by Kimbro West
The Castellan then noticed Ethan’s ripped alchemy jacket. “What’s that on your arm, some kind of alchemy magic?”
Ethan quickly put his arm behind his back, as if to hide his stone skin. But just then, the doors of the throne room slammed open and fully armored soldiers marched inside in a double line. The pairs split off so that a full line of soldiers were on either side of the room. The Castellan shot up out of the throne.
“No, no, Castellan — please have a seat … and finish your speech. I was enjoying the part where you think Ethan ruined your chances for success,” stated King Basileus.
“My Lord, what are you doing here?” asked the Castellan.
“I read a full report as I came through the Oroborus. I guess I am here to check on the initiation of a war that I did not authorize.”
“Well we had an opportunity to defeat the Mitans once and for all … there was no time to …” stuttered the Castellan.
“No time to send a messenger?” asked the King. “Hmm … a lesson then, in humility, Castellan — I think is needed. Everyone follow me outside to the courtyard, now!”
The King walked back through the doors and everyone followed him outside, including the Castellan. Hundreds of townspeople were gathered in the square, full of speculation and gossip. The King raised one of his hands and quieted the crowd.
“We all stand on equal ground today, as this is not our world. We are guests here. And as guests, we wish to leave a good impression on our hosts. It cannot always be done, but we must try just the same — so I ask today,” announced the King as he paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
“General Lodbrok,” said the King loudly.
“Yes, Sire.” The General stepped forward with his chin held high.
“Tell me what happened yesterday, General,” instructed the King.
“I was ordered to sack Losalfar, Sire. I then met Ethan Wright and his friends on the cusp of the battlefield. He told me that Losalfar was split in two — and had entered into a civil war. The faction at Losalfar is peaceful. The faction known as the Aegis are the ones responsible for attacking our citizens,” answered the General.
“And?” asked the King.
“And what, Sire?”
“Do you believe Ethan?”
“I have no reason not to, Sire,” answered General Lodbrok as the crowd booed and jeered. “I fought alongside the Mitan to defeat the Aegis, Sire. Their cause is worthy, and they are honorable people.”
The crowd started to quiet down, but chatter could still be heard.
“Anything else?” asked the King.
The crowd became completely silent.
“Yes, Sire. Had I ignored Ethan’s plea and attacked Losalfar anyway, both armies could have turned on us and thousands of human deaths would have resulted.”
“There, my Castellan. You have your war … against the Aegis. And because of Ethan Wright and his friends …” announced the King as he motioned for the crowd to part. Ethan just about jumped out of his alchemy jacket as he saw Availia and Stanley walking toward them, with none other than Ghislain and Odin behind them. “…we now have an ally — the city of Losalfar.”
Ethan and Auren, grinning, ran over to greet Availia and Stanley with excited chatter and hugs. The crowd cheered and Edison Rupert smiled and went over to meet the students he feared he had lost. He shook Odin’s hand and greeted Ghislain.
“Odin, Ghislain … what took you? You left before I did,” said the King
“The Oroborus known as Cabra sent us to the wrong place,” answered Odin, smiling. “And by some coincidence, we bumped into Availia and Stanley.”
Stanley leaned into Ethan’s ear and whispered something. Ethan stood in shock as he looked at Stanley.
“But you didn’t …”
“I know, Ethan. I have no reason to stutter — not now or ever again,” replied Stanley, as he pointed directly at Tothyll. “It was him that did this to me — in an experimental alchemy class, long ago. And Odin and Ghislain said he’s the one …”
“Behind the Stonewolf,” interrupted Ethan and Auren.
“MacArthur said that no one man could control a creature like this. Which means there had to be two of them that controlled the Stonewolf,” said Ethan precisely.
“What?” asked Availia.
“When Auren and I fought Xivon — Auren grabbed his necklace and was hit with that strange sword,” he said, as he grasped Auren’s wrist and thrust the burnt hand in Availia’s face.
The mark that was burned into his palm showed plain. Ethan pulled the pinch-shackle from his pack and matched the symbols.
“It would take more than one person to control a legendary creature. Tothyll has a matching necklace,” stated Ethan.
The King smiled as he overheard the young alchemist’s detective work come to fruition. He signaled his Guard toward the over-dressed criminal. Tothyll, noticing the momentum turning against him, turned on his heel and ran. He was immediately detained by none other than Heinrich.
“And where is it you think you’re going?” said Heinrich coolly, as he firmly pressed his sword tip to Tothyll’s chest and then up through the necklace in question.
As the guards detained the prisoner, Heinrich tore the necklace from around Tothyll’s neck. The soldiers then escorted Tothyll to the King. The King again raised his hand and the crowd of townspeople immediately quieted down.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” asked King Basileus.
“I have served your kingdom faithfully, my Lord. You couldn’t possibly believe these students over me?” begged Tothyll.
Stanley pushed forward and got in Tothyll’s face. “My name is Stanley VonHaven of the VonHaven estate. The alchemical properties that you experimented with — the ones that made me stutter and live in a fog for all these years — expired when Xivon sent me through the portal. I know everything you’ve done, Tothyll … and I have quite a story to tell,” said Stanley boldly.
Tothyll was enraged. His face twisted and his eyes grew large, as if a completely different man possessed him. He struggled to leap toward Stanley and Ethan, but was restrained by the guards.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” he screamed. “I’LL KILL YOU ALL!”
“Looks like we got the right man then,” stated the King. “Oh, and Whitehaven is great at academics, agriculture, and even has terrific blacksmithing — but … we’re still working on our quality stonework — keep that in consideration for the next story you make up,” smiled the King as he signaled the guards to take the prisoner away.
“Castellan! Keep this traitor in prison until Tirguard is no more, or until death takes him and then some. Speaking of prisoners — release MacArthur … it seems we have a reliability problem with the other Oroborus — what’s its name … Cabra? We will need Wegnel MacArthur more than ever … with his Oroborus … Dimon.”
The Castellan nodded subserviently, and with a disgusted look upon his face he nodded to Heinrich to secure MacArthur’s release.
The King raised both of his hands and addressed the townspeople. “The Curse of Silence has ended,” he announced proudly. “Enemies who wish to reveal themselves will do so, in order to stop mankind from coming through the Oroborus into Tirguard. We will squander those proceedings with a solid defense of negotiation and great stone walls. We will not falter … we will not run … but above all, we will not sacrifice a chance for peaceful co-existence, or deprive ourselves of peaceful exploration in faraway lands. Mankind is curious,” he added as he looked over to Ethan, Auren, Availia, and Stanley. “This curiosity will get us into trouble at times, but stand united and we shall remove ourselves from these troubles. Stand united … and we will not fail!”
The crowd applauded and cheered. Ethan could hear his name being chanted. He wished his brother was with him to share in the celebration, but he was happy just the same to be with his friends.
As the cheering continued the King shook Ethan’s hand and pulled him closer.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 A Brother Removed
Chapter 2 Alchemy’s Plump Cat
Chapter 3 The Youth Sword Competition
Chapter 4 A Sore End
Chapter 5 Dendrobates Azureus
Chapter 6 Problems with Poison
Chapter 7 Here’s Pepper in Your Eye!
Chapter 8 Green Goop
Chapter 9 A Trip Through Time
Chapter 10 Auren’s Bucket
Chapter 11 Orientation
Chapter 12 Ordo Electus
Chapter 13 On Sabbatical
Chapter 14 A Predetermined Diversion
Chapter 15 Stanley’s Plan
Chapter 16 The First Test
Chapter 17 Sword Dueling 101
Chapter 18 Lies and Lickable Dragon Eggs
Chapter 19 Magnificent Stonework
Chapter 20 A Stone’s Throw
Chapter 21 The Stadion Distraction
Chapter 22 A Familiar Face
Chapter 23 The Library of Truth
Chapter 24 A Change of Plan
Chapter 25 The Castellan’s War