While the castle erupted into chaos over the lost prince, young Galliard was bound and unconscious in the back of a cart being pulled by two horses. Three treacherous members of The Thousand Masks rode towards the castle gates as they tried their best to look inconspicuous. The spell they used to hide and silence the prince undetectable to those around them.

It was the perfect time to take the lordling, being the first time the young mask had drunk heavily, he was too hungover to put up much of a fight. Along with so many Masks leaving the castle of Wrath it would take a long time for them to pinpoint just who stole the prince, that is if they ever do. It had almost been too easy to tempt the young teen away with promises of a healing spell that would help him with the unfortunate hangover he was suffering from.

As they rode side by side with many other members of the mask they silently hoped that leaving his room in disarray would grant them at least a small headstart. Though it would not deter them for long it would take a while before they realised that someone they knew had taken him from right under their noses. That gives the traitors just the right amount of time to escape.

Now though came the tricky part, even with the young lord under multiple anti detection, invisibility and misdirection spells in the back of the cart there were far too many lords and ladies still within teleportation range to become complacent.

Faster than any of them would have wished for the burst of alarm magic, and the distant bells of the watchtowers started to sound.

"Shit looks like the hunters will be out soon," Rena spoke, preparing her magic veins for an area teleportation before the woman beside her smacked her over the head."Fuckin…the hell was that for you bleeding cunt?" She cursed at the larger mask, rubbing the back of her head.

"Do that and everyone from here to the Crystal Forest will be able to track the mana swell,” The older woman, Olga, admonished sternly. “Furthermore, we will end up being passed around the regiments as breeding harlots faster than you can say drake fangs."

"They will catch us even faster if the two of you do not silence yourselves,” A man's voice came from the back of the cart grumpily. “One of the trackers will overhear you."

He had a point, Rena was not thinking, she had been so overcome with fear when she heard the warning bell that her instinct was to run. She knew that what they were doing if caught, would be punishable by a fate worse than death. Lord Wrath was not one to be known to let those that crossed him off easily, after all. Picturing everything he would do to her had her very soul quaking.

It was not until they made it out of the area undetected that they allowed themselves to finally breathe a breath of relief. It was at that moment that the young lord woke up in a dire situation, lucky, his brother had trained him for something exactly like this. Unlucky, the young prince paid little attention to his teachings as he thought they were unnecessary. The pounding in his head from the hangover that he got from drinking so heavily at the celebration did not help him either. Gathering all the strength he had he tried to contact his brother via his limited knowledge of telepathy magic, but even that had failed.

Galliard's mind was but a blur as he tried to think of how he ended up in his situation. The last thing he remembered was Xavier coming to his chambers first thing in the morn but everything after that is blank.

‘Oh no, I hope he was able to get away.’ The young boy thinks to himself, his heart heavy with dread at the thought of his friend being in danger.

It would do them no good if they were both caught, at least if he was able to escape he could go for help. Between the two of them, he knew that his death would cause no real loss to the clans, not with his brother now wed in any case. His bloodline would be secured soon. However, Xavier was the Lord of the Clan of Love with no real successor, for him to die would cause harm to all those under him. He had no problems sacrificing his life for the life of his friend and the good of the clans’.

Galliard struggled against the enchanted rope, trying to escape from its powerful entrapment. When it became evident that he would not be able to even weaken the hold it had on him, he decided to use what was left of his powers to search inside the wagon. Relief washed over him, allowing him to relax slightly when he was unable to detect anyone in there with him.

Galliard tried to stay awake for the ride but between the hangover and whatever they did to him to keep him sedated, he was struggling. His eyes slowly started to drift and before he knew it he was lulled back into sleep.

Galliard was awakened as his body hit the hard ground with a thud, the cloth covering his eyes and mouth ripped from him. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when it did he was shucked from what he saw in front of him. Two members of the Clan of Love, he did not know them personally or even know their names but he did recognise them from around the castle.

"He's going to fetch a high price, this one," Rena sneered at the young Prince, making him shiver in dread. "The Red King will be pleased that we captured the little rodent."

"T-t-The Red King?" Galliard stuttered out in disbelief as dread settled into the pit of his stomach, he swallowed the knot that was forming in his throat.

"Ah yes, The King!" Xavier exclaims joyfully as he comes around the corner with a handful of dry logs. "Who do you think had your Lord father killed, did you think it was just a coincidence that he was out on a mission for him." He let out a hearty laugh.

"Xavier, How could you?" The Prince hissed out angrily at the sight of the man.

"How could I what you little pest?" He asked smugly. "How could I betray the House of Wrath by helping get your bastard father killed?" He laughed at the stunned face of the teen.

“You did wha-” The younger man sputtered in rage.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Or perhaps, how could I intentionally get you drunk so that you would be easier to ambush?” The traitor began to pace back and forth as he mocked him. “Fake a hangover the next day to get out of teaching those ungrateful imps so that I can spirit you away and take you to the king to get tortured, corrupted, or worse?" He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

Rena snorted at the astonished look on the young man. Amusement came to her eyes as it finally set in what was to become of him.

"Gold and power my boy," Lord Love stated without a drop of remorse. "As the Prince of Wrath, you will fetch us a high price and we will be rewarded greatly." His eyes were wide with a crazed look in them.

"Now you, then that pretty sister of yours," He chuckles darkly. "With her looks, she would make a fine breeding slave, after I have had my way with her of course." He looked down at the prince with desire in his eyes.

His sister, the only one who had truly looked after him after his mother had passed. The only one that had been there for him, even with her duties as the Ember Princess. More than any other person in the world she had looked after him and made certain he would be okay.

"That bitch has looked down on me for far too long, so now it's my turn to look down on her if you know what I mean." The grin that stretched across Xavier's face made him sick.

Galliard, now sick to his stomach, could not hold it back any longer and hurled all over the hard ground. He did not care what happened to him but his sister did not deserve the fate he had planned for her. She had already gone through so much in the few years she was kept prisoner and abused inside the Fang's cells. His three captors all turned their noses up in disgust stepping away from the vomiting boy.

Meanwhile, little did they know that there was someone much more powerful than them that had seen the young boy struggling. Taking that moment when they were distracted to strike. Appearing behind the three traitors and with a mighty swing of her flaming greatsword, she cut Rena into two steaming halves from crotch to brow. Her hot blood splattered everywhere, coating both herself and the young prince in crimson. She then turns towards the two now alert kidnappers, blades drawn and ready to strike down the foe.

"You Amazon wench, this has nothing to do with you!" Xavier spat, seemingly recognizing the woman, "I'll make this the last time you ever interfere with the Red King's plans."

Olga lunged first driving her blade forward in a mad charge, her blade aimed at the eyes of the Amazonian. The mysterious saviour sidestepped her attack and before she could counter she sliced off her legs in one quick swoop. The ear-splitting scream that bellowed from the depths of her would have been heard from miles away. Had Xavier not ensured that no sound could leave the clearing hours before. What was left of Olga’s legs began to burn as the fire spread to her clothing.

The Amazon woman then turned to the most treacherous of them all, the two circled each other slowly like hellhounds would a rival alpha. The young mask took the moment to wiggle away from the two warriors lest he is caught in the, perhaps literal, crossfire. Lord Love was suddenly before the woman, his black blade coming down on her own silver one. The two magical weapons locked momentarily creating embers as the Lord snapped a kick towards her side. She was ready for this however and ducked under the blow faster than even the Lord could keep track of.

Before she could take advantage of his overextension, however, she was forced to jump back. Stone spikes sprouted from the ground between them seeking to impale the warrior woman. Cursing slightly, she drew on her own power to match him. Magic shone brightly through her eyes as she unleashed a wave of fire from her blade towards the Lord of Love. Who quickly converted the spikes into a solid stone wall to protect himself from the flames. The man burst through said barrier a moment later, using the flames that had come from her weapon to coat his blade in an orange fire. They clashed, again and again, the glancing blows hard enough to shatter the body of most mortal races with the impact alone.

Sounds like thunder came from the two blades every time they deflected off of each other. Swift and furious as they were, it was a testament to the Lord of Love's anti-detection magic that they had not been instantly surrounded by hunters teleporting to the location. This though worked against the Lord rather than assisting him. Had the Lord produced the mind to take the spells down the hunters would surely attack the Amazon. To them, surely it would seem she was assaulting a Lord of the Thousand Masks who was trying to protect his Prince and wounded comrade. Perhaps the little Lord would tell the hunters of his betrayals, but of course, he had just been kidnapped by an Amazon warrior. He probably had been put under some memory spell to shake him, or at least that would be the story he weaved until he could dispose of the loyalist. Unfortunately for him, he had not had the foresight to do so before he had engaged and now he was facing an opponent that seemed to be winning this duel.

For a moment, as he drove a fist into the woman's gut and was forced away by the obnoxiously tall wench. He toyed with the idea of simply grabbing that useless greenhorn Olga and teleporting away. As long as she was not killed instantly she would recover, after all as inexperienced as she was the bitch was still Blessed and could regenerate eventually. Though it would take longer due to the magical nature of the Amazon's blade. After all, fear for one's family was a great motivator for ignorant fools to obey their betters.

The Lord snorted as he attempted to cut the legs off his opponent as she had done to his useless subordinate. Only to be thwarted as she stepped away and attempted to kick him in the face. The Lord took the opportunity to correct himself and bring his blade up. The black metal screeched against the greaves of the large Amazon as he attempted to cut through them to no avail. Runes flashed on the armour and the force of the kick displaced the man's blade, this would be his last mistake, as her own came up and cut through both of the man's elbows cleanly. Her opponent disarmed, she hammered his face with a heavy fist as he opened his mouth the scream, dislodging more than a few teeth. Another strike from the weapon and his legs soon followed leaving him on the ground looking like a toy belonging to a destructive child.

She sighed, seemingly disappointed in the Lord's performance, looking somewhat unsatisfied with the man. Shaking her head she placed seals on him to prevent his using magic to teleport away or otherwise accelerate his healing.

The Amazonian moved quickly to cut the little prince free from the bonds he had been in for he does not know how long now. Gilliard had been watching the whole fight in an awe-filled wonder, captivated by the bigger woman in front of him. Sure they had not been the strongest Masks, his brother would have killed Lord Love instantly, but when even a child of his kind could fold a fully grown mortal in half with their bare hands. The idea that some random Amazon could defeat all three of them was terrifying.

"Thank you," He bowed down at her feet trying not to cry. "Thank you so much, you saved my life and perhaps the life of my kin."

"You need not thank me, short one." She spoke in a voice as gentle as the wind. "I could not stand by and watch such cruelty of such magnitude." She nodded, satisfied.

Galliard looked up at the woman at her words, unsure how to respond to the words. Not many would take on such odds for the sake of someone they did not know. He knew that there was nothing he could do to ever repay her for unknowingly saving the lives of his people.

“Come now child,” His saviour ruffled his hair as she spoke. “I shall deliver you home.”