Michael
Blood dripped off his hands as he stood in front of his human kill. He felt numb and lost.
"Get out of my fucking way," Matthias yelled as he pushed a knight to the side and ran to his brother. He put himself between Michael and the dark mage and grabbed his shoulders.
"You alright?" Michael didn't answer, his eyes focused on the corpse even though his brother was blocking sight of it. "Michael, talk to me."
He took a deep breath and said, "I am alright."
"Sure," Matthias said and carefully wiped the blood off his nose, inspecting his wound. "It is not that bad but might leave a mark."
He turned around as Kiran got to them, pushing Matthias away to take care of Michael's wound, and marched over to his father. "What is wrong with you? You force a ten-year-old to fight a thug in a life-and-death fight? Are you insane?!"
"He had to learn it one day and I would say it is better to deal with hesitation and doubt when in a controlled environment like this," Lord Rowan replied calmly, ignoring the blatant disrespect.
"He is TEN, I didn't kill anyone until I was sixteen! He was lucky not to get seriously hurt!"
"Michael is different from you and the situation is different." He held up the piece of paper that the knight had brought him and said, "The king is dying, and I don't know how much time I will have to take care of you anymore, so I took the opportunity to take care of this at least. He might need to defend himself soon and I don't want to see him die because it was his first time."
Michael's head spun around at the mention of the king's imminent death, much to the dismay of Kiran. Matthias was also stopped in his tracks, "What does this mean?"
"It means that the kingdom might have difficult times ahead and I might not be home a lot so you will need to be able to defend yourselves."
Matthias thought for a moment and then said, "This was still not the best way to handle something like this. ... Are we going to head for the capital?"
Lord Rowan nodded, "Yes, we will, if we are fast enough, we might get there before he passes."
"Okay," Matthias said with a sigh.
Lord Rowan walked past him and toward Michael. "Good work, son." Michael looked at him with a blank stare, no words he wanted to share came to mind so he stayed silent.
The count turned around and left, barking orders at his knights to make ready to leave and splitting the group into those taking in the bandits and those accompanying him.
Michael followed him with his eyes for a while until Geron came walking over. Eydis blocked his path and pushed the knight, angrily signing at him, "What kind of a protector are you? Just standing around while your ward is fighting for his life?"
"I had my orders," Geron tried to defend himself, but Eydis was having none of it. "Screw your orders, you swore to protect him from all dangers."
"I also swore to follow my liege's orders, but you wouldn't understand that," Geron spat back infuriated.
Eydis looked like she would take a shot at the knight, so Michael said loudly. "Oh, knock it off, you two." They looked at him. "I really can't deal with your squabbling right now, so stop it or do it somewhere else," his eyes piercing them until they looked at him surprised by the sudden harsh tone.
"Make ready to leave, we are heading for the capital."
"Are you alright, Michael," Kiran asked him.
"No, I am not but I will deal with it."
"You should talk about it," he started again carefully but Michael shut him down. "I said I will deal with it," he repeated and stomped off.
His retainers looked at each other with concerned looks but did as they were told.
It took them only a couple of minutes to get everyone ready to go and to get back on the street if you could call it that. Michael was lost in thought for a long time until Matthias came up next to him.
“Those mages were pretty scary huh,” Matthias said and looked at Michael.
“What,” Michael didn’t entirely listen.
“The battle between Kiran and those mages, I thought it was pretty scary, with the fireballs and stuff,” Matthias repeated himself.
Michael knew what he was doing but refused to engage in it, “I believe that it showed the potential of mages. If Kiran wasn’t there, we would have suffered many more casualties.”
“That is true, you always know what to say,” Matthias said while nodding to himself.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I fought for my life and now someone is dead, end of story. We have much more pressing matters to worry about.”
Matthias nodded overdramatically, “Right, right, we have to make sure that we don’t fall off our horses on the way to the capital and of course worrying over the king and what might happen will help the situation tremendously.”
Michael gritted his teeth and looked over at his brother, “Alright, I killed a man even though my mind was screaming at me to not do it and now I feel numb and hollow. The best part is though that my own Father send me against a murderous brigand dark mage which makes me wonder if he even cares about my wellbeing at all.” Michael stared at his older brother for a moment and then added, “Wow, I feel absolutely great now, thanks for the talk.”
They rode next to each other in silence for a minute or two until Matthias spoke again, “I had to kill the first time on patrol, the bandits came out of nowhere and attacked us, probably not understanding what they were up against. I had no time to think, I had to defend myself and killed one of them. I thought I was fine because I had no choice and went on with my life. The next time I was in a fight I saw the face of the man I had cut down and I hesitated. I nearly died because of it; Sir Zeke saved my life. You can ask him; I am not making this up. That is why I am trying to talk to you about it, you need to have dealt with it until your next fight and you won’t by burying it.”
Michael kept staring at the road before him and stayed silent.
“You don’t have to talk to me about it but find someone, doesn’t matter who. You will feel better afterward. Concerning our father, I can only say that he wants the best for us in his rough and rigid way. I might not agree with everything, but I don’t believe that he would have let the brigand hurt you, well seriously I mean.” He slowed down and let Michael gain some distance. He was left with his thoughts again and they circled around what Matthias had said.
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It wasn’t him killing someone that disturbed him the most, he had killed animals and small monsters before, and humans were not that far of a leap. What really haunted him were the voices in his head. He had felt them before, whispering to him but he had always put them off as his subconsciousness, but this was different.
There were two of them, and they had been screaming, nearly breaking his mind. Michael sat on his horse, wholly cut from reality as he thought about it.
Maybe the twins were right, and I have a demon talking to me, Michael thought. He would never tell anyone about this, he decided. He would do what he thought was best and not get manipulated by the voices; maybe they were benevolent, but he wouldn’t risk it.
The journey was a quiet one; they began moving double time once they left the forest and reached better roads. Michael didn’t talk very much in the breaks they took and was content with listening to the conversations of others.
They weren’t alone on the road instead had met a lot of similarly hurrying nobles, but Lord Rowan hadn’t stopped to make conversation. With his stoic demeanor, they reached the capital in record time.
When they reached the main gate, Michael finally understood the catastrophe that was about to happen. It was completely swamped with people, carriages, and horses trying to get into the city. People were screaming at each other, swinging their family crests around, and here and there some even threw hands.
“What shall we do, milord? There is no fast way to get through this,” Godfrey addressed his liege with a calm expression.
“We should try another gate,” Matthias suggested but Lord Rowan shook his head. “It will be the same at every gate. There is not one noble in the kingdom who won’t try to be here to make a good impression with the soon-to-be new, young, and influenceable king.”
“So, what are we going to do then,” Matthias asked.
His father turned his horse to the side and started riding away along the wall. “Follow me, I know a way inside.”
They followed the walls until they reached a large tower approximately a kilometer from the next gate. Michael looked at the building but couldn’t see an entrance anywhere nearby.
“My name is Cedric Rowan, Count of Reen and Emall. I have been called by the king! open the gate!”
For a moment nothing happened until a head poked out from the top of the tower. “There is no gate here! Move along!”
The count stayed calm as he replied, “I have entered through this gate in the time of the rebellion, I know it is here. Open up or I will personally tear it down.”
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Cedric
Cedric hurried through the hallways of the palace; the servant who was supposed to guide him struggling to keep up with the count. He turned around a corner and finally reached the chambers of the king. Two of the silver Kingsguard knights flanked the large door, both donning their lion-shaped helmets. The right one - armed with a great sword - opened the door as he saw the Count of Reen approach and the left one - armed with a tall shield and a sword hanging from his hip - said, "The king is expecting you, Lord Rowan."
Cedric brushed past them with a nod and continued through the elaborate quarters of his friend. Johann had always been like this; his private rooms were large enough to house three families in luxury and were decorated rich enough to rival the whole worth of a town. Cedric didn't care for any of it and moved on until he reached the king's bed chambers.
Gavin Strom stopped him in front of it and they grabbed each other's wrists. "It is good that you have come, Cedric," the commander said, his expression was dark, and his eyes filled with sadness. Cedric knew how he felt; losing someone against a foe that one could not even try to fight was the worst thing to happen to a warrior.
"How is he doing, Gavin?"
The man shook his head while he spoke, "He is weak, the priest healer says he has a day or two at most. A lot of mana has gathered in him, and his body is too weak to survive the shock of releasing it."
Cedric clenched his hands to fists. "Will you let me in?"
"Of course, just remember, don't release even a speck of mana or you might take what little time he has left."
Cedric knew this but he didn't take the reminder as an insult, rather as the concern it truly was. He nodded and the silver knight let him pass.
The room was filled with people; he could see the queen and her children at the king's side, and all of them looked devastated. In the corner he noticed a robed Idas priest with a silver sun pendant, marking him as an anti-mage of the order of purity; he was constantly mumbling incantations, Cedric guessed that he was draining mana from the room. In addition to the mage, he could see three more priests in the room, two of them praying for Idas's salvation and the last one being the archpriest of the kingdom. Finally, there were a couple of nobles present, Duke Wallsten and Duke Wulfen being the most important ones.
Most turned toward the new arrival as he entered and in doing so opened the view upon the sick king. He looked drained, his cheeks and eyes had fallen in, his hair had mostly fallen out and he had lost a lot of weight. The most visible sign of the sickness though were his arteries; they were supremely visible and gave off a silvery light, giving the man's body a spider-webbed look.
"Cedric," a weak voice sounded from the bed, it had hints of the strong voice that he remembered but still sounded so foreign that Cedric couldn't believe it came from his old friend for a moment. "Everyone, leave us alone."
No one voiced any objections to this command, Cedric could see a variety of emotions though, from anger to sadness. Once even the anti-mage had left, Cedric walked over slowly to the side of his king and sat down on the chair the queen had used before.
They stayed silent as Cedric stared at the ground and Johann watched him while breathing slowly.
"It is good to see you, old friend," Johann finally said, "One final time."
"I am glad you are still alive," Cedric replied with a dry laugh.
"Barely," the sick man joined in with a burst of pained laughter.
They fell back silent until Johann began again. "You never gave me an answer."
Cedric couldn't help but sigh, he had hoped that he would have to deal with this now but what other time was there? "I have my own children to take care of, Johann. If I move here, then they will be left without a father."
A violent cough interrupted him, and he gave Johann a cup of water. "Thank you. - ... - I made mistakes, Cedric. I thought I would have ample time to take care of them before my son would have to take over as king. I tried to take care of them in the last two years but doing that while keeping my sickness a secret and leaving a stable kingdom for my son was impossible."
He took another sip of his water before he continued while staring holes into Cedric. "I let people into my court, knowing fully well their ambitions because I could handle them, and they would be beneficial with a strong hand. My son is too young to handle this, and I need you to stay and keep them in check, Cedric. This kingdom will suffer otherwise and that would endanger not only my legacy but everyone in this realm."
"You mean Duke Wulfen," Cedric guessed; he had mostly kept out of the court's affairs but even he knew of the ambitious duke and his schemes.
"He is one of them. He already is my chancellor, and he is doing a good job of it, my steward Lord Gretten is a pawn of his, so he already has control over two seats. The archpriest tries to become the next head priest of the church and will do anything to curry favor with the other archpriests so there is another selfish seat in my son's future council. I need you to join it; no one can argue your qualifications and you can be a voice of reason that my son can listen to when the others try to push their own agendas."
"I have no experience in politics, and you know it. All I can do is command and kill," Cedric argued but Johann was having none of it. "You will be there as the voice of reason, my friend. Not to sugarcoat everything and you won't be alone. I have already appointed Duke Greeich as Zenial's mentor, he will take care of the politics and you will take care of telling him hard truths and protecting him. The next years will be unstable, I need to know there is someone on my son's side who can handle it."
Cedric thought about his words; he knew there was no better option, the only other person who could fill this role without being challenged was Duke Torras, but that man was a born second in command, not someone who could take care of everything himself.
He didn't want to do it, he had to take care of his children. He had already forced a faster development on Michael in anticipation of this situation, even though it was a strange coincidence how everything aligned. He wasn't sure if it was the best idea now, he had banked on the emotional maturity of Michael and that he would manage but the boy had been distant and quiet on the whole way here. It was not usual that Cedric doubted himself, but he was still human.
He was ripped out of his spiraling thoughts by the king's words. "This is my dying wish, Cedric. I won't order you, but I hope you will honor me with your service this last time."