Sweet Waters Throne

161 Chapter 16Once Artemis was no longer visible and he was lost in the dark clouds, Lord Balrus turned to Aurora. It was no secret he had tons of questions and doubts, he expected Aurora to be the mature one since Artemis already showed how a little bit of childish he can be. Yet, just when they come upon a very crucial moment where Aurora needed to be the mature one and lead Artemis towards danger ─ she becomes the one who throws him to the wolves.

This Aurora strongly denied “I didn’t sent him to the wolves. He is a dragon, and dragons eat wolves” she said trying to walk away from Lord Balrus.

“Then you sent him to his death. You know how careless he’s been over the past couple of days, those poor Prophisians will be barbecued come light”

“This was meant to be Lord Balrus, I don’t know how, and I don’t know why. But all this… was meant to happen. I have seen the flames in my dreams for years now, I still see them to this very day. If this is what enrages Aryan and forces her to attack Maldonia, then so be it. Let’s wrap this once and for all” she said.

Lord Balrus couldn’t believe what Aurora was saying, he thought she was the smartest one but during this time he knew he made a wrong decision in trusting Aurora to be smarter than Artemis. “Is this how you want it to happen?” he asked.

“It has already happened my lord. Aryan was destined to attack Maldonia, either moons from now or years from now but she was always going to do it. I would rather she feels my flames first before she ventures out for more” and with this Aurora barred the doors of her chambers and went back to sleep.

Visenya was listening to every word between Lord Balrus and Aurora while hiding behind a wall. The conversation was intense especially towards Aurora, but she sided with her in this. The war was indeed destined to happen, even she has seen the flames too. How and when will happen didn’t seem to trouble her because she knew any time from then dragons will fly high above the sky and burn everything to the ground.

Princess Aeryn and Lord Leoric were outside in the streets of Blackmount during the night when they saw a black dragon riding towards North. Aeryn quickly noticed the dragon “That’s Artodo, my brother’s dragon” she exclaimed. They were in the midst of a crowd particularly made of Maldonians who had lost hope in bettering their lives.

Even though they had lost all hope, that didn’t stop them from enjoying the night life that Blackmount had to offer. Leoric used to say the poor folks knew how to entertain themselves more than the rich ones, and he wasn’t wrong.

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This night, it was Aryan’s idea to just ditch the palace and mingle with the good folks in their wine sinks, parties outdoor, brothels and theatres. They were having a really good time until they saw Artemis flying Artodo towards North ─ and then Leoric mentioned the unexpected visit from the Taelins.

“What is going on?” Princess Aeryn was anxious. “And why does my brother hide things from me” she kept on complaining.

“Because you are married to me my sweet creature, he knows you’ll utter to me every word he says”

“Will I?” inquired Aeryn but then she didn’t need an answer for that question because she thought it was silly. She led the way out of the crowd as Leoric followed behind.

“We need to know what’s going on. Can you summon the eunuch for more information?” asked Leoric. He was being pushed side to side as he tried to pull himself out of the crowd. It was moments like these that Lord Leoric always regretted not being able to take his slaves with him, but the whole idea of doing this was to have fun. And what sort of fun would he have if his slaves were lurking somewhere?

“Lord Balrus would rather swallow his tongue and die than reveal the information to me. We are going to have to find out for ourselves” Princess Aeryn managed to get herself outside of the crowd, she reached out to Leoric and pulled him to the main road. From there they walked slowly and very close to each other.

Lord Leoric seemed not so interested in following Aeryn’s plans “How are we going to do that?” he asked doubting the plan before it even began.

“I’ll know how on the morrow, for now let’s get back to the palace”

Were there any spies in the capital other than Lord Balrus? Well, the answer would be yes, but were those spies present during a very discreet and private conversation between Princess Thelma, Prince Ambrose and Artemis? I don’t think so and the Taelins didn’t talk to any other person except Lord Balrus. Yet the princess believed she may get the information about why the Taelins were in the capital, and why did her brother take his dragon North while it was close to midnight.

They say the night usually goes faster when you are out to have something the next day, or you are excited for something. That’s what happened to Aryan, she had barely slept when Sir Thomas came to wake her up and inform her that dawn was approaching and they should get ready. “It’s dawn already?” she asked with a sleepy tone.

“Yes Your Grace”

“I don’t see the sun Sir Thomas”

Sir Thomas turned to Sir Tyriol who was on his feet the whole night and with the helmet, Thomas wondered if Tyriol breathed underneath that helmet. Or maybe he had no use for oxygen or whatsoever as many people say he was a walking dead man. “The sun will come out soon Your Grace. We are ought to move, now”

“Alright, alright… I’m up!” Aryan forced herself awoke and then asked for a bowl of water. She didn’t taste the waters when she poured them all over her face, they were so cold to the point she cursed loudly. “Shit! Fuck!” she hissed. Somehow the cold water seemed to woke her even more, she drank the rest and stood up full of energy and ready to conquer the Lawsend City.

Sir Thomas gave an order for every soldier, knight, sell sword and the good folks who came to show their support to wake up and ready themselves for a fight. This was an ambush and it was best done during the time when the enemy was sleeping thinking he will meet them on a battlefield while they planned on sacking the city.

The archers were well placed all over the mountains and hills, the very best experienced archers who can see in the dark while throwing their arrows. Thirty thousand knights led by Sir Thomas were to start in the vanguard, at the front where the fight gets intense. Once they break the gates of the City, that’s when the other thirty thousand follow and fight till the end.

As per custom, Queen Aryan was obligated to give out words of encouragement to her men before the battle. She mounted her horse and passed through the lines of her men while speaking out loud, she resembled Gandalf so much that it made some of the men weep tears of joy because they were reminded of him.

Apart from the height, face, body posture and short hairs ─ even the way Aryan talked to these men was so similar to how Gandalf used to do. Aryan made sure to tell these men who most of them came from Old City about the importance of this war, and that they were fighting for one thing and one thing alone. “Justice for our King!” Aryan reminded them.

“Justice for our crowned prince who didn’t deserve to die such horrible death at that age. He was supposed to grown up and lead us just like how Gandalf led us with peace and prosperity. It was this man across these gates who took our King from us, I say let’s go and kill him” Aryan finished and all her men cheered for her.

From there the thirty thousand men started the war when they went rode towards the gates of Lawsend City. Sir Thomas was right, the guards were caught off-guard because they weren’t expecting that. Most of them were asleep and with that they all died, all one hundred of them were put to sword and the gates were opened from then.

Sounds of swords clashing could be heard all over the Lawsend city, and like an echo to the main palace. Cregan was sleeping on his bed chambers when he heard the noises. Quickly his generals woke up and readied themselves for war, but they were ambushed and hence they didn’t get a proper time to arrange their men.

Cregan damned Aryan for the ambush, and he was heard screaming that Aryan was nothing but a coward. “That’s why she has tits and a cunt. She’s scared like a little whore” he banged the tables and chairs when his generals told him the castle was surrounded by Squire colors on the outside.