TRRRRING!!!

Betrayal Skill is now level 9!

Achievement unlocked!

“Back Stabber!”

+100 EXP!!

Achievement unlocked!

“Betraying the knight in shining armour!”

+200 EXP!

Achievement unlocked!

“Seeing through the veil of lies”

+50 EXP!

You have leveled up!

Weed looked at the messages with delight and a little disdain. It wasn’t his intention to benefit ‘so much’ from his actions. ‘Oh well…’

“What did you stab me with.” Richard groaned as he lay on his knees. “Poison?”

Weed nodded, “Yeah ...poison for the evil...it's good for you though...I hope...”

Arthur stood aghast watching everything unfold in front of him. His mouth left wide dangling open. He didn’t understand it… ‘The elf is on my side?’

Before anyone had a chance to react, Richard swung his arm in Weed’s direction. Although he didn’t touch Weed , Weed went flying back.

‘Oh well...’ Weed thought, it was worth a shot. Weed wondered if what he did was the right thing. As he went flying back he felt the black diamond in his hand which was covered in Richard’s blood crumble. Weed hit the wall behind him and fell unconscious…

Impact strike! -50HP!

You are unconscious for 15:00 mins!

Weed lay on the ground with smile across his face which said. ‘I was right.’

Weed wondered as he lay on the ground what was going to happen to him. ‘Will they kill me? Or will I be protected?’

Weed decided to wait and watch.

Lee Jun logged out to head to the loo, he noticed his mom sleeping next to him. She was smiling. She had been waiting for him to log out so that she could talk to him but soon slept of just from waiting for him.

Lee Jun returned quickly and put on the gear. He decided he didn’t want to wake his mom up till he was done with the task at hand.

*Grumble* Lee Jun’s stomach rumbled in hunger. ‘Not now!!’

Lee Jun ignore his hunger pangs and focused on the game.

When he returned he could see Richard sitting next to him and they were hiding in the gardens.

“Elf wake up!” Richard said as he slapped Weed.

“Yeah I am awake!!” Weed shouted as he stopped Richard from slapping him.

“Thank goodness.” Richard said as he looked through the edges for Arthur. “Are ok?”

“I should be asking that.” Weed replied. “Are you normal?”

“Aye…but you have some explaining to do…” Richard answered. “What was it that you stabbed me with?”

“Something…what is not important what, but the fact that you are alright.” Weed replied. Weed was happy that it worked. He didn’t want to say or reveal that he stabbed Richard with a black diamond or as the Guardian called it the scale of the Great Silver. Weed just imagined it was like what holy water is to demons. The effect was instantaneous.

The moment Weed stabbed Richard with the black diamond, Weed had literally shot a purification serum through Richard’s body.

“Do you have more of that something?” Richard asked.

“No. Why?” Asked Weed.

“I think Arthur needs a little of that stabbing.”

Weed frowned. “I wish it worked like that but I was counting on you to kill him after bringing you back to your senses.”

Richard shot an angry look back at Weed. “I am never going to kill him. I rather kill myself than him.”

“Well I am not sure if we can save him…” Weed replied slightly hurt that Richard was not as agreeable as he had hoped.

“First explain to me what happened.” Richard said as he motioned Weed to go deeper into the garden maze.

“Where are we headed?” Weed asked.

“Just go on and explain…” Richard hurriedly replied.

“Are we running away?” Weed asked.

“He is not someone I can challenge with my powers sealed.” Richard replied.

“WHERE ARE YOU RICHARD???” Weed could hear Arthur shouting from the distance. ‘That one has gone mad…’ Weed decided to get on with the explanation, he didn’t know why Richard was in such a hurry to hide.

“Did you meet any of my kind seven or eight years ago?” Weed asked as they began to run as silently as possible (the sneak skill was quite handy).

“Graced Humans?” Richard asked as he looked back to see if they were being pursued.

“Yes.”

Richard jogged his memory a bit and then replied. “Not that I remember.”

Weed bit his lips, ‘They had to have interacted for it to work!’

“Are you sure?”

“Positively, because seven to eight summers ago we were….” Richard paused and stopped running.

Weed stopped as well. “What is it?”

“No there was one…” Richard said as he looked at Weed suspiciously.

“One what?” Weed asked hurriedly.

“One Human...by the name Weed that we met.” Richard replied.

“No we are not related.” Weed shot back to Richard as Richard started giving him suspicious looks. “And did he give you something?”

“We were at my summer house for fishing. I remember now that he was fishing in my lake without my permission but to make it up to us he promised to make us the best food ever something we had never ate before…sushi he called it…other than that I don’t think he gave me anything else.”

“Yes, he did.” Weed replied. “He poisoned you both then.”

Richard looked shocked. “Poisoned?”

“Yes, a very rare type of poison which only existed so far in my mind as a figment of my imagination.”

“I am not sure I follow elf.”

“It was either than fisherman who poisoned Arthur and you or someone who works under you. Although I would like to believe it is someone under you since it seems more obvious but that won’t answer the question why now.” Weed said as they hit a dead end.

Richard pushed a red brick and the brick wall in front of them moved sideways.

Weed closed a message he received; he had discovered another secret passage of Lavias.

“This poison?” Richard began.

Weed cut him off as they made their way through the passage. “It as you are thinking. It corrupts your mind, you give into your vilest desires.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” Richard asked suspiciously.

“It’s a mere guess at this moment. The fact that the anti-poison / cure worked on you means I guess that’s what it was.”

“…”

“You don’t remember what you did?” Weed asked sensing the miserable silence.

“There are gaps in my memory.” Richard replied.

“Try not thinking about it too much. Focus on Arthur.” Weed replied.

“Arthur too is poisoned. We must save him!” Richard replied.

“In a war there are losses and sacrifices, Arthur can’t be saved right now.” Weed replied. “Get it? We can save him later…”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Richard stopped dead in his tracks, “I will not let Arthur be a sacrifice.”

‘Oh my f*cking God!!’ Weed groaned as he looked at Richard. “Either you kill him or we escape! Choose?”

“We must save Arthur, Elf!”

“Let me break it down for you.” Weed furiously replied. “The poison makes you act on your vilest desires. That means Arthur plotting your assassination was his deepest darkest inner desire.”

“…”

“Do you know what I have had to deal with tonight?”

“…”

“I just watched over two thousand nobles slaughtered before my eyes, I saw my friends die because of you two!!”

“Because of us?” Richard bitterly. “What did we do?”

“You ate FISH!” Weed shouted angrily.

“…” Richard kept silent.

Weed paused as well for a moment. He got too excited and caught up in the moment.

“Here is what happened and you need to make a final decision after hearing me out. Arthur wanted to kill you. He plotted your downfall and sowed the seeds of hatred for you. The coup was setting a stage for himself to ascend as Lord of Lavias. He instigated the rebel nobles against you. He literally got the Graced humans to work with the nobles but all along he wanted to get rid of them so he had them killed. He wanted to have the Graced humans killed so he had soldiers hiding and wait for everything to settle down. Do you understand?”

“And me?” Richard asked.

“Your part in it all?” Weed confirmed.

“Yes..”

“The Ninjas and the fire nation patrol unit, was you.” Weed replied.

“Fire nation?” Richard asked as they began crawling through a tunnel.

“Don’t worry, they have been taken care off.”

“…” Somehow Weed’s assurances failed to address Richard’s worries.

“Are you certain about this?” Richard asked.

“Well most of it is just a hypothesis but I have been right all along. I believe both of you wanted to kill the nobles that much you both have in common. Who hired whom is all just guesswork at this point.”

There was another possibility which Weed did not explain. It was also possible that Arthur might have master minded everything. He may have chosen to sacrifice a few of his soldiers with the ninjas. He then had more hiding to do the clean-up and would drive away the ninjas. Or maybe the ninjas were his personal force and would back off. In this confusion Arthur would have Richard killed and with so many here against Richard, the truth would forever be sealed away. The common people would welcome Aurthur believing that Richard was killed off in an invasion hence the fire nation troops fitted in perfectly and Arthur would get some kind of monetary support from the Wind Empire to strengthen the stronghold…and Richard’s role in the whole thing was just to become a catalyst of transforming Arthur into the dangerous beast he had become.

There were numerous other possibilities…but this was by far the one that Weed liked most. It seemed most apt that a humble and soft spoken Arthur do things rightly. Arthur was too immaculate to leave any stone un-turned it was his personality and Weed could read (most of the times) people like a book.

Whatever the possibilities were, Weed knew that Arthur wanted Richard dead. Both Richard and Arthur wanted the nobles dead. So now the trivial question was who employed the players, soldiers and ninjas to do their bidding? Weed didn't care about this bit at all. Normally it would be impossible to gather all the nobles in one place without a reason. The circumstances were dire and the possibility of a coup looked more distinct than ever, hence the elven celebrations came at a perfect time. Both Richard and Arthur planned to behead the nobles in during tonights celebrations. Their only problem was each other, since both thought of the same thing...the resultant was the chaos that ensued. Ninja's killing nobles and soldiers, soldiers killing nobles and ninjas and Geomchi's killing guildmasters...nothing went as per either Richard's or Authur's plan because of Weed. Both Richard and Arthur were guilty of murder in his books, though they did not corporate, they both planned for the same.Weed only wanted Richard to take some blame for the incident and leave him feeling guilty. A person ridden with guilt would more likely listen to him than one who is not… or so Weed thought.

“I cannot accept your words elf.” Richard replied as he stopped dead in his tracks.

“What do you mean?” Weed asked.

“It is difficult for me to accept them, however since I have no memory of such dealings I am inclined to believe you. If what you say is true then I have a responsibility that I owe to my people and most of all Arthur.” Richard responded in a dignified manner.

“Arghh…” Weed groaned they were back to square one. “And how do you plan to defeat Arthur or convince or reason with him? Aren’t you the one running with your tail between your legs? What just happened after you knocked me out?”

“…”

“Well?” Weed asked again.

“I came back to my senses and only saw Arthur attacking me. So I pulled back and took you in my wings…” Richard mumbled.

“Which is called running away…” Weed explained.

“Yes! Because at the time I had no clarity why were we fighting, why my house was such a mess and why were all those whom we had invited lying dead in front of me…”

“…” Weed couldn’t empathize with Richard nor did he want to. Then suddenly an idea hit Weed. “Do you truly wish to save him?” Weed asked with his lips curling up with a smile.

“Yes…”

“Do you remember the story Arthur narrated?” Weed hinted.

“The twin dragon blades?” Richard asked.

“Yes, it’s a chance it might work or at least give you an edge.” Weed replied excitedly as he figured he would no discover where they were hidden.

“That might be a problem.” Richard replied.

“Why?” Weed asked.

“They are in the mansion…”

“…”

“We need to go back from where we came…”

“…” Weed didn’t understand what the problem was.

“We need to get past Arthur for that…” Richard turned around and began crawling back.

“F*CK!” Whispered Weed.

- Auto censorship applied!

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Authors Note:

1. Bonus chapter

2. :( left my laptop charger at work ....will post C12 tomorrow.

3. Minor Edits.

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