Chapter 13
Cai
The palace grounds provided a decent walk for the first time in days. Though not warm, the weather was more pleasant than before, allowing the cool morning to turn into an almost pleasant afternoon.
Alastor walked next to me — his sword safely in its sheath.
I realised it had been months since I’d made use of a weapon.
Not to mention how unfit and out of practice I’d become.
Muscle memory and adrenaline were likely to kick in if it came down to it, but I doubted that I’d be able to defend myself properly in a serious battle. At least not as well as I used to.
As if Alastor could read my mind, he asked, “Would you like to make use of this time in the training ring, Your Majesty?”
I looked towards the training grounds in the distance, where some of the palace guards were sparring, their laughter echoing from afar.
“I fear I won’t be good competition,” I told Alastor. “But now is as good a time as any to get back to it.”
I couldn’t avoid it for ever. I didn’t want to see the mental image of Thatcher, and it would appear the moment I picked up a sword again. I needed to find a way to push past the memories.
Alastor nodded in understanding. Ever since we’d lost Jack, something had changed in the weapon keeper and second in command.
Without being asked, he’d stepped up to take on Jack’s responsibility as my head guard.
I knew all of this must have weighed heavy on him as well.
Jack was his friend, too. “We’ll start off easy,” he reassured me.
We made our way to the training grounds, where Alastor managed to borrow a sword for me. I wrapped my hand around the hilt and an image of Jack’s body came into my mind.
“Have Your Majesties found out more about the diary?”
I knew what he was doing. Alastor was trying to distract me by talking about something else.
I shook my head and lifted the sword. “Unfortunately not.”
With every day that passed, Aries was getting closer to what he was looking for, and it wouldn’t be long before we had to face him.
I thought about Elara’s words. About how we had to find the objects before he did.
After I’d found out about them, I’d thought the knowledge was best kept away from everyone and everything for as long as humanly possible.
It was too much of a risk to meddle with something we did not understand or know how to control.
And while I still believed that we were better off without going after them, it appeared we no longer had a choice. At least not while Aries was alive.
But Elara had a point. If we had the objects, we could find a way to hide them where Aries would never find them, or better yet, we could try to destroy them. We just needed to find that diary.
“I’ve been thinking,” Alastor started. Which really could mean anything. Over the past few years, I’d learned that he wasn’t much of a talker, but that his thoughts ran deeper than one would imagine. He swung his sword towards me.
“Yes?” I ducked away quickly.
“Aries is still some distance from the main city and Mistwood. Perhaps we would stand a better fighting chance if we were to take back the palace and fortify ourselves there.”
“You want to take the fight to Aries?” I made a jab to Alastor’s torso, and he stepped to the side, knocking my sword out of the way.
I’d known for a while that taking back Mistwood would be the first step in fighting Aries, but just the thought of stepping into that place, knowing that Thatcher was probably sitting on my throne with my family’s blood on his hands, made my stomach drop and my blood run cold.
“It’s risky.” Then again, war always was.
But I wasn’t about to discredit Alastor’s idea just yet.
I was already a bit out of breath. The fact that we weren’t in the sweltering heat of summer helped at least. Alastor feigned making a low swing before suddenly aiming his sword towards my chest, but I’d seen him make this move a thousand times before and I knew where to put my sword.
“It would be very risky, yes,” Alastor agreed, letting out a huff as I nearly caught the material of his sleeve. “But Aries wouldn’t expect it and it might be enough to take him off guard. At least until reinforcements arrive.”
I let out a breath, lowering my sword for a moment.
“I don’t even know what is actually going on in my kingdom.
Which aristocrats have cowardly taken Thatcher’s side and who has remained loyal.
” There was no doubt that Norrandale would require Everness’s army, but despite the fact that Elara was queen, it was not that simple.
Evernean law required all of the royal council to be in agreement and sign off on the army.
Especially since, technically, Everness was not yet at war with Argon.
Not to mention our alliance was only truly solidified once Elara and I got married.
But anyone who believed Everness not to be Aries’ next target was an absolute fool.
“Maybe we need to think beyond Everness’s army,” Alastor suggested. “Though I’m sure many in the kingdom are still loyal to you, Your Majesty, we all know that we need bigger numbers if we are to take on Aries.”
I held up my sword, indicating I was ready to have another go. “What are you proposing?”
“With Your Majesties’ permission, I could see about finding those reinforcements.
” I had no idea what Alastor had in mind or where he would even begin to look.
This sort of thing could take months, months we did not have.
But I also knew that, like Jack, Alastor was willing to give his life for the kingdom and that he would do anything to protect it.
I trusted that if anyone could do this job, it was him.
This time, Alastor kept his swings quick and controlled, and I needed to focus in order to avoid the tip of his sword.
“You should take a few men with you at least. And you would need a letter with my seal on it,” I added. Just in case anyone questioned the legitimacy of his intentions.
“It could be very dangerous, you know.” His sword came from above and I had to lift mine above my head to defend myself. Metal clashed against metal and the muscles in my arms strained, but I continued to push against him.
Alastor had something close to a grin on his face. “I was sort of counting on it.”
With all the strength I could muster, I forced his sword away from my head, and managed to knock it out of his hands. I watched in satisfaction as the weapon fell to the ground.