24 | ACT I, SCENE XXIV

P R E V I O U S L Y

I felt them carry me off to where everyone else was apparently shackled, before giving me a hard knock on the head as I passed out.

ARCTON FORTRESS, RIMEBAY, VERTGATE.

TRISTAN

THE SOUND OF THE MARCHING hooves and clashing swords thumped loudly in the midnight air. I raised my hand in a signal. In an instant, the one thousand men marching behind me stopped at once.

In front of us, the Arcton Fortress loomed tall in the night, formidable and strong and seemingly threatening in the tarnished moonlight. Our forces had halted, pausing for a while so that we could draw up our strategies.

"How are we going to rescue them all?" Philip whispered from atop his horse.

"And if Edwina was caught in their trap too... they'll have her, Eric, Amphitrite, Verona and Vanessa..." Llewellyn added. "Emerick has five gods in his prisons, Tristan. How will we save them all?"

"Simple," I muttered. "We take the Fortress," I added with a smirk, and a smile tilted up my lips.

"Take... take the Fortress? Are you mad?!" Llewellyn cried. "How in hell are you going to take an entire Fortress with one thousand men? Have you lost your wits, brother?"

"I would challenge you to a battle of wits but I see that you're unarmed," I grinned suggestively. He still looked at me like I was out of my mind. "What?" I asked. "Afraid of a little bit of blood, baby brother?" I chuckled.

"It sounds like wistful thinking, your Grace," Philip protested.

"It's called hope, Lord Commander," I said smugly. "You should try looking into it sometime."

"But-"

A sudden shrill cry tore through the night, drowning out Llewellyn's reply and piercing our eardrums, threatening to burst them.

A Rotavelle war horn.

"Damn it," Philip swore under his breath. The horn blasted again in a minute, yet this time it was accompanied by the clear sound of marching men and thumping hooves.

"Oh lord," someone whispered, as shapes began to appear over the horizon, towering against the battlements.

Green clad soldiers with the black and white unicorn of House Rotavelle shining dimly on their armor.

"Fuck," Llewellyn cursed, trying to count the men as my eyes did the same. One, two, three... there must be nearly five thousand men.

Well, if they really wanted to get their hands dirty... they were in for a surprise. I was always up for a good fight.

"Ready to take the Fortress?" I grinned eagerly over my shoulder, drawing out my sword.

"Are you mad?!" Llewellyn cried. "You'll get us all killed! They are five times our number! Are you so eager to go on a suicide miss-"

"Oh, come on," I snorted. "Men!" I called out angrily. "Who is coming with me to crush these pests?"

"I am!" said the lieutenant standing at the head of the army.

"I am!" echoed the generals, tapping their flagpoles on the ground on unison.

"I am!" Philip roared, along with each and every of the thousand men at once, in perfect unity.

"I... am!" Llewellyn shouted enthusiastically, and light sparked off my sword, met by the cheering roar of the Valmont soldiers, the lion fluttering in the breeze as all raised their swords in unison.

I leapt head first into the fight, as my men followed with loud cries.

• • • • •

We made short work of them in a matter of minutes.

Carnage wrecked itself all around me as I attacked the man in front of me. I deliberately left my flank exposed, swinging to the side to avoid the blow, then swiftly drawing a knife from my side as it did its job, moving on to the next.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

"Tristan!" Llewellyn gasped from somewhere, busy raining down boulders on the Rotavelle men around him. I quickly brought that one down with a dagger and the others scurried away like frightened mice. I could have used my powers like him, but where was the fun in that?

"We're nearly there," Philip observed, striking down three more men with a whip. "But where are the rest? I only saw Rotavelle soldiers. Not Lady Amphitrite, King Eric or the Queen Regnant. Where are they? And what about the Rotavelles who had taken over the Fortress?"

I slashed five more men through and swung over my sword, slashing the sixth straight through the chest, pausing.

"Both of you, go and look for the captives. I'll take down the rest of them on my own," I ordered.

"Are you a madman?! You can't defeat so many men on your own, let me help-" Llewellyn protested, running over to my side.

I impatiently shook off three more Rotavelle soldiers with ease. I turned around to find one of the braver ones aiming for my brother's undefended neck and a throwing knife left my hand as it whizzed through the air and sunk into his throat. Blood spurted like splatters of rain.

"You were saying?" I asked dryly, and both Llewellyn and Philip looked at me with wonder. "For the love of god, go!" I shouted.

"But... but where do we find them? Should we hunt down the remaining Rotavelles to find out where they've taken everyone?" Philip asked over the din of surging fight, dispatching a man with a mace.

Where were we going to find Edwina, Eric, Amphitrite, Verona and Vanessa?

I pulled out the flail locked into my boot and swung it around in a vicious stroke, tearing down all of the enemy around me. The third one in the circle slipped before I hit him, yet my alert eyes noticed a strange thing as I felled him to the ground.

He slipped before I struck him.

Pausing a moment, I dropped to my knees to examine the heel of his boot. There was no blood stuck to it to make him slip.

But there was something else.

A handful of pistachio nuts.

I looked around, further scanning the area around the foot of the marbled staircase. An ornamental banister curved upwards, white and pristine. And then I noticed the black smudges and stains on the railings, and even more pistachio nuts.

Someone had lit fires here and scattered pistachios around.

"Follow this trail," I nodded Llewellyn over. "It leads to the dungeons, where I'm sure they've held the other gods captive."

"But... are you sure, your Grace?" Philip whispered.

"As sure as I can be," I said confidently. "Hurry, free them all before I catch hold of those cowardly Rotavelles. Leave the traitors to me."

I watched the two of them run up the stairs, and angrily turned back to face the enemies surrounding me, pulling out both my swords, one in each hand.

I quietly thanked my stars.

The Queen Regnant of Endollon had cleverly left us a trail to follow.

• • • • •

EDWINA

"Edwina! Edwina!" a man shook my shoulders, shaking me, as I jerked awake all of a sudden out of dull, numbing unconsciousness.

The place I was in was dark, dank, damp and very dimly lit. Lord knew where it was. Perhaps it was not in the Fortress. My eyes took time to adjust to the pitch black surroundings, and it was in that moment that I realized I was chained to a post near the wall, with both my hands and feet tied and shackled by Ekrite manacles to an iron post.

Was I really that dangerous?

I could not escape. Not until someone unlocked the chains or broke them, neither which I could manage in my current state. A slight wince escaped my lips as I could make out the blackened skin on my wrists, looking like charred paper under the influence of the devilish Ekrite.

I looked at the person who'd been shaking my shoulders.

"Valmont?"

"It's me, Llewellyn," the white shape lightly slapped my cheek as he came into clearer focus. Dark grey eyes, a grey that were almost black, peered into mine, dancing with mirth like another set of very familiar dark blue eyes I knew.

Around me, I noticed vague shapes that were most probably Eric, Vanessa, Verona, and Amphitrite. They all appeared to be free, but I noticed thin Ekrite marks around their wrists. They must have been freed just currently as those marks were still fading into smoothness.

The thing about a Bloodstone wound was that it never faded, unlike that of Ekrite or an ordinary metal.

"Eric? Amphi? Verona, what did they do to you? Vanessa - are you alright?" I gasped, noticing a dark, deep spot of blood near her collarbone. The goddess of nature cheerfully flicked her hair to the other side, hiding it.

"I'm alright, my little sugarplum," she reassured me softly, bending down next to Llewellyn who seemed to be doing something to the locks of my chains with a thin knife.

"Typical, Edwina," Eric sighed, sitting down on the other side of Llewellyn to help me up. His fingers picked up a blackened wrist to find my pulse. "Worried about other's safety before your own, as always!" he chided.

I tried to get up but Amphitrite pulled me down.

"Amphi - are you alright? Are you-" I began, but she quietly put a finger to my lips and smiled, then exchanged a glance with Eric.

"I'm pregnant," she announced, and her eyes filled with tears. "With triplets..." my sister whispered with pride.

"What? Congratulations!" I beamed, wanting to reach over to hug my little sister, but my hands were still clasped in chains.

"Why did you come? It was a trap, Edwina!" she cried angrily. "What if Emerick hurt you?"

"But-"

"Congrats, Amphitrite!"

I suddenly felt the sharp prickling of a blade near my feet and a thin trickle of blood running down my ankle.

"Whoops-" Llewellyn said apologetically, "-remain still for a moment, please," he muttered in a way just like Tristan, twisting the rapier into the thin slit of the lock.

"What are you doing?" I asked, staring at him with amazement.

"Picking this lock," he grinned happily, brandishing the blade at me.

A loud snap announced that my ankles were free of their restraints. Llewellyn took another minute to free my hands. When he was done, I rubbed my wrists, closing my eyes.

"How did you find us?" Eric and I asked Llewellyn at the same time.

"Someone left a trail of... pistachio shells for us to follow," Llewellyn explained with an admiring look.

"That would be me," I said sheepishly, shooting him a smile and hearing him chuckle in the darkness.

"Where's everyone else?" Amphitrite shrieked. "Emerick-"

"-Emerick?" Llewellyn turned around. "It was him that tricked you?"

"Yes..." Verona sobbed, quiet and pale. She hadn't said a single word.

"Stop whining, everyone! This way!" Llewellyn declared, sliding a rock out of his way and motioning for us to follow him.

"What is this room?" Eric observed, pausing to look around at the faded marble walls which were showing cracks of plaster, dull and dark. It was a side of the Arcton Fortress of Rimebay I had never seen.

"I don't know. I think it's some sort of old prison which is no longer used by the Emmersons," Llewellyn grunted, climbing down the stairs hurriedly. "This way!" he shouted, as Eric poured out the whole story: how Rosalva had fled due to how the Rotavelles threatened to take the city, how they tricked Verona and how scared they were that I'd fall into the trap.

There were several loud bangs coming from down the corridor, punctuated by curses and the clanging of knives. There was a lot of smoke in the air, which was black and sooty from my handiwork. As we got nearer, I realized that the fire I'd started in the throne room was still happily spreading around.

A slow smile curled up the corners of my lips as I picked a bloody knife from the floor and broke into a sprint to the burning throne room.

I was going to give the Rotavelles hell for daring to even touch my pregnant sister.

"Wait!" Llewellyn ran up to me and pulled me back. "Wait," he panted, trying to keep up my pace as soot settled itself into his jet black hair.

"I have a House to murder, Llewellyn. Let me aside," I growled, and suddenly, there was a loud rumble of thunder, and I felt the ground shake beneath my feet as a fierce gale of wind made the walls of the entire corridor quiver.

The doors flew open with an angry howl of another gust of wind, stronger than a hurricane.

On the threshold of the doorway, stood Tristan, astride his black stallion with a temper as black as night. Lightning flashed once more, and his eccentric blue eyes roamed over my body coolly, making me shiver in places that had no business shivering given the current situation.

"There's no need to go after anyone," Llewellyn whispered from beside me, mischief shining clearly in his voice. "My brother has taken the fucking Castle."

• • • • •

Well... there are a lot of things I'd like to say, but first I'd like to get hold of Emerick and give him a nice punch in the gut *smirks* How do you think the gods will finally settle this conflict with Edwina and the Rotavelles?