by Jamie Gandy
I can see how much Adir fights to restrain himself from allowing his anger to get the better of him. He pushes the bandit to the ground and with one motion of his hand a circle of fire wheels itself around the leader and his followers. They scream in fright as they desperately try to escape, but the flames do not allow them.
“Are you going to kill them?” I hear one of his Knight’s question.
“That depends on their own hearts. Those flames feed off the evil that dwells inside people, if they do not repent of their crimes they will likely be consumed by the fire,” Adir explains.
“Is that right, Sir, to judge them by death?”
“It is now between them and the Creator, my flames are merely there to bind them from harming anyone else.” Adir levels his gaze at his fellow Knight. “In battle we are trained to fight our enemy to the death, if necessary. To keep our Kingdom, and those that rely on our strengths, safe. Death is inevitable.”
“Sebastian!” I hear his voice beyond the flames still shielding us from the cave, my eyes quickly dart towards there just as a rush of water douses the fire.
“Hector!” I call out my brother’s name as I run over to the cave just as he, and the Prince, step out of the entrance. I wrap my arms around my brother. “Thank the Creator!” I praise.
His arms wrap around me with such desperate abandon that I can feel his fear vibrating off of him and onto me. I rest my hands on his shoulders and lightly ease him back to look into his gemstone green eyes. He tries to hide it, but the terror locked in his gaze is impossible to hide from me, even if no one else sees it. I tilt my head, questioning him without words. He merely shakes his head.
“Thank the Creator!” the sigh of relief that comes from Adir the moment he sees the Prince turns our focus to the Knight. “Are you unharmed, Your Highness?”
His dark navy-blue gaze looks from his Knight to the wall of fire surrounding the bandits. “Yes, I am fine, Adir.” he smoothly replies, as if whatever happened inside the cave had no effect on him. I glance back to Hector, questioningly. Again, he simply shakes his head in answer. ‘Everything is not fine… what are you not telling me, brother?’ I want to ask him, but it is too obvious that he does not desire to talk about it.
“Adir, be sure to rid this place of these bandits. My Kingdom has no place for disgusting scum like them.” His eyes lock with Adir’s shocked expression.
“As you wish, Your Highness.” He turns to one of his other Knights. “Find His Highness’ stallion and meet up with everyone else at where we left the horses. I will be right behind you.”
“Yes, Sir.” the Knight obeys before turning around and disappearing into the underbrush.
“Everyone else return to the horses.”
I shift my eyes from Adir to the Prince as Gideon appears at his side before they, along with the other Knights, head off into the trees back towards the horses. “Sir Adir, are you really going to kill them all?” I inquire once the others disappear. His blue-green gaze meets my own. Is that a hint of regret I see?
“Yes,” his answer is the opposite of what his eyes are speaking. “It may be best if you go catch up with the others, I would prefer it if you can avoid witnessing this part of battle, at least for a little while longer.”
Hector and I catch each other’s eyes before, in unison, we shake our heads. “We cannot avoid the ugly part of protecting our Kingdom forever,” my brother comments.
The sad look in Adir’s expression is so very clear. “Are you sure about this?”
“Witnessing our mother’s death, our mother who was so lovely, innocent and beautiful… someone who did not deserve such a cruel death, was unfair.” Hector motions to the wall of fire around the bandits. “These men are not innocent, they have hurt and killed so many people. Their crimes led them to this place, and for justice to be served this is necessary. I agree with the Prince’s command.”
The words sound so strange coming from my brother, as if they are being said by someone else and not him. I return my eyes to Adir, who yet again looks a little shocked at Hector’s response.
“Very well…” He turns his attention to the circle of his flames, where the screaming of the men inside have quieted due to the crackling sound of the fire. He sheathes his Tiger-Arched Sword before lifting his right hand, fingers outstretched. He hesitates only a few heartbeats before clenching his fists, at once the fire closes in around the bandits, burning them alive. Their cries for help grow louder, until the fire finally silences them forever. He bows his head towards the flames before he turns. “Come on,” he commands as he leads us away from the clearing.
Hector and I stand there a minute longer, until the flames begin to die down. “What was that about?” I finally ask him.
He is quiet for a moment before he looks sideways at me, into my amber gaze. “This place is consumed in darkness, brother. Killing these bandits could never measure up to the vast darkness, and evil that dwells inside that cave.” His pained frown speaks louder than his words. “I hope we never have to see this place again,” he confesses.
“Brother, what happened in there?” I beg him, I desperately want to ease the fear still lurking in his eyes. “What can I do to help you?”
Another look of doubt shadows his expression for a second and, in a blink, it disappears. “I wish I could tell you, but this is something I must not share with even you, brother.”
“Sebastian, Hector, come on!” the sound of Adir’s voice calling for us breaks us from our conversation. Instead of pushing Hector any further I decide to drop it for now. Together we jog to catch up to Adir.
Chapter Twelve:
♔ Kage Tora: ♚
“Are you doing okay, Prince?” Gideon inquires as he guides his stallion next to mine.
I look sideways at my guard and nod. “Yeah. I am just exhausted and starving.” I smile at him. “I never thought chasing a Unicorn would get me in so much trouble,” I smirk.
The serious expression that had been shadowing Gideon’s face the entire time since rejoining him, and probably since I first got captured, finally relaxes into a small grin.
“Leave it to you to get everyone in danger, and you do not even end up with the magical creature.” He motions his head towards Sebastian who is mounted on the Unicorn, the expression on his face looks worse than even Gideon’s. “I am not sure why, but it actually kind of ticks me off that the Unicorn chose him, of all people.”
“Ahh, so the great Gideon is jealous?” I teasingly mock him. “Regardless of who she ended up choosing, at least she picked someone, right? She is still returning to the Castle with us.”
“True. However, she should have chosen you, or the Princess. Not that stray cat,” he mutters under his breath.
I laugh at him. “Stray cat? That is a bit harsh. He did help you and Adir come save us, not that we needed saving, right? Stray cat or not, he did not turn tail and run when faced with a challenge. You cannot deny that, can you?”
Gideon shrugs his shoulders in indifference. “No, I cannot. He did show bravery, and an unusual fighting ability.” I watch as he shifts his head a little to look over his shoulder at the brothers. “What happened in there?”
I look up at the starry host far above us. As much as I do want to open up to Gideon, and tell him about the Ifrits, the Chimera, the Cerberus, and especially the magical Sword, I simply cannot share it with him. Not yet anyway. “Can you just trust me enough to know that there is a perfectly good reason I cannot talk about it?” My gaze locks with his fierce hazel-brown eyes. There are questions swimming around in his mind, they are obvious to read, but instead of asking them he slowly nods his head.
“Yes, my Prince, I trust you, and the reason why, regardless of what it is, you cannot tell me. As long as you know that I am on your side, no matter what.”
A wave of pride, of warmth and affection rises up within me. “I am honored to have a friend as loyal and devoted as you, Gideon. Thank you.”
“It is my job, you k
now? I am just doing as Sir Adir commands me by protecting you,” the teasing remark makes me laugh.
“I highly doubt even Sir Adir could not stop you if he stood in our way,” the comment is softly said, but once they are spoken it really does make me wonder. ‘If Adir stood against me, who would Gideon remain loyal to? Me or Adir?’ I shake the thought away and look ahead at the back of the Head Knight of Kallai. ‘He executed my command to kill those bandits without protest. Is he even troubled by it? He is the Head Knight of this whole Kingdom; he has seen more battles than I can probably imagine. He did not get his Title based on simply being a fetch boy for my father. Death is part of war, he knows that. Obviously. Me commanding him to kill those bandits was not the first time he had to do something like that.’ the flow of my thoughts is suddenly interrupted when Adir brings his horse to a halt on the top of a hillside ridge. At the peak we can see the FoxGuard StrongHold on the horizon.
“We will rest there for the night. I will need to talk to Sir Alexander about the events with the bandits.” He looks at me as I halt Dovah at his stallion’s side. “It will give you and the others a chance to get some food in you and some much-needed rest.”
“That is a wonderful idea!” I stretch out my arms from in the saddle. “I am exhausted.”
A sincere smile rises along Adir’s face, making his normal friendly demeanor resurface. “I am sorry you had to endure so much today, Your Highness. The next time you desire to go chasing some creature, please make sure at least five of my Knights are with you. Or at the very least, let me know.”
“No promises,” I lightly comment. “I did have Gideon with me. I just happened to get separated from him when he was defending us against some of the bandits. It was not his fault there were more that ambushed us.” I innocently shrug my shoulders. “For the record, he did a great job.”
“Until they captured you.” Adir sends Gideon a look from the other side of me. “However, yes, he did do a great job. As did Sebastian. I am pleasantly surprised at his level of training. It is unusual for a Duke to train his sons so thoroughly. I have never seen anyone leap from tree to tree like he did. It was incredible.”
“That is saying a lot coming from you,” Gideon remarks. “It was very strange, for sure, but very effective. I would have crashed to the ground just climbing up the tree.” He looks to me as a sly grin stretches his lips. “He sure acted like a stray cat.”
I cannot help but laugh at his words. “He actually jumped from branch to branch?” I curiously inquire. At this point Adir nudges his stallion forward and we follow at his side.
“Yeah. He scouted out the cave and the bandits, so we knew what to expect before arriving. In the fight he saved me from getting shot with an arrow by pouncing on the archer from leaping out of a tree. “
“I would have loved to see that.” I glance behind me to the brothers; I catch Hector’s gaze. ‘I cannot tell them the bravery you expressed, but I hope you know I am very pleased with your effort today.’ I dip my head to my comrade before returning my gaze up ahead.
“He came out of there a little spooked,” Adir states, obviously catching my head motion to the other boy. To my surprise he does not press for answers. ‘Does he not care? Or does he trust that if I wanted to tell him I would just do it? That look on his face makes it pretty clear that there is suspicion, or just questions, he is wanting to ask.’
“When Sir Adir was questioning the leader of the bandits, the guy told him that the cave was known for some…” he pauses a moment, as if trying to figure out the right words. “Evil and dark spirits, or something like that. He said every man of his that ventured into the tunnels never came back. We were starting to think… your fate was going to be the same.”
“You should know by now that it takes more than that to get rid of me.” A comfortable silence fills the air around us until we reach the large gates of FoxGuard. Along both sides of the gates are the extravagant engravings of a giant fox. Two guards appear at the top of the gate.
“Who goes there?” one calls out.
“It is I, Sir Adir. Please allow us to take shelter for the night,” Adir responds back.
“Oh, Sir Adir! Sorry, we could not tell it was you. We will be right there to open the gates!”
They both disappear from our vision a couple minutes before the gates open, only wide enough for our party to enter. “What brings you here, Sir Adir?” the other guard inquires after the gate closes behind our last man.
“We had to take care of some business here in FoxGuard. It got too late to travel back to TigersKeep tonight, we just need shelter and food for the night.” He glances around a couple times. “I also need to speak with Sir Alexander urgently, could you please take me to him?”
“Yes, of course, Sir Adir.” the first guard motions one of the other guards over. “Jacob please take Sir Adir to Sir Alexander.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I watch Adir dismount his stallion and hand the reins to the guard. “Please make sure the Prince, and the rest of my men, get a hot meal.”
“Yes, Sir. They are in good hands, Sir Adir.”
“Thank you,” Adir says before following the other guard away.
“I will have the stable boy tend to your horses and will have the cook prepare you and your men a good meal. Please stay here for just a minute.” I nod my appreciation at the guard as he guides Adir’s horse towards the stables.
I dismount Dovah and stretch my tired body. I take his reins. Gideon follows suit and when he gathers Canicus’ reins he takes Dovah’s reins from me. “Thanks, Gideon.”
Sebastian and Hector guide their mounts past the other Knights over to us. “You two must be just as famished as I am.”
“I certainly am. It feels like the second largest day of my entire life,” Hector remarks. He stretches out his arms, back and legs. “I am so hungry I could eat an elephant.”
“You do not even know what an elephant looks like,” Sebastian remarks.
“I have heard they are super big, so I know they would feed me perfectly,” he lightly defends himself. As if to confirm his words of hunger, his stomach growls like a starving beast. We all laugh.
“You are too much to handle sometimes, brother,” the affection in Sebastian’s tone is so thick and raw. I watch as the fiery haired brother slides his arm protectively over the black-haired boy’s shoulders.
“I am glad that you were able to be reunited,” Gideon’s comment is a level more emotional than usual, probably for lack of sleep and food. His eyes turn to Hector. “Sebastian refused to stay behind at the Castle after he came back with Lady Catherine.
He was pretty adamant about being a part of the Knights that were going to help save you.” His eyes shift to Sebastian. “You are a very strange stray cat though,” he smirks.
“Stray cat?” Sebastian and Hector question at the same time.
Gideon and I both laugh in answer. “It is a nickname he gave Sebastian.”
“You even climb trees like a cat too. How did you even learn to do that?”
Sebastian seems to choose his words carefully as he answers. “I sometimes train in nontraditional ways, like in the art of branch leaping.”
“He taught me how to do it too, but I am still not as graceful at it as he is,” Hector says. We all look away from each other as the stable boy jogs over to us. “Sorry for the wait, Your Highness. I will take excellent care of each of your horses,” he bows his head low to me as he speaks. I still find it weird when people bow to me. When his head lifts, he finally notices Ziv and his jaw drops open. “It… it… it is a Unicorn!”
Sebastian smiles at him as he affectionately pets Ziv’s neck. “Her name is Ziv, she has no reins to guide her, but she will follow. I leave her in your reliable hands.” He strokes his mount’s nuzzle. “Go with him, girl.” With no protest she obeys. The stable boy, with the help of one of the other Knights, guides the horses to the stables.
The guard from before returns and waves for us t
o follow him. “I will guide you to the dining hall. The cook is preparing your meal as we speak. Please follow me.”
None of us need any more encouragement than that. We follow the guard until we reach a large corridor that leads to a fairly good size dining hall. A large wooden table sits in the center of the room, with plates already set out at each seat, not that we have that many people.
“Please have a seat, Your Highness, our cook, Miss Gloria, will bring the food out shortly.” He motions to a girl that steps into the room with a pitcher in her hands. “This is Miss Arial; she will serve you if you need anything.” He bows his head to us. “Have a good evening.”
“Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated,” I comment.
“My pleasure, Your Highness.” He turns and disappears out of the room.
Gideon pulls the chair at the head of the table out for me, and I sit down with a grateful nod to my friend. I still hate when he does stuff like that, but as his Prince I have had to get used to such things being done for me.
The girl, Arial, steps up to my chair and bows her head nervously to me. “Your Highness, would you like some wine?” With a simple nod of my head she leans forward to fill my glass with the purple liquid. She goes through the table filling the mens glasses and, by the time she finishes, the cook steps out of the kitchen with a platter of food in her hands. “Arial, please give me a hand.” With the girl’s assistance they set the food, porridge, fruits, and bread onto the table. “If you need anything else, Your Highness, please do not hesitate to call for me. Arial will remain here to serve you.”
“This food looks great, thank you so much!” Hector speaks up, his gemstone green eyes gleaming with pure joy. After I fill my plate and bowl everyone else quickly follows suit.
I bow my head to the food. “Thank you for the food!” We all say in unison before digging in.
Chapter Thirteen:
♘ Hector Ari: ♘