna duels with Marco. She gets the upper hand and almost kills him, but before she can, Helene saves him and takes him away. Nonetheless, Kenna manages to liberate Aurelia from the Nevrakis occupation.

Battle for Stormholt
Succeedingly increasing the strength and numbers of her army, Kenna sets camp outside the walls of Stormholt. Kenna and her advisors plan a strategy on how to reclaim Stormholt, Kenna's home.

Battle of Thorngate
A few months after reclaiming Stormholt, Kenna has decided to liberate the rest of The Five Kingdoms, starting with Thorngate Castle, the seat of the Kingdom of Bellmere. Kenna tries to negotiate with the regent of the castle, Vassilios Nevrakis, but to no avail, so she was forced to take the castle back by force with a direct assault.

The battle is going well, and it seems like the Stormholt army is prevailing, but suddenly, Thorngate Soldiers start to appear and fire on Kenna's soldiers. Raydan speculates that the reason why they are attacking Kenna is because they don't know why she's here in the first place.

A large catapult stationed on the castle's wall fires upon Kenna's army, dealing many casualties.

They decide to confront the Thorngate archers head on and convince them to stop fighting against them. When Kenna confronts them, she meets the leader of the archers, Rowan Thorn.

Rowan thinks that Kenna came to Thorngate to conquer it, not liberate it. Kenna tries to convince her that she has good intentions, but to no avail. Kenna then spots Rowan's bow on the ground, and can choose to pick it up and fire an arrow in the head of the catapult operator, killing him instantly. In this case, Rowan will then be amazed by Kenna's skills. Before they can talk again, they are interrupted by a volley of arrows fired by another Thorngate squad.

Without the catapult working, Kenna's army manages to beat back Vassilios's army inside the castle. Shortly after, they notice that the castle is burning. Dominic assumes that Vassilios must have set the castle ablaze out of spite.

Rowan reappears again and blames Kenna for the burning of her castle, but Kenna explains that it was Vassilios, not her. Kenna offers Rowan a choice: Rowan can either keep obeying Vassilios and watch her Kingdom waste away, or she can join Kenna and liberate her home from the Nevrakis Invaders. Rowan remains silent, but then orders her archers to kill as many Nevrakis Soldiers as they can find.

Kenna thanks Rowan for her help, and Rowan leads Kenna to a passage that can bring them both inside the castle.

After getting inside and opening the gates, Kenna's army storms inside the castle. Withlock notices that the fire is too much big, and it can't be extinguished in time. Sei, however, has an idea, and she needs Dom's help in order for it to work. Together, they touch hands, and draw all the fire to their position, succesfully absorbing it quickly. Their plan is a success, and the castle is saved from the flames, along with the civilians.

Shortly after, the rest of Vassilios's army is defeated and Vassilios himself is captured. Kenna orders her soldiers to take him to the castle's dungeon, but suddenly, Vassilios takes an hidden dagger and charges Kenna. Dominic immediately hurls a fireball at him, but his strike is so powerful that even Kenna is affected by the blow. Vassilios falls on the ground, dead, Kenna falls to the ground as well, covered in burns.

Val's Undercover Mission
Val is sent to act as Zenobia's handmaiden. She is provided with a background story fit to act as the handmaiden of a person in such a high position as Zenobia's, and also given a makeover by Annelyse. According to the story, Valentina's previous lady lost all her fortune and therefore couldn't employ her any more. It is Val's task to navigate around Zenobia and to not arouse the latter's suspicions by adhering to the given background story. Val is supposed to give the group a sign once her mission is completed, and a different sign if she encounters any problems, asking for help. Val enters a secret room where the baby Kraken is kept and can choose to set it free or leave it where it is. Shortly afterwards, Zenobia enters the room. If Val's decisions aroused Zenobia's suspicions, Val and Zenobia have a fight in which Val has to overpower Zenobia. If Val didn't arouse her suspicions, it is much easer for Val to knock her unconscious. Either way, Val manages to sneak Zenobia outside where she meets Kenna and the others who saw her sign.

Storming of Lykos
Following Val Greaves's Undercover Mission inside the walls of Lykos, Kenna and her army assemble outside the walls of the Nevrakis city. Kenna commands the Nevrakis garrison to stand down and surrender, but the enemy soldiers refuse and taunt her, so Kenna decides to use Zenobia to her advantage. Kenna orders Val to bring Zenobia forward and orders Zenobia to tell her soldiers to open the gates and stand down. Zenobia initially refuses, but after Val threatens to either shave her bald or to put her head on a pike, she changes her mind and surrenders her ancestral home to Kenna.

Everyone is glad that Lykos's takeover was done without bloodshed, but Zenobia reminds them that there is going to be plenty of bloodshed when her father comes back from the Iron Empire.

After the battle, the rulers of the rest of the Four Kingdoms gather their armies and prepare for Luther's arrival...