The Lion and the Brave

Chapter three

Three weeks ago :

Thalion Elemire

Getting past the guards standing before my room had been way too simple. It was slightly worrying since they were supposed to be "guarding" the place. Anyway, it was in my advantage and I did not woke them up to chastise them and remind them of their duty. I was holding my breath during the whole trip to the emergency exit at the bottom of the Tower. I only stopped twice. The first time was to take a breath before I kept on tiptoeing. The second time was when I arrived in front of my father's door. His guards were standing straight but I knew for a fact that they were in a state of superficial sleep and would wake up as soon as they heard any sound. 

I closed my eyes and focused on the shadows surrounding me, the quietness of the hall. I imagined this place was slowly getting covered by dust and I was one of the specks slowly and silently floating through the hall. I opened my eyes and was now standing in the staircases, at the opposite side of the hall. Magic and enchantments weren't really my strong suit but even I could manage a bit of elemental magic. It took me a few more minutes before I reached the exit of the building and I ran outside of my home and into the city. I didn't look back.

Now :

Kynth Llew

We had been searching for a little more than an hour and I remembered why I didn't see Jierda often. The man was talktative, but like, really REALLY talktative ! He was telling me all about his latest adventures and some visions he had had while projecting his mind on the astral plane with some tribe people he had met in a jungle who knows where. Of course it didn't help us find any traces of the Prince. I kept surveying the people around us, wondering which ones were spies for the king or rivals of mine. But nothing striked me as weird.

"And ya, mate ? What've ya been up to these past years ?" I sighed and obliged to my oldest (and only) real friend.

"Oh me ? Nothing much really, except dealing with annoying clients and, you know, the King." He frowned at the mention of our dear King.

"I really hate the guy ! He's not trustworthy... Worse of all, his whole reign is based on theft and wonky deals with faeries. In my younger years, there was a great King !"

"I know."I cut him off. "He was good with the people of your lands after the battle that killed half of your village and the royal system wasn't based on capitalism yet. You must have told me this story at least a thousand times, I swear."

He shrugged and we continued looking for clues or anything proving that the prince had been nearby in the last few weeks. It wasn't easy under the neon lights of the underground parking lot beneath the Tower. Also, the crude light was making my eyes water up and my limbs were getting sore from crouching down under cars. Once our inspection was over we searched in the streets, hotels, seedy taverns and neghbourhoods... We looked everywhere !

Finally, after a whole day of searching, we crashed in a cozy tavern. We sat down at a table and ordered some food to eat and beer to drink. Jierda was taking his head in his hands, a tired expression on his face.

"Hey old man ! Getting tired already ?" I asked him as our food and drinks arrived.

"Shut up..." He muttered before bringing his first beer to his lips. "This son of a strumpet's good at fleeing home !" I raised my brow at his words.

"And how do you know that he fled his home ? For all we know the brat could have been kidnapped."

"Honestly ? I can picture it, so well, mate. The Prince tip-toeing from the Tower into the city, trying to get past the guards unnoticed. Hilarious !" He finished the sentence with a muffled laugh as he was eating like a horse and drinking what had to be his fourth beer.

"You've got a weird imagination old man."

We kept on eating, obviously both tired.

"If only we could make him magically pop up right here, right now..." I sighed.

Jierda's face lit up and a look of frustration appeared on his features.

"For the love of Runes ! Couldn't you've said that earlier kiddo ?!"

"What is it now ?"

"I HAVE a rune that'll do ! I just need to invoke it's power and it should show us the road to the Prince !"

"Well Couldn't YOU have said that earlier ?!"

We paid our dinner and went out of the tavern.

"Go on, do your thing !" I ordered Jierda impatiently.

"Hey ! Calm down, mate, 'cause I don't take orders from 'nybody."

My friend stumbled across the street, apparently light headed from beer and exhaustion, and knelled down on the concrete before taking a small knife out of his pocket and cuting his palm on the blade. He waited for the blood to cover his hand before putting it on his bare arm, right where the rune of Raidho was tatooed in his flesh. I had no idea what it meant but I decided to trust him on this one. Slowly, the rune sucked the blood up and started to glow a shade of light blue. And then, coming out of nowhere, a faded white path appeared beneath our feet. Jjierda got up and I had to catch him before he fell face first in the concrete. The trail was going out from the tavern and continued down the road leading to the countryside. I squared my shoulders, let Jierda lean on me for a few minutes and we started to follow the Prince's path.