Chapter 4
1517 Words
Sir Deacon sat impatiently on his throne. From the way he rubbed his beard, and run through her hair, it was clear he was impatient.
It is almost half a day since he sent the horsemen to destroy Piper, and now still they have no news if the mission was a success or not.
He had sent his special forces to do two things. Infiltrate the Leaf and murder the Sir and everyone directly related to him and hunt Charles Piper, his son that was studying magic in Borrolly.
None of the horsemen platoons had news. All he had was radio silence. They knew the implication of failing. They knew how delicate this mission was. If they didn't execute their mission with ruthless aggression, there will be crazy consequences.
Think of the Mind and get shivers down your soul.
"Sir Deacon?" a messenger cuts through his mind "You have a guest"
Sir Deacon waves the messenger away and the curtains pave to reveal the visitor.
"Sir Deacon"
"Ha, the man of the hour, if it isn't the Marshall himself"
Marshall smiled nervously "I will prefer you can me Sir Everton"
"Cunning and ambitious, you are one hell of a person to combine such characters effectively"
"I try my best"
"Well, I like it. Stick with me and you are getting your 'Sir' sooner than you think"
"That will be my pleasure. Any word from the Horsemen?"
"No word, not yet" Sir Deacon studied Marshall's face. "Are you worried?"
"Worried? Or no, not a bit. Our plans were crafted perfectly. And I have total trust in your horsemen to execute the job. By now I know that Sir Piper and his sons have been eliminated"
"Good"
"All needed now is word and your new rank will be bestowed upon you. We have done a clean job"
"The girl that escaped. Will she be any threat? Should we worry about her?"
"Mary Shaw was my disciple from when she was a child. She has mad devotion to Sir Piper, so she might want revenge. But she is nowhere near a threat. I made her who she is, if she attacks, I will destroy her"
"But I still have an objection. I will love a very clean job. No witnesses, no words escaping. She escaping is posing a threat to that anonymity and I don't fancy that"
"I apologize. As I said, she was my disciple so I can read. If she used a transport cloak, I know where she will be. Shall I send troops after her?"
"Please do. My father once told me, If you want to crush your enemy, you better crush them dead. Leaving that loose end can come back to hunt us greatly. I will need you to fix it"
"I agree with you. I will fix it now"
"Wait, one more thing"
"What is that"
Sir Deacon turned to face Marshall and their eyes locked.
"This is the face of the man who betrayed his master for a mere position. This is the face of the man who killed his sons, how can I trust a man who did that to people who care about him?"
"Love and trust are mere fragments of society. No one genuinely loves and trusts until they are after the same need. I won't say you can or you can't trust or you should trust me. You let our needs interweave and you won't bother about me ever betraying you"
There was an icy silence. The two men stare into each other souls, calculating and gauging If and only if this Union will have long term consequences or advantages.
"Very well" Sir Deacon started "You have spoken the truth, I'll give you that. Society claims to love and trust when what they have is needs. I have needs, you have needs, if our needs clash, we kill each other, if our needs are interwoven, we work together.
That is what Sir Piper refuses to get. We could have been great together. He opposed me, I clear him. It's all in the day's job, it's nothing personal, it's just business.
But with you, our needs interweave, we both want to rise in the Pyramid. You gave me what I wanted and I gave you want you wanted. You are right"
"So that means we can throw this suspicion to one side and trust work together?"
"Yes, we can. Yes we can"
At this time, a messenger came through.
"A message for the Sir"
"Who is it from?"
"The horsemen, my lord"
~~~~~~~
Mary Shaw rose swiftly, too swiftly for her broken ribs. She groaned and had Peter holding on to her. She was in no condition to travel. She needs at least one or two days to heal.
If they were going to Borrolly, she is going to slow them down. But then she is the only one who knows the way. The Leaf boys have never left their bothers and she doesn't know about the girl. This was going to be harder than she thought.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes, don't worry about me"
"Are we going right away"
"We should. Horsemen could be heading to Borrolly as we speak"
"We had better get going now," Ann said
"And who said anything about you going to Borrolly?" Mary said
"Ann is not going with us?" Alex asked
"No, I am afraid"
"Why?"
"What are you asking?" Peter jumped in."We don't even know her and now she is following us to Borrolly? We met her only yesterday at the Lux River and why are you acting like we have been friends since stars boomed.
We met her yesterday and at the time the castle was attacked too. Isn't that a little more than coincidence?"
Everyone looked at the girl who was a little petrified. They indeed met her only minutes before the horsemen attacked and Peter kicked himself for not connecting that sooner.
For all that is worth, Ann might be working for the House of the Horse! And why was Mary attacking her when she found her. Perhaps she smelt a rat. Little wonder how they knew the shallowest point of the Lux.
"I know what you are thinking but I swear it's not that"
"Who are you, Ann? Are you the mole? are you working for the Horsemen?" Alex asked.
Ann looked from Mary to the boys. She must be shocked how they turned everything on her in a matter of seconds.
"Answer him! Are you working for the Horsemen!"
"Enough" Mary cuts in "Ann is not working for the Horsemen, I don't think so, but I have excluded her from following us because of who she said she was"
"A Carroll?" Ann asked
"Yes, Ann Carroll. Now you know why, you can go now, it's not necessary to let Peter know who you are, he already hates you enough"
"What are you talking about?" Peter asked.
"Don't bother Peter. You have already tried for Ann, saving her life, so she is going to be on her way now"
"No. No. I want to know who she really is"
"Well...if you insist"
Then she told them about the Carrolls.
The Carrolls were a great influential family of the Leaf. In the last two decades, they were ruling the Leaf together with the Sirs. They were also merchants and they control caravans and ports in the South.
And that was what they did, until fifteen years ago.
Baron Theodore Carroll, moved by greed and power connived with the Banished lands Of Indz and launched a take over of Leaf Lands from the Sirs. They failed.
In retaliation, Sirs ordered Baron Carroll to be executed along with his entire family. It was Sir Piper who pleaded that the young Carrolls be spared. For what is worth, they shouldn't bear the fatal consequences of the Baron's actions.
To prevent a future uprising, the Sirs seized and divided the Baron's wealth amongst themselves and banish the younglings.
When all was agreed, the Baron with his wife and grown children were sentenced to be executed.
"How were they executed?"
"They were drowned" Ann continued. "In the Lux River"
She looked away trying to blink tears. They died in the Lux River, that is why she was always there at night. There were tales that when Nymphs play, and they are happy, you can wish something from them.
She was at the river to play music to the Nymphs. To induce them to come out and play so that, maybe, just maybe she could make a wish from them.
She only wished they had not been so bad, her family, that is. She was only a little boy, how can she be paying for the sins of a father she didn't even know. This is not fair, not fair at all.
When she couldn't take it any longer. She turned around and fled.
Mary and the boys looked at her run until she disappeared about the rocky shrubs in the yonder.
"Let's go get your brother, Peter, we have no more time to waste"
- Writer
