The Rogue Prince

CHAPTER 21

"Thank you all for coming." Albrecht said with his head still bowed down looking at his battle plans.

"Alby!" He heard a light shriek, lifted his head and saw Miriam flying at him with her arms wide open. He opened his arms,  caught her and wrapped her in a tight embrace. "I miss you so much."  She began kissing him all over.

"Enough, enough. Let's get down to business." Alexandria said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"What is he doing here?" Iris appeared out of nowhere with her finger pointed at Albrecht like a gun ready to cast a spell.

"Surely he's here to save us." She smiled at her mother and planted a kiss on Albrecht's cheek.

"Get away from that monster." She began to grow livid.

"Mom, what are you doing?" She began to panic.

"Iris, what you're about to do is unnecessary. We're about to be  attacked, we have to prepare for it."
"No we don't, and you have to get that into your thick skull."

"You allowed my sister, who is obviously mentally unstable to ask a power hungry empire to attack us and not only that you gave them weapons that they can use to defeat us."

"Yes, and if I got another opportunity I'd do it again." She said still with her fingers pointed at her. "This nation is sick and tired of your family's madness and insanity. We can't allow mad people to continue leading this country and since you won't leave voluntarily, you are going to be uprooted and soon."

"So you admit to committing treason." Albrecht sat down and folded his arms

"Albrecht, what are you doing?" She stroked his cheek.

"Honey, I am not doing anything, she just told me that she committed treason in my absence. Do you expect me to look away."

"But she my mother." She hugged him trying to get him to look away.

"What kind of king will I be if I don't show the nation what happens to traitors." He managed to push him away.

"So what are you going to do about it? The whole nation is against you." She had a lunatic smile on, glaring at the crown prince.

"Guards!" Albrecht yelled and two strong guards barged into the war room. "Take this traitor away, lock her in her room, make sure she doesn't escape otherwise I will have you head." He commanded them and they immediately got a hold of her. "Not the whole nation, just my sister and those he turned against me." He said to Iris as the guards dragged her out of the war room to her prison.

"Albrecht, tell me this is a joke." Miriam chuckled.

"No, it is not and after the war if I feel generous enough I won't hang her."

"Hang her? This is unbelievable."

"Yes, Miri. I know she's your mother but what she did can't be overlooked."

"So will you kill you mother too, because she also supported the plan." Aloysia voiced out.

"Yes I will. As far as I am concerned she is a traitor. Wait, you shouldn't even be here. Alex, escort her out, I'll have some of the guards drop you off somewhere safe so that you can return to your family because as of now you are the enemy. When you get back do me a favor and tell my mother never to return to this country, she has been exiled."
"Aloysia, let's go, you're unbelievable." Miriam pulled Aloysia along as she left the war room squinting at him
.
"Finally, we are alone again." She drew closer to him and hugged him from behind. "Do you want to take off your clothes?" She began to unbutton his shirt.

"No, there's war coming we have to prepare." He turned and kissed her cheek. "I want you to go and assemble the army, both the air unit and the ground unit. I want to speak to them." He said with his eyes on the battle plans.

"Yes sire." She curtsied and skipped off

A WEEK AGO IN ALCHERONIA

The fast carriages of Einvor took a day and half to get to the capital city of Alcheronia, Aryania. Soon they were in the citadel await the King to come and welcome them and invite them into the castle.  The four carriages parked right in front of the castle with queen Ivana and two guards standing right beside her and Sir Evans standing behind them with his hand on the hilt of his swords. The moment the King began descending the stairs, Sir Evans slowly unsheathed his swords and drove them into both guards at once. The third guard who was in the carriage quickly got out to attack the Black Knight but before he could even draw his sword, one sword was in his abdomen and the other in his throat.

"Queen Ivana you are here by under arrest as a war captive." He said boldly when she turned to face him in shock of his betrayal. "Knights, take her to the dungeons."

"Sir Evans, where is my daughter?" the king asked when he finally got down the stairs.

"Sire." He quickly knelt down and bowed his head. "She's being held captive sire but I assure you she is safe. They have declared war on us, sire."

"Okay, get up. We have a war to plan. We better get started." He turned and headed back up the stairs.

"Welcome back sir Evans." Prince Alois stretched forth his hand for a handshake.

"Thanks and I promise I will get your sister back safely." He shook his hand firmly.
"Don't worry we'll get her back together." He smiled assuredly. They all headed to the castle and straight into their war room. Soon the war room was full. Jeremiah was present, the King himself and his son, the king's guard, some of the high officials in their army and some of their Senators.

"Jeremiah, I want you to personally go to all the states and tell the senators that I want as much men as they can offer cause this is going to be the biggest war we've ever encountered." The king immediately spoke when everyone was settled. "I need you to leave immediately." He commanded and Jeremiah stood up immediately and left the war room to get ready for his trip. "You should be back by the end of the week." The king said again just before Jeremiah left the room.

"Sir tell us again the reason why we are going to war." One of the senators voiced out.

"Because, they've held my daughter prisoner and by that have declared war on us."

"But we have a hostage that they want. We can just exchange hostages and avoid the bloodshed."

"No, that won't happen. We have to show that what happens to those who mess with us." King Austin said firmly.

"I support the king. And we have an advantage over them." Sir Evans said with confidence.

"What is this advantage?" The King asked astonished.

"The Princess wanted us to actually take control of their country so she gave us a metal ore that is immune to their powers." He said using air quotes on 'powers'. "It's is called the aetherium ore. And it can cancel out any magic attack." He added.

"Okay.  Sir Evans take these metals to the blacksmiths tell them to make shields, armour and arrow heads. If there's enough left, let them make spear heads too. Tell them I want all these in a week." He said dismissing him immediately. "In fact you should all go and prepare,  we'll meet again in a week." He said ad dismissed all of them. He stayed there for a while trying to figure out the best terrain to give them an advantage over the sorcerers meanwhile he had no idea where their country was.