Sentria: The Age of Adventure (Book 2)

Chapter Seven: The Only Way Is Through

Lucas, Eldwyn, and I stood around Knight Arden's body. I stared down at him sympathetically, wishing desperately that things hadn't turned out that way. He was yet another knight struck down by the cruel hand of fate. I felt cursed. Knight Ral's death ushered in a dark time mired in death—but Eldwyn was there and that made me feel hopeful. I hid my conflicted worries behind a stoic stare. I was mournful and excited at Eldwyn's return and worried about the mission with Prince Lucas. I didn't have the time to solve every problem right at that moment. I needed to concentrate on one.

"Well?" asked Lucas again, looking around at all the carnage: bodies of men and horses scattered around, armor, weapons, and the viscera of the monolith that made everything smell acidic. "What should be done about this?"

I looked at the lake and then back to the group. "We give the knights a water burial and continue to Loria. I will send a carrier doves to Stargon and Sentria to let them know what has happened and our current plans. It's the best option we have considering our circumstances."

"Pardon me?!" Prince Lucas nearly choked on his words. "This is the best option?"

"There's no point in going back now when Cordath could strike at any moment," I said, strong in my position. "We'll lose time if we do. The only way is through."

"We need to return to Stargon and ask permission from my father on what should be done. Four Stargonian knights have just died, we won't make it another day alive."

"That's where you're wrong," I replied. "Eldwyn and I have faced terrible threats and we've survived. We can do it again."

"He's right," said Eldwyn. I loved hearing his voice again. It was still light and bright and filled with hope, as if no time had passed at all. "When we're together, nothing can stand in our way."

"I don't agree with this," said Prince Lucas crossing his arms.

I crossed my arms too and said, "You're more than welcome to return to your kingdom and I'll make the request to Loria on our behalf."

"You know that I can't return to Stargon without you at my side. My father would have my head on a pike."

"Then we're going to Loria?" asked Eldwyn with some excitement. "I've heard they have beautiful gardens and a wondrous sea."

Prince Lucas wasn't happy about it, but he resigned to my plan and we dragged the bodies of the fallen into Lake Aksum for them to find peace in its depths. I took Knight Arden's Stargonian blade. It was a fine weapon with a ribbed black hilt and I vowed to him that I would take care of it for him. 

Once we were finished, we stood by the shore and gave our respects to them quietly and with our eyes closed. Eldwyn said, "May these knights know rest," in a song-like fashion, and as Eldwyn and I returned to the carriage, Prince Lucas stopped us.

"Wait!" he said, and we both turned around. "These were Stargonian Knights and they deserve "The Warrior's Song'."

We both returned to Lucas's side and closed our eyes as Lucas sang:

"O, how the mighty have fallen on this gray day,
For it is the price that the warrior must pay,
When we're alone in the dark we bow our heads to pray,
And follow the fates as they fall where they may.

Muros can you hear me? Please guide me along,
Through these hidden hills with this nightly song,
Aksum strikes down with light in the sky,
But it's only for a moment as the warrior dies."

We turned around once he was done and I saw that the horses attached to the carriage were spooked. I walked up to them and petted their necks and hushed them softly. "Shh, it's all over now. You're safe," I said, and they slowly calmed down from their excitement.

"We'll need to find shelter soon," said Lucas, sticking his head out of the carriage window. "It will be getting dark and I don't want to be on the road when the moon is out. That's when dark wizards are at their most powerful and marauders are more likely to hunt."

"There's the Holland Manse in the Village of Deter, not too far from here." I pointed westward.

"Perhaps we should stay at an inn," said Prince Lucas, glancing inside the carriage at Eldwyn. "Considering our company..."

"The Holland's are a vassal house and they are my family," I implored. 

Prince Lucas sighed softly and went back inside the carriage. I checked again and made sure the Stargon prince wasn't looking and whispered discreetly to the horses. "My friends, take us eastward to the Holland Manse. Follow the Silver Road and do not let us down." 

I joined them in the carriage. Eldwyn sat on one side and Prince Lucas sat on the other. I felt torn between the two, so I sat with the person who would've been most hurt if I had not chosen him, Prince Lucas, and the horses started to move.

"Don't the horses need a valet to control them?" asked Prince Lucas.

"Horses are highly intelligent and intuitive," I said quickly. "The knights have taught them well. They knew where we were going and if there's any trouble, they will make us aware."

Prince Lucas took a piece of parchment and quill from a drawer beneath his feet and began writing. "I will be telling my father about our new mission. I suggest you do the same for yours."

I looked at him for a while and sensed his frustration. It wasn't just about the monster and the deaths and all I could hope for was that in time he'd calm down and understand reason. I didn't love my plan either, but we had to forge ahead. I reached down and grabbed a piece of parchment and a bluebird quill and began writing.

"...And how have the two of you been?" asked Eldwyn after a silent while. 

"Good," I said, trying to sound positive. "Things have gone back to normal in the Sentria Kingdom."

"Normal?" Prince Lucas looked up from his parchment. "You'd call a dark wizard crashing the Winter Ball in the Stargon royal court normal?"

"I meant back to my royal routines. My lessons and the formalities."

"You sound like you miss it." Prince Lucas went back to writing. 

"The forest isn't so bad," said Eldwyn, "in truth, it's a wondrous place. The most wondrous place in all the world. It's magical with countless possibilities as long as your mind can conceive it and even when it can't. When you're out with nature you can find yourself."

"I can find myself quite fine in my castle, thank you." Prince Lucas finished writing and passed me his parchment.

I moved over to Eldwyn's side and took two doves from the birdcage. I placed the parchments in their respective talons and told one bird, "To Stargon" and the other one, "To Sentria" and sent them flying off out of the window.

"It's done then," said Prince Lucas, avoiding eye contact. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do, you can trust me," I said. "The both of you."

"I have faith in you," said Eldwyn. "It was fate that we should meet and we'll save the realm as we did last time. It's written in the stars."