Fall of The Lost Kingdom

Chapter Three: Shadows

"The problem with Terisia is not in its overwhelming military strength or its commanding leaders, it has three great weapons at its disposal." King Tallis spoke with his royal advisors and tacticians as he looked toward the figures on a map. "Especially that one, that weapon causes massive damage to both sides, causing the landscape to change and become inhospitable for years, we all remember the Battle for Kirella." His advisors nodded in affirmation.

"My lord, we agree that there may be risks to it but King Tiber goes too far with these levies and taxes on our goods. We can't even cross their borders without paying more than what we are selling them for." One man spoke out and more advisors nodded as he continued. "We must take them to war, do we have any other options at this point?"

"And risk Skagaria's invasion and decimation from Terisia? The countless lives lost would be devastating to ourselves and the island nations as well. Yes, we have the best navy of the three kingdoms, but Terisia is landlocked by us, Skagaria, and the wasteland jungles, we have no way to reach them with our most powerful assets." The king's tone was grave as he explained. "The only chance we would have is if we found an ancient weapon that either rivaled or surpassed the ones in King Tiber's possession."

"About that m'lord." A tiny man poked his head out of the crowd of advisors, he was too short to notice and had bland features that you could lose in a crowd. "Rumor has it that the Key has finally revealed itself." The room fell silent as he continued. "The unfortunate thing about it is that it was found in some backwater village near the Skagarian border. and the rumors also indicate that the crown prince of both Terisia and Skagaria are on the move to steal it." Gasps filled the room as he finished. The men around the room broke out into furious conversations that continued to increase in volume.

"We can't let them get it, it's the key for the sky's sake." Said a tall advisor with a scar across his right eye. He seemed to be the head counselor to the king and his voice was the loudest. "The key, THE KEY!" King Tallis' head started to throb. He began to rub his eyes and sigh before he decided to end the uproar that began to increase in even more volume.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled, silencing even the birds outside his chamber. "We may not have been the ones to find the key, but they obviously haven't gotten ahold of it either, meaning we have a small chance to obtain it. Counselor Aibar, send word to all the spies in Terisia immediately. They must find and protect the key at all costs. Advisor Wyren, find out who located the key and make sure you relay it to Aibar as you go. The rest of you provide support to these two and make sure this information does not leak. it is of the utmost importance, GO!" He commanded and all of the advisors left in quite a rush, one almost knocked over the king's favorite flow vase. Tallis sighed and slumped into his chair, age revealing itself in his face.

The key had been found, the key to the lost kingdom's treasure, he thought. We cannot allow those two to get their greasy paws on it. If we miss this chance, we will surely regret it. King Tallis was a large man in his late fifties. Broad shoulders barely fit his chair as he stared down with his sharp green eyes. He had a very prominent nose and chin that could chip away stone and his aged face still looked to be in his thirties. With a large hand, he picked up one of the tiny boat-shaped pieces on the war map and stared at it. This meeting was supposed to decide when and where their surprise attack would take place, but seeing the amateur display from his court tacticians, he decided against it for now. The key was significantly more important than some silly tax war. A knock came at the door as he twisted the piece in his hands.

"Enter." He said and in came a tall veiled figure that seemed to glide across the floor.

"Is the meeting over, Father? When do we go to war?" A surprisingly crisp voice sounded from behind the vale that seemed to freeze the water in the air. "I have a few suggestions that you may like to see in regards to the vanguard..." She was cut off by a sharp look from the king. "What is it?" She asked.

"The Key of The Lost has finally been obtained," the king said, his tone hard like stone. He needed to carefully think about his next course of action. "Daughter, this is the most important thing for us now is to find and take the key to the forgotten vale, that is what has been foretold by Madame Exarix and, with it, our kingdom will finally be the one that rules all." His eyes changed to black as he continued. "You are the only one I trust to do this task, your circumstances in the kingdom give you ample freedom to do as you want without being linked to the family in any way. Take this bag of gold." he pulled out a coin purse as large as his hand and just as full and tossed it to her. "And buy yourself the best mount you can find and be off. King Tiber must not get the key and neither shall Chief Wilhelm. If either of those two gets their dirty hands on it, well" Tallis paused, "I don't even want to imagine it.". He waved his hand to signal her dismissal and returned to the map in front of him. The princess nodded and gave a curtsy before leaving the study. Determination and excitement filled her mind as she ran towards where her hidden rooms were located in the castle.

...

"Is that blood?" Aiden asked as he looked toward the man holding the knife, but was ignored as Riley reached for a sword, not realizing that he had left it back at the training camp. The shadowed man looked upset that he was found and turned towards the other end of the alley, not realizing that at the end was a wall blocking his path. A curse left the man's mouth as he turned to face the group and he began to charge. Reflexes kicked in naturally for Riley as he darted to the side to dodge the knife pointed at his chest and he reached to grab the wrist of the attacker, but he wasn't the only one the man was targeting.

The knife switched targets and was thrown at its new mark. Kiva, out of fear, ducked but was caught in the stomach. The blade sunk deep in her side. Fortunately, she looked to be still conscious and just in a lot of pain. The shadow man was too fast for Riley to handle. He wailed as he saw the blade sink into his friend's stomach. Aiden was the man's next target, but for some reason, the new knife that appeared to have come from the darkness missed Aiden's head just barely. Blinking, the shadow man was stunned for a slight moment and he looked towards the knife that was now stuck in the wooden building behind them. This gave Aiden, Kit, and Riley a chance. Pulling the knife that Kiva gave him from its sheath, Riley jumped towards the man. Aiden and Kit grabbed hold of the man's arms as Riley plunged the knife deep into the shadowy man's chest.

"Professor Taywin...by the sky Taywin is gone...and who was the other he got?" Aiden asked, looking at one of the bodies in the alleyway. While the reality of the situation fully washed over him, he walked over to the female corpse on the ground. The exchange of knives happened faster than the moment felt to them. Kit panted and walked over to join Aiden next to the body, his face paled as he slumped to the floor. Relief was the only word Kit could use to describe his feelings.

"Who is it, Kit?" Riley asked, but he felt like he already knew the answer. The hair in the man's hand made Riley worry. Thankfully, a hand touched his shoulder and he looked over to see Aiden’s goofy smirk.

“Don't worry mate, it looks like it's Taywin's other assistant. He gestured over to the girl and saw that her hair was black. Riley sighed and scratched his head. Then how did the man have Sarin's hair in his hand? He thought to himself.

"This situation may look good but we have to get Kiva to the village doctor, she won't last long with that deep a wound. Kit you good to move?” Aiden said while walking over to Kiva. Her breathing was shallow and she lost consciousness. Aiden knew not to remove a dagger because it was holding back the blood. “Kit?” Something was wrong. Riley looked over at Kit and noticed a look of fear in his eyes. They were locked onto the assailant's now-revealed face. The mask had slipped off and underneath was a surprisingly young-looking man with a scar across his forehead. The youth's golden eyes were lifelessly staring at Kit and he looked back at them.

“What's wrong man?” asked Aiden, who had just gotten done waking up Kiva. She was panting and in pain, but it looked like she could move with a little help. Riley put her arm around her shoulder as he carefully lifted her and Aiden helped. Both guys stared at their speechless, terrified friend.

“He's one of the crown prince's men, not the Crown prince of here, but The Crown Prince of Skagaria. Prince Rezza. He's one of the shadow guards.” Kit finally replied. “It would have been impossible to fight against him, even as young as he is, these men are brutal warriors and know nothing but espionage and assassination.” Kit was always filled with all sorts of knowledge of Skagarian politics and the military. Riley chalked it up to him being a bookworm when it came to strategy and war games. But an elite assassin of the Skagarian prince should be a rumor and not real, and it was hard to believe he would find one of its members in this village. “The scar, the scar, is what gives them away, they scar their foreheads to show loyalty to the crown,” Kit explained. “Not only that but what is most terrifying is they travel in packs…”

A scream sounded out behind them as Riley, Kit, and Aiden turned to see who had made it. A teen girl was holding her hands to her mouth trying to stifle her screams, but she couldnt stop as she stared at the group. Kit recognized the girl and decided to try to console her but she ran off before he could even get close.

"Guys this is bad, we need to go get the knight gaurd and explain this before things get out of hand." Riley said.

"What we need to do is get Kiva to the doctor and also figure out why this happend, screw the gaurd." Aiden argued.

"No, We get Kiva help and find Sarin, then the gaurd. We all saw the hair the Shadow held, something is rubbing me the wrong way here and the Shadows presence is troubling." Kit turned to his friends and gave them a stern look as he began heading toward the direction of the village doctor. Riley and Aiden followed behind while they carried Kiva on there shoulders. Time could not be wasted and Kiva's breathing worried them all. The group rushed as fast as they could towards their objective and were met with little trouble along the way. They could faintly hear commotion behind them and sometimes faint screams. Riley assumed that people had happened upon the scene of the fight. That was until they rounded the corner to what should have been the main road.