The Rogue Prince

CHAPTER 18

A WEEK AGO IN EINVOR

"Where is Miriam?" Princess Gryselda asked as the queen's advisor walked into the war room.

"I couldn't bear to see her cry so I put her to sleep." She sniffled and sat at the oval shaped table where princess Gryselda, queen Ivana, Sir Evans and princess Aloysia were seated.

"Okay, good, because she wouldn't agree with what we are going to do anyway."

"So why are we here?" Princess Aloysia asked impatiently.

"I'm getting to that. First I want to ask you some questions."

"Why did you and your family take my brother in?" Gryselda asked with her brows raised and All eyes were on her including Sir Evans'.

"Well, the court physician said that, he and I shared the same blood type and since that kind of blood was rare in my country we could use him as my personal blood bag." She unflinchingly.

"Interesting." Gryselda commented.

"You don't think she's..." Queen Ivana looked at her daughter's face bemused

"No mother, that's not the focus of our meeting." Princess Gryselda cut in before her mother could finish her sentence. "I just wanted to know why you couldn't just leave him to bleed out and die and since you couldn't do that it is only right that we turn you against him also that way there'll be less blood to spill."

"What are you talking about?" She asked also bemused.

"Like I said my brother has gone rogue, as a matter of fact he has being rogue since the day he killed my father."

"What are you talking about? The king was killed by the sage." The Queen's advisor, Iris, butted in.

"No, that's what my mother and a handful of trusted family members made the whole nation believe because they all thought it was an accident. When I told my mother what I saw after Albrecht killed our father, she slapped me and called me a liar."

"What did you see?" Evans finally spoke after listening for a while.

"The crest on his left arm turned red. But she didn't believe me because when she went to check it had change back to its original color, black, however anytime I looked at it I could still see remnants of red, meaning he could still be saved and..."

"Wait let me stop you right there. Why did the crest turn red when he killed his father and if it turned back to black why is it red now?" Princess Aloysia inquired

"In our country, the royal family is identified by this crest." She rolled up her sleeve and showed hers to the inquisitive princess Aloysia. "The person who created this crest for our family ingrained one special rule in the spell, to prevent indiscriminate killing. Because some family members always sentenced people they didn't like to death and they killed them on the spot, so because of that only the king can kill or execute someone apart from him no one else in my family can, not even the crown prince who is next in line for the throne. The rule ingrained in the crest had a side effect when broken and that is what my brother is displaying."

"What is this side effect?" Iris asked with her chin in her hand and her elbow on the table.

"He'll develop thirst for power, and to quench this thirst he'll continue killing his own countrymen and absorbing their life force. That's what brought about the mad king that rogue side effect is going to bring this nation to her knees."

"You said he could have been saved, how?" Queen Ivana asked.

"If you hadn't named him crown prince and listened to me, we could have exiled him to protect him from himself."

"I don't believe you, why would Albrecht kill his own father."

"I don't know exactly what happened but our father, the sage and my brother were arguing about something and clearly both of them were against my brother. Before I knew it someone had shouted the death spell, mortuus, so I quickly entered to see who had just cast the spell, I was too late but when I entered I saw my brother's hand fall to his side, that was when I saw the mark turn red. I knew it was Albrecht but my mother blamed the sage and exiled him. At first I thought she just wanted to hide the incident and deal with it without drawing much attention, but later I realized that her judgement was clouded by her love for her son." She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Princess, what was the purpose of your journey?" Gryselda turned to look at Aloysia.

"Well, we were looking for a certain girl called Alexandria and he said something about her being somewhere in that village and that she had answers to all our questions."

"Okay. Meaning he's not going to come right away and try and rescue you, he's still going to look for the girl and it will take some time. So we're going to use that time to prepare for when he comes."

"But we don't need rescuing, I mean we're not in any danger, are we?"

"No, but he doesn't know that, in addition to that he'll try to take the throne but I will not allow him, I will not allow another mad king to ascend the throne."

"How will he try to take the throne?"

"By killing my mother. But I will not allow that to happen."

"So what is your plan?" Sir Evans spoke for the second time, most of them were surprised to hear his voice because he had been so quiet they thought he wasn't even there.

"You should leave my brother to me when he comes, and I'd like someone to take on that Alexandria girl, most preferably you, Iris. Princess you're staying right here but out of sight, your job is to guard Miriam. You, Sir Evans and my mother are going back to your country, she will seek refuge there."

"No, if I am going back I have to go with the princess, else your mother will be killed and our king will attack you." Sir Evans retorted

"You have make sure my mother is not killed and I am counting on your king attacking us."

"How can they attack us if they can't find their way back and if they can't defend themselves against magic?" Iris reasoned with her.

"We will help them, I will send guard who will help you find your way back and I will give you aetherium ores to make weapons of your own, they will protect you against any form of magic by canceling the magic out."

"Princess, why should we let them attack and defeat us?" Iris complained bitterly.

"Because I don't know how strong my brother has grown and I am not sure I will be able to defeat him, so if I am not able to kill him I am certain that these foreigners will be able to take over the country with our help and bring and end to his reign."

"When do I leave for Alcheronia?" Sir Evans asked.

"Immediately, mother go and get ready you're leaving with him." The princess ordered and they both immediately stood up and left the war room. "I hope we are all clear on the matter at hand."

"Yes." They all responded. Later that evening the guards packed the queen's things at the back of a carriage and three carriages full of shields and amour. When they were finally ready they said their goodbyes and they four carriages took off with four guards riding them.

"I give you one week to prepare, make sure you come back in one week." Princess Gryselda yelled after them as they left.