"Executed?!" Ellyrie stood dumbstruck, watching Cairon march towards the Guardian ship. Her heart was racing.

"They're holding him at Median of course." Cairon leaned down and stripped one of the guardian corpses of their black mantle, putting it over his own shoulders. "If we burn everything these bastards have we can make it in a day."

"Hold on." Aeneya retained her calm voice as she spoke. "You don't seriously mean to barge into the atali capital, Cairon."

"Of course I am!" He continued to remove cloaks from the other fallen. "We go on their ship, that will buy us enough time to land by the palace."

"And then what? Break into the palace of the sovereign?" Aeneya shook her head. "Even if we were at full strength that would be insanity, we would be lucky to make it to the prison with just us three alive."

None of her words had an effect on Cairon. He continued to gather. "The guards are atali, even if they have guardian overseers, who are they going to side with? The people who are invading their homeland, or the ones coming to rescue their sovereign?"

"Their viceroy, Cairon!" Aeneya screamed, causing the sky knights around to shudder. "He ruled in the name of the capital, if they no longer deem him suitable and remove him then that is law! If we go against that we are not just criminals, we wont just be clashing with some overzealous guardians, we will be traitors to the entire empire!"

Aeneya marched over to him, he did not move. "You aren't a child anymore Cairon, so quit acting like one. Even if the entire garrison revolts, even if we free him and we somehow all survive, what then? We stay in place? The golden fleet will annihilate us, we will hardly see them coming! Do you want us to march on the capitaline walls and die there, or run and watch as they burn down the province in retaliation?"

Cairon kept his gaze fixed on the ship. With a stack of guardian coats he walked on deck.

"Are you that eager to throw your life away, and put so many others in danger?" Aeneya followed him, hands clenched to fists. "You're a Sky knight, acting like this is a disgrace to the title." Her breath grew quicker as the anger faded from her eyes. "Cairon, listen. Thaeus."

"Don't."

The air grew cold around them, and Aeneya stepped back.

"Don't talk as if I don't know." He reached his hand up to his necklace, the saphire adorning it was cracked. "And don't you DARE use his name!"

He turned around, clinging to his staff. "You say that all we can do is pointless, so what shall we do, wise Aeneya? Run and hide, as the guardians tear people from their homes, burn down cities and kill whoever they like? While they execute the greatest man this damn empire has ever seen? My brother lived, and died for Atal, and I am not going to fail him by turning my back on it so long as there is something, anything that I can do to fight for it, and if you don't want to help me, then so be it."

Cairon stared down Aeneya, then Ellyrie. Silence spread across the platform.

Finally Ellyrie stepped forward, and toward Cairon.

Aeneya looked at her, and Melthaine grasped her hand to pull her back. "You can't seriously consider that, captain!"

She stopped and turned to Melthaine, a pained smile on her face. "I am a Sky knight, Mel. I swore to help the people, no matter what, no matter against who. I can't turn my back on them now."

"If you go, you are as good as dead!" Melthaine put both her hands around those of Ellyrie. "For nothing! Please, let us head east, away from this place, away from everything, I promise -"

"I was already meant to die once, no?" Ellyrie´s words silenced Melthaine. "Atal is my home, this is where I truly grew up. I can't turn my back on it either."

"It's not just about you!" Melthaine grasped Ellyrie by her shoulders. "I have to go and risk my life too, only to lose you, just when I found you, found myself."

She let go, and Ellyrie walked up on deck of the guardian ship. Then she faced her crew. "All these years, you have followed me. You have trusted in my decisions and risked your life. Many did more than risk it."

Ellyrie took a deep breath. "Today, I do not know how to make a decision for the sky knights. I've loved our empire all my life, and now, to choose between it and what I call my home, I can barely make this choice for myself. So I cannot make it for you. Those who wish to follow me for Atal are welcome to come."

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She bowed down, batting her eyes. "It was an honour to be your captain."

Ellyrie did not look as she heard the shuffling and footsteps. Some came closer, some vanished down the stairs. When she rose back up, four of her sky knights, Aeneya and Melthaine stood before her.

She smiled. "That, is more than I had hoped for. Thank you."

They transferred Mellador and Fiona to the guardian ship, and set sails. As night fell, Cairon insisted on staying watch by himself. He sat at the front of the ship, where Aeneya could see him from the helm. It was a warm night, but he was shaking, hunched over.

While not as fast as the "Herald", their new ship was very well stocked up, allowing them to sail at an incredible pace. As it dawned and Ellyrie emerged on the main deck with Melthaine, they could see Median from a distance.

Where the Twin Academies surpassed all in height, Median was defined by width. The city dominated their entire horizon, leaving not a single patch of farmland anywhere. They sailed across the outskirts, over small and thin curved roads, houses hastily cobbled together. But the closer they came to the city centre, the more the city was elevated. Roads became straight lines in a complex web, the architecture changed completely, resembling the sturdy and grandiose style of the capital.

And above all of it towered the Sovereign´s palace. The building and it´s surroundings covered an area the size of Nelia. It had it´s own air tower which they were racing towards.

Melthaine stared at the city with a look of revulsion. "Maggots." Her hands were twitching. "Maggots crawling across the corpse of a white doe."

Ellyrie looked over to her, but did not say anything. They were getting close. She, Cairon, Aeneya and Melthaine wore the cloaks of guardians, a disguise that held as long as they were just figures in the distance, but wouldn't stand any closer scrutiny.

One of the other sky knights took over the helm from Aeneya, who met with Ellyrie and the others at the railing. The ship was lowered in altitude, aiming to dock at the side of the tower. They could see the guardians standing watch.

Watch as they sailed past the tower and further toward the palace.

They could hear their calls, their screams, the first bell. But the ship had already crossed over, and was raising in altitude.

They jumped, Melthaine in Ellyrie´s arms.

The landing was easy, right on a balcony on the second floor of the palace. The door was open.

They rushed inside and down the hallway. Below to their left was the massive entry hall, now a swarm of black and red cloaks. They skipped the hall, instead running straight, towards the throne room.

To their luck, the room was empty, the few guards normally placed here drafted to guard the front against the supposed attack. Ellyrie´s heart sank as she entered the room. So many years had she seen in it the resting place of all that was good.

At it´s end stood two thrones, elevated by a set of stairs. One, massive, cut out of white stone to fit Elias, was pushed to the side. Centre stage took a much smaller throne, it´s back cut in a way to represent two sets of feathered wings. On it laid a little bowl filled with crimson red crystals that fueled a flame. Their steps echoed loudly in the empty room, they raced to the right.

A flight of stairs lead down to a cross-shaped hallway, blocking entry to the prison block. Five atali guards, lead by a guardian stood watch as they stormed inside. The guardian opened his mouth, and an arrow filled it.

"We're here to rescue Elias and set things right!" Ellyrie threw off her guardian cloak, as did her companions. The other guards looked down at their dead superior, then at the sky knights before them.

"We, we didn't see you!" One of them finally shouted, his comrades nodding in agreement. They threw them a ring of keys, and ran in the other direction.

Aeneya gave Ellyrie a long look as their captain searched for the right key.

The sight of the prison blocks was miserable. Even during the darkest of times, the cells had only been crowded. Now they were full to the brim. Hands reached out to them through the bars, wailing and desperate cries for help. They stood there frozen.

"Give me the keys, we got to help them!" Cairon quickly reached out, but Aeneya shook her head. "We can't do that until we know who deserves to be here or not, we need to focus on why we came here!"

Ellyrie looked from one to the other, before finally clenching her teeth and racing further down the corridor.

There was only one cell powerful enough to hold Elias. At the very end of the prison, the calls of the other inmates grew quiet. Solitary individuals sat in the cells here, bound by all manners of chains and spells, some suspended in mid-air, others hanging from the ceiling. None of them were human any longer, and even those who could speak, did not.

The very last cell was blocked by a sturdy gate, covered in runes. Ellyrie´s hands were shaking as she produced the needed key. Darkness greeted them, with only a single, dim blue light on the ceiling illuminating the countless chains Elias had been put in.

He rose his head, eyes narrowing as he looked at them. Wonder followed Suspicion , sadness followed wonder as he recognised them.

"Oh Ellyrie." He sighed, lowering his head once again. "I was afraid. Afraid that you would be foolish enough to come for me."

She halted, swallowing. "What are you saying, we are here to free you, to save Atal!"

Despite his restraints he managed to rise to his feet, shaking his head. "There is no saving Atal here, Ellyrie. Not with this fool of the past. There only ever was with you."