Sweet Waters Throne

196 Chapter 19Until this day, no one knows what Amabel told Aprophil when he pulled him to the side for a moment alone. Some of the soldiers present say Amabel told Aprophil a secret about Prophis and his uncle, while others claim he was just being a fourteen-year-old still with a childish brain and he must have called in Aprophil aside to tell him his childish plans which of course Aprophil must have thought they were stupid and not productive.

The ambush brought more harm to Prince Ambrose’s army than anyone could ever think. He lost thirty thousand of his men in just one night. Before they were alerted, Prince Amabel’s men had already slit almost twenty thousand men in their sleep by masses. In each tent, ten men invaded Prince Ambrose’s men and slit their throat while they were sleeping.

By the time they knew they were invaded, twenty thousand men were already dead. Ten thousand more were killed in the chaos which claimed twenty-five thousand men belonging to Prince Amabel. At dawn when Prince Ambrose saw that the large number of men who died during the ambush belonged to his nephew, he thought he only lost a few ─ but he was stunned when he made rounds in the tents and he was met with bleeding corpses.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Prince Ambrose screamed. “I need that little bastard’s head” he said this to his generals.

“What should we do my prince? Should I prepare them for war?” asked one of his generals he brought from Whitebridge, poor man he wasn’t so accustomed to harsh winters as he was used to endless summers beyond the Silent Sea.

“Yes, right now. How many are left?”

“Not sure, but we lost many of them. Probably, thirty thousand men”

This was a huge blow to Prince Ambrose, that meant he was left with fifty thousand men while he had no idea how many men his nephew had. He could have one hundred thousand, or even more. The Killer who he depended on, five thousand of them laid down dead with their throats open, while some without their heads. It was chaos and the whole camp reeked of blood and vultures had started arriving in the cold to seek warm corpses to feed from.

Princess Thelma stood close to her brother, she was covered in layers from head to toe, her fingers were covered with black gloves but she was still trembling and small clouds of air came outside of her nose and mouth when she exhaled. Prince Ambrose looked at her, “What do you say sister? Should we fight our nephew?” he asked her.

.....

If there is anyone Prince Ambrose trusted deeply was his sister, and he also trusted her to give out honest advises when it comes to winning wars, she was naturally gifted with tactics.

Princess Thelma took her time before speaking out, she exhaled softly, “He will be expecting us” that’s what she said. “And it’s clear he has more men than us, if we proceed to Snowspell, none of us will make it out alive. The ice is thicker and our men are exhausted, so are our horses. But if we take the route and cross the green river, we will be in Raven. How about we fight for the throne than fight a kid?” said Princess Thelma and somehow everyone knew she was right.

“How many men are in Raven?” asked the general.

“I doubt Aryan has over thirty thousand men, and we have fifty thousand. Let’s march to Raven right now and we will be there by sundown, attack at night when its dark and cold, and by dawn my brother will be the new King of Prophis”

Princess Thelma spoke with confidence and because she knew she was right, even though Prince Ambrose thought this was reckless and dangerous, but it was their only shot. Should they fight Prince Amabel and die, or go straight for the throne and emerge victorious?

Prince Ambrose knew what he wanted, “Alright, we march towards the capital. Generals gather the men, we are leaving…” he gave the order and the men started to move.

The snow started falling in Snowspell village and clearly showed why it was named Snowspell. As the ice fell down, it was like feathers falling from the sky. But feathers are warm, these snows heightened the cold and it became unbearable to keep staying in the village any longer.

Prince Amabel and his men waited for his uncle’s army to arrive in Snowspell, they were ready to fight. But it had been ten hours since dawn and there was not even a sign of the army, Aprophil said maybe Prince Ambrose wanted to attack during the night when they are sleeping, just like what they did to him.

Hence that night none of the men slept inside their tents, and neither did Prince Amabel. The men were stationed in lines and the archers placed in position to attack when Prince Ambrose arrive with his men, yet nothing happened that whole night.

Back in Raven, things were going slow and no one was aware of Prince Ambrose’s surprise attack. Aryan spent that whole day feeding her lions inside their caves, she was preparing them for the upcoming attack. The cubs weren’t cubs anymore, all nine of them were fully grown now and they were all black. There were six males and three females, the male ones were angrier than the females.

Olivia went to the caves during noon, and she had a huge smile on her face. The smile was because of what happened last night between her and Aryan, these two didn’t sleep the whole night but rather they spent it making love and when they were tired, they told each other jokes and laughed until it was dawn. The honeymoon was far from over.

This ranch was Aryan’s space, and she was usually alone here. It was her sanctuary and safe space, she found peace here.

“Am I interrupting?” asked Olivia while making her way towards Aryan who was surrounded by her nine lions, they were like pets to her.

Aryan smiled, “Not at all, come on…” she reached out for Olivia’s hand and brought her inside the circle, hence both of them were surrounded by the lions. Olivia was used to the lions, after all she stayed with them in Old City and she was there when Aryan rode them, fed them or even when she was just playing with them.

“They have grown so much” Olivia reached out to one of the males and touched it’s soft feathers. Then she turned to Aryan, “What will happen if we lose the war?” she asked her.

“You will finally have your wish”

“Of leaving Prophis?” Olivia was stunned, she didn’t except Aryan to listen to her considering leaving the kingdom. That’s what they have been fighting during all this time, leaving the place which Olivia thought wasn’t worth fighting for.

Prophis wasn’t Aryan’s home, neither was Olivia’s or Gandalf’s. It was a kingdom Gandalf usurped because of his greediness and need to be powerful, and he had his share of fun and power when he was king. Aryan never wanted it, she was only responsible of taking it when her nephew was killed.

Now a war was upon them, anytime from then and what will happen afterwards? Aryan concluded by saying they will leave everything behind and seek another life.

“Are you certain? I don’t want you doing things for me”

“If I stop doing things for you, I might as well as stop doing things altogether. I want you to be happy…” Aryan reached out for Olivia’s chin “I want us to be happy.” She finished and reached out to kiss her. The kiss was soft, passionate and intended to be short, but somehow they found themselves in an extended one until they were shrugged by Sir Thomas when he cleared his throat.

“Apologies Your Grace, but we have some bad news” he said.

Aryan sighed softly, then she stood up, she was taller than Sir Thomas. “What is it Lord Hand?”

“Our spies have spotted Prince Ambrose’s army crossing the green river and heading towards the capital, he’s just few hours away”

Now this was quick, and unexpected. Aryan had thought he would fight his nephew first in Snowspell and then take few days to recover till he reaches Raven. Crossing the green river was the easiest and fastest route to reach Raven, deadly and dangerous but fastest.

Aryan felt beaten at her own game, “He didn’t fight his nephew in Snowspell?” she asked.

“Apparently he was ambushed Your Grace, and in the process he lost thirty thousand men. My guess is… he knew he will lose if he fights his nephew in an open battle in the cold. Hence he decided to aim for the throne directly, that’s why he is coming here”

“And his nephew has no idea, does he?”

Sir Thomas shook his head, then he didn’t say anything. Aryan was speechless at first, that’s how she always reacts when she is met with uncertainties and difficult problems. It was still noon and somehow the capital was a little warmer today compared to yesterday, even the ice was melting away and that’s the beauty of being in Raven, even the winters weren’t that harsh comparing to other places in the realm.