stuff46:
Vantee baba. Nice updates up there. Its been long but the story worths the wait.

Thanks sir. I promise to make up for the wasted time. . .

Who has seen Tovot, Babieghaha, Mariemummy and Aydesmond??

VanTee20:


Lol. All of the above and more happened. That day was just a forgetable one.

When is yours?

9th on Thurs and I hope you would type another update by then .

VanTee20:
Who has seen Tovot, Babieghaha, Mariemummy and Aydesmond??

lols. Baba na unilorin o, den no wan gree

kizzykeziah:

9th on Thurs and I hope you would type another update by then .

I hope so too, but I'm not promising. Exam is pretty close . . .

Tovot:
smallie my cutest brother. happy happy belated birthday. sorry for missing your birthday, trust sally kept some cake?

Thanks sis.

No problem. Em. . . She actually did






not.

Aydesmond:
lols. Baba na unilorin o, den no wan gree

I understand your plight bro. I'm going through something similar too. . .

VanTee20:


I understand your plight bro. I'm going through something similar too. . .

nasoo ee be everywhere

VanTee20:


I hope so too, but I'm not promising. Exam is pretty close . . .

No need promising. Just digest the books well and crush the exams

silly you and sally. sally has made you stingy. so how old is smallie now?

VanTee20:


Thanks sis.

No problem. Em. . . She actually did






not.

Vantee!!!! How are you? Hope ALL IS WELL?
We're still PATIENTLY waiting...

Vantee20, hope you're okay?
Been a while you updated.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tonight, Rayon valley, the strip of wooded low land that stretched from the base of Mount Northworth to the water meadows that led up the Singuen Mountain, could quite suitably be called the valley of the shadow of death. The whole area was littered with the bodies of dead and mortally wounded men. The smell of blood and death pervaded the air. Cries of pain from the injured rented the air, swallowing the silence that was to be the norm at this time of the night.

In the dull silvery moonlight, it was just possible to make out the features of a young man with puckered hair crouched beside another young man who had a gaping battle wound in his chest. The wounded chap was Shaun, Elliot’s clean shaven friend and colleague. He had been pierced in the chest with a trident during the clash between the rebels and the search party.

“Keep still Shaun, you will worsen things with the way you are moving,” Elliott advised.

“What’s there to worsen? This wound is as wide as a chasm, I can’t survive it,” Shaun replied with a voice that was devoid of emotion. He was taking great pains to speak. It was obvious from the bunch of veins that stood out prominently on his temple and forehead as he mouthed each word.

“Shut up. You are not that bad off,” Elliott rebuked. “Carlen’s men will soon be here to take you for treatment.”

“I know, but I will be long dead before they come,” Shaun said pessimistically and before Elliot could get a word out, he added, “My throat is parched. Do you have a canteen on you?”

“I guess so,” Elliott replied as he ran his hands over every pocket in his battle apparel in search of a canteen. He found a small one in his hip pocket but its content had been long drained. “No, this one here is spent. I’ll get you another from the camp.”

“Please do,” Shaun groaned his plea.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Elliott said, bolting upright and dashing towards the camp to retrieve a bottle of drink.

As Elliott raced to and fro the campsite through the mass of still dead bodies and the writhing injured ones, the whole events of the night replayed in his head. The rebels had attacked them with great force, catching them unawares, terribly shorthanded and under armed. His men had defended themselves to best of their abilities but it was nowhere near enough. If there was any reason that the battle hadn’t been completely one sided, then it was because of that dark haired young man who had joined their side midway through the battle.

“Here. Northern wine, best stuff I could find,” Elliott said, handing injured friend a shabby looking goatskin.

The dying warrior took a swig and then nodded in appreciation, “Thanks, You can have Christiane now.”

Elliott threw back his head in laughter, “Why Shaun, I thought we both agreed that your sister is out of my bounds.”

“Out of your bounds? Really?” Shaun asked with a crooked smile on his bloodstained lips. “You think I don’t know about your trysts with her?”

Elliott was caught unawares there and he stomped for the right answer for what seemed like a whole minute.

“I’m sorry. She was . . . irresistible,” He mumbled when he finally found his voice.

“It’s alright. Don’t beat yourself up, I am. . .”

The sounds of beating hooves and approaching footsteps interrupted Shaun’s speech. Elliott turned to see five men with a two horse drawn wagon approaching them; four of the men were dressed in the official white and red garbs of the royal Physicians and the fifth man was a dark haired youth dressed in a hooded commoner garb with swords hanging on both sides of his belt. He was the same man that fought for the search party during the rebel skirmish.

Elliott regarded the youth more intently as the party drew nearer. For reasons he didn’t readily understand, he found himself drawing comparisons between himself and the handsome youth. The comparisons were not quite favourable for Elliott, he adjudged the other man taller, more handsome and better built and he had already proven himself to be the finer swordsman during the battle.

“How is he?” One of the physicians inquired from Elliott, indicating Shaun with a movement of his hand.

“He needs urgent attention, he won’t last much longer without that,” Elliott replied.

The Physicians promptly lifted Shaun and placed him on a gurney. They carried him to the huge wagon they came with while the long haired young man struck up a conversation with Elliott.

“Do you know why they attacked you?” The youth asked.

“Damned if I know,” Elliott replied. “You know, I’ve been thinking all this while and I still haven’t seen the sense behind that attack. I mean, why will the rebels launch an attack of that magnitude on a small search party like ours?”

“You are a member of a search party? I thought you are a patrol or something,” Marcus said. “What is the object of your search?”

“The Crown Prince, he has been missing for some time now,” Elliott replied.

“How long?” Marcus inquired.

“Roughly three weeks,” Elliott answered.

“Three weeks? Why, I saw him over a week ago.”

“Are you kidding? Where?”

“At the . . . can I trust you to keep a secret?”

“Yeah, anytime.”

“I saw him at the Weschion plain in the company of two knights. They were attacked by some beast and I was around to help. I got them medical attention after the beast knocked them out.”

“Do you know where he is now?”

Marcus shook his head, “I’m afraid, no. He left with his men shortly after getting well.”

Elliott ran his hand through his puckered hair in a gesture of reflection. “I’m trying to connect things here. The Prince is missing, we were searching for him and then a group of rebel militants attack our camp en masse. It doesn’t seem to add up.”

“I’m thinking that Prince is the rebel’s custody and you guys are probably searching close to their facility, so they felt threatened or something.”

“You can say that again, Cevout is only a day’s ride from here and there was some serious talk flying around camp that the Prince is being held there.”

“I’m positive that the Prince is at the Cevout facility. What I don’t know is why the King has not sent the army to tear the place apart.”
“I don’t know too man, Why don’t we ride up there and see if we can do something?”

“I was just about suggesting exactly the same thing.”

“Good then. What do you say to us loading our supplies and leaving now?”

“That’s fine by me. Come, what’s the name?”

“Elliott. What is yours?”

“Marcus, Pleased to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine.”

Unknown to both men, they were being watched, not by the physicians who were busy working their skilled hands on the injured men, but by a man who was hundreds of miles away from them. The wizened, age bent man who donned a silky, snow white robe had been watching them through an abnormally huge ball of crystal. In the very moment that Marcus and Elliott shook hands, the aged man broke into a lofty smile that revealed that age had taken its toll on his dentition.

“Finally,” He muttered. “The future is here.”



* * *


“Accept it D’Aubriere, your end has come.” Lady Suzannah said to Malzene D’Aubriere, the perpetually mischievous sorcerer, as her fireballs inched closer to him.

Malzene chuckled as he heard Lady Suzannah’s damning words. He was more than certain that he was not going to die today or any time soon. He had seen numerous visions of himself in times further into the future.

“You are wrong, Lady. My time is nowhere near being up. Perhaps, it is you whose end is nigh.”

That said, he raised his left hand at the speedily approaching balls of fire and cast a very powerful spell that brought a mighty whirlwind from the bowels of the earth and consumed all the fireballs in one sweeping moment.

“Any more tricks up your sleeves ma’am?” Malzene asked the clearly surprised Lady Suzannah as he walked to her cupboard and picked up an apple. “Sorry, it’s been very long since I had one of these.”

“Perhaps, D’Aubriere, I have underestimated you too much,” Lady Suzannah said as she watched him wolf down the apple. “We both know you are a spell reader, a copycat sorcerer who learnt everything he knows from books. But I have to admit you are a very good one.”

“Reverting to flattery, are you?”

“No, I’m not flattering you,” Lady Suzannah replied. “I’m just trying to tell you that all those spell books you and others in your ilk depend on so much were written by me and some other people and there were so many things we didn’t include.”

Malzene paused mid-bite, wondering what Lady Suzannah was driving at. In the moment that followed, Lady Suzannah’s intent was revealed as she cast a spell that sounded quite unlike anything Malzene had ever heard before. A huge, sinister looking soldier immediately materialized before them.

“You summoned me,” The soldier said in an impossibly thick voice. The whole building seemed to shake right to the foundation as he said every word.

“Welcome Phantom,” Lady Suzannah greeted. “I want that man over there knocked out and taken to the states’ maximum prison for detention. Put him in the worst cell there.”

The Phantom nodded in reply. Lady Suzannah turned to Malzene and said, “Save your breath, spell reader. He is immune to every spell in the spell books.”

Cold sweat broke on Malzene’s forehead as the lady’s words sank. Was he really doomed? He didn’t want to think so, but the situation was saying otherwise as there seemed to be no escape. He couldn’t run – the phantom would easily outrun him. Air bending and teleporting were out of question for now – they both required a large amount of concentration and energy that he currently lacked.

The Phantom, having got in an arm’s length of Malzene, threw a punch at the sorcerer’s head. Malzene saw the huge fist approaching and tried to duck, but he wasn’t successful, either he was too slow or the punch was too fast. The blow caught him square on the forehead.

Malzene tried to withstand the impact of the blow, but he couldn’t. He staggered backwards like a drunk, wondering if he had been punched or if it was a stab. In the next moment, he fell to the ground with his eyes rolling in their sockets and then his world turned black.

Oluwafunmilayo95:
Vantee!!!! How are you? Hope ALL IS WELL?
We're still PATIENTLY waiting...

I'm fine and all is well.
I'm sorry you had to wait for too long...

Kitme:
Vantee20, hope you're okay? Been a while you updated.

I'm good.
I just did.

VanTee20:


I'm fine and all is well.

I'm sorry you had to wait for too long...

finally!!!! So good to have you back Vantee...
A terrific Update as usual. I didn't need to go back to the previous update to refresh my memory, you did a good job of connecting the dots..

Oluwafunmilayo95:

finally!!!! So good to have you back Vantee...
A terrific Update as usual. I didn't need to go back to the previous update to refresh my memory, you did a good job of connecting the dots..

thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. It's nice to know that you haven't unfollowed the story.

VanTee20:


thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. It's nice to know that you haven't unfollowed the story.

nah.. I can't unfollow such an epic piece.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Helena, the fair daughter of Lord Hergand of Vath, sat on her soft Arabian bed with her eyes firmly fixed on the huge marble door of her plushy room. She was impatiently expecting the return of Royce the stable boy whom she had sent to steal a horse from her father’s stables. He had gone for well over an hour now and Helena was increasingly becoming unable to think of any rational reason behind this delay.

Perhaps the stable guards have caught him and he is being ….

A rather loud knock at the door put an end to that train of thought. Helena heaved a sigh of relief and quickly dashed across the room to let the stable boy in. Just as she got to the door, the knock came again, louder even than the first time.

“Don’t be silly Royce,” Helena spat as she turned the knob. “You have kept me waiting for much longer.”

She pushed open the door to see, not the thin, oval faced stable boy, but a tall blond lady with a slim build and a pretty face. It was her elder sister, Freya. Their eyes locked for several seconds before Helena finally averted her eyes, unable to hold her sister’s burning gaze any longer.

“Helena, what business do you have with that stable boy?” Freya queried.

“I ... I have no business with him,” Helena lied.

“Really?” Freya intoned. “Then why did you call his name before opening the door? Why are you dressed up like this at bedtime? Why have you been behaving funny of recent? Tell me something else sister.”

“I sent him to…” Helena stopped after an apparent change of heart.

“Come on, tell me,” Freya urged, softening her voice.

Helena stared speechlessly at her elder sister, wondering if she could trust her with her secret. She remembered those times in their childhood when they were each other’s confidante, but a lot of time had passed since those beautiful times and then they had had so many fights and falling outs since then that Helena wasn’t so sure that Freya was somebody she could trust with something as grave as what she was scheming.

“I don’t know what you have done or what you are planning to do,” Freya began as she moved closer and laid a friendly hand on her unspeaking sister’s shoulders, “But if you ever need someone to talk about those things, just know that I am here for you. I have always been.”

That said, Freya turned and made for the open door. She was about reaching the threshold when she heard her sister’s soft whisper.

“There is this boy that I am enamoured of. . .”

“The stable boy?”

“No, a young mister I met at the tournament.”

“Is that the reason you are up at this time? You are thinking about him?”

“Yes, I’m dying to see him again so I have arranged with Royce and one of the guards to steal out of here to visit him at Darlen’s castle.”

Ann stared wordlessly at her sister for several seconds of eerie silence after which she burst into hysterical laughter.

“What is funny? I just told you something serious and all you could is laugh?” Helena said as she folded her arms across her breasts and gave her sister a bad eye.

“Forgive me little sister, I just remembered how you used to mock me when I was drooling over Lord August,” Freya said amidst giggles. “Okay this mister, does he share your feelings?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then I have no problems with what you want do,” Freya said. “Don’t worry about Father, I’ll think up something to tell him.”

“Thank you,” Helena said as she wrapped her arms around her sister in a warm embrace. “I’m forever indebted to you.”

“You don’t have to be,” Freya whispered against her sister’s temple. “Just be careful, we are in perilous times in this city. Our queen is sick, our safe has been broken, the Prince is missing and everything just seems to be going wrong. Be safe.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

In the moment that followed, Royce the stable boy, walked in to see Lady Helena and her elder sister Freya pulling out of an embrace. He was there to tell Lady Helena that the horses were ready but her sister’s presence caused him to hesistate.

“She knows already,” Helena told Royce. “Why are you late?”

“I’m sorry ma’am, the stables were specially guarded tonight. I had to take the time to successfully sneak out with the horses.”

“Horses? I told you to get only one.”

“There’s no way I’ll let you ride alone to Austieres ma’am. I’m going with you.”

Helena wanted to object but she was hushed up by Freya. “Austieres is two days’ ride from here. You need company,” Freya added.

Moments later, Freya watched through a window in the room as Helena and Royce rode two white mares into the darkness of the night.

“There is no bigger a fool than a young girl in love,” she said as the riding figures disappeared. “That is talking from experience.”



* * *

It was a cold wintry Casvillean morning, flakes of snow fell continuously on King Gavyne and his companions, the grandest generals and highest ranking knights of the empire, as they rode out of the shelter of the citadel. They came to a stop as soon as they got to the square where a great assembly of warriors and Knights was gathered. The king took a few moments to survey the assembly and then he nodded in approval. He remembered his wife’s presentiment about his men losing in their campaign against the bandits and once again, laughed it off. In his own eyes, there was no way an army this strong will fall to a band of petty robbers.

“Men of Casville,” The king began his address. “It is no news to any of us that some dare devil robbers have broken into our collective purse and they have carted away every damned valuable there. It is our sworn duty to ensure that we recover all that was plundered from our coffers as soon as possible.”

“Yes sire!”

“While we are not fully represented to our optimum strength because of our brothers who are fighting day and night to keep peace at the Rhodes frontier, I still believe that this assembly has enough quality and quantity to crush the band of thieves and take back what is rightly ours.”

“Yes sire!”

“Right now we shall all ride to the empire’s arsenal to pick up weapons for use after which we will split into three groups. I’ll lead the first, Sir Millicent will lead the second and the third will be led by Sir Tremor. Then the three groups shall ride straight to Lehbein where those beasts are camped and hit them from right, left and center.”

The King paused for several moments, and then he screamed, “To victory!”

“Victory!” The three thousand men in the assembly roared in return.

As the warriors and Knights dispersed, Sir Millicent sought Finn among the ranks and rode up to him.

“Feeling nervous?” he asked the bigger man.

Finn shook his clean shaven head in refusal, “Not in the least. If anything, I’m dying for the campaign to commence.”

“Hmmm,” Sir Millicent mouthed as he pulled at his fancy moustache in a gesture of reflection. “Ahem, I was thinking of giving our plan a little twist.”

Finn followed Sir Millicent’s lead by whispering his reply too, “What twist is that?”

Sir Millicent leaned over to Finn’s side and whispered some words in his ears.

“Now that’s quite a brilliant way of crushing an enemy without getting your hands stained,” Finn replied enthusiastically. “How the hell did you think that up?”

Sir Millicent grinned darkly, “I’m the devil, remember?”

“Sure, you are the angelic devil.” The other man replied with a similar grin and both men burst into laughter.

As they rode out of the assembly ground towards the states’ arsenal, they caught sight of a gorgeously dressed Lady Suzannah leaning over a turret on the citadel. She was engaged in a seemingly absorbing conversation with an unfamiliar looking gentleman.

“What do you really intend doing with her after all this is over?” Finn inquired from Sir Millicent, whose eyes were still f ixed on the conversing duo.

The Knight waited a few moments before giving his reply, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. Everything will fall in place when all this is over…”

“Sure that.”

“Right now, my friend, it is time to live our dreams,” Sir Millicent said as both men spurred their horses towards the states’ arsenal.

Oluwafunmilayo95:
nah.. I can't unfollow such an epic piece.

Thanks for being there, you don't know how much I appreciate..

Thumbs up Van, the last two updates are the BOMB!

hmm

Marian17:
Thumbs up Van, the last two updates are the BOMB!

Thanks Marian..

stuff46:
hmm

What are you 'hmm'ing at sir?

VanTee20:

What are you 'hmm'ing at sir?

Read the updates. Thanks for them, it's been a while, how have you been faring?

stuff46:


Read the updates. Thanks for them, it's been a while, how have you been faring?

You are welcome. Well enough, you?

VanTee20:

You are welcome. Well enough, you?

great

Welcome back, mentor. Wish there was a thumbs up smiley I could give you now. You're just awesome as always

and NOW.....the BOSS is BACK. Thanks for the updates!

stuff46:

great

okay...

kizzykeziah:


Welcome back, mentor. Wish there was a thumbs up smiley I could give you now. You're just awesome as always

Thanks Keziah ... Btw, you have a mail.