Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Fire

Chapter 22 Backstabber

     For a while William was only focused on getting away from Brook. When he finally did, he took a look around to figure out where he was. When he stopped to listen to his environment William couldn't help but notice that there weren't any guards or knights around. He could only hear the faint clashes of a sword or a bunch of wood snapping in half. William took this opportunity to investigate it. All William had to do was turn one corner to be greeted with the front gate.

From where he stood he could see Jordan fighting a grown man with dirty blonde hair and a wretched face. Mari seemed to be fighting off a dwarf who was covered in metal armor. Every other knight or guard that was in the area seemed to be wrapped up in vines. When more guards came rushing in to try and stop either Mari or Jordan, Mari would make sure to stop them by summoning more vines to wrap themselves in. "Well that explains why I don't see anyone here. They're all over there." William said to himself.

As much as William wanted to help he knew he would be doing more harm than good. Brook was currently being controlled by Apollo and if he made it back to Sol before he did then the outcome would obviously be devastating. William picked up the pace to try and remember where he was. "So if I'm near the front gate then I should be heading west which is directly away from it." William muttered.

William was practically running at his best speed. When he eventually got to the plaza he quickly noticed the number of knights rise. All of them stood still guarding the wall that separated the castle from the plaza. William hid behind an empty wagon hoping that no one saw him approach. That's when he heard Sol's voice again. "William... what happened?" Sol tried whispering to William from the same nearby alleyway they left him in.

A couple of flies were flying around them and William just about had enough sneaking around. He got up with confidence to respond to Sol's question. "Apollo is playing us for fools! We never had a chance to sneak around. He got to Brook instantly!" William said to Sol out loud. For a second Sol was concerned about the knights hearing them and looked over to see if they would have trouble coming their way. "Keep it down or you'll get us in trouble- wait what?!" Sol stood up and left the alley. None of the trained knights responded to them.

Footsteps could be heard walking out into the plaza from the castle. The knights made way for two others. Apollo and Marvin were standing side by side. "This is embarrassing. I was wondering how long it would take you all to figure it out." Marvin said. Sol raised his sword toward Apollo. "Where's Brook? What happened?!" Sol asked them. "After he lost William in a chase I gave him a new order. Right now he should be on his way to one of the dungeons to take care of some of your friends. He told me about your plan and everything." Apollo said.

It turned out that their original plan wasn't that great. They never thought that the person who was under his control could just give them away. " When I control minds I can also make them spit out previous information they knew before they were controlled. You should know this already." Apollo said. This was something they should have seen coming considering Krissy still understood where they were headed even after Apollo got to her. The original person's mind doesn't go anywhere so the information was still there for Apollo to use.

Marvin didn't seem like he wanted to just keep chatting with them. "Enough of this! You said that if I killed Sol then you would leave this kingdom!" Marvin raised his sword and ran toward Sol. Sol reacted by clashing his sword against his. From the sound of it, Sol figured that Marvin had a mind of his own. "Wait a second. Marvin, are you actually working with Apollo!? You have to be under his power!" Sol almost couldn't believe it all and he didn't want to.

The two of their swords were still clashing against each other. Marvin was starting to get the upper hand. Sol stepped back and almost tripped up giving his brother an opening to make a fatal strike. That's when William stepped in to take the blow instead. "Sol!" That was all he could yell out when he decided to tackle Sol to the ground. Marvin had made a large cut along William's back. Marvin decided to kick the orc aside. "You're in my way!"