NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27: Alright, alright. What’s your Back Story, Sadistic Prick?
It’s a horrifying discovery to find out that Kanra is completely locked by the time they return two days later. They’re beneath the metal city gates. Wascald is standing atop the tall fortress walls with a bullhorn in his hand. Two griffin emblemed guards on each of his side. The soldiers are starting to cause a ruckus from the confusion. Soril hollers towards him,
“What’s the meaning of this? Are you committing another treason after I spared your life for the last?”
“Treason is when you took my men to Feror without even consulting me. Where’s my son, Soril Blaine.”
“He’s dead. Don’t test my patience and open the gates right now.” The revelation made Wascald go completely pale. There’s denial at first. Then anger. Stumbling back a few steps before stabilizing himself against the battlement,
“He was killed because you attacked!” She interferes,
“He was long gone before then.” Attracting his attention to her, but he isn’t addressing her when he questions,
“Who’s that?” identifying Rakgar lying on top of it.
“The man who sent you your son’s hands then killed him.” It makes him wobble on his legs again. His face completely flushes red when he roars,
“If I can’t have my son, then I shall have my son’s murderer!” Soril says,
“Can’t do. His Godorian sister has Feror. We need him alive.”
“I think you are mistaken here. You may mean something in the capital, but here in the outskirts of Astia, I control the grain, I control the supplies that feed my army that you stole to rescue your little wench.”
“And you’ll defend the city alone with your few hundred personal guards?”
Wascald digs through his pockets to pull out a green note,
“I know you have orders from the Crown Prince to be here. You’re obligated to stay until you secured the safety of Kanra.”
“Then why are you going out of your lengths to prevent that?”
“Going out of my lengths?” he scoffs, “All I see is a traitor that is keeping the enemy alive for no other reason than you lost Feror to a woman!” the soldiers are backing him up this time,
“They have a massive cavalry in the thousands!”
“It’s not just Godor, the Estelian troops will be coming too!”
“We’ll all be mauled if you don’t open the gates! There’s no way we can win against horses on the ground!”
“It will not be me that causes your deaths but the incompetent leader that you chose to follow. If you want to enter my city, then convince him to deliver me the head of my son’s murderer!”
Wascald doesn’t stay further to deliberate. Disappearing behind the gaps. Woah. Guess mercy in this world only bites people in the back. No wonder Soril is the way he is. She can tell he’s frustrated. She suggests,
“Can’t we just dig in? The ground is soft.”
“No. The walls go meters deep. There’s just more scalding water beneath.” Right. That’s how she got the fumaroles to erupt in the first place.
“What about secret entrances and tunnels?”
“If there were such things, then the Estelians would’ve already used it first.”
“How about the back of Kanra? There’s a tiny metal door.” He orders a soldier to go check on it before commanding an encampment to be set up. Guess he doesn’t feel too optimistic about that either. If Wascald is determined enough to lock them out, then he probably wouldn’t leave such a massive oversight.
Another half day passes when all the tents are erected. The half skeletal corpses of Estelians moved out. It’s evening now and the situation is tense. Soril is currently amid a heated discussion with some of the garrison majors about what they should do. She eavesdrops on the conversation from the outside. Lots of points are being thrown across the elongated table,
‘Killing Rakgar will allow us to enter the city!’
‘Then we can forget about reclaiming Feror!’
‘There’s also a looming threat of a joint attack from Godor and Estelis. Keeping him alive is the only way to dissuade that!’
‘We can kill him, then stall and turtle in the fortress until aid from Astia’s inland arrives!’
‘That’s still well over a month away!’
Either way. She’s able to conclude, the consensus is that no consensus can be found and everyone’s just arguing. At least they brought enough supplies to have dinner tonight. She decides to leave. Swiping a few more daggers to tuck into her corset from the armory before going down the encampment, she heads towards where Rakgar is kept.
Ovid and Theo are currently guarding the entrance of the tent,
“Miss Lumeria, what are you doing here?” she lies,
“I just wish to scorn my captor.”
“I’m not sure if Lord Blaine would like that though. He instructed us to not let anyone in.”
“If Soril gets mad, he’ll get mad at me. I won’t get you in trouble.”
They exchanged a befuddled gaze before relenting, letting her through. Closing the sheet behind her. She inspects around. It’s spacious. Far better condition than she was held. The blaring chatter outside will probably drown out any conversation from the inside.
There’s a cage at the very end. Rakgar’s slumped against the bars. Hands bound behind his back. Fierce red fringe falling over his eyes. The blood on his chest has now mottled black. Heavily breathing from the wounds. She walks towards him,
“Stop pretending to be unconscious. I know you’ve been awake for a while.” He flicks his face up to match her glance,
“The loom of fate likes to spin in ironic ways.” guess this is what the four motherfuckers meant by a defiant look in the eyes huh. It’s quite satisfying to behold.
“Indeed.” but she’s not actually here to taunt him so she gets to the point,
“How certain are you that Soril’s father killed the Duke of Estelis?” he smirks at her,
“Let me guess. He completely denied it.”
“Why should I trust your words instead?”
“I don’t need to convince you of anything.”
“You may want to consider, I hear they plan to kill you.” she takes her dagger out to show him, “right now, I am your only chance of salvation.”
“You’re a tricky little lock picker I see.” he slouches back into the bar, studying her face for a while,
“But you’re still a bad liar. You have no intentions of freeing me.” tsk. He’s stubborn. She’ll need to change up her speech tactics. She bends down to meet his eyes, leaning herself forward to grip at the grills,
“I think this just means; you don’t know anything else either. You heard about it from the rumors and that’s all you’re parroting to me. How could you personally know the Estelian royal family? Your troops do not use honorifics with you. You’re merely a commoner in Estelis. You escaped from your motherland to pursue power and status in a Kingdom that will celebrate instead of oppress you for having a penis between your legs.” there’s a flicker in his eyes for that,
“That’s an amusing assumption. Tell me then. What else can you deduce, clever little missy?”
“Your father is a nobody. Your maternal side is who truly holds the reins. Godorian royalty. Someone close to the Sansara to have command over their armies. Let me guess, your half-sister is the princess, and you’re the rebellious runaway prince.” This way, it adds up how they eventually join hands. The Sansara wants her son back from Estelis. He laughs,
“You’re so creative you can write a novel.”
“Am I wrong in any of my guesses?”
“Almost entirely spot on except for the most crucial detail.” she got him talking, now all she needs to do is probe,
“And that is?”
“My father is somebody, alright. Enough to let me know the true reason behind the assassination of the Duke of Estelis was because he found out a secret that Astia is desperately trying to hide. A secret that will cause this Kingdom to crumble from within. They were just trying to hit two birds with one stone.”
“What secret will that be?”
“If I knew the actual secret, then I would’ve long spread it and let Astia crumble.” This means, it’s something within Astia’s royal family. If that’s the case then, Soril might not have been lying to her. He might have just truly not known. Now the reasons pushing her towards meeting this mysterious Crown Prince herself are piling higher and higher. She can consider that later, first, she needs to find ways to avert the impending danger,
“I can make sure you get handed over to your sister safely. In exchange give me your promise that you’ll go home and persuade your mother out of interfering with this war.”
“I’m afraid that won’t do.”
“You can’t pursue power and status if you’re dead.” he’s grinning when he says,
“But I can die trying to destroy the Kingdom responsible for robbing away the only person that unconditionally loved me.” she gasps,
“And that person is...” She had made a big misassumption. The soldiers don’t use honorifics with him not because he is a commoner by blood. But because he’s a bastard son by Estelian standards.
“The very Duke of Estelis that was assassinated by Evan Blaine.” Fuck!