“Sir Jones, Sir Vlad. Please, sir, we welcome you to our village.” Sir Thomas urged them through the village gate.
Vlad, being Vlad, walked into the village as if he owned the place. “You invitation warms my heart, Sir Thomas.”
Kara had a hard time stifling her scoff.
“It is but my pleasure,” Thomas said.
Why were these two acting so formally? Something is going on here. Or am I just reading too much into things?
“Where are the councillors? Are they really not here?” Kara inspected the mass of the army in front of the village. There were no luxurious wagons or palanquins that indicated the presence of the councillors.
“They are on their way. We just left early to help prepare,” Sir Jones Said.
Kara nodded.
After walking through the street paved with cobblestones, they finally reached the magnificent castle of the water village. They entered the castle through the northern gate, which directly led them to the funeral hall. There were portraits of their gods and more. At the far end, there was a raised platform. Huge flower vases were lined on either side of the platform. Tapestries depicting Undine and other elemental gods hung on the walls.
“Sir Thomas...” Kara sighed. “You know what to do. And find my son. Just don’t tell him anything. I’ll do it myself. We have to be delicate with Silver. He has suffered enough already.” She wasn’t sure how Silver was going to take all this.
“But of course, my lady.” Sir Thomas took his leave and vanished from her sight.
After two hours, all the villagers arrived outside the front castle gate, each holding a burning candle. The army of two thousand gathered around the villagers, doing the same thing. There were about two hundred members of the royal family gathered in the centre of the hall holding a flower in their hands.
A hundred soldiers marched next to the royal families on three sides, except the front. The coffin was in front of the royal family. Kara was standing above all royal families on the raised platform. Sir Jones and Sir Vlad were standing beside her. Sir Thomas arrived at Lady Kara’s side a few minutes later.
“Have you informed the village?” Kara said.
“Yes, my lady. They have all arrived outside the castle gate.”
“What about my son? Where is he?”
“Well, about... Prince Silver, Mm... We could not locate him. We searched the entire village, including the forest, but he was nowhere to be found.”
“Not again. Where in the Shattered Ria could he have gone this... “
“I beg your pardon, but is there something wrong, my lady?” Sir Jones said, interrupting Lady Kara.
“No, none at all,” she said, smiling falsely. “Well, there is one. I still have heard nothing about the councillors arrival. You do know we can't do this without them. Are you sure they left just behind you?”
Sir Vlad marched towards Sir Thomas and stood beside him.
“I’m sure, my lady,” Jones said. “What can we do? They are the councillors. They manage to be late, even with the fastest wagons at their disposal. But I am confident they will be here soon.”
Kara nodded. Chills went straight down to her core when Sir Jones put his right hand on her shoulder, his lips dangerously close to her cheek. “My lady,” Jones whispered.
“Yes?” kara said with an arched eyebrow. What does he think he is doing?
“I have a question for you, my lady.” He whispered the words with soft, intimate breath.
“What would that be?” Kara flushed with anger. What is wrong with him? Has he gone senile? I just lost my husband.
“Don’t you remember what I told you last time we saw each other? You shouldn’t trust and respect anyone but your own kin. No one deserves your trust in this world. Yet you didn’t heed my warning after everything that happened last time. You trusted us, even though you had your suspicions. You should not have trusted me,” Jones said, pressing a knife to her throat.
Sir Vlad did the same thing to Sir Thomas, but he immediately cut his throat and let him fall to the floor. Vlad’s knife hand was drenched in blood. Kara stared at the red ooze pooling beneath the twitching body of Sir Thomas. What ... What is happening?
Kara heard the echoing screams of the royal family.
“Let the massacre begin,” Vlad said with laughter that turned her stomach.
“So it was all just an act, a p-plot to kill us all. If I’m to be killed, I want to know why?” She asked with a frustrated voice. She never thought that Sir Jones would be that kind of individual. Yeah, he’s always been aggressive, but he never appeared to be someone who would murder someone in cold blood.
The soldiers surrounded the royal families. They looked terrified and didn’t seem to understand what was happening. Few begged for mercy, few screamed, children cried, and some collapsed to the ground. Mothers were attempting to make their children feel safe, saying, “It’s all right, mama is here. Nothing is going to happen to you, you are safe with me”
“Why?” Kara demanded. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“They ordered us to do so. I am not at liberty to tell you why, even if you’re going to die,” he said. “Kill them all,” Sir Jones said to his men.
The soldiers spread their mouths wide open, and the fangs emerged in their mouths.
“Please have mercy on us. No! Please.” Screams and pleas of royal families echoed across the hall. The screams of children were the most painful to Kara’s ears.
[POV: Kara Davis] Echoing screams still hung in the air. Why did at times like this, everything seem to slow down? It made everything that was happening even worse. Two hulks of the man climbed up to Kara and grabbed her from either side, forcing her on her knees. Her hands pulled behind her back. Kara felt the weight of a leg pushing on her back. She tried to struggle, of course, but these men were bloody strong. Her body didn’t even twitch. Ria’s forsaken bastards. The vampires pulled their head back, mouth open wide, their fangs sleek with drooping poison. The ever-present screams in the air increased. Some wailed, some collapsed, children clinging to their parents, eyes clamped shut. “No, not them. They have done nothing wrong. Just kill me and be done with it. But please, have mercy on them. Kill me instead. Please, I’m begging you... NO... Please, don’t hurt them. NO.” Despite her wails for mercy, nobody heard, even she barely heard it.
Silver woke up to a throbbing pain in his forehead. Why was everything so dark? Silver groaned. Ria Above! The pain was killing him. He tried to rub his throbbing forehead, but he immediately pulled his hands back, wincing at the pain, motes of dried blood sticking to his fingertips. What the hell happened to me. Where am I? Silver pulled on his grace and held and held that torrent of power within him; the power that allowed him to create and manipulate water constructs. Of course, the fact that he could pull on his grace surprised him. It could only mean that the summer solstice was over. With the power of grace within him,, he could finally see his surroundings. When one pulled on grace, they would be surrounded by blue ethereal light that could illuminate the surroundings to some extent. He was greeted by walls of earth surrounding him. All the herbs he had picked were scattered around him. There was a stone with dry b
[POV: Silver Davis] The vampire hesitated for a second but quickly spoke. “You have to understand. I had no choice. We are by the order of…” The vampire made a choking noise as if he was trying to form a word, but it was stuck in his throat. Silver thought it was just an act to distract him, but then he felt something brewing in the other man’s neck. Something that chilled his spine. His primal instinct took over and Silver jumped back, pulling on as much as Grace as could. Silver was not sure what was going on, but the energy was building up in the vampire’s throat. Is this some kind of attack the vampires have? The vampire’s neck exploded in the torrent of red energy, his head spinning high-high into the air. Silver put up a wall of water in front of him in the nick of time. The force of the explosion was strong. His wall of water barely protected him. Just as the wall of water dropped, something round crashed into th
[POV: Vlad Davis] “Give me the report,” Jones Davis said. Vlad Davis inspected the parchment in his hand for a few moments. “The total death count is 26,324. We have raided 5,000 gold beads worth of accessories and other utensils from the houses. We have yet to raid the castle treasury. This will be a huge boost to our funds.” Vlad said those last words proudly as if he was the one who was spewing all that money. Jones nodded absently as if all that money meant nothing to him.“ Did you find anyone else around the houses?” “Yes 400 or so peasants.” Jones arched an eyebrow at the comment. “And were there any children?” “Children? Yes, most of them were children. Some of them grandpas and grandmas too old to get out of bed. Few adults.” “And where are they?” “The vampires sucked them dry.” Vlad puffed up his chest proud to have taken care of the nuisances. He waited for the complement he deserved. Jones backh
[POV: Colin Smith] Colin sprinted forward weaving around the trees, instinctively avoiding the undergrowth and bumps. After four long years, he was used to running around in the forest. The blasted animal was faster than he had thought. He had been following a thunder-rabbit for a few minutes now. They were a magical beast that looked similar to rabbits, only as big as a dog and their furs stood on ends with shades of purple. It was one of the few D tier beasts that also had a blood sack. Not only were their meat a delicacy, but a blood sack from a D tier beast could also be sold for three silver coins. Which was a lot of money for someone like Colin. The name may be a silver coin but it was just a copper coin with a silver coating. It was the same for the gold coin. A silver coin was worth 5 copper, and a gold coin was worth 5 silver. Gold beads had the highest value which was worth 10 gold coins. Colin had seen a gold bead
[POV: Silver Davis] Silver groaned and shifted to his side. Why was his bed so hard and uncomfortable today? And why was it shaking and rattling? Was this an earthquake? This was bad, he needed to get out of here. Silver tried to bolt upright and dash out of the room but something went wrong, his body just would not listen to him. Every fibre, every bone in his body felt limp. Silver opened his eyes, and as soon as he did his head began to throb furiously. It felt as heavy as iron. Silver groaned. Everything was dark and blurry. When he tried to lift his hand up to his face, he could not. They were strapped together behind his back. Even with how limp his entire body felt, he somehow managed to heave himself upright. The rattling and shaking had not stopped. His vision was slowly returning.His bed jolted and Silver bumped the back of his head into something hard.“Argh! Why the hell is everything moving?” Silver growled under his breath.
[POV: Silver Davis] “How did you get loose?” Beads of sweat formed on the guard’s forehead, eyes wide with horror. “How did we get loose?” Silver smiled, trying to make it as sinister as possible. “When the mage cuffed me after the latrine break, she used a fake.” That was the only conclusion Silver could reach. Only mages had the chance to change real dampeners with fake ones during their latrine break or eating break. Knowing that it was a fake it was easy to saw through the cuffs using water Colin's was real so he had to wait till he freed Colin. “There is a rat among the mages,” the guard said, terror still apparent in the guard’s eyes. The two guards probably knew they were going to die. That was probably why they still hadn’t sounded an alarm, trying to figure out a way to survive. Which was very convenient for Silver. “Let me handle this,” Silver said to Colin. Collin nodded his reply. “We can make a deal,” the gu
[POV: Silver Davis] First, two vampires dashed towards them, shouting some sort of battle cry. Silver raised his hand, pulling on his grace, commanding it. Both vampires were knocked out flat, coughing blood even before they could touch them. Second, seven vampires attacked them. Arrowhead chains that appeared out of nowhere pierced five of their hearts, knocking them out cold. Silver slashed the air with his hand. A thin line of water blade shot forward, cleaving the two vampires in half. Back at home, Silver remembered doing the same thing to vampires. Vampires were obstinate creatures who refused to die, no matter what. The vampires had to be burned or had their heads cut off to be killed, so they were most likely still alive. Either way, he should not have used a water blade, as it consumed too much grace. He had to be conservative if he wanted to survive this many enemies.