Three days had passed, and Eldwyn and I spent most of that time in our quarters. The illusion that we were there as anything other than prisoners with privileges was thinning by the hour, and the plot to escape remained underway. Our main impediment preventing this were those damned magical vines, deadening Edlwyn's magical abilities.
We hadn't seen Princess Ilya since the night of her revealed origin story and I began to wonder if she had been kept away from us by the king. I had, however, discovered where they kept my armor and sword; there was a suspicious room toward the back of the castle that always had a guard stationed there. I had the freedom of walking around the tower without much oversight and I noticed that no other room had such protection.
As the light dimmed on the third day, Eldwyn and I walked around the perimeter of the castle. Not having access to his magic had begun to wear on him. His hopeful sayings decreased and his smiles became rare sightings. I had to be the one to lift his spirits when I saw that they had sunk too low. That was new for me.
"We will find our way out of this," I said underneath my breath to hide my words from the following guards. "You mustn't give up."
"Yea, you're right," said Eldwyn, smiling for a second before it collapsed under the weight of his stress.
At the west side of the castle, we saw Captain Perry come our way with a group of ten soldiers behind him. They stopped and stood over us with cocksure faces, as if they were all in on a joke about us. Their display was unbecoming of knighthood. They were nothing like the knights of the southern realm who held themselves in high regard and wouldn't crack a smile unless they were off-duty.
"The outsiders," Captain Perry said with a sneer. "I see you're still here."
"That we are," I said, refusing to let him see my fury.
"It's been such a long time since I've been in a true war. I fought in the Dynasty Wars, you know. I was but a young lad, but I killed hundreds of southerners. Marbury's, Hiddleston's, Colress's. They all felt the cold steel of my Cordathian blade."
"You must have been very proud," I said. "But today as a captain you would be more of a tactician, sending your soldiers into harm's ways. War is a young soldier's game, not meant for an aged artifact weakened by time and sluggishness."
Captain Perry frowned and glanced over his shoulder at his snickering men. He then leaned in close to my ear and said, "I cannot wait until every last one of your family's heads are atop our spikes for all the north to see."
I opened my mouth to speak when I noticed something in the corner of my eye. I turned and saw plumes of smoke rise from the exterior of the castle walls. The vines were burning.
"Fire! Fire!" People yelled all around us and the church bells rang loudly.
Princess Ilya's words came back to my mind as I watched the black smoke cover the sky. This was the sign.
I turned to look at the relic, who hadn't left my side this entire time. How he had suffered without his magic and held onto his last shred of hope with all that he had left. I gave him a smirk.
"Eldwyn," I said, and stared intensely at him.
Eldwyn smiled for the first time in days and said, "Bronte, auk em braun!" He threw out his hands and a gust of wind shot out, sending Captain Perry and his soldiers far into the distance. He then turned around and sent another gust at the guards trailing us and they did the same.
"I need my sword!" I said.
"Let's go then!" said Eldwyn.
The two of us rushed back through castle, Eldwyn pushed away every soldier that stood in our path with ease until we reached the back room which had been left vacant in the chaos. We burst through the door and I put on my cleaned armor quicker than I ever had before. The griffin symbol had never looked so good. We left the castle with precise haste having surveyed it for several days. Once we stepped back outside the doors, the Wizard Allaster stood there with that same mischievous smile and his hands held behind his back, like he was hiding an instrument designed for our torture.
"I knew it would come to this," said Allaster. " I saw it in your eyes the moment you came here."
"As did I. And I didn't need magic to know!" I ran at him with my sword raised.
With a flick of his wrist, green energy blasted from his hand and came at me as direct as an arrow. I planted my feet and blocked it with my shield, but the force sent me crashing into the building with a clanging clamor. My shield cracked from the might of it and I thought it would break apart in my hand.
I coughed and looked up from the ground. Eldwyn sent a gust of wind at Allaster as green energy rose from Allaster's leather boots and kept him securely in place.
"You're skilled for a child," said Allaster. "But I am an ancient and you are out of your depths." With another flick of his wrist he sent a green energy ball at Eldwyn that glowed unholy. Eldwyn jumped out of the way just in time and it crushed the concrete behind him with a force that shook Cordath Castle's foundation.
I got up on my feet and ran at the wizard again with my sword raised. The dark wizard pointed a finger pointed at me and sent a bolt that snapped my metal blade in half like a twig. I stopped and looked at my half-sword, smoking like the walls around us.
"My magicks are not from this realm," said the Wizard Allaster. "They are from the rivers of the underworld. Wind and metal mean nothing to me."
I came at him, refusing to quit, and stabbed at his heart. He moved to the side and the attack didn't land. He gripped my neck and lifted me off the ground. His nails dug into my skin and I grabbed onto his arm trying to pull him away. There was such an unnatural strength to him that I knew I had no chance of struggling free.
"It was destined to be this way, Prince. The north will reign as they always should have and the south will fall."
I tried to snipe back at him, but my windpipe was being crushed. I was beginning to black out when I felt the wind blow toward Eldwyn. I turned my head as much as I could and saw Eldwyn moving his hands in a circular motion, creating a ball of ice crystals. The air felt cold and the ball grew larger. Allaster threw me to the ground and turned to face Eldwyn who shot the ice ball at him with a hearty yell. It hit the wizard in the chest and he flew back.
"Let's go!" I said, and Eldwyn and I ran southward, hidden among the frightened masses. They were in total disarray, crying as if doomsday itself had arrived.
As we approached the south gate Eldwyn and I sped up. I believed wholeheartedly that it was Princess Ilya who had left it open for us and I vowed to one day repay her for her assistance.
We crossed the gate through the thick black smoke. Fires burned the vines at either side of the entryway and we ran down the crooked road. For a moment, it felt like our nightmare was over. Then, I heard the sounds of horses galloping behind us and I feared that our misery would restart if we were caught again. We'd never be able to outrun them on foot. We'd need to take to the trees where the horses would have had a harder time chasing us down.
"The trees," I said pointing at them, but then, from up ahead, I noticed more soldiers approaching. Were these Cordath soldiers? No, I knew the royal blue and gold colors well. These were the knights of the Stargon Kingdom.
Twenty soldiers on horseback came to us. Two of them in the back held onto flagpoles with their sigil, a golden-winged lion surrounded by ten gold stars on a blue backdrop. They stopped in front of us, led by the black-bearded Captain Ral Highmore who, despite the number of battles he had lived through, had the kind eyes of an innocent young boy. He bowed his head to me and said, "High Prince Darren," with a reverence I had sorely missed. "We received your note while stationed in Blackbird Castle and we came straight away."
The Cordath soldiers reached us, their angry faces covered in ash and one of them said, "The prince and his relic will be coming back with us. They are our rightful prisoners."
I took a step toward them and said. "No, I will not, and his name is Eldwyn Gamor of the Misty Moors. I will be returning with my bannermen and Sentria will hear of your transgression. Rest assured we will respond in kind. Tell your king, for this is not over."
"You heard the High Prince," said Captain Ral. "Now be gone, before we show you the might of the Stargon infantry."
The Cordath soldiers hesitated for a moment, then turned back to their burning kingdom. They knew they couldn't withstand Stargon's numbers.
"Thank you, Captain Ral," I said. "You and your men will be paid handsomely for your actions on this day."
"It is our honor," said Captain Ral. Then, all the soldiers turned to look at the relic to my left.
"O," he said, "I'm Eldwyn Gamor."