Chapter Twenty-Eight: Traitor
Azval
Lorcan would not let the officials send Princess Sina to the second lair. Damn! I should have known when he told me that he’d take care of it.
I have noticed the difference between Miss Estelle and Princess Sina’s mana even though there’s not much of a difference. He may noticed the difference too but he doesn’t know Miss Estelle.
How did everything of this happen?
There are a lot of questions in my mind but what matters to me the most is that I should go back to the second lair as soon as possible. Every second that Miss Estelle was there was a threat to her life. I should hurry!
As I was heading towards my horse, I put the letter on the inside chest part of my armor.
I cannot help but clench my fist. I don’t want to think of the possibility that Lorcan has trapped Miss Estelle in his fist and when he got the chance, he crushed her.
Is this your solution huh, brother?
You cannot send your fiancee yet you’re a coward for sending someone who looks like her! Most importantly, she is someone that is close to me.
The moment I held the reins of my horse, I felt a sharp object pointed at my nape. I stopped what I was doing and the rage inside me burned more.
“Sorry Prince, duty calls,” said the hoarse voice behind. I let out a smirk and faced him, making a small scratch on my neck.
“You dare point your sword on a Prince?” I said and touched my neck, “and graze him?”
He’s as tall as me and we have the same build. The knight in front of me belonged to the South as the emblems shined in his armor. He didn’t utter any more words but raised his palm instead and waved it as a signal. Moments later, not only I am surrounded by knights but I can also sense some eyes gazing at us from the trees. They are covered in all black, especially their faces. Assassins.
Oh, I see. Someone saw an opportunity to be able to dispatch the Prince while he was on a hunt.
Slowly, I pulled out my dagger that was hidden just right behind my scabbard. The moment it got the attention of the knight in front of me, I used my other hand to hit him hard. Of course, he didn’t hit the ground easily. It’s just that, that act pushed the other knights to charge at me all at once.
One of the knights tried to throw water on me which I have avoided but some of the drops went to my left arm and it immediately burned my skin.
“Argh!” I shouted in pain. That water… If I had taken that earlier, I could’ve burnt my insides.
For God’s sake!
The moment I drew my sword, one by one, they kissed the ground. Even the knight that dared to raise his sword against me.
These knights knew that they could not take me down easily yet they still even tried to be my enemy.
I pulled out my sword that was buried earlier in the knight’s shoulder. He groaned more in agony when I decided to step on it.
“Damn, these ungrateful bastards! After I saved you?” I said while panting.
I roamed my eyes around the bodies lying in front of me and wrinkled my nose when the stench of their disgusting blood reached it. I injured them just enough so they cannot use both of their hands… forever.
After wiping the blood that was on my face, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my cheek, and blood from it dripped on the ground. I urgently turned my neck and raised my sword. This time, instead of reaching my head, the dagger was countered by my sword.
I groaned in frustration. I really hate their flying daggers.
Around ten assassins surrounded me and attacked all at once. These assassins are trained differently from knights. They are more flexible and they have greater agility especially since they don’t have to wear heavy metals around their body.
“South, huh? If you swore your loyalty to the East, I can pay you more,” I said to one of the assassins as our dagger and sword met each other. I saw his gaze soften for a moment but then it sharpened again when he realized that he got stabbed by my dagger on his stomach. He immediately withdrew in my presence yet the others came into me.
I scratched my head impatiently. How many minutes has it been? I really should get this done now!
The clanging of our swords and daggers once again filled the whole place.
As the blood from my right arm dripped on the ground, the last assassin slowly dropped to his knees in front of me. With that, I annoyingly kicked his face for his body to move and drop to the ground.
The irritation, anger, pain, and tiredness were all mixed up as I headed and mounted the horse and balanced my body on top of it.
“Gee up!” I shouted and the horse started to gallop.
While letting go of the rein, I put some water on the cuts that I had, especially the burn I got from that drop of water. No, I am sure that it was damn poison!
When I gained some of my strength and mana after a while, I tried to double up my speed. I have lost a lot of time. The sun is starting to set soon.
“Come on!” I said to my horse as I applied more pressure to the reins and gave it some light kicks on the side. I maintained that fast speed not until the ground suddenly moved.
My horse suddenly slowed his moves and kept on whinnying.
What was that?! Don’t tell me…
Moments later I heard some gallops from my behind and it was getting nearer and nearer from me. I instantly drew my sword and when I found momentum, I pointed my sword to the rider.
“Woahh! Captain, it is I, Oddo,” he said as he raised both of his hands. “Bloody! Captain, are you alright?”
“Pardon, my judgment is lacking right now.”
Since I feel that my body is drained, I cannot sense which mana is whom, or maybe because of that damned poison crawling now into my system.
“Where are the others?” I asked not answering his question while putting my sword back.
“Captain, they are all killed. Not by the dragon but…”
“Damn. We really are betrayed,” I said and made my horse gallop faster.
“I managed to escape as I didn’t rest and searched the area instead. When I got back, they were all poisoned.”
Even if my knights died here, the suspicion would be only blamed on the dragon. They can all cover up this mess with the dragon’s abilities. After all, this hunt is all about the dragon and that is the only enemy known. Not knowing that the South is starting to make its move.
“Captain, there’s someone on sight,” Oddo told me as he saw someone running to us from the east. “It’s the Emperor’s knight!”
As soon as he said that, we changed our course and headed to that knight instead. When we met with him, we confirmed that he was indeed an Emperor’s knight through his emblem.
“Why did the ground shake? Report,” I commanded.
“Sir, the ancient dragon has already arrived at the second lair. Currently, the knights are clashing with it and unfortunately, only some traps worked. They might not hold for too, long.”
The knight in front of me was still catching his breath but managed to tell me the details I needed.
“And the Princess?” I asked. He shaked his head which made my eyes squint. “What do you mean by that?!”
“The Duke said the Princess has already arrived with his daughter but she suddenly disappeared along with her also.”
All the curses that I can think of emerged in my head. Miss Estelle is with Lady Emilia? Lady Emilia hated Princess Sina the most and now both of them disappeared? She’s crazy enough to kill her just because she wants Lorcan and the Princess’s engagement to be broken.
“Argh, this is killing me. Let’s go,” I said and giddy up my horse. I should head to the ancient dragon. If anywhere, Lady Emilia would surely bring Miss Estelle there, after all, the Princess is a sacrifice.
A sacrifice I won’t ever let happen. Just please Miss Estelle… please be safe until I arrive.
The dusk arrived which made it even harder for us to see our path. It also started to rain but it didn’t bother me at all. After all, we can hear some of the clashes with the dragon. Especially its loud and fiery roar. If we just went to the path closer to it, we could definitely see a glimpse.
We’re getting close to it!
“Is the Emperor already there?” I shouted to his knight as we could not hear each other if we just spoke in our normal voices.
“He is still on his way, Your Highness.”
Still?! I tried to make my horse go faster but it didn’t budge at all. I think this is his limit. After all, we’ve been galloping for hours now without rest or break. This horse is surely as tired as it can be.
Another shake from the ground made all of us slower. Other than the clashings and the roars, the more we get closer, the more it is that the shaking of the ground gets more extreme. There are already visible cracks in the ground.
“Be mindful of the path,” I told them.
“Yes, Captain— Captain, that man ahead of us, it’s sir Gareth!”
As we head closer to the man Oddo said, we slowed down and stopped at him. Sir Gareth, commander of the first division, and one of the knights I brought from me earlier.
“Captain!” he exclaimed while holding his right arm that is dripping with blood. He noticed that I looked at him so he began explaining himself, “The knights from the South attacked me suddenly. They betrayed—”
“Where’s your horse?” I cut him off and asked.
“He ran away when the ground kept shaking.” I looked at Oddo and he nodded at me. “Thank you, Sir!”
As Oddo was helping Sir Gareth climb up his horse, our attention was caught by a sudden grumbling of the ground and a huge light coming from the clouds near the underground cave’s direction. The continuous shaking continued as if the dragon was hurriedly heading in its direction also and later on, we caught a glimpse of its monstrous body and scale.
“Captain, that light… the only one that can emit it is someone with Holy Powers,” Otto said, “did they use the Princess already— Captain, wait for us!”
Damn! How can this be?
Miss Estelle is the one who is there so how could she emit such power?
Is she also a descendant of the Saintess?
No… no!
To sacrifice is to lose your life.
“Lorcan, you bastard!”
Comments (0)
See all