Chapter 11: Scorched Sand Chapter 13: River of Regrets
Chapter 12: Ruled by Madness
We had a three-day journey of hell, next. Our entire multi-national army packed up from Jehanna and trekked back to Renais. It had been so long since I’d seen my home. Not since the very beginning of the way, so long ago.
The change was horrifying. I had left green fields and orchards, neat clean villages, smooth roads, an air of contentment. I returned to desolate, bare, and burned wastelands, villages fallen into disrepair, and the roads half-washed out in some places.
Strange how only a few months could wreak such havoc in a place used to being well-kept.
And that made me value all the more how peace was a good thing. I hadn’t thought about it much before. War was death, but it was also glory and the thrill of skilled combat, the chess-game of tactics, the raw adrenaline of battle. And I kept a tight hold on my armies, never allowing them to loot, pillage, or burn.
But the world wasn’t as honourable as I was. Or maybe just insane-Lyon.
His words haunted my mind. This was what he had planned since before he met us? Surely Grado had no need to be jealous of little Renais, peaceful and prosperous though it had been.
But now, my resolve was hardened, and my priorities straight. I wish it hadn’t taken the destruction of the home I loved to teach me the point, but Renais had been, with all its minor, niggling problems, the best place to live and grow up. Sure, there were bandits, and greedy merchants and corrupt councilmen, but the people had been mostly decent and happy. And it’s so hard to make a country happy, or so I vaguely understand from the histories Father MacGregor had tried to pound into me.
I would return her to that state again. Glancing at Eirika, I could tell that she felt the same.
The road up to the castle stank of blood and filth, and no one appeared to greet us, to welcome us with either hugs or weapons. The castle itself was sad and blackened, and the main gate was broken. The portcullis was listing to one side in its slot.
It was the castle that stirred me to speech. “What has happened to our home? How did it come to be so ruined? So desolate?”
Seth moved his horse up behind Eirika. “Spies have told me that the traitor Orson has taken up rule of Renais. He makes no move to govern; he does nothing to check the progress of brigands and monsters roaming… He sits alone in the King’s former bedchambers. No one is allowed to enter… he takes no meals…”
Huh? Then how was he surviving? Was he sneaking out as an alter ego, stealing food from people?
My brain was weird.
“What could he be doing?” Eirika asked in wonder.
“The spies had no insight into his behaviour…” Man, Seth was good. I just asked him to find out what was happening at the castle if possible, and he handled it all.
Still, more important things were at hand. “I realize, in retrospect, that he’d been acting rather odd for a while,” I said, and was glad that my voice was more under control than it had been a minute ago while I was still staring in shock at the scenery. “His wife died about six months back – do you remember that? I suspect the turmoil was too much for his mind to bear.”
Eirika seemed barely to have heard me. “Let’s go home,” she whispered.
“Yes. We’re going to the castle, Eirika.”
Quickly, I organized our forces, placing our homeland knights in charge of leading different groups of forces. I kept Seth with me, so we could pool our strategy. Innes had to work with Forde, which I did not realize until after I asked him to guide the Frelians – I’d seen him making eyes at one of the pegasus knights for a few days, and was thinking of accommodating that… But in retrospect, it was probably entertaining for everyone around them. As long as no one got killed.
I was giving quiet orders when I felt a familiar tug at my sleeve – I had dismounted, as this horse was for travelling, not combat – and turned to see Myrrh, looking unusually determined.
“Yes, Myrrh? I was going to ask you and Saleh to sit out…”
“I want to fight,” she said in her little voice.
“You… what? Wait, what?” I surely hadn’t heard her correctly.
“I can, you know,” she continued calmly. “Since Selena returned my dragonstone, I haven’t used it yet, but I can. My power will surely keep you safe.”
“Well… I can’t exactly stop you, Myrrh. But don’t go running off. Even if you’re a dragon, I still worry about you.”
She nodded and smiled, and tucked in behind Eirika.
The first time she transformed into a dragon, I fell over, hurling myself into the wall in panic as this giant green-gold form came whooshing past me, and the wall of mercenaries coming at us vanished in a blast of flames.
Our separate groups fought through the castle. Even if the mercenaries had been there a month or two, they didn’t know the castle like Eirika and I did. We’d played hide-and-seek in these corridors many times… Funny how that was turning into a survival skill. Not one I’d ever peg as essential, hide-and-seek… but it did give us an edge when we took short-cuts or one of the mandatory secret passages.
Orson was in the throne room, at the back of the keep, of course. While I sent the knights to clear the mercenaries and Gradonians off the walls, we confronted him. He had brought his horse. Well, so had we, but it wasn’t polite to bring horses in the throne room except in an emergency.
I’d say retaking the kingdom from neglect and misuse was an emergency.
“Orson!” cried my sister, on seeing him. “Why did you betray us?”
“Princess Eirika… If anyone could understand how I feel, it might be you.” He looked at the ground around him, not meeting her eyes. “For the one I love… I betrayed everything… My king… Everything…” Somehow, hearing that dull, pathetic voice cooled the rage and pain that had welled up on seeing him. He had put me into Valter’s clutches, almost led Eirika to her death, tried to steal both of our bracelets for whatever reason, and let the kingdom be overrun with lawlessness, destruction, and monsters. But he was dead inside already.
He looked up. “Seth. …So you’ve come, have you?”
“Sir Orson,” Seth replied, taking that as his cue to issue him a silent challenge to single combat. Our general was nothing if not honourable. I wondered suddenly. If something were to happen to Eirika, would Seth go crazy like Orson? Orson had been just as honourable as Seth. Even less of a sense of humour, perhaps, and a little older, but they had been very similar back in the good old days.
Orson seemed to be thinking along similar lines, although he wouldn’t know of Eirika and Seth’s engagement. “You’re an impressive knight, Seth. Always dutiful, ready to sacrifice even your life for king and country… Without even a moment’s pause… I – could not do that. It’s an unrewarding life… For Monica, I left it.”
But not until after she had died…
“That life you speak of… it is my charge,” Seth replied with steel in his voice. “My duty. It is my hope.” Of course, since Eirika was the princess, and would be Queen with me eventually, Seth would have no reason to betray her even if something happened to her. Which it wouldn’t, because he and I would defend her to the death, and she was a fierce little scrapper herself. I wondered if Seth had given anything away with that little speech? “Sir Orson… I do not wish to fight you, but… prepare yourself.”
I couldn’t help myself – I was grinning as I watched them. Single combat between masters was always exciting, even if it was to the death. Oh hey, Seth had his shield again. I hadn’t noticed it was missing until now, when he had it again. Well, that would help him, even if he was out of practice with it. But it seemed that Orson was out of practice with combat altogether. Seth clearly outclassed him, even with the shorter range of his sword to Orson’s lance.
The flurry of their battle was wonderful, and I could barely keep myself from cheering Seth on. It would be very un-princely to do such a thing, so I kept my mouth shut.
Seth unhorsed Orson, and dismounted as the other knight struggled to his feet. Forde took charge of Seth’s horse as the fight progressed to sword on sword.
Even if Orson was out of practice, both of their forms were superb. It was a shame he had become so unhinged as to go over to the other side. He was really good.
Even as I thought that, Orson jerked forward in a strange way, and ended up on the end of Seth’s sword. Seth flinched and pulled back, even as Orson fell to his knees. He hadn’t been pulling his punches, but either the shock of having just slain a former colleague, or just not having intended to kill him with that stroke, I could tell he was shaken. Even more than he had been before.
And it took a lot to mess with the Silver Knight’s stoic calm.
“Monica…” Orson gasped, and fell to the ground with a smile. If I hadn’t been creeped out before, that definitely did it.
And the worst was still to come.
Seth took a moment to collect himself before turning to us and bowing, as if nothing had happened. Saleh, Myrrh’s constant companion, healed him. “Prince Ephraim, Princess Eirika, the castle has been secured,” Seth said. I briefly wondered about the walls, but they would be no problem if they hadn’t been finished yet. The throne room was the main thing.
I knew what our first objective was. “Let’s see what Orson was doing in my father’s bedroom.”
I gave orders for people to start claiming sleeping spaces, and for someone to clean the kitchen so we could have a proper meal for once, and then the three of us went upstairs to the royal chambers.
That room, like the rest of the castle, had not been cleaned, and it stank of revenants. What on earth had he been…?
A woman… no, the corpse of a woman with grey skin and matted hair ran in. “Darling…” it said.
“What?!” the three of us gave a collective gasp. That was Monica’s body, upright and talking. A shiver went up my spine as if a cold hand with a handful of ice had run along it.
“…That’s… horrible…” I said, studying her. It was Monica, all right. I recognized her. She’d been a cheerful person, the life of the party, when she was alive. She had had a smile on when she ran out to us, but now her face had crumpled into flat disappointment.
“Darling. Darling,” she chanted. “Darling… darling… darling… darling…” I was revolted. Even if Lyon could raise the dead, he couldn’t restore intelligence, it seemed, much less a soul.
“So this is what he was doing,” said Seth grimly.
I turned to Eirika and let her out of the room by the shoulders. “Eirika, you don’t have to look anymore.” She was even more devastated than I was; I could tell.
I went back in and looked at Seth. “We can’t leave her like this.”
“I know. But I feel rather horrible doing it.”
“More horrible than this unnaturalness?”
“…No.”
I stepped up to Monica, who shrank back in simulated fear. “I’m sorry you had to go through this, Monica. Rest in peace from now on, okay? Orson is waiting for you.” And I plunged my lance through her heart.
I heard Seth swallow hard, and I gagged for a moment as my eyes stung. I wanted to swear, so much. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
I pulled my lance from her body. “No one should have to be buried twice. I don’t care if the Sacred Stones themselves brought someone back to life.”
“I… agree,” Seth said haltingly from behind me. “Let us leave.”
I didn’t even stop to lay her out. Afterwards, I felt terrible, but I wasn’t going back in that room. I wondered who would deal with her remains, then resolved to think about that later. There would be plenty of time later. I shook myself. “Let’s go find that Sacred Stone.”
Seth nodded and turned, leading us back to the throne room. It was empty again, with everyone off grabbing corners for sleeping bags. I was glad. I would prefer not to find the Sacred Stone in front of an audience.
“Your father said to me: ‘Raise the twins’ bracelets in the hall of kings. Then the hiding place of the Sacred Stone will be revealed,’” Seth said.
“So, over our heads, right?” Eirika asked. Father’s wording wasn’t terribly clear, I agreed silently.
“Let’s give it a try, Eirika.”
“Ready when you are, Ephraim.”
As we raised our arms simultaneously, our bracelets flashed with brilliant light and I had to shut my eyes. I was half-blinded anyway.
As I blinked away the blindness, I saw the throne slide to the right, and behind it, a dim entranceway in the stone.
“Come on, Eirika,” I said, and started forward.
There were stairs, and a tunnel, and then we found ourselves in a small arched room made of white stone. At the back was carved a small alcove, framed by the biggest, most amazing lance I’d ever seen – and I’d seen Vidofnir in Frelia, the Winged Lance – and a golden sword.
In the alcove, illuminating the room far better than the magic torches on the walls, was a small crystal sphere, glowing with white light.
I walked slowly towards it and picked it up. It drew me. “This is what we have come to find.”
I turned to Eirika and smiled joyfully. We could do this. We could win this war. With this precious, precious jewel, we could not fail.
Eirika rested her hand on mine and smiled back.
Our bracelets flashed again, Eirika squawked, and my grip on the Sacred Stone tightened reflexively. The bracelets flashed with an increasing pulse, and soon I had to close my eyes again because it was so dang bright.
“Aureola!” Eirika cried. Great, so that overfed over-named nuisance was here. Well, I couldn’t begrudge her joy at seeing her horse again, I thought as I put the Stone safely away, because…
“Lila!” And I hugged my stallion. Aureola and Lila, brother and sister as we were, two white horses. The bracelets had summoned them? “I thought you were dead, boy. We got separated in the swamps… but you found your way home.”
At least, I assumed that’s what happened. What else could have happened?
I hardly noticed Seth come up and kneel before us, until I caught sight of what he was offering me. “Here, Prince Ephraim, is the Sacred Twin Lance of Renais. Please take it.”
“Sigmund, the Flame Lance,” I said with awe. I could feel the power in it as I took it from him. With my horse and this lance, I’d be unstoppable. Oh, and with my army too. There was also that.
“And the Sacred Twin Sword of Renais, Princess Eirika.”
“Sieglinde, the Thunder Blade,” Eirika said, and in response to her words, the sword hummed a little. Did mine hum? It probably didn’t. Fire didn’t hum. It roared. And thunder… rumbled? Lightening crackled? I wondered why it hummed after all, I guess. “The ancient weapons of our ancestors…” Eirika continued, “containing such power as… and yet we need them for peace to triumph in this dark time.”
I nodded, and gestured to the door. “Shall we?”
I emerged first, and saw Innes and L’Arachel hanging around. I gave them a peek at the Sacred Stone.
“Is that the Sacred Stone?” L’Arachel asked, just to be sure. “Wow! It truly is spectacular. Well, our course is, to me at least, clear. I must lead you to Rausten.”
Innes looked both amused and skeptical at the same time. “Not till tomorrow, I hope.”
“Naturally,” she rejoined, and suddenly I hoped these two would get married. Wait, that wouldn’t happen… she had that Carcinian rogue shadowing her.
“Thank you, L’Arachel,” Eirika said, and the Princess of Rausten waved at her in a friendly way as she left, already beginning to chatter to herself about preparations. Innes lingered a moment, and then he left as well.
“Well,” I said. “Now what are we going to do with our home?”
“We can repair the castle,” Eirika said thoughtfully, “and what was stolen we can do without… The real damage is in the suffering inflicted on the people of Renais.”
“It’s too late to undo their pain,” I agreed. My heart sank. “Once peace is truly restored, and I become king, we must set this all right. But how will they greet me? I did abandon them at the start of the war, off to play soldier. All I can do is be responsible, starting now.”
“You’ve been responsible ever since we got back to Frelia, Brother,” Eirika said fondly. “And when you came to rescue me from Renvall, there was that, too.”
Seth had gone out at some point – I could never keep track of him – and now he was coming back to us, his face alight with some strange excitement.
“Come quickly and look outside!” he said to us, and we followed him at a brisk trot, all three of us leaving our horses.
As we came to the wall over the gate, we saw people. Many people; the whole populace had come up from the city and gathered in front of the gates. So our passing had not been missed, then. When they saw us, they all burst into cheers and shouts – and a few sexy whistles, which made me laugh.
“Prince Ephraim!” I heard. “Princess Eirika! Long live Renais!”
I was stunned. I had not expected this kind of welcome. And so shortly after I had been thinking the exact opposite…
Seth analyzed it better. “They’re not actually cheering for you, much as they loved you before. They are cheering for the end of Orson’s misrule. For the possibility of a better tomorrow, not the end of a dark day.”
“Tomorrow it will be up to us,” I said firmly. “I will not let their hopes and dreams be shattered again.” I looked out at them all and waved – beside me, Eirika gave a cute little wave of her own. “We’ll live up to Father’s rule, right, Eirika?”
“Yes, we shall,” she said, with determination, smiling, practically glowing in the adoration of her people. I caught her sneaking a glance at Seth, and he gave the ghost of a smile and bowed slightly to her.
“I should have stayed home to defend them,” I said wistfully. “Not gone charging off with dreams of personal glory. I never really understood Father, but he must have been so disappointed in me…”
“I think he understood you better than you might guess,” Eirika said softly, over the continued noise of the crowd. “He only worried for your safety, and every time we had news that you were still fighting, it brought a smile to his face. He asked for news every day, even if he knew there wouldn’t be any.”
“Indeed,” Seth put in. “He often commented to me that you would make a fine king someday.”
“I’m sure it came with unspoken caveats,” I said, but I was reassured. “I should tell these people we’re not sticking around for very long.”
“That is an excellent idea,” Seth said. “Shall I get someone to make posters of whatever you say to distribute?”
“What? That sounds… scary.”
“It’s perfectly normal…”
“All right. I’m just not used to the idea. Well, here goes.” I raised my arm for quiet, and the cheering died down.
“Princess Eirika and I thank you for your welcome,” I called over the crowd, glad that my voice was strong from calling orders in battle. Was that what my father was talking about, how I would make a good king? Nah, he was smarter than that. “Sadly, we cannot stay for long. We both grieve for the wounds of Renais, and long for nothing more than to stay and repair the damage done. However, the world is still in peril. Although Grado has been defeated…” I had to pause for some cheers. “Although Grado has been defeated, the Demon King has escaped and now commands his army of darkness once again. We must take the fight to him, wherever he may be.” A few scattered whoops. I’d have to stir them up, perhaps? “I say to you: take hope, and stay strong. Eirika and I have one of the last Sacred Stones in possession, and with our brave knights and talented soldiers, we shall go kick him back into the abyss from whence he came!” More cheers. That was more like it. “So begin to rebuild as you can. Orson is gone and you are safe from him. Beware of the monsters still abroad, but think of us! We will be out there, in service to you and to the whole world, destroying the Demon King and his minions, and we shall never give up, though we perish in the doing of it. For though we die, we shall not fail.” A roar of cheers. I hoped it was for the determination, not for the potential death.
With a last wave, we both turned and headed back inside, followed by Seth.
Eirika hugged me. “That was really good, Brother!”
“Thanks,” I told her, although I felt a little shakier than when I addressed the army – when I didn’t feel shaky at all.
“Let’s hope things go as I said they would.”