A decent start to your story. The premise definitely has intrigue in it. I really like the concept. Honestly, this could be a story I could get into. :)
One thing I did notice was that there were a few instances where you switched from past tense to present tense. For example, your first paragraph is mostly past tense, but then you have the sentence "Too much is at stake". That sentence is in the present tense.
My recommendation would be to pick one and stay consistent with it. It appears you are primarily using the past tense, which I feel works well for this because it happened 200 years ago, so I would suggest sticking to that.
One thing I did notice was that there were a few instances where you switched from past tense to present tense. For example, your first paragraph is mostly past tense, but then you have the sentence "Too much is at stake". That sentence is in the present tense.
My recommendation would be to pick one and stay consistent with it. It appears you are primarily using the past tense, which I feel works well for this because it happened 200 years ago, so I would suggest sticking to that.
I hope this helps. :)
Thank you for pointing that out! I will definitely go back and fix that.