The Fallen Throne

Chapter 4.2 ✦ Allies

"How long have you been there?" Lancaster asks, sighing, with a calm demeanour; as if he isn't even surprised when he'd first heard his voice.

"It's not what you think!" Alaina says immediately. Her heart is racing, her mind swirling with random thoughts in search for an excuse.

Lloyd's glasses reflect the small beam of moonlight directly shining onto him that somehow managed to enter the atrium through one of the high arched openings. It isn't for long, though, before darkness befalls them once again as a cloud shrouds the moon completely. "Please, I'm not here to --"

"There is no going back now, then," Lancaster says immediately before Lloyd has a chance to say anything else, his face turning as dark as the corridor, or perhaps even darker; so dark that his green eyes look as if they're glowing.

With a swift movement he grabs the hilt of his sword at his side, pulling it out from its sheath. Within seconds, without hesitation nor regret, he flings it over to Lloyd and slams the blade only an inch away from his face to the wall next to him, trapping Lloyd who jumps at this sudden action of his. "How are you going to tell us off, if you are dead?" he threatens, glaring hard into Lloyd's eyes.

Lloyd pales, cold sweat trickling down the back of his neck. "I am not --"

"Easy, Lancaster," Alaina says quickly, pulling his arm hard. She hasn't seen the menacing side of him for a long time. "He's trying to say something, would you let him, please?" she presses on the word 'please', displaying emphasis, and nods softly to him.

Lancaster backs off, keeping his sword back in its sheath, but keeps his gaze fixated on Lloyd who simply sighs in relief.

"I am not telling you off," he starts off, adjusting his glasses and straightening his clothes. "I wish to join you."

"You what?" Lancaster asks, clearly surprised. He crosses his arms, dissatisfied.

"You saw the king. He's not himself."

"I agree." Alaina steps forward from behind Lancaster, approaching Lloyd. When Lancaster pulls his gaze away from Lloyd to turn to face her questioningly, she adds, "I mean, the king not being himself part. That, I agree, at least."

When no one says anything further, Lloyd speaks again. "I wish to join you," he repeats, "I overheard --" Lancaster scoffs, and he adds quickly, "-- accidentally, of course, that your highness wish to visit Caelus; that you do not want to sit here blindly awaiting for something you're clearly unhappy of. I wish to accompany you."

Lancaster is about to say something to protest before Alaina stops him. She speaks first. "How can we trust you?"

"I am the proud advisor and royal strategist of Theia, your highness."

"I believe we have heard that many times, on various occasions," Lancaster says, frustrated. "What is your motive?"

Lloyd sighs. "I have no motive, other than to seek the truth myself, just like you. You know, knowledge is self-serving. I do not wish to serve a mindless king."

Alaina winces at the assault of her father, but deep down, she agrees. She looks at Lancaster, and after a moment of thought, she offers her hand to Lloyd. "Looking forward to working with you."

Lloyd, who never did expected cooperation from them, much less allowing him into joining them in their little rendezvous; gratefully takes the hand, still standing with awe. "O-of course, your highness," he stammers ever so slightly.

Although Alaina is smiling sweetly, Lancaster, who has just took a step forward to face him, says, "you better not try something."

Smirking, Lloyd adjusts his glasses. "I would be useful in every sense of knowledge you might require," he says, boasting. "I am, after all, the most intelligent man in Theia, perhaps even all of Asteria."