The Battered Crown

Chapter 21: The Shut in

"Its exciting, isn't it?"

That voice was the same and yet, it wasn't. Viaan knew the speaker but he was still unfamiliar with him. He waited for the speaker to turn and reveal his face. The speaker was in a black cloak standing near the white fountain with the overhead light shining like a halo around him.

Viaan knew who it was before he fully turned when his mind accepted what his ears heard. Rudra's whisper filled the silence.

"Your highness!"

The laugh was cold like the air biting against Viaan's skin. He couldn't place it to the angelic face before him. The same face which was always in his mind. The person who sang him to sleep was standing before him with an aura of dark magic so strong that it was charging all the sun stones.

Viaan finally found his voice.

"What's exciting?"

"The fact that every kind of rejected, royalty and not, is true. Two princes, a princess and a shadow master is here, huh?"

Viaan didn't say anything. He didn't have anything to say, atleast till he knew what Vivaan was planning.

"You have been coming into the palace and you think, I wouldn't know of it?"

"I would think, you would try and stop me. If you don't, I would think you are planning something." Viaan retorted.

Vivaan's lip curled and the evil smirk returned.

"You wouldn't do anything I didn't want. You did exactly what I wanted you to do. You played right into my hands."

Viaan didn't look away so he couldn't miss the smiling eyes. He didn't know what his friends's reactions were. They were obviously watching the family fiasco. Viaan was honestly fed up with all emotions and he had no tears left to spill. He certainly didn't want to see the smug expression on his elder brother's face which he hated.

"I'm not answering anything. Just tell me what you want!"

If the smile was evil, the laughter was downright chilling to the bone. This was the ultimate betrayal to his trust. Viaan wondered what part of his life was truth. Everything he knew was wrong and full of deception. He wasn't the same naive younger brother he once was.

"Easy. I want your energy. I want you to give me energy for all my conquests."

The maniacal words were hardly put of his mouth and Viaan was stupefied. What conquests did he want?

"I want all the kingdoms. That girl's kingdom is next. It will be easy compared to this one of yours. And then that boy's tribe will worship me. My plan is just perfect."

Viaan had enough of this talk. Time was wasting and lives were at stake. Viaan was practically suffocating by the dark magic. He had to end it. Of course Vivaan had the same idea and he bound them all with his magic before Viaan could think anything.

"Now that was disappointing. I expected more from the royalty and a warrior. Shameful, isn't it?" He shook his head as of the thought saddened him. Viaan could barely believe that his brother had successfully imprisoned them and he couldn't move an inch.

"You guys are going in the basement. No one interrupts my plan."

Then with a wave of hand, he started levitating them. Viaan could only see the moving walls and one minute later, he was dropped on to the hard floor of the basement he never knew. The stone floor was cold and the door closed engulfing them in darkness. As Vivaan moved away, the magic's hold loosened and Viaan could move his fingers.

It took them five whole minutes before they could walk. Viaan activated the sun stones which glowed showing the inside of the basement. It had nothing except the stone walls and flooring. No windows or ventilators. At that rate, they would suffocate and die, if they didn't find a way out.

Atleast they had some time left before the air depleted.

"How does he know who we are?" It was Nairiti who asked this.

"He is resourceful." Viaan mumbled.

"That means you are a princess but I don't understand everything else he said."

"I'm the prince of the Black Guards."

Viaan turned towards Vidyut and remembered how they attacked Nairiti and him. They wanted Vidyut. It all made sense to Viaan now. Vidyut was butter when he talked about them and he had run away from his home. He had told Viaan how his family did not approve of his choices. It was a big mess.

And that left Rudra who was pleasantly in dark. He didn't know of his abilities and many other things. He had the right to know all that.

Nairiti also had the same thought apparently because she said, "I'm the only survivor of the massacre in my kingdom Urmika. No one knows about me, atleast only few know. And your brother Vivaan is one among them. And Rudra, do you know why you know the location of tunnels. Because the power there chose you. I know, you must be having hard time coming into terms with magic, but this is all true. That's why we didn't tell you about this when we told you about our magic."

"The tunnels chose me?"

"Yes, only few can enter them. They are magically barred from entering. And you can go in there because you are chosen to keep them safe. You can find the opening of any tunnel from anywhere. I don't know what you can do but it can be anything regarding the tunnels." Viaan added.

Rudra had been quiet since he was mulling over all the words he had heard. Viaan waited in silence contemplating how to escape the basement. His magic didn't work and they couldn't find the door which seemed like it was sealed with something. Vidyut was trying various magical options to blast a hole through the stone but he had no success. Nairiti was standing quiet and her silence was killing Viaan. He didn't want her to remember things and live them again. So it was a pleasant welcome when someone talked.

"Does that mean I can open a tunnel here?"

Author's note:
Theories, theories, theories ?

Please tell me what you think will happen next. And how was this chapter?

Was it good?