Freelands

VI. POPULUS VINCET MAGISTROS

1. Departure

Lance woke up before the sun has risen.

He wears his formal clothes, puts his curved silver sword on his belt and walks downstairs to the hall of the palace.

He sees Harper and Scarter sleep next to the sacred pond, underneath the moonlight that still brightly shines in the sky.

Suprised he sees Gere in the dim lit dining room looking over Pherephono who amazingly has stayed in the same stance all night.

"Good morning, lord Hail." Gere says to him in a low voice, in order to not wake up his brother.

"Good morning, blessed one. You should have taken some rest. A long day awaits you too."

"I should have, my lord, but our guest here needs some company."

"He's a slave of a Theeras, blessed one..."

"Everybody's a slave for Cynnon Theeras, lord Lance..."

"Even you, you are a rebel for Theerans, lord Lance." Gere says.

Lance takes a look at kneeled down Pherephono.

"He won't tell him a word of what we are saying, my lord. He is only ordered to transfer the message and take you to Strong-tower safe and sound, at all costs."

Lance takes a moment to think and afterwards orders Pherephono.

"Pherephono, I order you to stand up and speak freely."

Pherephono instantly stands upon his feet, you can hear his whole body crack with every minute and tiny movement. After stretching for a while Pherephono speaks up with the same monotonous broad and loud voice he had last night.

"I pledge obedience and loyalty, by command of the great Master Cynnon Theeras, to Lance Hail the III, for the duration of the journey to Strong-Tower. Master Hail we can leave whenever you wish."

"This too kind by part of Cynnon Theeras, lord Hail. Don't you think?"
Gere says worried.

"It is, but we have no other choice I guess, right?"

"He is bringing you to a dead-end... What I want you to do, lord Hail, is to return here safe, this vurnable city needs the Hails alive to rule the city."

"Trust me, blessed one. I have god by my side, don't forget that." Lance says while thinking of his father's necklace and the power it gives him.

"Yes... yes... God shall keep you safe." Gere says quite relieved.

"Brother! Send regards to our Masters!" Harper suddenly appears and shouts to the room ironically.

"Harper! No Theeran Master will march inside our city, I can assure you." Lance says.

"Yeah, sure, I'm just kidding!" Harper says while approaching and giving a big hug to his brother.

"Have fun with this creepy friend of ours, right? Alright..." He says.

"Make sure you'll have fun with Uncle Serus. Be careful not to be stabbed by some barbarian in the city!"

"I'm going to have much fun with the barbarian girls, brother, they love foreigners who speak their languange!"

"Hahahaha! Are you drunk or something?"

"No... I've only slept for a few hours, until your friend decided to wake up from his eternal sleep and wake up all of Hierydor at the same time!"

The two brothers burst out laughing, the sun now slowly rises from the mountains in the east. The sunlight hits the palace, filling it with light.

"Here comes the sun..."