He wondered what was going through Tamiron’s mind before the battle. He didn’t need to kid himself about it anyway. The city seemed to have been abandoned a few days already, only Tamiron could have been here to build it.
He didn’t know what to think. He only knew the only one way, and that was the path of the Smith. He knew how to forge and hammer raw burning iron to his will, other than that, he knew nothing. He felt the cool breeze of the night as the moon shined in its full glory. The wind suddenly howled and there he thought, he needed to change as well.
Suddenly, he felt a presence he was not familiar with. He turned around and saw three masked people behind him. All three had the same marks on their eyeless masks and one of them stepped forward.
Glaivel pulled a knife, “Who are you?” he asked.
“We are but an observer, Your Highness,” the masked figure said.
Graveloth carefully looked at the three men. Their armor was well made and judging by the iron masks, they were the kind of people would not want to cross.
“Then answer my question, who are you?” Glaivel asked again. Not breaking his stance.
The two in front of them threw bags towards them. Graveloth quickly kicked the bag lightly, revealing what seemed to be a set of armor, a pair of gauntlets and a horned helmet. They were Trasidar armor. “It is not important who we are. But the question should be why we are here,” the masked figures said. Graveloth examined the masked man. He could tell that he was not like the two behind him because his mask bore a different mark. Graveloth grew skeptical, unsure what to do, but he knew that he needed to be careful.
“Okay, why are you here?” Glaivel rephrased. The figure threw another smaller bag, revealing a green stone inside. The stone pulsed dimly and they knew instantly that it was the Tamiron Stone.
Graveloth stared at the masked man, shocked at what he had thrown. “Isn’t that – ?”
“How did you get this? Where did you get this!” Glaivel shouted as Graveloth picked up the bags and the Tamiron Stone.
“We broke into the Imperial Palace some nights ago to retrieve the stone and the armor,” the figure said.
“How — how did you know that we are here? How did you even break into the Imperial Palace? Answer me!” Glaivel shouted again.
“Calm down, Colonel Prince Glaivel Numenesse. We have been watching the city ever since it fell and when the Prince ordered his troops to move out and when he stayed behind,” the figure said. The figure walked forward but Graveloth and Glaivel stepped back.
“So you were here when the battle happened as well?” Graveloth asked.
“Do not be frightened, Prince, we are not foes. And yes we were here. We have witnessed the battle you fought and I say it was truly an epic in the making. It will certainly go down in history books, monuments might even be built all over the empire in your honor.”
“Then, if you were here all that time, why didn’t you try to kill him yourself?” Graveloth asked. The figure only bowed his head before he answered.
“We did, well, we only tried to subdue him. But he ended up punching one of my best men’s head off and a hole in his stomach.” They knew Tamiron’s punch was lethal to a normal man. Graveloth felt it himself. But he didn’t think it was that devastating.
“Ever since then, we watched and guarded the city, making sure no one wandered too far in,” the figure added. Glaivel forgot that they and Tamiron weren’t normal anymore. They were more powerful than the normal warriors that resided in this world.
“If you are not our foe, then what are you exactly to us?” Glaivel came to ask as he slowly stepped forward.
“We are but a shadow. A shadow that will help you when darkness comes. And right now, you are in one. We are here to help, even when you do not call for us. I assure you, with my own words,” he added.
“The Prime Minister planned to use it as a devastating weapon. It is Prince Tamiron’s source of power. But we still don’t know why and who gave him that information,” the figure added, Graveloth looked at the stone as it shimmered in the moon’s dim light.
“Then what was he wearing during the battle in the Plains of Tamara till now?” Graveloth asked.
“That was the Arvales Stone. A stone similar to the Tamiron Stone. It has the same strength. But I believe, it wasn’t in its full strength because Prince Tamiron didn’t name it after himself,” Graveloth did not understand and the masked figured noticed his confusion.
“There is a history between those stones, Blacksmith. It is as old as this world. However, that is as far as I can tell you,” he said. “It will remain a secret between us, I believe?” the figure said. Graveloth and Glaivel nodded in agreement.
“Only him, his father and us, know of its power. And we are currently looking for possible sources of that information,” the figure added.
“We believe he intends to use it to wage war with the kingdoms outside the borders. But I personally believe there is a hidden motive that we do not know. What we are certain of is that he is but a piece in this game whom we do not know who is playing,” he continued.
Before he even knew it, Graveloth noticed the two masked men behind were gone.
“Make sure to dress the Prince in his armor,” the figure said as he slowly disappeared in the darkness.
“What do you mean?” Glaivel asked.
A long pause lingered before the figure halted and turned back.
“Why give us this now then? This is just too — convenient,” Graveloth asked the man.
“We took the armor and the stone for safe keeping. We did not even anticipate that all of you would somehow survive the fight. With things going as they are, we might as well return it to its owner,” the figure said.
Graveloth was still suspicious. But what he just told about the stone was in fact true. He would rather have them than the Prime Minister.
“And to answer your question, Prince Glaivel, judging by how Princess Evangeline looked a while ago. You’ll know what’s going to happen. Stop Menoich’s plans. This is only a stepping stone towards the real enemy. Stop him at all costs,” the figure added and threw something between his feet. A huge smoke covered him and the instant the smoke dissipated, he was gone.
Graveloth did not know what to make of the masked man’s words. He looked at Glaivel and he was still looking again at the tombstone, his fists clenched. He was about to talk, when Glaivel started to walk back towards the camp.
Graveloth followed. “Glaivel, what are you going to do with these?” he said, referring to the bag of armor and the stone. But Glaivel did not answer. “Glaivel, did you hear me? I said—”
“I don’t know!” Glaivel suddenly shouted and stopped on his tracks.
“Then what? Are we going to listen to that masked man? We need to think this through,” Graveloth said.
“And that is what we are precisely going to do!” Glaivel said, hastening his stride.
“How are we going to explain this?” he said, referring to the bags he was holding.
“We’ll tell them. But we won’t tell them the rest of the story.”
“But why? They need to know. They have every right to,” Graveloth protested.
“Because I do not like this one bit. Not one bit at all.” Glaivel suddenly stopped and faced Graveloth. “And keep what we talked about with that iron masked man between the two of us,” he added. Graveloth could see and feel the stare that Glaivel was giving him. He started walking again but Graveloth was left in his spot for a couple of moments, before he followed.
Back at the camp site, everyone was waiting for them. They sat around a bonfire as their faces showed exhaustion. They didn’t know what to make of the situation. Graveloth could tell. He thought the same.
“Finally, what took both of you so long?” Evangeline said as she stood closest to the bonfire. Glaivel stopped and grabbed the bags from Graveloth’s hands.
“Where have you been?” Kaira insisted, but Glaivel didn’t react.
“What are yo
u holding?” Ravaen asked also, still Glaivel held a blank stare before throwing the bag forward.
The armor clanged as they hit the ground. Sevidon stood up, alarmed of what he saw.
“You, both of you. Where did you get this?” Sevidon shouted. Graveloth chose to remain silent, as Glaivel walked towards a vacant log to sit on. He clearly chose to say nothing as well.
“What are these?” Aderon said. Graveloth looked at Sevidon who was checking the contents of the bag.
“Where is the stone?” Aderon jumped in.
Then Graveloth threw the smaller bag that he had, revealing the stone inside. Sevidon stared in bewilderment.
“Answer me now, Graveloth. Where did you get this?” he asked once more. But he held his silence.
“Enough now, Sevidon. This should work in our favor,” Evangeline said.
“No, we can’t just let this go, Evangeline,” Sevidon disagreed, “We need to know.” Then he looked back at Glaivel.
“You want to know where I got this?” Glaivel asked again, purposely annoying Sevidon. “Like I would tell you. We need to focus on the new mission now, General.”
“Having something like this with you all this time is a bit suspicious, don’t you think?” Aderon suddenly said.
“If you knew where I got it, you’d be the first one back to the High Kingdom and take over,” Glaivel answered back, challenging Aderon as well.
“Why can’t you just tell us?” Sevidon blew his top.
“Because we can’t!” Graveloth burst. After a moment of deafening silence he said calmly, “We just can’t. In time, perhaps but not now,” He looked at everyone and they seem to have understood. I didn’t expect that he thought.
“Well, Tamiron’s armor is destroyed. Might as well put him on these then,” Ravaen said.
“He can’t. He wasn’t wearing it the day he defended Tamara,” Evangeline said and somehow they were all on the same page now.
Graveloth pondered. She had a point. Who knew what would happen if they suddenly brought him back and to the guard’s surprise, he would be wearing his armor.
“We can safely assume as well that Menoich is after the stone. And we have it. Only, it’s missing—”
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” Ravaen interrupted Aderon but got shoved by Evangeline.
“Enough horsing around please. Continue, Aderon,” she said.
“As I was saying, if he suddenly receive word that the stone is with Tamiron, he can either do two things. First, take us into custody and kill us once we set foot in the palace, or two, bring the wrath of the Imperial Army right at the gates to us. Either way, it will be dangerous,” Aderon said.
Sevidon quickly picked up the bags and threw it beside Tamiron’s body. “Now, we need to put everything aside. We need a plan,” Evangeline urged.
“Wait, we haven’t gotten the other’s answer yet,” Kaira interrupted then looked at both Graveloth and Glaivel. “What do you intend to do?” she asked.
“I do what you guys do. It’s not like I have a choice,” Glaivel answered smugly.
Evangeline then looked at Graveloth. “And you?” she asked.
“We all heard what the immortal one said. Let’s all see this through. We already finished it halfway,” he answered then sat at another vacant log.
“Good. It’s agreed then. Now the only thing we need to do is go to the Capital and somehow free the Princess,” Ravaen said.
“And how exactly are we going to do that? As I imagine, we can’t just let them see him. We need to come up of a better way,” Kaira said, adding more weight to the already heavy conversation they had.
“And we simply can’t go charging in,” Sevidon added.
“Well with our current power. Maybe we can simply do that,” Aderon suggested.
“You can’t. The city is heavily guarded.” Glaivel said.
“Imagine what we can do with this. We can easily remove the Prime Minister without breaking any sweat. Now that he is on our side,” Aderon kept pushing his idea.
“Prince, again, we can’t just go in walking in the city like that,” Graveloth suddenly said.
“Shut up. You know nothing of how things work. You better listen if you want to learn,” Aderon mocked him.
“No, what I’m saying is that abusing power is not really a good idea. Trust me, I’ve been a victim of one,” Graveloth answered.
“This is going to be tough I tell you,” Ravaen said as he laid his back to the ground to rest.
“Well, we still have a couple of days. We need to come up with something,” Graveloth suggested as he sat on the ground.
“Wait,” Evangeline suddenly said. Everyone looked at her, and she met everyone’s eyes, completely getting their attention. “I have an idea. This won’t draw that much blood once everything is in place,” she added.
Graveloth listened. And the more he listened, the more he liked the plan.
End of Chapter XXII
XXIII: RISE, FALL AND EMERGE
MENOICH HAD ARAGRAD OPEN THE carriage slowly, his heart racing in beat as finally his plans would soon come to fruition. Gone would be all those years of living in the shadow of the Imperial King and the Royal Family. He hid his smile as to not let anyone see his delight from the results of all his careful planning. And of course, he had someone to thank after he confirmed the Prince’s death.
The end of the Lluch bloodline was upon them and the Anarchu bloodline would rise.
The carriage was fully opened and there laid a body covered in cloth. He took a deep breath and signaled to Aragrad then turned around.
“Witnesses of the Empire!” he shouted with his hands raised and as Aragrad and some guards removed the top of the carriage, slowly revealing Tamiron’s lifeless body covered in cloth. “Today marks the day that the nightmare that was brought upon by the Imperial Prince is gone,” then he looked at the body. “The Red Prince is now over!” He finished and applause erupted, including those of the heroes and the Imperial Council.
“I would like to thank the three diplomats. If it wasn’t for them, our nightmare would not be gone,” he announced but the three diplomats didn’t react.
He looked again at the body and walked towards it a bit. He took a deep breath again and slowly clutched the cloth. He immediately yanked it, revealing Tamiron. His heart fell from his chest, to see his lifeless body but wearing his very own armor and in his chest, the Tamiron stone.
How is this possible? How did they get the stone? He thought as his hand trembled in fear.
The small crowd gazed upon the dead body. Something was wrong, this was not right. He could’ve sworn he had convinced the late King to have the Prince wear the forbidden armor and the Arvales Stone.
They know… the thought rushed through his mind.
“Tell me, Prince Aderon, how did you kill the Prince?” he stuttered.
“As I told you a while ago, Sire, I dealt the finishing blow to the Prince’s head. That blow ended it,” Aderon answered.
“Are you sure?” he said as he asked Aragrad to check for a pulse.
“I wage my honor as the High Prince to that, Your Majesty,” Aderon answered again.
Cold sweat ran down Menoich’s face as the people around him inched closer to get a good look at the body. Aragrad signaled and he confirmed that there was no pulse. He looked at the heroes he had gathered and all of them were staring back at him as he walked slowly towards Tamiron’s body. He stopped at his side, by the left arm of the Prince. He looked at the stone carefully. He could just take the stone and take it away. But Graveloth and Ravaen was still looking at him.
Something is not right.
His hands trembled as he slowly reached for the stone. He looked again at Graveloth and Ravaen and just behind him he noticed Evangeline, whispering something. His eyes widened and looked again to the Prince then back again to Evangeline. She was staring directly into him. Then he felt an uncontrollable shiver.
“Guards!” he shouted and poin
ted towards Evangeline.
Animasus-Romelyos-Mortus Solvo-Adrin!” she shouted and the Prince glowed of pink.
Tamiron, woke out of death’s playing hand. He wrapped his iron-clad hand to Menoich’s arm. . He opened eyes, now colored green and sat up. He took in his first breath of air.
“The air reeks of a traitor’s scent,” he said, then threw Menoich towards the Imperial Palace. He slowly stood up and the guards had already surrounded him and his comrades, spears pointing. He cracked his neck and knuckles. “I am here to get rid of it.”
“What are you doing standing there? There are more of you! Get them!” Menoich commanded as he crawled up the stairs.
The loyalists flooded from the barracks and from the Palace and surrounded them. Kaira jumped from a palace balcony and landed beside the others.
The guards lunged and a brawl broke out. Tamiron paid no attention to them. He only had his sights set on Menoich.
Aragrad confronted him and pointed his sword to him. He looked at Aragrad, chin up, holding his stance.
“Arrest him! Arrest them all!” Menoich stuttered and screamed as he could barely stand as the High Prince met his gaze.
“You said you delivered the final blow!” Menoich shouted.
Aderon laughed as he swung his two swords while waiting for Tamiron’s signal and for their guards to attack. “I did not lie, Your Highness. I delivered the knockout blow — a knockout punch. That brought senses back to the Imperial Prince,” he smirked, further irritating Menoich.
“I should’ve left you in the prison mines,” Tamiron growled and Aragrad spat towards his boot.
“That was your biggest mistake,” Aragrad said as he charged towards Tamiron but to no avail. He held the sword by the blade and broke it in half and grabbed Aragrad by the neck.
“You will regret this, Aragrad. Stand down now and I might spare you,” Tamiron said as Aragrad struggled.
“Go on, kill me. Stain those hands with more blood,” he spat as he laughed.
“That would be too easy for you, I will make you suffer first,” he said. His gauntlets grew and he grabbed Aragrad’s arms. Aragrad struggled hard but couldn’t break off.
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