Chapter 42: 42. Black and Red

“And I swear to you, everything will be avenged.”

 

I awoke suddenly, from nameless void to life in seconds flat. My limbs were warm, my ribs unbroken, my body hearty and hale. It was as if all the pains of the last few flighty days had finally passed. It was a good thing too, for even I could hardly recall anything but the agony of broken bones and choking blood as we had descended the pass and come across the Minuan Road. Even the great reflections of the Arguin as we had gone along that lakeside path were but harrowing memories of wispy consciousness consumed by sleep and dizzy anticipation.

 

God, I really needed to stop almost dying. And actually dying, if you count the first two. Baliman probably wouldn’t appreciate his sacrifice going to such waste.

 

I opened my eyes to a pristine room of noble lineage, upon a feather bed of white and red. Halfboards of gleaming white covered half the wall supporting the weight of the vertical ones above. A brilliant light filtered in through a wide veranda, the light of the Star warming my face. A tray of colourful fruits and bread sat upon an end table beside me, and just beside was a face I hadn’t seen in quite a while.

 

He was haggard, his face fallen to stubble and sleeplessness, and his hair was unkempt in length and style. His buttoned red jacket was wrinkled and the red marks from the constant wearing of a battle mask marred his face, which wore a fell look about it. A long surface-level scratch ran fresh down his cheek, but he didn’t seem to mind.

 

His eyes, however, were as fiery as ever. A great pain hung before them, a hard look that shook me to my core.

 

We stared at each other for a few seconds, each of us confused at the other’s expression. 

 

“Saphry!” 

 

“Andril!”

 

The now-first prince rushed forward to embrace me, and I returned it without any misgivings. The very last time I’d seen the guy had been the night of the gala, and so much had happened in the meantime that I couldn’t help but feel a little euphoric.

 

We’d done it. Through the ice and trees, the mountains and monsters, we’d arrived safely in Minua.

 

Andril pulled away quickly, and his eyes belayed a relief beyond words. He must’ve fretted the whole time over us, especially with how quickly he’d been forced to flee. The prince certainly looked the part of the stressed friend.

 

“When the wagon arrived, I hadn’t dared to hope.” He said. “It is truly a sign of the Star that you’ve been delivered safely.”

 

“‘Safely’ might be an overstatement.” I tested my shoulders, finding that they weren’t even sore. “That knight almost did us in.”

 

“I heard from the others. To think a Knight of Esilmor would side with the senate…” Andril’s expression turned dark. “All of the country has betrayed me, Saphry. There is no other word for it.”

 

“Not true! I’m here! As are the Mavericks and Auro.” Another memory bubbled up through the fog. “Not only that, but you’re here in Minua, aren’t you?”

 

If Andril was still walking around free, then he was definitely already supporting the prince. How far that support would go would depend upon Andril, but it was better than nothing.

 

“The Duke is a material man. He simply thinks of what he can use me for, or as a boon to the church.” Andril shook his head. “I am glad for his help, but it won’t be enough. Minua by itself cannot challenge the other duchies in battle.”

 

I stared at him in shock.

 

“Ba..battle! You can’t be thinking of war already, can you?” 

 

Brother Hans had been very thorough when he had stressed the importance of Verol staying out of war, and Fredrick had been quick to agree with him. Had they failed to convince him already? 

 

Andril looked four years older as he looked away, barely concealed anger twitching under his skin. A dark pressure settled upon me as I laid there, and a cloud flew over the building, plunging the room into the ethereal shadows cast by the lantern light

 

“The senate is a blight on Verol, Saphry. They have killed my brother and countless others in their political games, and now they poison the minds of my brothers against me. Even Fredrick- Fredrick! Even he argues for diplomacy! How could I entreat with people so corrupted? I’ve been asked to play nice, to preserve the ‘stability’ of Verol. But what a load of bupkis!” 

 

He slammed his fist upon the end table, and I jumped half an inch into the air.

 

“The Star did not make the Lmeri Empire to suffer under the rule of murderers, Saphry. We have degenerated so much that they don’t even name us its descendant! Burgunde, Douge, Brepoline… Our hinterlands have drawn away, our neighbours are enthralled by darkness, and now our own courts murder our people with our own swords! Why should I talk with the minions of the Gryphon and not purge them like the rot they are?”

 

Of all the things I was not prepared to deal with a minute after waking up from a coma, a political debate about a system I knew very little about with an angry prince was near the top of the list. Why couldn’t the Mavericks or Gideon have dealt with this? Certainly they had awoken before me!

 

“Why are you so sure the king is against you?” I asked tentatively. “Why can’t this be solved by arresting the perpetrators?”

 

“Because they are only a symptom of the disease.” Andril said. “The senate was a poor idea when Father made it. How could he think to acquiesce to the demands of those traitors? He gave them freedoms and leniency! Compassion! And what did they give in return? Murder and death. The darkness of the Deep corrupts the hearts of man, only the worthy can lead. To think otherwise was Burgund folly. It must be pulled up at the roots.”

 

Yep, it was getting pretty clear to me that Andril had well and properly lost it. Once they started speaking like a mid-millennium German there was little you could do for them other than intense therapy, and somehow I didn’t think a literal absolutist prince would go for that.

 

“What does the Duke think of this?” I asked. “Or the church? Wasn’t there a big branch here?”

 

“Duke Belvan is cautious, and waits for messengers from the other duchies to return, which might take months. He has fought with my father though, so he sees the corrupt almost as clearly as I do. The priests, however?” Andrl let out a long sigh. “The priests of Celrion advocate peace, of course. It is their nature. They speak of trespasses in the Valleys of Erithine and Cinion, and object every time I send a letter to Summark, thinking that your home cannot defend its Starsent fortresses and offer aid at the same time. So tell me: is that true? Are the defences of Summark really so frail as to fall if a single soldier was to leave their walls?”

 

“I…”

 

To be honest, I had literally no [fucking] idea. Saphry had spent only her childhood years in Andorlin, and she’d never bothered to learn about its troops and capabilities. Neither had Marcolo ever told her, though I doubted he was any more informed than she was.

 

Even more importantly, the pressure Andril was giving off was scaring the hell out of me. Where was this intensity coming from? It was probably better just to defuse this. I’d need to revisit this with Fredrick and Gideon to help.

 

“Useless.” He spat. “How far will the Star test me? How can I restore this kingdom when everyone betrays me? Where, Teu, is the light you promised?”

 

He no longer looked like he was talking to me, but into the air instead. It felt eerily similar to the monologues I had sometimes heard while back on Earth.

 

“Listen man, I just woke up.” I said finally, every one of my hairs standing on end. “And I’m hungry as hell. Can I at least eat something before you grill me?”

 

Andril blinked as if he just remembered the situation I just woke up from. He stared at me for another couple seconds, before finally smiling as a chuckle and then a laugh broke through his lips. It echoed around the room like a bullet, and the pall disappeared from his face. The cloud passed outside, and the renewed light drove the shadows from its corners.

 

“Ah,how I forgot how blunt you could be sometimes! And where is my hospitality? I must apologise, I just find myself of strange minds sometimes.”

 

“Eh, no worries. It happens to everyone.” I chuckled to myself. “Or I hope so, or we might be insane together.”

 

I watched his face carefully, but he seemed much closer to the Andril I had last seen back in the capital than he had. 

 

He stretched as he got to his feet, sighing strangely naturally for a guy who’d just spoken of butchering senators.

 

“I think Duke Belvan had some pasta prepared for when you awoke. I’ll inform the others as well, I’m sure they’re anxiously waiting for news.”

 

I thanked him as he left, leaving me alone in the room. I heard his steps taper off as he walked down the hall to the right until I was left in silence.

 

When’d the prince get so paranoid? He’d barely listened to me at all, as if his mind had been made up long ago to reach towards revenge. I could only wonder just how much expectations Father Hans actually had in us.

 

Because honestly, I couldn’t really blame Andril for feeling like this. I certainly wouldn’t be sprouting rainbows and flowers if one of my family members was cut down right in front of me. Especially not when he’d been betrayed by his own guard captain right after. If it wasn’t important that Gideon and I have enough time to brew our potion, I probably wouldn’t even want to try.

 

As well, it was becoming clear that Verol was in a much more precarious state than I had originally thought. I’d heard of the republic and Brepoli as both were common topics among the Veroline, but I hadn’t known just how hostile they actually were to Verol. Nor had I known that they used to be a part of the kingdom. That combined with whatever the hell was happening in eastern Summark threw some more light on just how fragile a position Verol teetered on. It was as if every surrounding land was filled with demons or angry polities. That meant that a ‘realm peace’ was more important than we could possibly imagine.

 

But on the other hand, I could clearly understand Andril’s points. Whoever had been operating in the capital had murdered tons of people, and they had manipulated the senate by everyone’s account. 

 

While I wasn’t quite as sure that the senate itself was a horrible idea, I also didn’t have any experience dealing with the entity. They had power over the king, that was true, but had that influence been entirely negative? I had trouble believing that monarchical absolutism could possibly be a better alternative to an aristocratic court in the long run.

 

I straightened as the door suddenly creaked open again only for Auro and Gideon to spill past the threshold.

 

“Saphry!”

 

“Auro! Sil-” I stopped as I beheld the drake in horror. “God in heaven, are you alright?”.

 

He was a veritable mummy of bandages and burns, his right wing stuck in a wooden splint next to his torso. From the exposed body, I could see that more than a couple scales had been shorn loose to expose the soft blue flesh underneath. His whiskers were bent and blackened, and a few of them were burnt halfway to the snout. His right eye was bound and wrapped, and his left was saddled with worry. Even his claws and tail hadn’t returned unscathed, lending his overall form to feel disfigured and wrong.

 

I can ask the same of you. Gideon thought. But I should recover. Not blind either, thankfully.

 

“You don’t look much better.” Auro said at the same time, relieved tears in her eyes. “All four of you looked dead when the patrol found you.”

 

“Yeah, I can imagine.”

 

It was only through a miracle that any of us had even survived that encounter that night. Still the memory of that phoenix flying overhead replayed over and over in my head. How could something so majestic and terrifying even exist?

 

“I’m only glad everyone’s alright.” Auro sat down on the bed, letting Gideon down at the same time. “Andril’s been worried sick for days.”

 

I scooped up my drake friend and checked him over, suppressing the sudden impulse to nuzzle him like a cat. Thankfully he still had the glassen scale, nor did his injuries look as severe as the bandages had made them seem. 

 

“And… well, I heard Andril shouting as well.” Auro looked away. “I hope you won’t hold it against him too much. A lot’s happened and he’s just stressed out.”

 

“He stresses me out just thinking of him.” I muttered as I continued to inspect Gideon. “I suppose Fredrick and Breale had no success in calming him?”

 

“Ah… well, he hasn’t been much in the mood for that. He and Breale just about drew swords.”

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“Of course it was Breale.” I shook my head at the audacity of that girl.

 

I knew they were old friends, but who even thought about threatening their own crown prince?

 

You got it much better, actually. She got called useless too, and had Lord Belvan scold her for scratching him as well. 

 

“Scratching…?”I snorted as I remembered the mark I’d seen on his cheek.

 

“Yep, Father really wasn’t happy about that one…” Auro looked a little confused, as everyone tended to when I talked to Gideon. “She wasn’t quite as ‘blunt’ as you are, I guess.”

 

“Ha. You know what? I really can’t say I’m surprised. Breale’s-” I frowned as I processed what Gideon had said. “Wait, how do you two know so much about what he said?”

 

Auro and Gideon glanced at each other, a sure giveaway.

 

“W-what do you mean?” Auro found an interesting spot on the wall to stare at. “I sure don’t!”

 

I shook my head, more amused than angry.

 

Auro’s room is on the other side of the wall. Gideon yawned. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it's just that the wall is thin as plywood.

 

I raised an eyebrow at the drake. 

 

“She?”

 

I was 100% eavesdropping. I’m finding that it's better if I can stay on top of whatever absurdity you’re liable to promise.

 

Auro whistled softly as she burned a hole into the wall, or at least attempted to whistle. It sounded more like she was just blowing.

 

“Don’t worry about it. It's probably better that we’re all one the same page anyway.” I said.

 

“Ah yeah…”

 

“And speaking of that: what’s the situation here? Andril said a bunch of stuff about the Duke helping him and people keep talking about attacks in Summark. Verol’s not exploding, is it?”

 

I’d started to realise a while ago that nobody actually told Saphry anything unless I brought it up, which was starting to become a problem. How could I help with problems I didn’t know existed? Or at least dodge out of their way.

 

“People say the attacks have increased, but they always do this time of year. Even our own towers talk about it.” Auro pointed out of the window towards the mountains to the east. On a far peak clouded in white beyond the nearest range, the faintest hint of orange light could be seen.

 

“So that isn’t an issue?” 

 

“Not right now. Well, not if Sir Andril doesn’t do anything drastic.”

 

Which was not guaranteed. Still, it felt a little better knowing that home… that Saphry’s home probably wasn’t going to go up in smokes anytime soon. That might be a little more depressing for Saphry to come back to than I wanted.

 

Before I could ask something else an angry rapping upon the door drew our attention, followed by two familiar voices. 

 

“Come in!” Auro called in response.

 

“Wait a…”

 

Breale burst through the door with fiery stomping, a more muted Fredrick following closely behind. She barely paid a glance to Auro as she strode up to the bed and leaned over, countless emotions flying over her face.

 

“Explain!” She levelled a finger between my eyes, but I could only stare at her in confusion.

 

“What? Explain what?”

 

“Don’t play dumb! The magic! How in the pitching hells do you-” The last part trailed off as Fredrick covered her mouth.

 

“Do you want every maid to hear?” He hissed. “Quiet yourself!”

 

Breale broke out of his grip, drawing away from her brother with a huff.

 

“How could I? She almost killed herself again! And after exposing something so incredibly interesting too! And don’t act like you aren’t curious, I know you are!”

 

I smiled awkwardly.

 

I’d kind of hoped they might just forget my casting in the heat of the moment, especially after the last couple days of debatable consciousness.

 

Perhaps it was still salvageable?

 

“Magic?” I tilted my head in feigned confusion. “Are you sure you aren’t thinking of a fever dream? It really has been a tough few days.”

 

She snorted, dashing any hope I had of that working.

 

“Don’t colgshit me, I know what I saw.” She leaned closer and squinted madly into my eyes. “I saw magic! And sn-”

 

“Quiet!” Fredrick cut her off again with another look at the door. “For the Star’s sake, these walls aren’t thick.”

 

“Wait, I know about the magic, but when did Breale find out? I haven’t heard this story yet.” Auro looked between the three of us.

 

“You knew about that too?” Breale asked, appalled. “Why was I the only one left out?!”

 

It appears you’ve pissed off your girlfriend. Gideon noted.

 

“[Fuck] off.” I muttered, and then to the others. “Now’s not really a good time to talk about this, is it? I can personally attest to the thinness of the walls, and I woke up only a few minutes ago.”

 

The very last thing I wanted was for the maids to start gossiping about treason and what not. It wasn’t exactly a great reputation to foster.

 

Breale crossed her arms.

 

“I’m not leaving without an acceptable answer.”

 

“Sister, be reasonable! Surely your curiosity can wait until we get somewhere more private? I meant no offence to Lord Belvan, but he does have quite the network of spies.”

 

“He’s right, unfortunately.” Auro said. “Rumours whizz around the castle like flies at the best of times.”

 

Breale’s brow furrowed as she tried to think of a proper response to that, only to give in with a sigh a moment later.

 

“Fine. But I swear by the Star that if you die before you say anything I’m wringing all of your necks.”

 

“I don’t plan on it!” I said truthfully. “In fact, I don’t even feel injured strangely enough. How long was I out for?”

 

“You’ve only been in Minua a day. But our healers are the best in Verol in case you didn’t know.” Auro nodded proudly.  “Nobody can boast to equal Celrion’s chapterhouse!”

 

“They truly are starsent.” Fredrick agreed. “They really do live up to the stories! Is it true, Auro, that they practise both the magical and mundane in their surgeries?”

 

“Wouldn’t be the best otherwise!” She said. “Same goes for pretty much everything in Minua, actually.”

 

“As we’ve heard.” I chuckled, amused by Auro’s radical patriotism. “I’ll be glad to get up and look around the place when I’ve gotten something in my stomach.”

 

“There might not be much time.” Fredrick said. “We’re already late for the academy, and Lord Belvan’s eager to get us up into the mountains where we’ll be safe. Apparently the castle has no short history with assassins.”

 

“Ah, the school…”

 

God, were we still doing that? It seemed like ages ago that we’d talked about it, I’d almost thought it was never going to happen.

 

“And the baron’s company parked outside doesn’t help.” Breale added.

 

“Ah, the baron’s company…” I shook my head sadly, only to . “Wait, what?”

 

“The good baron followed us here.” Fredrick said. “Made bloody good time on it too.”