Bacorium Legacy

by Nicholas Alexander

  Chapter XXI

  We Three Kings

  The Elder Hall was a temple within a mountain, the first mountain of the massive range that separated Acaria from Sono. Before this mountain was a large valley, within which were currently hundreds - no, thousands - of campfires and tents. Divided by the colours of red, blue, and green, one could make out the three divisions which belonged to Sono, Saeticia, and Torachi. A large stairway led out of the valley, spiralling up the mountain and leading to a large pair of iron double doors; the entrance to the Elder Hall.

  Seeing this all for the first time, Luca couldn't help but draw in a breath. It was truly a spectacle, this thing that had stood for so many years. It was one of the last remnants of the ancient empires of Markira and Rue. In those days, the emperors would meet at the very same temple that the three kings of the Alliance were to meet in now. It was a historic event, and Luca could almost feel the weight of it on his shoulders.

  The others were similarly awed. None of the members of his group had ever been to this place, not even Selphie. Turning slightly to glance at the princess, Luca studied her expression. She was gazing upon the great mountain before her, with no trace in her features to suggest the betrayal Luca knew was coming. In the days between their short stay in Eccador and their arrival at the Elder Hall, Selphie had continued to keep her distance from him, not even challenging his usurpation of the leadership of the group. Her private conversations with Jared continued, but Luca did not worry that she had discovered his finding of her letter. Still, she had not admitted to him what her father expected her to do. In Luca's mind, this was a betrayal of its own. Had she told him, he might have even gone along with it. It would have gotten him to Zinoro easily, where he could finally have his chance at revenge. But that possibility was long gone.

  "Your father arrived before us," Luca said to her, pointing to the sea of red coloured flags.

  "I see," Selphie replied. "He must have left sooner than I counted on. I'd expected to make it here before him."

  "Let's go meet him," Luca said.

  She nodded, a slight flicker of the corner of her mouth the only indication of her true thoughts.

  On their way down the hill into the valley, a guard wearing the colours of Torachi stopped them and asked their business. Selphie quickly explained that she was the princess of Sono and had come to join her father, but the guard did not easily accept that seven unseemly-looking travellers had business at a gathering of kings. After some argument, the soldier agreed to escort them into the Torachian camp to verify this. As they would have had to pass through there to reach the Sonoian camp anyway, they begrudgingly agreed.

  A few minutes later, they were led inside the Torachian king's tent. He was currently having a meeting with a few lords, but he looked up as they entered.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "This girl claims to be the princess of Sono," said the guard.

  The Torachian king studied Selphie for a moment, then turned his gaze slowly back to the guard. "And you had doubt that she was?"

  "Your majesty, I-"

  "Next time don't trouble me or the Sonoian king's daughter," he said sternly. "Now begone before I come up with a clever punishment for you." The guard scurried out before the king could scarcely finish his words.

  "King Edmund," Selphie said, with a slight curtsy.

  Edmund nodded in reply. The Torachian king couldn't have been older than twenty-five, but his eyes were heavy with the weight of command. His jaw was square and his hair was thick and gold. He wore fine gilded clothes beneath a silver breastplate. Turning to the three lords in his company, he said, "We'll finish this discussion later. Go."

  The lords rose and stepped out of the tent without a word. Edmund gestured to the now-open chairs. "Princess. Since my foolish soldier saw fit to bring you here, we might as well exchange pleasantries. Have a seat. Your entourage is welcome."

  Selphie took the seat. Brand went over to the other side of the room and dragged over a couple more chairs so everyone could sit. The king didn't spare him a second glance.

  "I've not yet met with your father," Edmund said to Selphie. "I'd assumed you had travelled with him."

  Selphie frowned, thinking carefully. "I had some business to take care of."

  "In T'Saw?" Edmund asked. "Or somewhere else?"

  The Torachian king stared at Selphie with eyes devoid of warmth. It was clear he only wanted to know why she hadn't been with Zaow.

  Edmund chuckled, but the smile never reached his eyes. "I suppose it's only natural that you have responsibilities of your own. King Zaow must find it difficult to keep up with things at his age."

  "My father is, as he always has been, an excellent king," Selphie said, her anger carefully restrained. "His age has nothing to do with his ability to rule."

  Luca sat in his seat, like the others, and said nothing. The tension between Edmund and Selphie was thick.

  "But he must at least feel a sense of urgency in teaching your older brother and you how to rule," Edmund said to her. "He waited too long to have children and now the consequences of that are coming back to haunt him. He is seventy-eight years old, after all. He cannot be much longer for this world."

  "My father's age has given him wisdom that even you do not have, Your Majesty," Selphie said through her teeth. The pretence of politeness was gone.

  Edmund frowned, his eyes twitching a bit at the slight. "Wisdom? The choices he's made do not support that argument. After the Acarian war, he let Manorith's son stay in Acaria unharmed, to build up a new army. A wise king would have dealt with the boy before he became a problem. Now this problem has grown, becoming a threat not just to Sono, but to Saeticia and my kingdom as well. And your father would have us continue to ignore this, until Zinoro's army is knocking at our very doorsteps. It is admirable that your father thinks that peace and honour will save lives, but a true king knows when he needs to get his hands dirty."

  "You-"

  "Enough," Edmund said, silencing her with a wave of his hand. "I know all I need, and this conversation is of no further use to either of us. Take your entourage and leave. Now that you're here, I'm sure Zaow will have no further need to delay the meeting. Tell him it will happen this afternoon."

  Turning his attention to some papers on the desk before him, Edmund was done with her. Rising, Selphie beckoned for them to follow her. She marched outside the tent with clenched fists.

  As Luca stepped outside and joined the others, the three lords from before passed him on their way back inside. Following behind them was a girl in fine clothes and battle armour, with flaming red hair and a sword at her side. The girl's eyes met Luca's for a brief moment as they passed, and there was the briefest flicker of recognition in her eyes. The look only lasted a moment, before the girl vanished inside.

  Luca rushed to catch up with the others, who had moved some distance from Edmund's tent. He saw Selphie having a private discussion with Jared even further away from the others. Brand looked to him as he arrived.

  "She had no desire to go to Tellador and meet with him after Allma Temple," Brand said. "I think I see why."

  "Clearly he thinks Zinoro needs to be dealt with," Luca said. "And we already know what Marcus wants. If this is how the meeting goes down, I think we already know what outcome to expect."

  "Unless Zaow can come up with a convincing argument," Brand said.

  "Maybe," Luca said. "But I wonder if that's really the best idea."

  "What do you mean?" Emila asked.

  "Zinoro does need to be dealt with," Luca said to them. "Edmund may not be very nice, but he's right. Continuing to delay things is only making them worse. Zinoro wants his war, and he'll have it eventually. But the longer it takes, the larger his army is going to get."

  Emila bit her lip and looked down. "The revenants..."

  "Exactly."

  Luca looked at the others. Wiosna was staring at something off in the distance, and Ash was kicking a rock on the ground. Selphie
was still talking with Jared.

  "We do not have a Rixeor Fragment, so I cannot beat Zinoro himself, but we can still stop him," Luca said. "Even with his magick sword he cannot fight the armies of three kingdoms all on his own."

  "So you think we should go to war, then?" Brand asked.

  "We shouldn't make any hasty decisions. Not until we've discussed every possibility."

  At that moment, Selphie and Jared rejoined them.

  "I'm going to see my father now," Selphie told them. "If you wish to join us at the Sonoian camp, you're welcome."

  "Where else would we-"

  Before Luca could finish, Wiosna stepped up and said, "Actually, there's someone else we'd like to go see."

  Selphie frowned, but nodded. "Very well. I suppose we'll regroup later. The meeting will likely be this evening, and I have little doubt my father will want me there."

  She started off, with Jared at her side, and Luca watched her go, wishing he could have gone as well. He knew one of the things she and her father discussed would be him, and the possibility of delaying the conflict by delivering him to Zinoro.

  He turned to Wiosna, expecting an explanation. She pointed off in the distance, to another part of the Torachian camp.

  "What is it?" Luca asked her.

  "Look closely," she said, an excited smile on her lips.

  Brand's eyes widened, and he stepped past them both to get a better look. "There's no way... that's Allma Temple's old banner."

  "I think we know who's going to be there," Wiosna said. "Shall we go say hello?"

  A grin split Brand's face. "Absolutely."

  The five of them - Luca, Emila, Brand, Wiosna, and Ash - they crossed the Torachian camp, and made their way over to the cluster of tents that bore the Allman colours. It was only a small part of the Torachian numbers, but there were at least two dozen tents, forming a large circle.

  Within this circle, there was a campfire, where some goblin meat was being cooked on a spit. Several young people were gathered around, their white robes ripped and worn and covered in dirt from months of travel. A man wearing a similar robe was telling them a story, though he stopped when he noticed the five of them approaching.

  "Well, well," Tranom said. "Look who it is."

  Brand walked up to his former master, and the two of them grinned and embraced. Breaking apart, Tranom put his hand on Brand's shoulder, and turned to the students before him.

  "Kids, this is Brand. My first student. He's a damned good fighter, and an even better friend. You can learn a lot from him."

  Luca and the others joined him. Tranom saw them, and introduced them as well. "They are Wiosna and Ash, also students of the temple," he said. "And last but not least, this is Luca, son of Lodin, who fought with us during the attack."

  "Lodin?" asked one of the students Tranom spoke to. "The hero who trained under Dori and defeated Manorith in the first war?"

  "The very same," Tranom said with pride.

  Luca looked to his brother, who scoffed and turned away. Already irritated by Tranom's slight, it was no surprise that Ash had no desire to hang around his former peers and exchange stories of the father he hated. Luca let him leave without complaint; he cared little for what his brother did anymore.

  He then noticed an uneasy look on Brand's face. He was about to ask him what was the matter, when Tranom spoke to them again.

  "Take a seat. We have much to discuss."

  They did so, the four of them sitting down on the cloth rag on the ground around the fire.

  "After you left Serenite, I took the remaining students and we returned to the temple," Tranom told them. "The Acarians' fire destroyed much of it, but the stone walls still stood. A few monsters had claimed the ruins as their own, but we quickly eliminated them. In the weeks after that, we were hard at work rebuilding the temple. We raised the flag back up, to stand proudly in the air and let the world know that Allma Temple yet lived."

  He smiled, and continued. "There were more survivors than I thought. With the flag back up, word began to spread, and survivors who had been living in the woods and in towns nearby began to make their way back. And even new faces arrived, eager to learn our ways even after our supposed death. The ones who sit with us now are such."

  Luca looked again at the young students sitting with Tranom by the fire, and this time he saw what he had previously missed. They did not have that certain look that one had after years of training - that inexplicable something that he saw in Brand and Wiosna and even Jared - that his brother did not have. They were new to this. Perhaps they knew how to swing a sword well enough, but Luca doubted they had ever spilt blood before.

  And Brand's expression had grown even more uneasy. "And... you brought them here?"

  "I did," Tranom said. "They may be new, but they are still students of Allma, and in the coming years, when the temple has finished being rebuilt and is on its way back to the glory it once had, they will need to know this story. Some of them may die in the battle. They know this, and they are ready for it."

  Brand did not look so convinced.

  "What makes you think that the battle will even happen?" Emila asked him. "Zaow might still talk the other kings out of it."

  "Zaow is a fool if he thinks that this war will not happen," Tranom said to her. "Already some are calling the conflict with Manorith the first Acarian war. It is an inevitability, and rightfully so. Zinoro has committed atrocities, for which there must be justice. Not just for Allma Temple, but for all those whose lives were lost because of him. We will not forgive, nor will we forget. The survivors of Allma will not rest until Zinoro's blood is shed."

  The young students around him nodded in agreement. Tranom stared into the fire, the reflection of the flames burning in his eyes like the hatred he undoubtedly felt.

  Luca thought of his father, and found it hard to disagree with those words. How many of the Allmans were feeling the very same desire for vengeance that he himself was so familiar with?

  "Your brother is not with us," Tranom pointed out to Luca.

  "Indeed," he said. "I don't think he feels like he was an Allman."

  Tranom scoffed. "You were with us for not even a fortnight, and you are more an Allman than he ever was."

  Luca said nothing. Ash had said enough already, when he'd first met him at the underground lake. His talk of conspiracies had seemed mad at the time, before most of it had turned out to be true. And that was before Allma had pinned the blame of the Acarian attack on him. It was no surprise that Ash had no desire to sit and talk with the people who had called for his blood.

  "It's a shame, really," Tranom said, his voice lower as he stared into the fire. "Kevalie would still be here were it not for him. She was a good student; leagues better than your brother. It seems we lost all the best students that day."

  "Who was she?" Emila asked.

  "One of the temple's best students," Tranom said. "She arrived at around the same time as Brand, and the two were always in close competition. They were good friends. Despite being a skilled warrior, she was a kind soul. She gave everyone a chance, even Ash. One day, her and Ash were sparring, and there was an accident. One of the walls collapsed, and Kevalie was trapped under it. We got her out, but her wounds were fatal."

  Luca remembered Brand mentioning a student who had died while sparring with Ash. He hadn't mentioned it had been a friend of his. Luca looked to Brand, but he did not meet his gaze.

  "If it was an accident, then why do you blame it on Ash?"

  "The collapse itself was no fault of Ash's," Tranom said. "But his inability to escape from it was the fault of his own ineptitude. As a wind-form magi, he should have been quicker. Kevalie gave her own life to save his, and she was worth far more than he was."

  Luca let the insults against his brother pass, as well. The value of a person's life could not be judged so easily, but he understood what Tranom was trying to say. As the new leader of the temple, he was frustrated that a good student had died while a poor
one had lived. He needed good students if he wanted to restore the temple, and he had so few left.

  There was something else Luca remembered; something he chose not to bring up. When he had mentioned the accident during his first meeting with Ash, it had resulted in his brother growing angry and claiming that Allma had orchestrated it in order to turn the temple against him. Again, he had wrote it off as paranoia at the time. But now that he knew the truth of what Allma had planned, and he knew the nature of the accident itself, he saw the plausibility of it. It would not have been too difficult for Allma to have brought down a wall at the right moment.

  The man had plots everywhere.

  "What's done is done," Brand said. Looking up, his eyes were full of regret that his words denied. "Let's not linger on the past. If we do, it will eventually come to destroy us."

  "The future is in Zinoro's destruction," said Tranom. "We will march with the Torachians and the Saeticians; and the Sonoians, if they have honour. Allma will be remembered. We will not forget."

  "It is a virtue to forgive," Brand said. "A life spent in hatred is an empty life. The cycle of vengeance has to stop somewhere."

  "Perhaps," Tranom said. "But it will not end with us."

  With that, the conversation was over. Tranom stared at the fire, as did his new students; seeing within the flames visions of their revenge. Brand looked away from them, looking disappointed in his former master.

 

  Night fell. They were given a place to stay among the Allmans, which they graciously accepted. After setting up their tents, Luca went and lay down on his bed roll, waiting for the hour to come.

  A messenger had come to the Allman camp earlier, informing Luca that his presence would be needed at the meeting of the three kings.

  He knew why. Because Zaow needed him. Zaow needed him, because he was Lodin's son and Zinoro would hold off his attack if he was given to him. And Luca understood that Zaow was a coward who would do anything he could to prevent the war. Zaow would propose this idea to the other two kings, and they would consider it.

  Edmund would not take his side, because the man cared nothing for him. Edmund wanted the war to happen because the Acarians had attacked Allma Temple, a part of his kingdom. And Marcus would not take his side, because Luca was partially responsible for the death of his son. The son who had betrayed him, which was the very reason he had changed his mind on the matter to begin with.

  Whether they would agree with Zaow's plan or not, Luca knew he would have no friends among them. Therefore, he was ready to have to fight. If need be, he would leave. He would run away and go south, where the Alliance had no control. He would not let them use him as some bargaining chip in their war.

  If it came to that.

  Emila was beside him in the tent, unpacking things from her bags. Luca turned his head to look at her, knowing that it might be the last night he saw her. She was beautiful.

  The last thing she took out was a bundle wrapped in crumpled paper. Realising he was watching, she looked over at him, alternating her gaze between him and the bundle.

  "Is that...?"

  She nodded. "Yes. I... I've kept it all this time, but I haven't used it. Not once since they died."

  "Why?"

  "I'm not sure." She frowned, running her hand slowly over the paper. "I try not to think about these kinds of things. There's so many things I try not to think about. Like... my village, Harold and Marie, and my time at the inn... and my family..."

  Her lip trembled. "It hurts when I think about those things and I... I just don't like feeling that way... It's..."

  She broke down in sobs then. Luca moved to her side and held her, letting her cry into his shoulder.

  "What's wrong with me?" she asked him.

  He didn't say anything. He didn't know the answer, but he couldn't say that. The truth was that he didn't know enough about the things that caused her pain, but getting her to tell him those things was the source of it.

  "I... I'm so afraid. We're so close to him... and I don't want him to take you away from me. You're the only thing that's brought me any happiness since... since he killed my family... and I don't want him to take you, too."

  He frowned. She all but took the words from his own mouth.

  "That day when he brought his men and... it was horrible... everyone was screaming... and my mother... my sister and father... they all... I couldn't believe that someone I... that anyone... could be so monstrous..."

  He pulled her close and kissed her brow. It was the only comfort he could give her. His own mind was troubled, and he did not trust his words.

  "Luca?"

  It wasn't Emila who spoke. A man's voice, coming from outside the tent.

  "What is it?"

  "Your presence is called for at the gathering."

  It wasn't a request. They were all but ordering him to go. Despite that, he was tempted to tell the man to go screw himself. Why should he leave this girl who needed him to go dance for the whims of three kings who cared nothing for him?

  Emila wiped her tears and gave him a shaky smile. "Go on. I'll be waiting for when you go back."

  He was unconvinced, but he knew he had no choice but to go. Squeezing Emila's hand once again, he rose and stepped outside the tent. Waiting for him was a Sonoian soldier carrying a torch.

  "Are you ready, sir?"

  "It matters little. We mustn't keep the kings waiting, right?"

  The soldier stared at him for a moment, as though he had something else to say, then he turned around and started off. "If you'll follow me."

  Luca did so, and the torch-carrying soldier led him from the Allman camp, through the Torachian camp, and then through the Sonoian camp, before they reached the massive stairs at the foot of the mountain. The stairs were wide enough for a hundred men to walk abreast, and they spiralled up the cliffs, leading their way to the entrance of the Elder Hall.

  "Don't worry," said the soldier, noticing his worried expression. "It's not as far as it looks."

  They started up the stairs. Luca thought as he went about the possibility of having to fight his way out. It was unlikely, he figured. Marcus and Edmund would probably want their war tomorrow if they could have it. So what could they need him for at the meeting?

  "Can't imagine how things are going in there," the soldier said as they marched up the stairs. "What I wouldn't give to be on the other side of those doors. This is a historic thing, you know. Tonight's meeting will decide the fate of Acaria."

  "You think the Acarians have no chance against three armies?" Luca asked him.

  "I know that there's a lot of people down there in those camps," the soldier said. "People with families. It doesn't matter which side wins... people will die either way. Widows will be made. War always leaves scars. Zaow has seen war already... he knows this. That's why he's not so eager to rush into it, even if he does think he can win."

  Luca considered that. People certainly would die, even if the Alliance did win. But people had died already. The people of Allma. The villagers of Reven. Emila's family. Arlea. Lodin.

  "Zinoro must pay for what he's done," Luca said. "So many people have already died. More will die if nothing is done. Zaow would have everyone wait, while Zinoro's power grows with each life he takes. The longer we wait, the worse it will get."

  The soldier glanced back at him for a moment. "They say Zinoro is invincible. They say he's immortal, and he has a Rixeor Fragment. How could we fight someone like that?"

  "Anyone can die," Luca said.

  Except for himself, he silently added.

  At last, they reached the large double doors. The soldier went over to a large brass ring at the side, and with it, knocked three times. The sound resonated through the stone. A moment later, the doors slowly opened to the sound of gears turning.

  "Good luck in there," the soldier said. "I'll be waiting for you when it's over."

  He nodded, and stepped inside. The air inside the cavern was cooler than the air outside,
and the dark interior was lit by dozens of torches lining the walls. Within the chamber that Luca found himself, several guards were waiting. As soon as he'd stepped inside, one of the guards started turning a large wheel, and the massive doors behind him slowly swung shut again. The moonlight from outside was cut off, and Luca was left alone with no one but a few faceless guards.

  He knew that if they intended to attack and capture him, this would be the moment that it happened.

  He took a deep breath, and his hand drifted, concealed within his cloak, down to the hilt of his sword. He looked at the guards, counting them. There were only three, including the one operating the wheel that opened the door. But it was dark, and the torches did not illuminate everything. There could be more hidden in the shadows.

  "Sir," said one of the guards. "The kings are waiting."

  "Right," he said.

  He passed the guards. They did nothing but watch him go. The room funnelled into a narrow corridor, and Luca made his way down, his footsteps echoing far too loudly. He felt vulnerable in the narrow space. The guards he passed could easily follow him, while others could come at him from farther down, attacking him from both sides. He would be unable to defend himself well enough in that situation.

  But no other guards came. At the end of the long hallway, he found another set of double doors, these small enough for him to open himself. Would there be guards waiting to attack him when he opened these?

  No. No, there wouldn't be. If they were intending to capture him and deliver him to Zinoro, there were a hundred other, better ways they could have gone about it.

  Whatever they wanted him for, that wasn't it. He would just have to keep going along with things until they finally made a move.

  He took another deep breath and pushed open the doors.

  Light flooded out, temporarily blinding him. He stepped in, his eyes adjusting. He found himself in a circular room. It was divided into three sections. Upon a dais in the centre stood the three kings; Zaow, Marcus, and Edmund. There was also someone standing with each king. Selphie stood beside Zaow. Marcus' son Halt was with his father. And with Edmund was the red-haired woman Luca had passed earlier. They were gathered around a large stone table. Surrounding the dais were groups of nobles, generals, and other people of importance.

  A moment after he'd stepped inside, he heard the sound of footsteps. Selphie ran down to him.

  "Luca," she said, greeting him with an excited smile. "Things are going well. We told them the things you learnt from Gordon; about Zinoro's powers, and the revenants. Nobody knows about Gordon himself, not even my father. Still, they don't believe us. Since it was you who told us all this, they want to hear it from you."

  Luca stared at her for a moment. "That's why you summoned me here?"

  She nodded. "Yes. If you tell them about the revenants, we can end this madness. We can stop this war, Luca."

  She took his hand and led him up to the dais. He followed her, feeling like he was in a surreal dream. She took him to the front of the stone table, where he stood facing all three kings. She gave him a reassuring nod, and ran to rejoin her father.

  Luca was the centre of attention within the room. He felt uncomfortable with so many eyes on him. Doing his best to ignore the small crowd of nobles and lords surrounding the dais, Luca focused his attention on the three kings.

  "Luca, son of Lodin," Marcus said. "I believe we've met before."

  "We have."

  "As a member of Princess Selphie's entourage, I trust you are familiar with the situation?" Marcus said. "We are here today to discuss the possibility of a war with Acaria. In the past few months, King Zinoro of Acaria has carried out several attacks and subterfuge attempts against the three kingdoms of the Alliance. He has amassed a large army and has become a considerable threat that merits the possibility of action. We believe he aims to destroy the Alliance in the name of his father, who previously waged war against Sono."

  "I know this."

  "It is a commonly accepted rumour that Zinoro carries a Rixeor Fragment at his side," Marcus continued. "It is a less commonly accepted rumour that he has various unnatural powers that he gained from what is believed to be a pact with the demon of legend, Ekkei. According to the accounts of Princess Selphie, this is true. She says that Zinoro has been raising an army of the dead with these powers."

  Luca slowly nodded.

  "The Princess speaks highly of you," Marcus said. "She says that you have bore witness to more attacks of Zinoro and his men than anyone else we know of. She says that Zinoro attacked your home and murdered your father, the war hero Lodin. You were at Allma Temple when it was destroyed, and you were also at my palace when one of Zinoro's men infiltrated my guards. I know these two to be true, at least. It is a known secret among the nobility that it was your father, and not Zaow, who killed Manorith in the first Acarian war. The princess says that because of this, Zinoro has taken a personal interest in you, and has put forth a great deal of effort into ending your life.

  "What we want to hear is your account of these things, before we make our final decision. As someone who is so closely connected to Zinoro, and has met him in person, we want to hear the truth of the things that King Zaow and Princess Selphie claim. Most importantly, we want to know the truth of whether or not Zinoro truly can raise the dead to fight for him."

  Marcus finished speaking, and everyone in the Elder Hall waited. Luca could feel their eyes on him, waiting with baited breath to know the truth. If he told them about the revenants, it was possible they would not go to war. After all, so long as Zinoro had blood, he could continue to raise the fallen to fight for him again and again.

  Luca looked to Selphie and Zaow. They too, were waiting. Selphie noticed his gaze, and nodded. But his eyes shifted over to Zaow. There was nothing in those old eyes. The Sonoian king; the man who would have had him tied up and shipped to Zinoro as a gesture of good will.

  He thought of Emila, who had been crying into his shoulder not too long ago. She was hurt, and it was Zinoro's fault.

  So much was Zinoro's fault. The Allmans had lost so many because of him. Emila's entire town, and her family, were gone because of him. Arlea was gone. Lodin was gone. Countless others, slaughtered so that Zinoro could raise them again as mindless puppets.

  The man was evil, and he needed to be stopped. And this was their chance. Zaow would have them throw that away.

  "Well?" Edmund said. "King Marcus asked you a question. We all want to know, has Zinoro really made himself an army of dead men?"

  "He has not," Luca lied.

  The smile dropped from Selphie's lips.

  "Much of what the princess said is true," Luca said to everyone. "Zinoro is certainly a dangerous man. He does carry a Rixeor Fragment... I saw it when he used it to stab my father through the heart. But Zinoro is not some sort of shadowy monster. He does not have the powers of a demon or an army of unstoppable wights. He is a man, as mortal as any other, and he can be stopped. And he can be killed. I, however, cannot die."

  "Nonsense!" Edmund exclaimed.

  "It is true," Luca said. "When Allma Temple was attacked, I fought at the front lines. I was stabbed through the heart by Zinoro's acolyte, and yet I live. Since then, I have received other mortal injuries, and I have survived them all."

  Edmund looked to the others, a sceptical look on his face.

  Marcus slowly said, "It is true. I heard the rumours shortly after the attack, and they were confirmed by the Allman survivors who stayed in my city. These people saw it with their own eyes. The boy cannot die."

  The various lords and nobles began to murmur amongst themselves. Edmund beckoned to the red-haired woman beside him, then whispered something in her ear. She nodded, then stepped down from the dais and disappeared.

  "You managed to escape from Allma Temple's destruction," Edmund said. "You agree that Zinoro is enough of a threat that he destroyed Allma Temple, one of the greatest training places in Bacoria?"

  "Zinoro won the battle
against Allma Temple because he has had the element of surprise working in his favour," Luca replied. "All of his other victories were against defenceless hamlets. If the three kingdoms of the Alliance were to work together, and march out to Acaria where he could not strike from the shadows, he would have nothing."

  "So you do not agree with King Zaow and his daughter?" Edmund asked him. "You think we should fight?"

  Luca glanced at Selphie. The princess looked hurt. Her eyes pleaded with him, begging him to say no.

  "Yes," he said. "Zinoro is a monster who has caused many deaths. Not only of my father, but of people I knew, and people close to my friends. And if he is left alone, he will continue to kill and grow in power until he has enough to destroy Sono. And when he is done with Sono, he will turn his attention to Saeticia, and then to Torachi. He will never stop, because he knows nothing but destruction."

  "Let me ask you something," Marcus said. "Why do you think King Zaow is so hesitant to go to war with Zinoro, when he so easily won the war against Manorith?"

  "Because Zaow did not win that war," Luca said. "His men fought in it, but it was the mercenaries of Allma Temple, and Dori the dragonrider who won the battles. And it was my father who killed Manorith. Zaow preached peace while those who followed him did the dirty work and shed blood, but he did not hesitate to take credit for killing Manorith when my father offered."

  Now Selphie was angry. Zaow, however, looked down at the table with regretful eyes.

  Luca did not stop. He was saying what needed to be said. "Zaow fears that he cannot win a second time. So he would rather push it off until he passes, and it becomes someone else's problem. That way, he can at least die with a clean legacy."

  "Bold words," Edmund muttered. He turned to Zaow. "Is there anything you would like to say before we put it to a vote?"

  "No," Zaow said slowly, his voice tinged with regret. "I think Luca has said all that was needed."

  "Very well. Then let us begin." Edmund cleared his throat. "I am Edmund, king of Torachi. I vote in favour of war with Acaria."

  Zaow sighed, and said, "I am Zaow, king of Sono. I vote against war with Acaria."

  The eyes of everyone in the room shifted to Marcus. His hands clasped in a steeple before him, the last king thought for a moment. Finally, he spoke.

  "I am Marcus, king of Saeticia. I vote in favour of war with Acaria."

  The crowd around them broke into hushed chatter. Selphie gave one last look at Luca, her eyes burning with hatred, before she spun on her heel and marched out of the hall. Her father simply bowed his head slowly.

  "The vote is two-to-one," Edmund said with a smile. "King Zaow is overruled and judgement has been made. On the morrow, the Alliance will march as one to Acaria. And to war."