The Prince of Ilios

Seventy-One

Shouts and screams rang out across the dark plain. Nicola was back on the battlefield. Back to that disaster of a time. He made his way slowly forward. Bodies of the dead laying burnt across the field. The smell making him want to puke. Some were in white, his own soldiers, taken by the fires of Vatra. Others were in black, the enemy taken by his own lightning. His men were laying the final siege to the dark castle that Prince Cyrus had escaped to. Vatra would soon be a part of the Union and Nicola could not wait for this nightmare to be over. 

His Second Captain, Wallace lay on the ground, still breathing, screaming from the pain of the burns. He had been in the front of the barrage as they drove Cyrus's forces back.

Nicola ran to him. The man had become a close comrade in the short time that he had been shipped out with them. He remembered vacantly the man's wife and child back in Ilios, "Wallace!"

The man choked and coughed in pain, "Prince!" His voice came out in a strangled whisper. His face partially burnt, his hair singed and balding away in black thin patches from the fire. His chest was bleeding from the thousands of blisters struck across it. Wallace's legs were broken at the knees as he had been thrown to the ground with the force of Cyrus's fire.

Nicola clenched his jaw, Wallace wasn't going to make it. He held the man's hand, "Wallace?"

"My wife..." He whispered out.

"She will be taken care of, my friend."

Wallace cried, but no tears were left.

Nicola shushed him.

The captain gurgled and stilled.

Nicola brushed his hand to close his eyes. It had been too much, all of it had cost too much. Nicola had delayed the inevitable, hoping that Cyrus would yield. But the wicked Prince had not. The casualties would have been fewer had he begun the siege two days earlier, before Cyrus's reinforcement weapons had arrived. Enough was enough.

Nicola staggered to his feet, and steeled his will, his heart going numb at his final decision. Lighting blazed down into the plains, striking all who were left, and making a straight path for Nicola to the door, "This ends now!"

He jolted awake. A lightning storm raged outside. He coughed, a rib broken. One eye opened willingly, the other was a swollen slit that he could not see through.

"So you are finally awake. If you had chosen me, this could have been averted." Citrine's voice called across the hall.

Nicola staggered to his feet. He knew what he would have to do. It was the same now as it was back then. These men and Citrine, would never see their families again. When those in Ilios found out this time, he may not receive forgiveness. He began to build his element, but Ellora's judgmental gaze flicked through his mind and he decided he would wait, and try to negotiate, "What is it you want Citrine? What can I do to get out of here?"

She laughed a light frightening sound, "Get out of here? That is impossible. You will be put on trial for the sins you have committed. For the atrocities of killing my father and mother, the King and Queen."

"I did not kill them." Nicola muttered, not that his argument would be of any use. It was clear that Citrine was not a reasonable person and that she had not been told the truth of what had happened in Vatra.

"Oh, you killed them. And for this, I find you guilty. But death would be too easy for you." She motioned. A guard moved toward him, but cautiously, not wanting to become like his comrade before him.

"No." She stood, "I have received a letter from my brother. He has given me permission to find and kill your family, then torture, and finally your slow and painful death. What were their names?" She paced, contemplating, "I don't remember..."

"Nolee and Nidea" A guard called from the left purposely mispronouncing them.

"You will not have the chance to step out of this castle, Citrine." He grimaced, forcing his emotions down. It was the last straw, and he knew what he had to do. Nicola pushed Ellora's face from his mind. He might not be able to face her after this. He had done and given everything for his sisters' sake. Even if he did not make it out alive from the proximity of his lighting, it would be worth it to protect them one last time. He numbed his heart to the people around him as his element surged through the air, striking each one with quick finality. Screams filled the hall. Nicola could feel the heat singeing his skin, his hair standing on end from the electrical power. His body was overwhelmed by the pressure of the blasts. The bodies fell with sickening thuds to the floor. Nicola fell to his knees, in pathetic exhaustion as his memories and flashbacks of that vicious time took over his thoughts, in a way he had not known he would have to live through again.