Dawn of a Thousand Suns, Book I: Arch De Angels

Chapter XIV

It was freezing cold outside. Lucius was trying to warm himself up by stamping his feet and moving his arms. Suddenly, he noticed several nobles in the crowd. "What are they doing in the building full of wounded people?" he thought to himself and followed them.

Entering the yard, the nobles headed towards the building. It was obvious they were not there to make peace. They pushed the door roughly and stormed into the building.

Their sudden appearance startled the people in the room. After a brief awkward silence, the doctor, whom he had seen somewhere, asked the nobles what they were doing there. The answer was strict:

"In the name of the nobles and the governor of the city, we demand to see the wizard, as we know, he is being treated here."

"Following the commander's orders, no one, but doctors may visit the wizard."

"You are in Mondelay and as I am the governor, no one can go against my wish!" shouted the nobleman, distinguished by his well-built body.

"Sir, I am sorry, but I cannot disobey the commander's orders," the doctor replied calmly.

The governor said nothing, stepped back, and told something to his people. Who took out their weapons hidden in their clothes and moved towards the doctor.

Nobody knew how everything would end, if not the loud sharp voice cutting the air around.

"That's enough!" this voice made everyone freeze on the spot. Lucius guessed who it might have belonged to.

The wizard was slowly descending on the wide stairs of the Palace. He was covered in bandages from the waist down and calmly strolled down holding on to the banister. The silence once again consumed the place. Even the wounded stopped moaning. Despite obvious suffering from deep wounds, despite the pain, the wizard must have been through, one could feel such dignity, style in every move he made the people could not take their eyes off him, haunted by the power the man had over them.

"As I understand, you want to see me so urgently that you were ready to kill people for that," he told the noblemen in his chilly voice. The guardsmen were holding their weapons up, still staring at the wizard in awe. The wizard walked toward the governor, who now stared at the wizard as if he had swallowed his tongue.

The noblemen were looking at each other flustered and did not even dare to move. The wizard stopped in front of the governor.

"What did you want to tell me?" he had a calm but cold voice.

The entire hall was silent, absorbing each of the words. The governor also noticed it and finally muttered out whether they could talk somewhere else.

The wizard looked around the hall and before the governor replied; the door was banged open again, and the officers stormed into the building. Then the army divided into two parts and gave way to a well-built man of medium height. Lucius heard someone whisper he was a commander.

"What are you doing here?" the commander asked the noblemen sternly.

"I am the ruler of the city and where and when I go is only my business!" replied the governor, fuming. 'You allowed all and sundry to enter my city, you did not lock the doors despite our constant demands, you never notified us about the fights in the city, you don't inform us about your plans and now you ban us from entering somewhere? Don't you think you are taking over? Have you forgotten I am still the authority?'

"My soldiers are shedding blood in the city. People starve to death, the kids are dying in the arms of their parents, the streets are covered in blood, people are going insane. You are sitting cozily inside your wall, enjoying yourselves at the fire, while my soldiers are sacrificing themselves and find frozen kids in every street. How you dare to rebuke me?" shouted the commander in reply.