Kingdom Fallen

Volume 1 Part 12: Enter Lucien Sol

"You know I was originally just going to let you go and just sell the bar-wench, however now that I think about it. I'm sure a golden eyed freak could catch a bags of silver coins from the Viscount," he said

I struggled to kick him while I tried breaking free of his grip, it was to no avail. It was sad pathetic attempt, yet I kept struggling to my kick however my legs were too short. Typically I would have had the strength to pull his arm off me, but losing oxygen too quickly for me to get a good grip on his arm and my strength was rapidly fading.

For a moment, I honestly thought I was going to die. As I was prepared to close my eyes for good, I saw flashes of my family in my head. I could see the warm smiling face of Mister Jacob, the mischievous grin of Miss Mary, and the cold blank stare of Mister. Lastly, I saw Bethany's smiling face as it was lit up by the fireworks.

I hated it. I had let Mister down; I failed to save Bethany and I was about to die. Why didn't I shoot him? That was question I was asking myself as my consciousness began to fade. At that moment I realized that I would also never be able to shoot that arrow again. I could never replicate the shot that Mister had done.

Didn't that mean I had failed? Even with perfect replication I would fail to recreate that shot. Just the mere thought of it had angered me so much I began to focus. I stopped kicking wildly forcing all the remaining energy I had into my arms and grabbed on him. Then it happened, as I placed my fingers on him one by one, I felt my heart race with adrenaline and something began to heat up in my chest, quickly spreading to my hand and in a moment I used all my strength to clench my fist.

A loud c***k was heard as my hands smashed through the bones in his wrist. Again, he let out a skin crawling scream as he reflexively released me from the chokehold. Not even taking a moment to breathe, I waited until my feet touched the ground and I flipped him over with all my remaining strength throwing him over my shoulder and slamming him as hard as I could on the grassy ground.

That took all the strength I had left so my legs gave me causing me to drop to all fours where I stayed trying to get as much air in my lungs as I could. I had coughed up a storm before finally catching my breath, just managing to make it to my feet.

I cautiously looked down at the man, fearing that he would get back up. I watched him waiting for the slightest twitch which luckily never came so I turned and walked away. The further I walked the more energy I got back, soon I was back to normal. All that was left was for me was to find Bethany and the mystery person. My journey lead I soon made it to the fork in the road. I thought for moment, there was be no sane person who would willing enter The Wandering Forest at night so that meant they were obviously in Redwood Forest.

Tracking had become multiple times easier. Now I no longer even needed my golden eye so I covered it again and continue following the obvious footprints until it led to a grove of trees. In the middle of the grove under one of the crimson trees laid Bethany who was now fast asleep.

"Bethany," I said rushing over to her. I quickly checked all of her vitals and there seemed to be nothing wrong with her. The only difference of note was the faint scent. It was a strong, acrid, and somewhat metallic smell.

"She'll be okay, looks like they dosed her with something after you shot one of them," a voice from up on high said. Startled by the suddenness of the sound I looked up and saw the mysterious person sitting atop one of the thick crimson branches of the Redwood Trees and he had the other kidnapper bound and gagged hanging off dangerously from the same branch

"The hell," I said

"Why are you so surprised?" he asked

"Why are you up there...No a better question is who are you?" I asked staring close to Bethany while preparing to reach for the last remaining arrow

"Can you not be so on edge?" he chuckled before jumping from the branch that was ten feet in the air (10ft) in the air and landed perfectly on his feet

"You haven't answered my question?" I asked

"Okay, how about I answer one of yours and you answer one of mine. Tit for tat?" he said

"Okay," I nodded

"Well to answer your first question, I got bored waiting on you so I decided to make my own fun. But never mind that, what took you so long?" he asked nonchalantly

"I was busy catching the other guy. Who are you?" I asked

"Are you sure that's what you want to ask?" he asked

"Are there rules to what I can and can't ask?" I asked

"No," he said as he removed the hood from his head. As the hood was remove his golden hair was free and blowing in the cool night breeze and the bright blue eyes still sparkled like the moon

"It's you," I said with a gasp as he finished taking off the rest of the cloak

It was the son of the lord, he was even still wearing the same clothes as on the parade.

"Do you know me?" he asked running his hands through his hair

"No, but I saw you in the parade," I said

"That makes sense, I'm sure I would have remembered someone as interesting as you" he sighed

"I've heard a lot about you," I said

"Good things, I hope,"

"You're the genius that passed the Esterian Nobility Trail," I said before I noticed his eyes widen slightly before returning to calm

"You know about the trails?" he asked

"Is it that surprising?" I asked

"Considering only nobles and those that hand around them know about the trails, yes, it is" he said

"Well, I'm no noble; I just happen to overhear my elders talking about it. They were impressed that you managed to finish first place at such a young age" I said before another momentary look of surprised flashed again

"Now, this is really surprising. Only people within our palace would know my placement so I'm curious. Who are your elders?" he asked another question

"Shouldn't it be my turn to ask questions now?" I retorted

"Sorry, I can get a bit carried away-," he said, "-Go ahead, I will respond to your next three questions,"

"Is she really okay?" I pointed to Bethany

"As far as I can tell she's just sleeping. I found this on her nose," he said handing me a rag.

On the rag were glowing bits and pieces of a flower that carried the same scent that was on Bethany

"Moon-bloom flower," I said

"Huh-uh?" he nodded

"That makes sense. Overexposure to the flower can cause a calming and soothing effect which often leads to the loss of consciousness," I said

"Wow, I didn't know that. You're pretty smart," he nodded

"How did you know what was happening?" I asked

"Honestly? I didn't it. I just snuck away from my family and happened to see you dodging and jumping through the crowd like a mad man and it seemed interesting so I followed you then I saw you shoot your arrow. That was an immaculate shot by the way. I see, you must be very well trained," he complimented

"Thank you," I said

"One more question before my turn again," he said with a giddy smile

"Why were you following me?" I asked

"Oh, that's simple. I want you to fight me," he said with a cheeky smile

"WHAT?!" I asked shocked

"I want to fight with you. One on one," he said

"Why?" I asked

"Because I think it would be interesting. I honestly hope you'd give me more of a challenge than those so-called geniuses at the trails," he said

"Are you out of your mind? That's not a reason to fight. Especially when we don't even know each other's name," I said

"Really? Then isn't the problem easy to solve," he said as he took out the cloak entirely revealing the fancy suit he was still wearing, as well as two practice swords clearly made from Redwood hanging from both sides of his waist

"What are you talking about?" I asked as he unsheathed one of the practice blades

"What's your name?" he asked

"Huh?" I asked as he unsheathed the other

"Your name? It's my turn to ask a question again. And my question is what is your name. Tell me what it is?" he asked

"Um....my name is Azrael," I said

"Well Azrael, my name is Lucien Sol," he said

"Okay..." I wearily said

"Now that we know each other's names, we can fight," he declared as he charged forward with both swords out for an attack.