The group arrived at the Old Palace less than an hour ago. Aero has played this moment in his mind for months. He never envisioned it would be like this.
He had hoped to have time to explore the old ruins of his forefathers but that is not possible. He had hoped to be able to find the landmarks that Crimson described to him, to see if there were any remnants of the beauty that the Beast described so eloquently. Perhaps even walk the shores of the dried up Inland Sea.
The problem preventing the sun-kissed Prince from any sort of sightseeing is those thirty or so knights that has been following them has multiped. They are hopelessly outnumbered. If the knights attack, the group will lose.
No matter for Lieutenant Rain her first movements upon arrival was to find an elevated defensive position. She is a soldier through and through, always diligently performing her duties no matter the odds.
An old crumbling stone structure adjacent to the main palace foundation still has enough strength to give her a vantage point overlooking the knights as they stop in the field a few hundred feet away.
“How many, Rain?” Aero asks as he approaches the Bellumi Warrior.
“At least one hundred.” She replies.
“Did you count those approaching from the Southeast?”
“Not yet.”
“Damn, I’ll check back in. Stephan and Matt are setting up a perimeter… a small perimeter…” Aero says. as he descends the structure.
“Prince Aero, where do you want me? I can stand next to Rain with my bow.” Roasa says.
“When the time comes yes, right now we have to set up defenses.”
“Okay, just tell me what to do.”
Aero and Roasa approach the rest of the crew who are working to build a barrier to keep a calvary charge from running them over.
“What are you doing with my wine barrels?” Matthew screams at Will.
“Right now, they are buffers not wine.” Will responds.
“He’s right.” Aero says cutting off Matthew’s retort before he can even say it.
“Okay, that just about does it. It’s all we can do. We have the structure, the wagons, the um… buffers, and the rubble. We are covered from a charge. An attack on foot is more likely, for that we have no defense.” Stephan says.
Rain joins the group to give them her best estimate “one hundred twenty.”
“Our best bet is to lay low, let them make a move. Maybe they are just here to make sure Will and I depart.” Aero says.
“They are here for David and you know it.” Stephan replies sharply.
“I think they are here to put us all in the ground. We should drink as much of my wine as we can and die happy.” Matthew replies.
Everyone looks at Matthew with astonishment, even now his words catch them by surprise.
“Why would they be here for Dave or did you say David?” Roasa asks.
The men all look to one another, they had kept their secret from Roasa long enough.
“David is my oldest brother. The heir to the throne. We discovered a plot to kill him, so we secreted him out of the castle when we departed.” Aero explains.
The confession surprises both Roasa and Rain. Roasa had grown accustom to being in a convoy with the third born prince but the heir was with them the entire time? So many questions come to her mind.
“Who would want to kill him? And why? And how did you not know this Rain?” She asks.
“All non-Bellumi look the same.” Rain replies.
In another setting, the group would have enjoyed that comment. They may have teased her over those words, but not on this day. Today, the group don’t have time for jokes or ribbing.
“Our middle brother” David responds, “The reason is obvious.”
“Not only him but the old families of the kingdom have been plotting through a secret society within the Capital for centuries. They see the crown as being the weakest it’s ever been. They believe if they set John Henry on the throne they can accomplish whatever they want.” Aero adds.
“What? How do you know that?” David asks.
“I had conversations with Marco and John Henry.”
“You never said any of that.” David replies.
“It was a bad night… I still don’t want to talk about it.”
“Good! Because we don’t have time. It looks like their leaders are approaching with terms.” Stephan says.
“Matt, let’s go out to meet them.” Aero commands.
“I’ll go as well.” Will says as he follows the knights.
Aero turns around to instruct the women to get in the structure. He knows there is no commanding Ser Stephan, his order is simple- Protect the Crowned Prince with his life.
The three men step out to meet the small band of approaching knights.
“Prince Aero, greetings on behalf of the band of knights who have been assembled to bring your brother back to the capital safely. I am Ser Francis. My colleagues are Ser Gregory, Ser Cristo, Ser Melvin and Ser…”
“On who’s orders?” Aero says cutting off the introduction.
“Your fathers of course.”
“Let me see the orders with his seal.”
“I don’t have them.”
“Then you can’t have him.”
“Ser Robert is bringing them; he will be here within hours.”
“When he arrives, I will speak with him, until then keep your men at a distance.”
“As you wish.”
Ser Francis and his men withdraw back to their camp. Prince Aero’s work in diplomacy is improving. He bought his group a few hours at least.
“They want David. They claim Ser Robert is coming from the Capital with the King’s seal and he will be here in a few hours.” Aero tells the group.
“I’m not going with him without Stephan.” David says.
“You’re not going at all. Ser Robert is with Marco, John Henry told me. They are here to kill you; I can feel it. Why do you think there are there so many?” Aero responds.
“What do we do?” David asks his brother.
“Matt, check the dry seabed, see if there are passages large enough to make a break for it. Other than that, I am open to suggestions.”
No one has any. The group looks at the gathering of knights across from them. They are losing hope. Matthew comes back with a bad report. Only one path and it doesn’t go along the old coast.
They are trapped. So, they wait.
Hours pass, as they do more knights reach the enemy camp.
As the groups resolve wanes, Aero’s thoughts are on Roasa. She shouldn’t be forced to go through this again. He feels helpless.
Finally, as the daylight begins to fade, riders’ approach.
It’s Ser Robert, flanked by Ser Francis and three royal guardsmen.
“Let’s go meet them Matt, Will.” Aero says reluctantly.
“Prince Aero, it is good to see you well here before you depart on your pilgrimage. My associates tell me that you know why I am here.” Robert says in his pompous tone as he extends the King’s orders.
“Indeed they have.” Aero says as he examines the unbroken seal. Prince Aero opens it and reads the King’s words. His father demands the return of his heir to the Capital and has mustered five hundred knights to find him.
“My father’s orders are clear; I request that my brother remains in my camp until I depart so that we can say our goodbyes.”
As Aero speaks another rider approaches on horseback. He rides in fast, and dismounts even faster. Before anyone can say anything, Aero is face to face with someone wearing the armor of the Red Horned Knight.
“I demand justice! I want the sword of the man who killed my brother!”
“I present Ser Urgan, the younger brother of the Red Horned Knight.” Ser Robert says relishing that the young Urgan has disrupted any pretense that this is a peaceful transfer.
“You can’t be here. You have to return to your camp!” Aero desperately tells the young knight
“Not until I get my hands on the man who…”
An arrow falls out of the sky into the left eye of the man wearing the horned armor. His body makes a thunderous clack when it hits the ground.
Poor Roasa, that legendary Durrie temper got the best of her again. Seeing someone wear the armor of the man who killed her husband was too much to grip. She let her arrow fly and killed him on the spot where he stood. This time, she hit the knight in the opposite eye.
Unfortunately, the sound of his body hitting the earth alerted the knight camp. Aero doesn’t need Rain’s latest estimate to know that this is a battle they can’t win.
“Wait!” He shouts as Ser Robert and the guardsmen unsheathe their swords. He makes motions with his hands as if he can stop the onslaught. Roasa takes out another man with an arrow.
Aero is the only man without a sword in his hand as the knights quickly approach.
All seems lost. It’s over.
Out of the corner of his eye he sees something approaching fast from his left.
Seconds before the knights reach Prince Aero’s location a man jumps off a bear. A Halo Bear! The man is wielding a double-sided battle axe.
He raises it into the air and brings it crashing to the ground. The impact causes a huge fissure in the land a few feet deep that runs between the knights and Aero that forces everyone to separate.
Aero can’t believe his eyes.
Just feet away from him is standing a man holding what must be a magic axe. A man with black hair and brown eyes.
The old man’s words come flooding back to him.
The knight’s quickly recover from being pushed back by the impact of the axe and begin to advance again. Sadly, some of them venture too close to the bear and are quickly mauled.
As Aero looks back to see the knights attack nearing, the man takes out a hammer from his belt and hits it against the axe blade causing a shockwave to knock them all down. The bear continues to maul.
As the knights attempt to get up off the ground, they each hold their ears. The vibrations have hurt them bad. The stumble to retreat to the camp. About a third of their force remains on the ground unconscious.
“Bear! Stop!” Shouts the man. The bear complies and returns to the axe-man.
“Who the hell is that? He’s got a magic axe; we have to take him now!” Matthew shouts as he raises his sword in defense.
Prince Aero holds Matthew back. “Wait!”
Both men await Prince Aero’s next move.
Relics of the Old Age 