The plan
1644 Words
Dawn came above The White City, Franco woke up by the knocks on his door it was one of the masters.
“What is it?” he opened the door.
“Your mother my prince…” he bowed.
“What?” the master did not answer him just walked down the hall to the infirmary as Franco followed him. “Tell me what is it!?” he yelled as he moved down the halls but the master remained silent. “HEY!”
“What`s this about?” Aelizia woke up as well, Franco moved past her, she followed him, both of them ran down the hall with the others joining them. Franco burst through the wooden door, the sun rays struck him on his eyes he was blinded.
“I am sorry my prince,” said one of the masters.
“What?” he looked at him as he moved closer to the table he removed the white sheet and revealed his mother's dead body, she was pale and had coins on her eyes, he let go of the sheets and looked out of the window as the red sun was rising. “Everyone get out,” he said quietly.
“Franco…” Aelizia moved close to him but he just pushed her away and moved towards the equipment, he pushed away everything from the table in anger and then flipped the table.
“I SAID EVERYONE GET OUT!” he screamed the masters left the room right away but Aelizia went to him and hugged him as he sat down on the floor and leaned on the wall below the window. “I killed her,” he cried.
“Come on,” she comforted him. “It`s not your fault.”
“I killed my own mother,” he looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“Shh… Come on now,” Aelizia`s father walked in the infirmary with the rest of the group there were Francis, Hugo, Cristina and Liza, Aelizia made a gesture to get out and leave them alone for now but Francis walked up to Franco, kneeled before him and… hugged him.
“Come on, they are going to be here soon,” Francis helped him stand up as he leaned on his shoulders.
“Thank you,” he nodded at Francis.
“I remember when I lost my mother to the invaders…”
“Who were they?” asked Franco.
“They were from Villeurve,” said Francis as Hugo lowered his head, he finally understood why Francis has so much hate against his kind. “I was just a kid, one moment I was training with my wooden sword, my father yelled for me to go inside the house and look after my mother and my baby sister,” he looked at Cristina. “But what could a young boy do? How do you oppose a greater force than you? We hid but they entered our house, they were going to kill us when my mother, she sacrificed herself so that we would live, me and my baby sister. From that day I woved, I was going to be strong and I was always going to protect my sister. And it was the day that both of us lost our parents.”
“I`m sorry,” Franco hugged him again. “You are right, I have to be strong, I have to be strong for my people now.”
“Francis…” said a familiar voice.
“Anfroy! You`ve arrived,” Francis went to hug him.
“Father,” Hugo bowed before Cedric who also came with Anfroy.
“We were summoned here, what happened?” asked Anfroy.
“The queen is dead, and our foe marches freely around the realm,” said Franco.
“The queen… What are we to do?” asked Cedric as Franco left the room and walked toward the main hall whilst the others followed him.
They sat there for hours planing and discussing their next steps against Echo, Franco was devastated he didn`t even bother to chime into the conversation, he kept starring at the empty throne. Aelizia noticed him and felt like she is the villain, she forced his army to stab his mother even though she was possessed by Echo the guilt won`t leave as it was the same for Franco, maybe that`s what Echo is all about, maybe the evil soul Ox causes pain and guilt wherever his minions walk, maybe the things they were feeling right now were created by Ox.
“This Echo that you speak of,” said Cedric. “How are we to believe he exists, how do you know that he drains the resources from the land?”
“The queen is dead because of him, we fought him once and lost,” Cristina looked at him. “He nearly drained my soul and killed me, trust me when I say he exists.”
“The things that you are explaining seem supernatural, almost like magic,” dismissed Cedric.
“You don`t believe that magic can be practiced?” Teodryll looked at him with slight anger.
“Enough… All of you,” Aelizia stood up and picked up her staff, she projected the hologram the same one she projected for the council where they fought Echo. Cedric and Anfroy were devastated by what they saw.
“Stop!” Anfroy stood up and walked around the hologram, he looked at the scene where Echo grabbed the sigil and the very same moment where Francis and Hugo fell to the ground. “Isn`t that?” he looked at the two of them.
“That`s the sigil from our dreams,” confirmed Hugo.
“What happened my son?” asked Cedric. “You just fell weak as if you were defeated?”
“The sigil and the dreams seem to be connected to us somehow,” Francis finally spoke.
“If you fell, how are we to know those whole armies won`t bow down before it?” asked Anfroy.
“It`s not like that, it only seems to affect me and Francis,” said Hugo.
“And as you can see Echo is only strong when he has the sigil,” she pointed to the moment when Liza stabbed him in the back but he didn`t feel anything. “He is also a Kin he bleeds, he can be killed,” said Cristina. “All we have to do is take it away from him, and then destroy it.”
“How do you suppose we do that? Say destroy it?” asked Teodryll.
“We can try magic?” said Aelizia.
“And what if that does not work?” Cedric doubted again.
“We can go to a place… They have advanced contraptions, advanced tools, one would think they are smart, maybe they will know how to destroy a simple necklace,” Liza sat quietly in a dark corner as she finally stood up and walked to the round table.
“Where is that?” asked Cristina.
“My home… Steampeak,” Liza looked out of the balcony door and onto the valley in the direction where the mountain was.
“We`ll go there,” Franco spoke. “If there is a way to destroy him I need to know it immediately, we shan`t waste time, we leave in the morning.”
“And what shall we do?” asked Anfroy.
“You gather the army and protect the realm, you need to buy us some time until we learned the secrets of the sigil and Echo,” said Francis.
“And what realm shall we protect?” asked Cedric.
“He possessed the queen… he could have easily taken over the White City, unless…” said Hugo.
“Unless, Echo caused a diversion with this to distract the armies, to make a city defenseless,” presumed Francis.
“No!” Aelizia jumped from the chair. “Father we must leave!” she started to panic.
“Calm down daughter,” Teodryll caressed her palm. “The walls were enchanted before I left, nobody will enter,” he managed to calm down Aelizia.
“Still we could use this as a way to trap Echo and a chance for us to perhaps take the sigil away from him,” said Anfroy.
“It`s decided then, The armies will march north, we shall go west to your home,” Franco looked at Liza as she nodded.
“It`s decided?” asked Cedric. “I don`t remember agreeing that my army would be sent to a journey that certainly is going to kill us, and then defend a city that isn`t ours to defend.”
“And you rather fancy the chances of fighting alone against that thing?” Anfroy pointed at the hologram. “You think a village is capable enough to fight by itself? Get your head out of the ground, we are in times of crisis and there is no need for hatred amongst each other. Show valor instead of selfishness, it`s your choice,” Anfroy sat down.
Cedric was quiet for a moment it seemed that he had nothing to say, but he opened his mouth and gave everyone a relief. “I choose valor.”
“No,” Aelizia still protested. “I shall go north and protect my home, I shall be with you father.”
“No, we are going to need your magic,” said Cristina.
“But I can`t.”
“Daughter…” Teodryll nodded at her.
“But father…”
“We have more than enough men and magic to protect Everpeak, we need to balance the resources where it`s needed, and they need you,” he pointed to her companions.
“It will be fine, we will be with your father,” said Anfroy as Aelizia closed her eyes and let out a tear, she won`t be there to fight for her home, it was a lot to process for an Everpeakan, they would do anything to protect their sacred place, the place they call home.
“Alright then,” Liza walked to the table and marked Steampeak with ink. “There… Steampeak,” she backed off as she was frightened just by saying the name.
Franco looked down on the map and nodded at her. “Okay, we should all get some rest and recover our strength. I shall have the nurses prepare the rooms,” he walked out of the hall.
- Writer
