The Dark Covenant

THE DELEGATES MEETING III

They are approaching sir,"

"How far?

"Thirty minutes up ahead the third valley, they will be here in about an hour."

"Okay set everything up, alert the watchers, nobody makes a move until I say so."

He turned back to the squad of knight guards he brought along.

One of them shivered morbidly, the tip of his lance vibrated to the tune of his gnawing teeth. He tried his best to hide his unrest but his acting was horrible, even his forced smile cracked every so often.

"Now listen up, all of you are here because I wanted you to hear. This is very important, one of your class members has been held hostage by the tyrant, and it is up to all of you to rescue her."

The new class of knight guards, Reene Pangos, Salron Carter Portriese, Valmon Carter Portriese, Carrs Armani and Robert Towndsy stood amidst the others, sandwiched in the middle of the squadron set to attack Slejj. Salron kept shaking, the stupefying thought of going up against the former commander did not settle well with him. At least he valued his life, all the others petrified their faces with arduous glares, they were pumped up with resolve, especially the commoner from Sals village. He puffed out his chest and blew out overdrawn breathes. He was set to go and rescue her Alicia from the clutches of evil.

" I... I can't do this!" Salron whispered to his brother who stood beside him. His brother was calm, quite the opposite, he differed widely from his other half. Despite sharing the same faces they were rather contrastive. Over the course of a month after their knighting, something sparked inside Valmon, and he quickly changed. He realized what Drom had told them was true, in the army there was no room for discrimination and upholding division of classes. He realized that if he wanted to survive he definitely had to adapt, and so begun his transformation from a crested brat to an honorary knight guard. His only wish was that his scared brother would man up and change, follow the path he took, if only his wish was heard.

"Quiet down Sal! The commander might hear you."

"I don't care if he hears me, I'm not doing this Val, I am out of here... after this assignment, I am quitting the State guard core and going back home."

"We both know father would never let you pass the gates."

"To hell with..."

"Would you please shut your hole, if you don't have something useful to say I suggest you keep your blunt chatters to yourself, Alicia is in danger here... if you don't want to help then step back, you'll just Be holding the rest of us back!" Reene angrily shut him up.

" Oh please, whoever asked for your opinion, I don't need to be here saving your girlfriend!!"

" The two of you please calm down, we got bigger issues ahead of us and your infantile bickering won't help us." Valmon cut short they intensifying disputation.

A knight guard burst into view, riding his horse in a meteoric speed the others inspected the horse to see if it had grown on wings, they were practically flying across the bridge. He swiftly dismounted from the horses back while still in motion and landed awkwardly, almost twisting off his ankles.

" They are here sir!" he said, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Okay ready yourselves, we want the darkbender and the state guard alive, and also the little girl. If Slejj tries to resist use force, are we clear?!"

"YES, SIR!"

They warped into view, Alicia was carrying Lisa on her back, she was asleep. Slejj walked up front leading the pack of tired legs, Daito walked in the middle, carrying the bags they used while camping in the woods. Reene stared at them, in disbelief. After so many years of being led to believe the death of the greatest gifted, there he was, walking, breathing, doing whatever else living people do. And beside him was Alicia. Reene wanted to know more about her. From the moment he talked to her he knew she was something else. Not because of her looks and all, though they factored in slightly, he fell for her personality. And this was his chance to be her knight in shining armor, to swoop in and rescue her from the clutches of the evil sorcerer. Though she didn't look like she needed saving. It made little sense

what commander Alvatrone told them, how Slejj used some sort of control magic to manipulate them, either way, Reene had to do something, and that something was to be done at that moment.

MINUTES LATER

" Get inside! Remember the plan I told you about was there a day to come like this!?"

Daito hesitated momentarily.

"Kid look at me! Do you remember!?"

"... Yeah I do."

" Good, now get inside and don't open until they have me."

Daito and the others walked into the house. Alicia was confused, tired and confused.

" What plan, an escape plan?"

Daito ignored her, he walked over to the table and pulled out a large vessel of ink. Dipping the brush severaly he scrapped off the excess ink on the neck of the bottle and drew an insignia over his hand. 

" Quick, give me Lisa's hand!"

"What are you..."

" GIVE ME LI... we have no time to waste!" he sounded aggravated for once. He reached for Lisa's hand and drew the same pattern. He then took Alicia's hand and drew a similar pattern.

" What is this for? Dai what's going on?"

Slejj's voice echoed from outside the house.

" You can come out now! I know you are there Al, oh, pardon my manners, commander Alvatrone!"

In the woods, the knights tried their best to remain frozen until Alvatrone decided to poke his body out of the leaves and head towards the house.

" Lower your weapons soldiers... it seems we won't be needing them!"

The soldiers approached the house slowly, stepping into the open field one after the other.

" Long time indeed," Slejj said, slowly dropping to his knees and raising his hands to the sky in a show of surrender. The knight guards swooped in, locking restraints on his ankles, wrists and his neck. 

Alvatrone walked over to him, inspecting how the brace around his neck choked him. He smiled pleasurably. The knight guards forced him to the ground with little care for his face as it hit the wooden tiling with immense force.

Reene and the others were inches away from the door, awaiting orders to budge in and rescue the others.

" Wait, they could still be under his spell, they might attack you, and I'm hoping one of you has the ability to survive an attack from a god magician!" Avatrone said. All of them backed away, all except Reene. He followed suit after a moment of hesitation. He was eager to become a hero.

The knight guards swapped their attention from the former commander being squashed on the ground to the twisting door handle. They stepped out of the house, and onto the porch. Alicia still had no clue as to what was going on. All she was doing was following their lead.

" Ah, the slave emblem, just as I suspected. He has them under a control magic spell. Specifically, the slave emblem temporarily erases their memories and changes their conscience, leading them to believe whatever he wants them to believe. Isn't that right Daito, I see your emblem has worn off, which means you are free of his spell."

Daito exchanged looks with Slejj, then two more with Alvatrone who was awaiting his response.

" Yes, I remember everything. Seven years ago he abducted me and ran off. As soon as he was on the clear he enchanted me with that spell, the same happened to the state guard, she found us. But he knocked her out and enchanted her with the same spell..."

" But that's a lie! That's not what happened..." Alicia barked back.

" Her emblem is still active, so she is still under the spell, it'll take some time for her to break out of it."

The knight guards cautiously walked over to Daito and cuffed restraints on his wrists.

" Daito! Thats, not the truth... Why would you lie!"

The guards walked him off the porch, and as they were halfway across the lawn Albert arrived, Lora promptly followed.

" The man of the hour," Alvatrone said, acknowledging his arrival.

" No need for that. We all have the honorary State Guard Lora Deryleen to thank. If it wasn't for her tip we would have never found out his hiding place." Albert started applauding, directing his hands towards Lora who was still on her horse, nervously digesting the situation. She feebly smiled, her lips twitched once she caught a glimpse of Alicia's fiery eyes.

" It was you! You sold us off!! how could you, you know the vurhans are still out there... Nobody is going to help out those helpless villagers!"

Lora softly cleared her throat, " I just saw another State guard in despair and I couldn't sit around."

Alvatrone, walked off the porch, " Okay everyone, lets head back to Royal Republic, I'm sure the king awaits our return!"