The Fall of Dewan

Chapter 5 When The Good Went Bad

Gerold and Cecila woke up yet again to Genevieve's screams that very same night. They rushed to comfort her, but she delivered a new line for the first time in months. Instead of saying "They were getting closer" as she had all the other times after waking from a nightmare, she looked them straight in the eye as a tear rolled down her cheek and whispered "It's too late. The wall. They broke through".

Before either parent could have a chance to respond, one of their top military generals ran in the room. He looked from them to Genevieve to back at them. Clearly having something important to say, but not wanting to say it in front of the already upset child. "My King, My Lady, I must speak with you immediately. In private" he said before quickly retreating from the room. The parents gave Genevieve a kiss on the head and a hug and then followed the general out the door.

Genevieve had somehow been right. They had received a message from Conrad at the wall, it was breached. The elven mages had bewitched linked scrolls that allowed for nearly instantaneous communication- whatever message was written on one of the scrolls of a pair would immediately show up on the other. The general handed Gerold the scroll. Written in Conrad's messy chicken scratch handwriting it read, "The wall is down. The Almorians managed to blast a hole straight through it. They surged through and we were forced to retreat to the village of Cathan. The Almorian forces appear to be heading here now, set to arrive in less than half a day. We will attempt to hold the line, to stop them from going any further inland. Please send reinforcements. Tell Addy I love her".

Gerold looked at Cecila, "I'll send word to any of our northern elven forces to have them march to Cathan, they'll be able to get there nearly a day ahead of us".

"Agreed" said Cecila, sending a sharp look to the nearby war general, who immediately understood it was now his assignment to deliver that message.

Once alone Cecila put her hand on Gerold shoulder. "Take a breath. Breathe. Its time to go to war, but we are ready. We have a strong, large army. We have mages. We can match anything that Artemis throws at us."

Gerold took a small breath, "I must go up there. I must fight with our people. I will not let them fight this war without me"

"We must go up there. You really think I'm going to let you go up there to have all the fun by yourself. Besides we both know you'll lose your head, physically and mentally, without me by your side", she responded with a small smirk.

"But what of the children? We are just going to leave them here as a war rages?"

Cecila took a deep breath then said, "Cassius is nearly sixteen years of age- kings have taken the throne at a younger age than that. He will stay here and sit the throne in our absence. He can care for his siblings and mind to any court issues that arise. He is more than capable, he's been watching us do it for long enough"

Gerold looked her in the eye and quietly said, "When he sits on that throne we will be ending his childhood. He's still a boy."

"He's hardly a boy any longer. Neither of them are! They've been sitting in on war council meeting for over a year now. Any childhood innocence has already been taken by talks of war in the council meetings. Have faith that your son can handle it. We are not making him rule the kingdom forever. He will only need to sit the throne to handle any daily obligations while we are gone. We will still bear the responsibility of the kingdom- that is a weight we can still spare him from".

Gerold, still not looking entirely satisfied but slightly more at ease, finally responded "So be it". He pauses for a long moment and then as quiet as a whisper said, "And what of Genevieve? How did she know of the wall?"