I’d spent a great deal of my free time after magic school reading stories of heroes and villains. Never did I imagine that I’d ever be in one of those stories, following a hero into the jaws of glory and death. There were a lot of things I didn’t see myself ever experiencing when I was young, and now I was about to engage in a life or death race against time to help someone I never thought I’d ever sympathize with.
Funny how life was like that.
What surprised me was that our “accommodations” weren’t designed to hold mages. It was probably because nobody expected to find mages so deep into Ishmar’s territory before, but it was a stroke of luck I was willing to accept. After waking both Alverd and Alicia, I melted the lock off the door and we grabbed our gear.
Of course, I had to spend some time recovering from the feat of melting a steel lock without my staff. I got another nosebleed and massive headache, but other than that, I didn’t have any lasting damage or trauma. I had gotten off lucky again. I’ll admit, I wasn’t a big fan of pushing my luck. It had a nasty tendency to run out when I needed it most.
I had a moment while I was waiting for Alicia to help Alverd into his armor to wonder again why Marcus had left it so close by. If he were really as smart as he claimed to be, he would’ve thrown our gear into the deepest hole he could find and left us to rot in the cell. He’d even left my staff here. I couldn’t help but feel like he was playing us. It couldn’t have been just his arrogance. The sound of Alicia rapping her knuckles against Alverd’s plate armor to let him know he was secure put an end to my speculation, but it was still nagging me.
With a fair degree of gusto, I conjured up a bolt of lightning and blasted the reinforced door Eliza had sealed off its hinges. The door sailed forward and impacted the opposite wall with a satisfying crunch. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any guards in the adjacent corridor, so the noise from the impact didn’t bring anyone running. So far so good.
Just as we were about to set out, Alicia stopped us. “Wait. What do we do if we run into any guards? What if Marcus has already informed Father of our supposed betrayal? I don’t want to kill innocent men because of his treachery.”
My opinion of the tiny Princess took another leap in the right direction. Even amidst all this, she still put the welfare of her subjects above her own safety. In retrospect, despite her temper and slightly disagreeable personality, she obviously would have made a great queen.
Alverd reassured her. “Regardless of what they know, I will do my best to keep whatever guards we encounter alive. We will make for the throne room with all haste. If anyone can convince your father of the threat Marcus poses, you can, Princess.”
She smiled for the first time in what had been an eternity. Then she hefted her maul and ran for the door. “Follow me, then. We go to the throne room first. Father will see reason, I know he will!”
We followed her down the corridors and hallways of the castle with Alverd carrying me for the first bit of the way since I was still a little groggy from my jailbreak. We didn’t run across any guards or soldiers, which was odd. As we got closer to the throne room, that odd feeling turned into full blown suspicion. Where were all the guards? Could they really all be at the arena by now? It didn’t seem plausible. We didn’t even see maids or other servants puttering around. We finally found ourselves outside the massive doors of the throne room. Hesitantly, Alicia put her hands on the doors, and pushed them open.
The throne room was empty, save the King on his throne. Alicia gasped in surprise, a smile of relief spreading on her face. As she stepped closer, that smile vanished. There was a knife protruding from the King’s chest. His eyes stared blankly into oblivion, his mouth open in what I could only deduce was surprise. His hand gripped his scepter tightly and his head lay tilted to the side. From poking his hand, I could tell his skin was pallid and cold; he had been dead for some time. It was obvious what had happened.
Alicia sank to her knees, tears freely flowing from her eyes. A horrible sob shook her body. Alverd leaned down to comfort the poor girl. She looked up at him, and I saw none of the strength she had exhibited before.
She was just a young girl whose father was dead.
“Why? Why did this happen? Father…I’m so sorry…” I stood there holding my tongue. It was not my place to say that justice had been done. This man had been responsible for the destruction of our home. He had raised seven children who craved war, death, and bloodshed, and unleashed them on the unsuspecting people of Marevar. For him to die like this was not the justice I had envisioned, but it was still what he deserved.
And yet, one still wept over his dead body. Despite all the evil he had perpetrated, the one child who had remained pure still cried for him. The scene before me was difficult to swallow, honestly. Alicia had earned my respect by demonstrating an earnest heart, but that was only one drop of water in a raging sea. I didn’t care how pure of heart Alicia was. It didn’t make up for the blood spilled by the King or the rest of his foul progeny.
I felt torn. I’d only gotten through the last five years because every night, I’d reminded myself that I still had a reason to keep living. To keep fighting. I had to avenge Laura, Farnus, all the Marevarians who’d died. I did so by envisioning the King of Dragon Tamers. What he must have looked like, so smug on his throne of blood and death, sneering at the pain he caused others. What it would feel like when I finally killed him.
Now he was gone. I’d been robbed of my chance. I glanced over at Alverd and saw a similar anguish in his features. We knew closure would only come by killing the King, something Alverd had sworn he would never do in cold blood. It was all gone now. While Alicia continued to wail at her Father’s feet, I saw Alverd’s hands shaking, his fingers opening and closing in the same gesture I’d seen in the dungeon.
…for the second time in our lives, we were little boys lost in the woods, with nowhere to go and no idea how to get there.
After Alicia regained her composure, she lowered her father’s eyelids. Then, she reached into his robes, fishing for something. She pulled a key out and slipped it into one of her pockets. She kissed her father’s forehead gently, the last gesture of affection she could show for him.
When she stood up, I saw a new resolve burning in her eyes. It wasn’t vengeance. It was just…determination. No matter how this played out, she was going to get justice. Her brother had gone and done the unthinkable and she was the only one who was going to take him down for it. If that meant his death, then her eyes told me that she had made peace with that.
The sound of the throne room doors opening drew our attention to the four guards who had just entered. Behind them stood a knight in black armor, the signature scaled motif making it clear he was a Black Scale Legionnaire. Even more damning than that was the Ishmarian numeral for one painted on his shoulder, making him one of Marcus’ toadies. The Legionnaire smirked as he saw us, then pointed his gauntleted finger across the hall.
“Well, well. The First Prince was right. The Eighth Princess’ plot is already underway. And now the King is dead. As if that wasn’t heinous enough, she’s relied on foreign spies and mages to help her carry out her sinister plot.” He backed towards the door. “Detain them. I will bring word to the other royals.”
No. That nagging feeling from before became a full realization. Marcus had wanted us to escape. And he had counted on Alicia running straight to her father. Now we were caught standing over the King’s dead body with the murder weapon still sticking out of him, and a Legionnaire ready to “swear” he’d borne witness to it all. I felt sick. Not because he’d pulled such a simple ruse on me, but because he was willing to bet on his sister’s weakness to play straight into his hands.
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A sudden burst of rage surged out of me and into my staff. Almost by pure instinct my hands shot up and I aimed the staff in the direction of the guards. It was a wonder of last minute willpower that I remembered that we were trying to avoid casualties; instead of channeling lightning, I instead blew a gust of wind down the hall at them.
The gust buffeted into the four guards and threw them against the far wall, and their heads slammed against the stone hard enough to make their helmets rattle. When they hit the ground, however, they were still groaning. One reached feebly for his sword, but I ran over and slammed my staff down on his helmet, knocking him out for good. With a groan, he fell silent.
Alicia was right behind me. She smacked the haft of her maul into another guard to knock him out. Alverd brought his shield down on the last two. With all the guards incapacitated, we took a moment to catch our breath.
The young princess’ eyes were ablaze. “If that’s the way you want to do this, Marcus, then so be it. An eye for an eye has always been the berserker’ way. If you want to take what’s most precious to me, then I’ll do the same.” Quick as a flash, her leg lashed out and smashed open the throne room doors.
She motioned for the two of us to follow. When we returned to the corridor, she took us in the opposite direction from the arena. We followed in confusion.
“Why are we going in this direction? You said the arena is the other bloody way. It won’t be long before your brother’s Legionnaires come looking for us in force! Or maybe your sadistic sister Eliza will hunt us down like dogs. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to know that her archenemies are running loose in the castle.” I shuddered at the thought of Eliza catching up to me. The thought of that woman licking her bloodied lips sent a chill down my spine.
“We’re going to get something first. It’ll help us!”
We ran through empty halls and silent rooms until we stood before a door made of solid gold. Flanking the door were tapestries of a great dragon, so big that it dwarfed entire mountain ranges. I recognized them as being similar to the murals from the Nest. They were depictions of Evros, the Mother Dragon.
A lithograph of a man with arms outstretched to Evros was carved into the door. It had to be Deyovar, first king of Ishmar. In the very center, a nondescript keyhole could be seen. Alicia pulled the key from her pocket and jammed it into the keyhole. I could hear the door mechanisms grinding within; the door had obviously not been opened anytime recently. The door swung open slowly to reveal a vault full of treasure. I had to shield my eyes from the dazzling vision that assaulted my eyes as the light hit what lay within.
Piles of gold lay before us. Relics and baubles of incalculable worth filled my vision. Gems of every color sparkled like the rainbow itself, and even the draconic statues flanking the treasure room were made of solid gold. Beautiful jewelry lay strewn about the room, adorning busts of ancient kings forged from gold and silver. But nothing drew attention like the sword seated upon a pedestal in the very center of the room.
The sheath of the sword was a beauty to behold. Unmistakably the work of a master, it glittered with rubies and gold filigree and a flawless blue lacquer finish. A thick, golden thread was fastened to the top of the sheath and wound around it several times since it was meant to be tied around the waist of the one who wielded it. The sheath was rectangular in shape, curved at the tip to fit the sword hidden within and it commanded attention with its presentation. I could feel my mouth dropping in awe of the bloody thing, and I didn’t even care about swords in that way.
Alicia gingerly picked the sword up from its resting place in both hands. Then she crossed to where Alverd stood and offered him the sword. He took it slowly, admiring the weapon. He wrapped his hand around the golden hilt of the sword where a deep, blood-red ruby as big as my eyeball was set where the hilt ended and the blade began. He pulled it from the scabbard, revealing a blade that seemed at first no different from any other. It was long with two graceful edges ending in a sharp point. But upon closer inspection, unlike any of the Ishmarian blades I had seen prior, this blade sparkled like normal steel, giving it a bright and astounding appearance that put all of its imitations to shame.
“You saw this back at the fortress in the Nest,” She said. “This is the Sword of Evros. Our greatest treasure, forged from the metal pulled from the tooth of our goddess. What she gifted Deyovar before he… turned on her. This blade will tear normal steel asunder. It carries the Great Mother’s hopes for freedom and her terrible rage. And now… I offer this sword to you.”
Alverd looked at Alicia in confusion as she continued. “Think of it as payment for services rendered. You two are mercenaries, right? Well, consider this your new job. Help me avenge my father. Help me save my family and my country. Please.”
He hesitated. He turned the sword over in his hand, admiring the blade when it caught the light. She giggled. “You know? I just realized something. I think… I think my Father saw all this coming. For the past four years, he’s changed. He was kinder to me, indulged me in some of my sillier pursuits, and the day I learned the final doctrines of the berserkers, he was incredibly proud. He told me that one of the most important things I learned was not to harness my rage, but to control it.”
Alicia looked at the key in her palm. “This key… none of my siblings knew about it. Father told me that, if anything were to happen to him, I was to take the key from his body and use it to get the Sword of Evros. To take it as far away as I could, away from my siblings. I thought at the time that he wasn’t serious. But now, I see that he was wiser than I ever knew. I think… Father must have wanted me to take the throne.”
That was when it clicked in my head. The thing that had been bothering me earlier. I filed away my little private epiphany for now, since it was only a theory at the moment. If the opportunity arose, I’d be able to see if it was true or not. I kept my silence and let Alicia continue her own revelation.
“He wanted someone without the burden of innocent blood on her hands. He must have planned this for years. The leniency I was given in our trip to the Nest… in truth, my failure to control my dragon should have been grounds for my exile, or at the very least, the stripping of my title and right to the throne, even if we know now that it was baseless. But Father didn’t know that. He let me stay, and let me continue to fight for the throne. But now I have no allies, and my own family cannot be trusted.”
Alicia motioned to the sword in Alverd’s hand. “Please. Take this sword and help me avenge this wrong. I know that I have no right to tell you to do this, not after what my people did to yours, but please. You two are my only hope.” She actually knelt down and prostrated herself on the ground. Alverd stammered, fully caught off guard by what he was witnessing.
When she looked up, her eyes were shimmering with the effort to hold back a flood. She turned those big puppy dog eyes on Alverd. Even I started to melt a bit, looking at how pathetic she was. Of course, it was completely unnecessary. We would have helped her out anyway for a multitude of reasons.
For decency. For justice. For righteousness. And in my case, revenge.
The thought of payment never crossed our minds. Granted, my major motivation was still revenge, but I still knew that Marcus needed to die for the good of Ishmar and potentially the rest of the world. And Eliza needed to die to let the ghosts of Marevar rest.
Alverd held his hand to Alicia. “Milady, there is no need to humiliate yourself in such a way. Rest assured, we have come this far, and we will finish what we started. I am honored that you consider me worthy of such a sword, and I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations.” Alicia took his hand, and he lifted her back to her feet. Slowly, he carefully slid Evros back into its sheath, as if it were some glass bauble about to break.
“Both Kuro and I will help put an end to this sordid affair to the best of our abilities.” Alverd shot me a pointed glance. I didn’t have the energy to argue.
I turned to Alicia. “I swear, too. As much as it would please me greatly, I promise I won’t kill your siblings. I’ll do my best to stop this scheme without killing any of them. You have my word.” I had to grit my teeth for that last bit, but I managed to spit it out.
She, however, didn’t seem to mind. She was too busy wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. After some sniffling, she steeled herself for the trials ahead. It took her a moment before she could form complete sentences, but I didn’t need to hear her say anything to feel her happiness at our acceptance of her terms.
Alverd fastened Evros to his hip, although he still favored his old sword. I knew that he couldn’t throw away such a thing. He was a man of sentiment. That sword had been bequeathed upon him during his knighting, and come hell or high water, he would never let go of that sword. As much as my staff meant to me, that sword meant just as much to him. Alicia looked at him questioningly.
Alverd glanced at Alicia. “I’m sorry. I just… can’t. Some things are meant to be remembered. When the time comes, I’ll be ready.” Alverd leaned down and picked up a shield lying on the ground. Though it was gaudy to the extreme, Alicia confirmed that it was combat-ready, and we made our exit from the treasure room.
The arena was on the other side of the castle from where we were, yet we could already hear the celebrations beginning. According to Alicia, the king would sit in a special area that was secluded from the rest of the people. There would be no one to tell that he was dead, and would attribute his silence to his worsening health. If Marcus’s men were coming to get his body, we had just missed them by seconds. It seemed fortune favored our cause. About time something had gone right for us. If Fate was truly on our side, then perhaps the day would end in the way it should: with Alverd’s new blade straight through Marcus’s black heart.