While the celebrations died down, the village had gone to work. Some children under supervision had ran to the battlefield to gather the spoils and clean up the messes. Fathers who had returned home worked to reconstruct their houses with their families. While this was happening, Cyrus had gone back to the stalls at the entrance of the village, hoping Ceres, his horse was alright. When he got there, he was glad to see it alive and well, without injury. Though it's back was covered in straw, thanks to the collapsed roof above her head. Cyrus examined the roof, and as he did, Julius came from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Those arrows really did a number on my stable", he said. "Thankfully I was around to put out the fires before they could harm any of the animals, including your beast." Cyrus looked back at him and bowed in gratitude. The old man brought him back up. "Come on, young man", he said. "There is no need for that." Cyrus thanked him one more time before reach
Frederick wanted to question Cyrus's right to put him in the spotlight that way, but decided to be held accountable first. "I recognise that you are not from around here", he said. "But I digress. The main driving force behind I and my brother's success in joining the King's Diamond, unlike the others, was not by sheer talent or hard work. But rather, it was by bloodthirst. I and my brother, deep down had a thirst for blood. Growing up in the streets, we had the little we needed for survival by killing, and ever since childhood we had been that way, ever since we watched our parents get killed in cold blood and avenged them immediately. We thought we would never kill again, but what we failed to realise was that one never turned back once he goes down that path, and we learnt that the hard way. Just as we had killed our parent's killer and got the things he had on him for ourselves, we went on by that example, using violence to get everything what we wanted. After all, we were bot
Frederick widened his eyes in disbelief. "Have you gone mad?", he asked. "I mean no disprespect - but how do you plan to fight against a city with walls are over thirty feet high and five feet thick? You have no tools, let alone an army." "That is slightly accurate", Cyrus replied. "Last I heard, my father was making plans to reinforce the city walls even much more than that - unless of course, my step mother has other plans." "You know what you are proposing, right?", Frederick asked, stunned by Cyrus's indifference to the gravity of what he was saying. "You are asking I and my people to be part of your rebellion. If the Queen hears about this, she could send her minions down here to wipe out our village." "Us royals have never bothered checking up on anyone outside the walls of the capital city", Cyrus said. "Regions outside of the city have been largely ignored for decades. What makes you think that they would care about what your village is up to?" "I am not ask
Only four villagers died from the war, and their sacrifices were celebrated by the rest of the village that night. Their families mourned for them, while the rest of the village would see to their cremation and burial later that day. Cyrus would be present for everything, wanting to personally honour the sacrifices of those men, as he felt somewhat responsible for their deaths. Though the village had survived the attack, the roofs of most of the houses were severely damaged, and in a few houses, the roofs had completely collapsed inwards, and it was a mess. So a lot of families had gone to work, putting things in place as much as they could so they could at least sleep comfortably that night. They were grateful that the attack did not occur during the rainy season or on winter. The younger children were at the battlefield, harvesting as many weapons and armour as they could find from the corpses of their enemies under strict supervision of the older children. After a short momen
It was the next morning, and Cyrus was preparing his things to leave later that day. Felix had gone to open the tavern, but not for business, but rather to put things in final order. He was ready to tender his resignation, but wanted to do it on the most respectful way possible. Cyrus had gone back to his room at the Inn to pack his things as well. When he came out, he dropped the right amount of coins at the table before Felix while they had discussed the total amount of money owed to the tavern's owner last night. To make sure no customer got the wrong idea, Felix had kept the widows shut and left the door ajar. He prayed his boss would return soon enough, as his conscience wouldn't let him rest if he leaves without properly setting things right. He was the only person Felix wanted to see right now, as he had decided not to serve any customer today. Cyrus had now come out with all of his things in place, dressed in his full armour and cloak. He separated the right amount of silve
At about that time, Felix was at the back of his house seated next to his mother's grave. He took a cup of mead and poured half on it on the heaped soil. "I know you've never been a fan of mead", Felix said. "But you promised to drink it with me someday." Then he wiped a tear from his eye. "I am leaving the village", Felix said. "With Cyrus. Just as you told me, I do have a royal relative - though he is a lot different compared to what you made him out to be. It seems you three share the same strange silver hair everyone talks about. Fortunately, I got my father's brown hair instead. Though I never met his mother, the one you spoke the most about - the characteristics you said she had, I found all of them in her son. He is selfless, brave and stupidly naive - Everything you said your sister was as a young woman. Though he isn't a coward like I am, he still needs me - At least, he says so, but I'm yet to find out how." Then he took a few gulps of the drink before pouring the left
Richard, with his father's permission, took two of his horses from the barn of Julius, the farmer who lived close to the entrance of the village. He gave one of them to his friend, Felix, who was delighted to have a horse of his own. "Thank you," he said, turning back to the chief and giving a bow of respect. Then the trio all got on their horses, ready to leave the village. Richard and Felix saw this as a great time for Cyrus to leave the villagers with a word of encouragement, or at least a motivational speech of some kind. But instead, he spun around with his horse suddenly and rode off, leaving the other two looking dumbfounded. "Well, what are you both waiting for?" asked Frederick. "Aren't you supposed to be following him?" You both were fine with leaving earlier than this, weren't you? Don't get all mushy with us now! The duo smiled, and like Cyrus, they spun around and rode off without looking back. While the others cheered, Frederick and his wife looked grim amid their smil
Not too far from the Sargath village was Fayhold, a town three days' ride from the city's walls. It was the first proper stop from which one would no longer be able to see the mighty walls of Griffindale's Capital City, even though it was built on a tall hill. Cyrus, Felix, and Richard were riding on their way there, and the chief's son was quoting from a recent book he had read a few times about the areas around Griffindale. Particularly, about Fayhold. "It was an independent town, free from all rulership from external forces until quite recently, when they were captured and made a client region under the wing of Emperor Athanasius, ruler of the Midlands" he said in an assured tone. "How sure are you that is the case?" Felix asked him. "How did you even get access to such information to begin with?" "Well, my father had his sources from within the city walls, though he hardly read from them at all," Richard replied. "But I can assure you that it is up to date. What I just quoted