Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Arthur's Point of View
Lestrania Thousands of Years Ago
"Now, now, Aerowyn." King Rudnurth began, amused. "Let us not be too hasty. This man saved my sister and her men. We should welcome him with open arms." His gaze never left me as I eyed him in return. "Of course, that is what I would like to do, but you are making things slightly more difficult than I thought you would."
"I'm a difficult individual." Was my simple reply.
The Zugal identified as Aerowyn still hadn't removed her blade from my throat. "So difficult you would deny a King's request to meet his sister's savior?" Rudnurth inquired.
Then I shrugged. "Of course not. I figured I'd meet you when I was more rested and got some food in my belly." However, my gaze soon drifted to the Zugal still threatening me. "Although, since I am being threatened, I think I'll be leaving sooner rather than later."
"What makes you think you can leave?" Aerowyn inquired as she moved the blade against my throat.
Turning back to the 'King,' I spoke nonchalantly. "If your bird lady doesn't learn her place within the next ten seconds, I'm going to kill her in front of all of you." The chapters is up by N0vEI__bin
The entire courtyard became quiet as they took in my words. Naturally, Aerowyn snarled as she eyed me more aggressively, but Aydan stepped forward slowly. Moving next to the female Zugal, he gently touched her hand and lowered the blade away from me. While she frowned at the Great Sage, she did step back when she saw a more serious look on his face and a shallow shake of his head.
Eventually, he turned to me. "Sir Mordred," Aydan began. "Apologies for this misunderstanding. The King merely wished to meet the man who saved his sister and whom I spoke so highly of. There is no need for violence."
A smirk came to my face as I realized what Aydan had done. He not only deescalated the situation, but he also put himself between me and the others in case something happened. The Great Sage, indeed. Eyeing him for a moment, my gaze flickered around the group before it returned to him.
"Agreed, but I am not one who takes threats so idly and especially not from those I aided in one way or another." Looking at Arceana for a moment, I stared at her, which she noticed the hood covering my face turned in her direction and made her look away.
"Understandable." He then gave me a small bow. "I'm sorry for not interfering sooner."
Rudnurth spoke up from behind him. "It was not your place to interfere at all." The King stated.
"You're right." Aydan replied with a nod. "It's not. You'd be much better off as our ally, and I'm sorry it's come to this, but he is a member of the Royal Family."
Keeping my eyes on The Great Sage, I also nodded. "He is, but surely you realize that all these people mean nothing to me." Gesturing around the courtyard, I finished by pointing at the other royals behind him. "You're the only one here I need to worry about. You attack Kandma, and this whole place is as good as gone."
The oldest sister of the Royal Family stepped forward extraordinarily calm. "Bold words." Her words were soothing, as were her movements as she moved between Aydan and I. "However, offensive ones. Who says Sir Aydan is the only one you need to worry about?" She inquired in a curious tone.
My head turned toward her. "Make no mistake, each one of you possesses vast amounts of magic." Then I waved towards Aydan. "Even more than your Knight. The problem is that all of you are young, and while you may exceed him in quantity, do you surpass him in quality?"
To my surprise, she continued walking forward and stopped only a foot or two away from me. "Perhaps it is now my turn to introduce myself. My name is Mara Delmaris, and the First Crowned Princess of Lestrania." Grabbing the sides of her dress, she gave me a curtsy, which I returned with a small nod. "While I cannot argue with your assessment, I would like to ask you some questions about how you would know such a thing."
"Questions don't seem to be in the cards at the moment." Was my short reply as I looked to Rudnurth.
"Then shuffle the cards." Mara responded just as quickly and then gestured to the castle. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"
Quirking a brow at that, Rudnurth spoke before I could answer. "What do you think you are doing, dearest sister?" He asked in a dangerous tone.
To my surprise, she didn't take her eyes off of me. "Being diplomatic. Calm yourself, dearest brother." Mara mocked. "If you are hungry, we are more than willing to feed you and your companion." Then she smirked as she looked at Kandma. "Well, if she removes herself from my brother anyway."
"You must know that this sounds like a trap and a rouse to get me to release your brother." I replied as I kept my hands at the ready.
She smiled. "I have no doubt you truly think that." Using her head to gesture to her oldest brother, she continued. "After your greeting, I can hardly find you at fault. However, our dearest Knight, Sir Aydan, has promised you a reward, and rewarded you shall be." Leaning forward, her smile dipped slightly. "Forgive him. He merely wants to protect us as best he can. Sir Aydan is a man of his word and truly noble. I hope you understand."
"So, your proposal is dinner?" I asked back, amused.
Her eyes gave me a knowing look, and her smile grew. "You are famished, correct?"
Putting my hands on my hips, I replied. "I could eat."
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I am officially back from my trip! It's sad to see how far we've fallen in terms of Power Stones. Maybe some are just losing interest or maybe it's something else. I don't know. Either way, our new goals are going to remain at 800 and 850 for this new week. If we hit it, great! If not, then we continue with the regular schedule. We hit these before several times so it should be easy!