Long live the king

Chapter 12

Renia's words stopped abruptly, she looked down at her chest with a surprised look. A small black knife was stuck in it right between her lungs. It had pierced through her chainmail, blood dripped from the knife and slowly flowed down her chest, leaving a red trace. Renia fell from her horse and landed on the ground with a heavy thud, into her final rest. Her soldiers looked at her with terror but quickly turned their attention towards the snow again, except the snow wasn't snow anymore. Black knives fell from the sky at a high speed, like a deadly rain. People screamed, and the sound of running feet grew larger. But there was nowhere to run. Col felt the power drain his energy, he felt dizzy and wanted to throw up again. It was hard for him to hold on to the horse even if it wasn't moving. Then he fell, the knives stopped falling and disappeared, half the army of Teyorean laid dead on the ground, covered in blood and with their final screams on their lips. Col watched as soldiers from his father's army ran towards the survivors, at first he thought they were going to kill the already badly hurt soldiers, but they took them as prisoners instead. So you can show mercy.

- Victory is ours! Tonight we will feast and after that rest, our next target will be much tougher and more prepared!

Col blacked out to the sound of cheering soldiers.

Once again Col woke up in a soft, cosy bed. He sat up, for some reason he was back in his room, back in Nimadia. His head felt like a balloon, tired he searched for the letter from Aaron, but all he could feel was his own warm flesh. Quickly he sat up, with a racing heart, he scanned the room and he sighed when he found his shirt on the chair. More awake now he took out the letter and read it again. What bugged him the most was the uncertainty if Aaron was alive or not and the fact that he didn't know the whole truth. I need to find the library.

Col put on his dirty shirt and threw a black jacket around himself. He made sure his sword hung by his side and then put the letter in a hidden box under his desk. When he was finished he left, outside his door, two guards stood. They looked surprised when they saw him but quickly blocked the way.

- We're sorry prince Col, but you are not allowed to leave your room, the guard who spoke tried to look unafraid but Col could clearly see the fear in his eyes.

- On whose order?

- The doctor.

- Oh, the doctor, I'm so scared now, Col held up his hands in pretended fear.

- Prince Col, please stay in your room.

When the guard's head hit the wall he was almost knocked unconscious. Col leaned in so he was barely som centimetre away. His eyes more purple than ever.

- You're lying, it is my father who has ordered you to keep me in my room. And I'm happy to say you failed. Good luck explaining your failure, Col hit the guard over the cheek, he tumbled down and laid still on the ground.

The prince turned around to see the other guard with a raised sword. Unfortunately for the guard Col was quicker. He drew his sword right in time to block the strike and took a step to the side. In just some seconds he was behind the guard, his back made a perfect target. Col kicked the guard, he flew right into the stone wall, with a low groan he sank to the floor and landed right beside his companion. Col looked at them, a little disappointed they weren't more of a fight than that, but he didn't have time to dwell on guards. He continued to walk a little bit further in the corridor and then turned left. Another corridor appeared before him, not so different from his own but much more crowded. Not, thankfully, by guards but by servants. Most of them stopped to take a good look a the prince but quickly turned to their works when they saw the determination in his eyes. The rest of the way to the library was easy and he didn't encounter any other guards on his way there.

The peaceful silence only a library could have was calming for Col's troubled mind but he didn't have time to enjoy it. He walked back and forth amongst the shelves, looking for any sign of a hidden door. It must be here somewhere! Frustrated he grabbed a nearby chair and threw it across the room, it broke into pieces and then the silence fell again. Col took three deep breathes, he still felt a little dizzy from using his power but it was far better than the first time.

- Stupid Aaron, he probably lied to me about this as well, Col whispered between his teeth.

Disappointed Col walked towards the exit, he didn't want to waste any more time. As he walked by where the chair had landed he stopped, there wasn't any particular detail that had caught his attention except his gut feeling. Carefully he searched the shelf for anything but it looked like all the others. He threw out all the books to see if any of them open a door somewhere but nothing happened. In one last desperate try to find the entrance he tipped the shelf over, there right beneath was an arrow. It pointed towards the big window placed in the north. With new hope, the prince hurried to the window, he examined it and found another arrow, this one pointed to the right. Following the direction, he saw a simple tree door. In excitement, he hurried to it, not paying much attention to why it had suddenly appeared.

- So you were telling the truth, Col mumbled before opening the door and stepping into total darkness.

The door was slammed shut behind him, blinded he continued to walk, slowly but surely with his sword in one hand. Without warning the floor beneath him disappeared and he tumbled down a staircase. Groaning Col tried to rise but fell back to the ground just as quick, his right ankle was sprained. With brute force, he dragged himself to the wall and rose with the help of it. He limped down the night black corridor. It was warm and not as cold as he had imagined, as the wall turned he turned, a torch blinded him. When he got used to the light he could see other torches hanging throughout the corridor. Slowly Col continued in the now lighter corridor, a little bit ahead it turned to the left.

- Explain to me one more time why we need to guard these old, forgotten, dusty books, it was a deep and croaky voice that spoke.

Col froze where he stood, a cold hand grabbed his heart, he was not alone down here. In an attempt to limp back to the darkness and hide he bumped into a torch, it fell to the ground with a low thud that echoed in the corridor.

- What was that? A chair fell when someone quickly rose.

Dammit! I need to get out of here!