Knife in the Dark

They see me rollin'

I rose early the next morning, eager to head on. I woke Adrianus as I moved around the car, which was surprisingly small for a luxury vehicle. I finally got all of my stuff together, with a small amount of food for the cat and a small portion of leftover fried rice for me. I changed into my halloween costume, if  I was going to take back my throne, I might as well take it back in the costume of my forefathers. I was feeling very happy as we turned onto the highway, which was just as deserted as the day before, not a car in sight, making it the most eerie drive I had ever been on, and when you have had to driven out of hostile territory, you know what eerie is like.

I reached to border at 10am, crossing through where there had been a tollgate, but there was nothing but rubble where the ancient building would have stood. I was in a hurry so I didn't stop, but I was almost 100 percent sure that I saw movement in there, and much more human than anything. I drove faster out of there than anything I had in my life, so fortunately it was a straight road otherwise I probably would have crashed my car into the shrubbery. Adrianus sat shotgun to me, mewing whenever he wanted me to change the music, which was helpful, he was like my own miniature health checker, telling me that it was too loud, or that it didn't help me focus properly.

Sandros wasn't very far from the border, less than 250 kilometres. It's walls were made of orichalcum, which shone red in the sunlight. It stood on a mountain, towering down on all other areas, as the rest of the kingdom was plains and flat. The city had the palace at it's summit, with building coming down the sides, with manmade structures to make them level. The city was so large that outlying areas spread to a distance of 25 kilometres from the base of the mountain in radius, and meant that there was little to no way to strategically attack the capital, meaning that the city could never fall by force. The famous five springs gushed down the mountain at irregular intervals, passing by man-made gardens, making the capital self-sufficient. In fact, this was the very reason that 90% of the population was inside the walls of the city, with the other 10% being nomadic, mostly made up of the well-known riders, known because of the fact that they would ride with the herds of the wild horses across the plains. The entire kingdom of Sloce originally were like this, and that is why the royal insignia is a stallion, as the leader of the particular tribe would always ride the stallion, ever changing depending on both fights between horses and men. The tribes had eventually united and settled down, originally forming villages and later forming the city of Sandros for protection, although some people returned to the ways of their ancestors. The army of Sloce was the most powerful and feared in the entire world, but it was only there as defense against the other kingdoms, should they choose to attack Sloce. The attacks on Gambrene were unprovoked and cruel, and by the look on everyone's faces, they knew, even if they were too scared to do anything about it. Sloce's monarchs were considered by the fighter who one the fight to the death, although it was normally passed from parent to child, as the child would win the fight to the death if the parent died. When a king is usurped in Sloce, that is a crime, as the ruler should have first said that he would challenge for the right to rule. This meant that there were a lot of people in Sandros and indeed Sloce that would like to see him fall, but when the ruler is set in place, there is only a fight to the death that can take away the power from a ruler, as well as a clear reason behind why they should, such as myself. This meant that for the past twelve years this ruler had been making laws and decisions in the seat where I should be sitting, and therefore have the right to challenge the ruler for the right to rule Sloce.

I approached the gates, which were also made of orichalcum, slowing down as the guards in their uniform approached. Each wore a black military uniform, with the symbol of a blue bull on it, where it should have been a red stallion. there pants were blue as well, and their shoes were black, making them look like dark clothed businessmen, rather than the soldiers that they were.