A Deal With the Enemy

Chapter 21

They ran on foot from the Healer's encampment all the way to virgin forests bordering the farmlands. The terrain was rough, with undulating ground and thick foliage slowing them down. Rylee held hope that they'd made their getaway unnoticed, but their luck couldn't get any more rotten. From not far behind came the crashing sounds of their pursuers, and by the sounds of it, at least a dozen or so of them. 'Just for once, could something go my way?!' Rylee could only fume as his tired legs forcefully began their climb up yet another steep incline.

Liander, who was also struggling behind him, suddenly gave a yell before toppling backwards, rolling all the way down and landing in a heap on the ground. The tail end of a rope was lassoed around his ankle. By some miracle, Liander had managed not to crash into any of the large trees on his way down. At the top of the wooded hill, Rylee stood watching as several white clothed men closed in on Liander and drew their swords. 'No no no!' Without thinking, Rylee leaped back down the hill, slipping and sliding until he landed next to Liander, throwing himself over the other man's body.

"I surrender!" Rylee shouted hoarsely, his voice cracking in fear. "Don't hurt him!"

Someone approached Rylee and lifted his chin up, staring intently at him. "Yup, it's him alright. Matches the painting, except for the short haircut."

After several seconds of confusion, realisation dawned on Rylee and he gave Liander an accusatory look. Liander in turn gave him a very apologetic, pleading look when he realised their captors were referring to the portrait in Havenhall.

Without waiting further, the men tied them up and transported them by horse to a nearby village where, to Rylee's utter shock, they were placed in a carriage. He was expecting a cage similar to the ones used in the desert, instead of a rather spacious carriage with cushion seats and curtains! The riders swiftly led them from Aura across the border to Blue. The journey took days, but the riders kept their pace, only resting when absolutely necessary. The scenery, at first foreign, began to pick up in familiarity. Rylee felt utterly befuddled when he realised where they were headed, exchanging looks with an equally flummoxed Liander. 'Damnit, why are they taking us back to the mansion by the lake?'

As they neared the mansion, Rylee felt himself breaking into a cold sweat. On the flagpole at the gatehouse, flapping wildly in the wind, was the flag of the king to the throne of Blue. The memory of Draven's corpse flooded into his mind, and he barely held back his tears. Was the king going to end his life and string his lifeless body on that very flagpole?

At the courtyard, their bonds were removed after which they were ushered into the great hall and made to kneel in its centre. In front of them, a chair with thick armrests stood, serving as a makeshift throne. A young man with brown hair and blue eyes stood nearby, gazing curiously at them. Rylee in turn couldn't help but feel the man looked oddly familiar, although in his current panicked state, he was too agitated to pay him any more attention.

Footsteps sounded from the entrance of the hall. The brown-haired man called out in announcement, "His Majesty, the King."

A man dressed in navy blue robes walked past Rylee, his shoulder length hair obscuring his face. As he walked towards the chair, Rylee felt an odd sense of familiarity prickle at the back of his mind as he watched the man's back. Slowly the king turned and sat upon the chair.

Rylee felt like he'd been struck by lightning. The hairs on his body stood on end, his skin felt as if a thousand needles were pricking the surface at the same time, and shivers ran in waves up and down his body as his muscles stiffened in shock. All the air in his lungs left him in a single audible gasp as he stared at the face of the man he had wistfully dreamed of all too often these few years.