The Broken Sigil

Chapter 20: Friends

   “Let me go! You vermin! Let me go!” he yelled. “Do you know that you are holding a Protector a captive!? Do you know the punishment for such a crime!?” he kept yelling, as the man that rode the horse hit him on the head. “You’ll pay for that I’ll make sure of it! I will kill you!”

    “Kill me?” asked the man. “I just saved your life!”

    “Saved my life!?” he was surprised. “And just who are you!?” the man turned and looked into his face. “Lucius!!!” Cristopher was dumbfounded. “What in the Watchers name are you doing? Untie me at once!” Lucius stopped the horse as he got off it and pulled the dagger he used it to cut the ropes that held Cristopher firmly on the horse, as soon as he cut them Cristopher fell on the ground, he stood up and brushed himself off. “What was that all about!?” he pushed Lucius, who didn’t stand still, and pushed him back, the tension between them was high. “You punched me! Like a coward from behind!” Cristopher pointed his finger in front of his face as Lucius pushed his hand away and grabbed him.

    “You dumb motherfucker! Next time when I say we run, then we run!” they stared at each other. “That was a suicide, and we would have been killed, the soldiers would have been killed, you would have been killed, but since you don’t care about that you should of cared about your sister, because if they followed your orders everyone would have died, and we would of becoming more numbers to the undead army, more numbers to Marcus, or Vega, or Echo, or whatever that thing is,” Lucius let go of him and walked towards the horse, Cristopher didn’t say anything because Lucius had a point, what the hell was he thinking? About his pride? What is pride going to be worth it if he died? And on top of that, they would indeed have become soldiers to Marcus, they would have become undead. He shivered at the thought, then he looked at Lucius who was getting on his horse it looked like he was going to leave him there.

    “Where are you going?” he asked walking towards him.

    “Why do you care?”

    “Tell me now!”

    “I am going to Celvin, I need to see for myself, I need to help my family.”

    “No, you are not.”

    “What?”

    “You are going to get yourself killed!”

    “I thought you didn’t care if people around you died.”

    “Get off the horse now!” Cristopher pulled him off and he fell to the ground. 

    “What do you think you are doing!?” Lucius stood up and was ready to fight him. 

    “Listen to me! You can’t go to Celvin, that’s what they would want! They will have a trap set up for you,”

    “And you would know all about that!”

    Cristopher looked at Lucius and realized that everything he said sounded really suspicious to him, even though Cristopher’s intentions were pure, however, his name was ruined, his mother ruined it or whoever attacked Celvin, his reputation was tarnished. “Look at me, I don’t know what you think of me, but you have to believe me that I didn’t have any say in the attack. It would seem that my mother and father wanted me away from all of that, that’s why they sent me to the Ashen Fields, it’s probably why you were there!” Cristopher explained as Lucius entered deep into his thoughts, his theory might just make sense since everything was convenient the same time Celvin was attacked when the undead rose in the Ashen Fields. “If I wanted you dead I would of let you go to Celvin now,” finished Cristopher. Lucius looked back at him and nodded before turning back on the horse.

    “I told Katrina to take Aldus north,” he picked up a map from the horse. “We need to go after them, we need to find them.”

    “North?” Cristopher was confused. “What are they doing north?”

    “It’s the only safest place now,” Lucius looked at him. “Francis will take them in, he will keep them safe,” he nodded. “We need to go after them, we need to join Francis,” he got up on the horse. “Come on then,” he waited for Cristopher to get on the horse, but he remained on the ground it seemed like he didn’t want to get on the horse.

    “That army…” he started. “Protectors and mages are the only ones that could fight against it,” he looked at him.

    “So…?”

    “You saw what happened, their weapons were useless, how do you think anyone would be able to face them? They will be lambs for s*******r and we will be caught in the middle of all of that.”

    “What can we do? Kill Marcus? Face them alone?” Lucius couldn’t understand what he wanted.

    “We need numbers, to face them.”

    Lucius looked away and scoffed. “How are numbers going to help us, when they are going to be useless?”  

    “We can teach them!”

    “Teach them what? Magic? How to use the weapons?” Lucius couldn’t believe it.

    “Did you really think that our ways would forever remain secret? Has it ever crossed your mind that one day, somebody out there starts asking questions? Wants to learn more about how or why we use the magic? How long before they figure out everything and every Kin knows, the entire world knows?” Cristopher waited for an answer but didn’t get any. “Kin hates us, the threat, the history… it isn’t what it used to be, the time has passed enough where even the most atrocious crimes are being questioned whether they really happened! Younger generations laugh at us! We are dying, and if we die… We might as well leave something behind, teach them a thing or two, so when we are gone they can protect themselves,” he finished as Lucius looked away still unconvinced, still wanting to do what he wanted to do, go to Celvin, but he knew that Cristopher was right, there’s nothing there for him anymore, there might be after all of this is over, but first, he would have to finish it, and he will need to help Cristopher.

    “What about Aldus? What about your sister?” he looked at Cristopher.

    “You said they are headed north? To Francis?”

    “Yes…”

    “Then they will be safe… Francis will keep them safe, and don’t worry about Aldus, I promise you he is in good hands with Katrina,” Lucius scoffed again, still not wanting to believe as if he still wanted to find an excuse not to do what Cristopher thinks is smart.

    “You said numbers, how do you plan on getting them?”

    “We will call the alliance, they must answer.”

    “Who are they going to answer to? Your father’s gone, nowhere to be found, hell he might even have something to do with the attack, in which case he would have betrayed the alliance.”

    “All the more reason for the alliance to come together,” Cristopher made a good point. “The king may be gone, but the decree is a decree they also need to answer to the next in kin… which happens to be…” he smiled and pointed at himself, Lucius sighed out and looked away angered by how stupid Cristopher is right now. “They will listen to me, I know they will,” Lucius was quiet for a moment, but extra numbers wouldn’t hurt and they need those numbers fast since the rate at which Marcus is growing his army is disturbing and soon enough they might not be able to catch up to him, no matter how skilled and good they are, they can’t take an entire army alone.

    “Where do you think of going?” he asked.

    “Yimeon…” Cristopher answered instantly.

    “Yimeon? Why?”

    “Well…” he started pacing around the horse. “If the rumors are true that the White City attacked Celvin then their army is in the middle cutting off our path to Steam or Everpeak, there’s no choice but to go to Yimeon, once we have their army we can break through theirs and Francis could flank them from behind,” he moved his hands around in the air explaining the tactics to Lucius. Lucius on the other hand just looked at him with amazement there’s no way he could think it’s that simple. He got off the horse and walked towards Cristopher staring at him telling him how stupid his idea was with just the look. They stood there and starred at each other no one saying a word for a while. “We are going north,” Lucius broke the silence and walked to the horse preparing himself for the trip north.

    “No!” Cristopher stood his ground. “We go north we die, Marcus may already be on the move, and if we do that then what is the point of you saving me. We could have died in the Ashen Fields and been done with it, what would be the point? Tell me?” Lucius was getting quite angry since he was using his good deeds against him.

    “And how do you think the southerners would react when they find out you want to use their army just to get you passage north? Has it never occurred to you that soldiers would have to be sacrificed, just so that two of us can get through, and those soldiers that die… just more numbers for Marcus. It would be better if we traveled alone, makes it less suspicious,” Lucius nodded.

    “You know Raoulin could track us the closer we are to him.”

    “So let him track us, then I will kill him, something I should have done a long time ago if you ask me.”

    “He is no fool, he would have the entire army with him, and when he comes we must have an army with us.”

    “In case you forgot, Raoulin and Marcus have twice the numbers as us, the southerners are not stupid Cristopher, they won’t like those odds.”

    “It doesn’t have to be that way… Once we get their army, then we can talk to Francis.”

    “Talk to Francis? And you think Raoulin would just sit by and listen to us plotting against him?”

    “So we let him listen…”

    “What?”

    “We set up a trap for him…” smiled Cristopher. “We can end this conflict before it’s even started, and once we do that the Protectors could gain their reputation, and start a new era, so please help me…” he pleaded. Lucius took a moment to weigh the choices and possibilities at first he wasn’t really convinced by all of that, but then again he won’t be able to accomplish anything by going north since they would close themselves in a blind alley and the army of the south won’t be there to help them, as at the same time Marcus massacres the south, so not only would they call the south to fight they would be helping it in a way. And right now everybody could use some help.