Road of the Heavenly Light

8-3: Badrick's Bravery

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Drake cursed. How could this have happened?! He'd let himself get carried away with revenge so much that he'd dropped his guard and let himself get surrounded. Gah!
"You are so very predictable, Your Majesty. Always so vengeful and self-centered, and for what? All of your allies are outside fighting on your behalf, and yet here you are, all alone. Has your foolish belief of doing everything on your own worked as well as you hoped, Drake?"
"Shut up!" Drake yelled. He was fuming. He was a descendant of the hero Badrick, and the rightful king of Wyvernston, how could Jasper get it into his head to threaten him?! Drake tried to get closer to the baron, but every archer and thunder mage aimed at Drake. Jasper had chosen the biggest weaknesses of wyverns...
"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you. Unless you would rather die now."
"You're bluffing! You wouldn't kill a monarch! Regicide is the worst crime on the continent!"
Jasper burst out in laughter, "only if people find out about it. Tell me, did you ever question how your parents died?"
"They were saving people working in your mine because it was collapsing," Drake shouted.
"Use your head, idiot!" Jasper shouted, "the mines down here don't just collapse naturally, or else the whole city would be collapsing under those pegasus wenches' wind magic right now!" No. No. No, no, no! It couldn't be!
"You... YOU!" Drake yelled, "I will snap your neck in half with my bare hands!" He was reminded of how impossible that was all too quickly.
"Charlotte and Leonard were so foolish and sentimental, and I'd hoped the crown would be ready for the taking if they died, but their pathetic worm of a son ruined it all. The way those other royals offered to protect you and recognized you as king... and for what? The most self-centered and arrogant king the continent has ever seen! Thankfully, that will end today."
"Nobody will accept you as king!"
"Do you really think it matters what the other royals think? They don't give a damn about Wyvernston, because you've ruined every chance at alliances with them! As for my soon-to-be subjects, I have my private army, and soon the royal army. They won't have much of a choice..." Jasper laughed, "oh, don't look so sour, Drake. Did I not give you the final gift of knowing the truth of your parents' death? I'm afraid this is the end, though... Goodbye."

Meanwhile, everyone outside was still fighting off the soldiers, trying to make the plan a success. No one had any idea of what was happening inside. Julianna's group of wind mages were attempting to drive the soldiers into a corner, with Howard's dark mage group just behind them, waiting for the right moment to cast their illusion on them. Amaya was a little further behind, not yet skilled enough with wind magic to fight at the frontline. The soldiers were hardly putting up a fight; they'd already realized they would never win and were hardly willing to die for a corrupt noble. The only reason they didn't drop their weapons was because they feared what would happen if Jasper somehow won and found out his soldiers had surrendered. This allowed them to be quickly driven into a corner, and with the signal from Howard, the soldiers were trapped in an illusion that would last at least until the end of the battle.
"What now?" Amaya asked, "where is the Baron?"
"I would wager he's inside, letting his soldiers do the dirty work," Howard answer.
"Then we should enter the manor and arrest him, before he can get away," Julianna ordered, and the group headed towards the front door. This one was barricaded too, but a few wind spells easily solved that problem, and the doors flew open. What Julianna and the others saw upon entering was much worse than they'd expected.

For a moment, Drake's life had been flashing before him, and he was pondering what his last words should be. For the others to barge into the hallway, he was completely unprepared. When both parties had realized what had just happened, the wind mages immediately attacked the thunder mages, who now suddenly found themselves at a disadvantage thanks to wind magic being effective against thunder magic, while the dark mages attacked the archers, who couldn't hit their arrows thanks to their magic's power of deception. This left just one target for Drake: Jasper. The baron realized he no longer had the upper hand and tried to flee, but Set was faster than him. Once he'd caught up, Drake jumped off his wyvern, right on top of Jasper, who fell onto the ground. Drake held Lazarus at the baron's throat.
"P-Please, Your Majesty, I'm worth so much more alive than dead! You can lock me up, o-or exile me, or-"
"Shut your damn mouth," Drake spoke, "I won't be listening to your bloody groveling. You're a rotten soul, Jasper. Goodbye." And with that, Drake had avenged his parents.

Drake went to reunite with the others, and informed everyone that Jasper was dead, much to the relief of his soldiers. He decided to keep the truth of his parents' death to himself. Everyone believed they'd died a noble death saving their subjects, and Drake felt like they deserved to be remembered that way by history. He just hoped there was still time for him to make sure he wouldn't be remembered as Iola's worst monarch. When the group entered the courtyard, they noticed Hugh approaching with the mine workers who had been freed. Drake approached the people, who all looked terrible and exhausted.
"Your Majesty," one of them said, "thank you for coming to our aid."
"It is merely my duty as your king to protect my subjects." He just hoped the others didn't hear that. Or saw the smile on his face, which was a bloody genuine one too.
"I can't believe it! Drake being humble?!" Amaya quietly laughed.
"This is the first time I have seen the king smile since the death of his parents... I wonder what caused it," Hugh whispered. Drake watched as the soldiers escorted the mine workers to their homes, and then turned his attention to the mages from Mistlyn and Belmont.
"You... Thank you... for helping," Drake mumbled, "but I don't want to hear a bloody word about this when we go back to school!" he quickly added. Amaya burst out into laughter, quickly followed by Howard.