Help from the OtherSide

64. Reunion

Enough hiding.

In the broad daylight, we stood by the entrance of the palace witnessing the horrors before us. Both Tin and Imara seemed to be stunned by the sight, as if none of them had thought it would escalate to this.

Ciaran broke their trance and urged them to gather all the fighter's attention.

The senior soldier by the gate widened his gaze on seeing me with Imara. He rushed to our side and bowed.

"Your Majesty! You don't look so well-- what happened. . .  " He trailed off on noticing Tin behind us.

"Enemy!" He shouted, eyes blazing with rage as he unsheathed a sword from his armour and pointed at him. Archers and infantry near the gates heard his cry and whipped their heads in our direction.

"Lower the weapons General Kalden. We have reached a truce." Imara ordered with a hint of frustration.

He blinked profusely, astonished at her statement. When he understood that she would not budge, he raised a closed fist in the air and other soldiers lowered their swords and bows.

"I believe you must call off your troops as well." Imara seethed. 

Tin smirked amused at the entire show. The tall, purple elf pulled out a conch shell from his waist belt and blew it. The majestic reverberations echoing from the spirals of the shell reached the ear of everyone on the field. The royal guards looked around confused, while his soldiers immediately gathered by the gates.

"Today we have compromised some parts of the victory we had in mind, but believe me when I say this, we have gained a lot more!" Tin announced. Orcs, mutated bird-creatures, werewolves and elves of his side cheered; stomping their feet on the ground rhythmically.

"Your Majesty what is going on? We can take him down right now--" General Kalden whispered.

"Ambushing them is not wise, especially since we have reached an agreement." Imara glowered at Tin.

"What is this agreement that you talk about, Your Majesty?" General Kalden sighed.

Imara didn't respond. I could feel a million thoughts buzzing her mind. All vengeful ones.

"Hand it over, Human." Tin strided toward me smugly.

I reached for Glowy then halted, realizing that it would be too much of a hazard revealing him to the entire crowd. In frustration, I shoved the bag into his eager hands bidding a silent goodbye to my longest friend.

He peered inside the bag satisfied that I didn't cheat him. 

[*Couple Hours later*]

The aftermath of a war is utterly despicable. The palace had to undergo severe repairs and mending. The capital was destroyed, luckily the affects didn't touch the outermost duchies. Despite all the troops and Healers provided by the dukes and duchesses, the amount of corpses and the staggering number of  injured were surpassed the healthy ones.

The ones who took worst hit were the civilians that sided with their monarchs. The ones influenced by Rebels escaped with their lives. Rumours about certain palace employees being linked to the Rebels came to light.

Interrogation and healing happened side by side. 

Still no sign of my friends.

After completing the bargain, Rebels smugly left the capital. Queen Imara barked orders to the able bodied elves to start the restoration. Ciaran and his subordinates swiftly returned to the medical ward to tend to the injured.