At the same time the guards were being slaughtered outside the high tower, a carriage bound for the Duchy of Vonteguarde braved the thickening snow.
Inside, the Grand Duke Phillippe Vanderbilt sat alone, his gloved hands resting over a small leather satchel filled with sealed documents. The papers were official and urgent—trade decrees that required his personal signature and oversight back home. He had delayed his departure for days, unwilling to leave his wife and youngest daughter behind, but duty had a cruel way of calling at the worst possible time. Usually, his steward followed him on official journeys but it was on very short notice and it didn't really require an additional party to care for.
