Not Too Far From Home, Scene 1

King Ulius, Prince Miika, Prince Udonis

---

I first sat down to write TRoN this was one of the earliest scenes I scripted. King Ulius, initially designed as the series' major antagonist, was written as a ruthless colonizer. He led an attack on a small coastal town as the commanding officer in an invading army. He was cold blooded, short on words, and VERY angry.

As you can see, not much changed from those initial drafts of the character. He's still that person, though attempts were made to humanize him a little. Chief among them, his sons, Miika and Udonis. By giving him children, and by placing those children on campaign with him, I knew he and I both would have to address them amidst all the violence. How does a father justify murder? How do his children see him? Do they admire him? Fear him? Both? What are a father's responsibilities when stewarding his son's into a life of constant military conflict and strife?

All of these questions and more are teased here in this opening scene. This one was very fun to write. I remember playing up the shock on Miika's and Udonis' face when seeing their father act in this way. They aren't seeing "King Ulius," they are seeing "dad" run down and kill three combatants. Most of us wouldn't recover mentally and emotionally from a moment like this one.

I went back and forth on which scene to open up Ennead with. When Ulius' previous iteration was written this was the scene that introduced him, so it was a bit further back in Book 1. I love the idea behind Ulius, whether pro or antagonist; here's a man who has a very strong sense of rightness and wrongness, one who is very aware of the role he plays, and doesn't hesitate when hard things need to be done. It became clear that starting with him would set a clear tone of what readers could expect from TRoN.

His sons each react to this very authentic moment from their father in a slightly different way, which is something we see as this first issue of the series progresses. Without the ability to see inside their heads like you would with a traditional viewpoint character in a fantasy novel I had to rely on Luke heavily in those scenes to depict these two young men in the appropriate way. I think he nails it.

I'm excited to say that in our upcoming, and first, short story (out one week from today) I'll drop you back into this moment and a perspective never seen before within TRoN. You can expect moments like this throughout the series to be the focal point of most of the short stories I'll be releasing exclusively here on Substack. Others will take you places never seen before on the comic page. I am pumped to have you here for the ride!

I also want to explore sharing pages of the script as we go. I spoke with fellow fantasy author and long time supporter of Ennead, Jon Auerbach, who strongly recommended the idea. I’m going to run with it! Check out the script, and more from Jon, below:

PAGE 1 (3 Panels)

Scene 1 (1/3 pages)

Panel 1

ESTABLISHING SHOT (FROM ABOVE)

At the bottom of the frame, KING ULIUS, with his scruffy beard and salt and pepper hair (see ref #1), sits atop his horse with his 9 Bondsmen (see ref #2, but use different helmets for a few of them) flanking him on either side in the midst of a small skirmish inside Theton. The king’s men who are inside Theton are walking from house to house looking for raiders. Theton is small—they have few places to hide.

Some of the king’s men can be seen dragging men out of homes, crossing swords with others who try to fight back. All of the king’s men are wearing some sort of armor (see ref # 2.5), though none were in full suits like the king. The men they are fighting are lightly armored, if at all, with mail shirts and coifs that loosely fit, almost as if they aren’t theirs. No property damage is being done.

1 ULIUS Keep searching. We can’t afford for any of these men to…

1 GARRICK To… to escape, Your Grace?

2 ULIUS Yes. See to it, Sir Garrick.

2 GARRICK As you wish, Your Grace.

Panel 2

Ulius is atop his horse in his shiny steel plate armor. He isn’t wearing his helm, which is fastened to the side of his horse. His hair blows in the wind. He watches his sons, UDONIS and MIIKA pull up the reigns of their horses and let 3 men in hooded cloaks, all on horseback, ride out of frame. Udonis, who is 17 years old, has black hair that falls just below his jaw line (see ref #3). Miika, 22 years old, has brown hair like his mother (see ref #3.5). His armor is the color of his younger brother’s, though it looks more minimalist.

1 UDONIS Shall we follow?

1 MIIKA Our men will stop them before they get too fa- -

Panel 3

King Ulius approaches Udonis and Miika. Their faces are a mix of shock and shame. King Ulius’ addresses his two sons, they respond in unison. Ulius is visibly disappointed, not angry.

1 ULIUS Are either of you tired?

1 MIIKA and UDONIS No, father.

2 ULIUS Are your horses?

2 MIIKA and UDONIS Not yet, father.

PAGE 2 (6 Panels)

Scene 1 (2/3 pages)

Panel 1

King Ulius looks towards the fleeing men and breaks into a disapproving smile. He addresses his sons. Both look embarrassed, as though they didn’t know their father was watching.

1 ULIUS Then why are those men riding away freely?

1 MIIKA I thought our men on the road would- -

2 ULIUS For Divine’s sake boy. When will you learn?

3 ULIUS You are running out of chances.

Panel 2

King Ulius turns and begins to pursue the men his sons let go. His sons pause and exchange a look of apprehension. Acknowledging that they’ve made a mistake.

1 ULIUS With me!

Panel 3

The King runs over a man armed with a short sword who gets in the way of his horse trying to stop him.

Panel 4

Udonis and Miika follow just behind, dodging the man as he is trampled underneath Ulius’ horse. Miika looks a bit uneasy, Udonis looks thrilled.

Panel 5

With both hands on the reigns King Ulius rams the first of the three hooded men they are chasing off of his horse. That man falls into the second, who also is knocked from his horse. These two men look as though they are from east Asia.

Panel 6

We see RIPON UNDARI escape, as he looks back over his shoulder his hood falls off but he continues to ride on. Ripon has long black hair, pulled into a ponytail, no facial hair. His features are that of someone of Indian descent.

PAGE 3 (5 Panels)

Scene 1 (/3/3 pages/)

Panel 1

Ulius dismounts next to the first man who is on his back writhing in pain. He begins speaking to Udonis and Miika, they are still on horseback. They look on in anticipation, neither makes an attempt to dismount.

1 ULIUS You both were lucky enough to be born with a good name.

2 ULIUS One that comes with wealth… status… a bit of comfort.

3 ULIUS You can thank your mother for that.

Panel 2

Ulius has drawn his sword. He stares at one of the men he knocked off his horse as he stalks towards him. The man props himself up on his forearms. He’s trying to crawl backwards away from Ulius.

1 ULIUS Now you must learn to command the respect your name carries with it…

Panel 3

As the king gets within striking distance of the man he drives his sword into the man’s belly with one hand, from his hip, without any hesitation…

1 SFX SCHLUNK!

1 MAN AgHH!

1 ULIUS …as well as wield its great power.

Panel 4

Ulius walks towards the next man as he inspects the blood on his blade. This man is crawling away slowly with his stomach in the dirt. His leg is broken and lags behind him.

1 ULIUS My actions won’t shape your legacies.

Panel 5

The man was trying to stand, using his arms to push himself up. Ulius raises his sword, blade facing down, with both hands on the hilt.

1 ULIUS Nor will your mother’s.

Panel 6

Ulius plunges his sword into the man’s back. The man is driven face down into the dirt by the force of Ulius’ blow.

1 SFX SCHLUNK!

2 SFX THUD!

1 ULIUS Only your own can do that.

---

So… what’d you think?! Did anything stand out? Anything seem different from script to finished product? Have any questions? If so make sure to leave a comment below.

Here’s a snippet of what you can expect if you tune in next week:

Miika stood stiff with shame as the King reached for his saddle and swung himself back atop his warhorse. His father’s sword hung free in his off hand until his squire, Broderick Carle, came eagerly to fetch it. It glistened in the young man’s hands as he wiped the blood from it.

“Come.” King Ulius said sharply as he rode past both his sons.

Udonis urged his horse forward and spoke up before his older brother could shake himself from his state of humiliation. “As you will it, Father.”

They’d ridden all this way for one reason. Quarter any that surrender. Kill all who resist. 

During the fight Miika froze, as he had dozens of times before. Only this time, his father had been here to see it, and Miika had watched the embarrassment on the King’s face turn to anger. 

-Snippet from Man of The Sword, an Ennead: The Rule of Nine Short

Make sure you check back once it’s released.

JL

P.S.- If you are reading this on your phone I’d recommend downloading the Substack app, though a desktop is the way to go for the best reading experience for these posts in particular. Substack emails have a way of ending up in ‘Promotions’ folders so by downloading and enabling push notifications you can make sure you don’t miss any of this exclusive content.

P.P.S.- Don’t forget you can sign up to become a paid subscriber early if you want to support my work.