Brothers II

#9 Selfish

Odie’s heart ached as he left the castle. He hadn’t seen Aurus; Seran made sure he wouldn't see him since yesterday. He was thankful for Seran for saving them, but he can’t help but clench his teeth every time he saw Seran behind him, on his horse as they traveled, knowing that it's his fault that he's now separated from Aurus. However, Seran’s glare sent his eyes back to the front. "Don’t think about him for now. You’ll see him eventually once this is all fixed. Think about your job first, it's important." King Odie urged his horse faster, to the small village in front of the castle that he, just a month ago, rested in. “There’s nothing there!” A soldier shouted, though he could already see that. He moved to the front of the castle and turned around, finding the drawbridge undrawn. "Ranol!” “Yes sire?!” The messenger ran to him. “To the ones in the castle; Surrender now. The castle’s fortifications are not well, there’s no doubt you will lose this. Surrender and we’ll spare you all… uh… yeah, that's all.” The messenger nodded and urged off to let him in the castle. King Odie doesn’t know if the Earl of Alierra is there, maybe he is and he should’ve added something more to the message. He turned around. “Start building the camp! Just a small one until a response from the castle arrives!" …Surprisingly the camp became bigger as the response was nothing but a surrender. King Odie doesn't understand, they're probably not even going to last a month with the castle's condition. Oh well, they've made a big mistake.

Aurus got off his horse, a sad longing expression on his face as he caressed the snout of the horse he just rode. He swallowed and straightened up before turning around. “Brother… I thought you'll be staying in Korre for a month.” Aurus raises an eyebrow. “Yeah but you called me back here.” “Huh? N–“ *ehem* Aurus turned beside him, to one of his companions. “Are you okay?” “Yes, thank you, your highness.” Aurus nodded and turned back to his brother. “Brother what was that?” “Oh yeah, I did call you; I had a bit of an emergency a few days ago and I needed your help, thankfully it’s fixed now. Sorry for the trouble.” “Oh, it’s okay. I was planning to come back early anyway.” Fillian turned around and began to walk with Aurus. “Oh? Why?” “I’m worried about my land.” He sadly smiled.

“So, what happened?” King Fillian asked the spy as he got up from his bow. "The theory is now the truth, sire." King Fillian furrowed his eyebrows. "Be clear, what did you see?" The spy swallowed. "I found Prince Aurus and King Odie… lying together, sire..." “...When?" "On–" "Nevermind, it's not important… isn't it?" King Fillian got up and walked to the cold window… “What will you do, your grace?” Lord Acrun’s voice rang beside him, while he gazed at the sight of his brother below, head fallen low as he stared at the cloud that was the ground. “Tell me, what do you think of exceptions?" "Huh?" "Answer me, I'll listen." "...Uhm, but–" "C'mon, it's okay." "Uh…" The sound of a swallow filled the room. "It's rather corrupt, sire. It's an abuse of power… in my opinion." King Fillian nodded along with the crunch of dust from his tightening grip on the window. “You…" King Fillian turned to the spy. "Are you really sure about what you saw?”

It's been two weeks since the start of the siege, food and drink are already getting scarce; for so many reasons but it's mostly because of how they somehow managed to exactly hit and burn their supplies with their bow and burning arrows. It's actually not that surprising, this is their castle first after all. There's a secret passage that allows them to receive supplies from outside; however, it's dangerous. The passage is too close to the enemy's camp, one wrong move means the end for them. The sight of their loss is already clear… Many wish for Lord Pren to escape and just let this castle fall to King Odie's hand. Which he almost did; might as well lose the battle than lose the war; however someone arrived. Brave and daring man and men entered the besieged castle with goods and supplies. Men from Kiness; Lord Erus of Conterus. He had agreed to meet with them, on this specific date, in this specific place but, “I never thought you’d still come.” Lord Erus chuckled. “Well, as you can see, I’m quite daring.” “You’re really desperate for that land aren’t you?” “No, not just me. The whole of Kiness wants that part… because it’s ours." “I don’t think so–“ “I don’t want this meeting to be a debate.” Pren glared at him, but nodded. “Well, here’s the deal.” Lord Erus glanced outside, to the horrible sight of their approaching defeat. “I’ll help you and your battle against King Odie, in exchange you must cancel all of Korre’s claims on Conterus.” Lord Pren raised an eyebrow. “I can’t do that.” “Yes, yes you can. Once you win this war and become King, you can.” “Huh?! No thanks, I’m not interested in becoming King–“ “Then no agreement between us!” Lord Erus stood up and walked away– He turned back with a smile on his face. “Good luck on following your father, Lord Pren.” *Sh–* “Huh?” Lord Erus tugged back his arm, finding them gripped tightly by no other than Lord Pren. He smiled. “So? Will you accept?” “Take that back.” Pren shot with his blood red eyes. Lord Erus frowned but, “I take that back, I’m sorry for being disrespectful.” “…” Lord Pren slowly loosened his grip before lowering his gaze. He walked to the window, but faced away from it. Lord Erus patted his back. “Hey, it's what your grandfather wanted, it’s alright. Plus, both King Odie and King Kired don't have any legitimate children; you’re next to the throne, you’ll be King eventually.” Pren clenched his fists. 'That’s… selfish…'

Soren