The Rise Of a Shadow [Preview]

Twilight's prelude III

III

Ronn was crouching inside the tower, it had been harder than expected to climb without anyone seeing him; by mid-afternoon, the whole place was crowded with people in the most varied outfits and appearances, the sun was before him, so his body was hidden under the shadow of the sloping roof.

His arms were sore from the exertion, he thought about lying down to rest, then people began to euphorically shout; Sêlkior Rurik was passing through the space-giving crowd, he was almost a head taller than most people around, with jet-black hair and full eyelashes, a short beard darkened his face, and his eyes were electric blue.

He wasn't muscular, his back leaned forward as an old man's would, and he limped lightly from one of his legs, and he was dressed in formal clothes and an expensive red leather coat over his shoulders. The man didn't seem excited about the ceremony, instead, looked anxiously at the crowd, a shiver ran down his spine.

Katarine entered after, with her parents beside her, her mother carrying the torch and her father, the sword. She was beautiful in her dress, a wreath of coloured flowers adorned her pale hair, Ronn sighed regrettably, it wouldn't take long now.

The priest began the ceremony, the sky was in a beautiful gradient, the bridegroom drew his sword and the torch was lit, Ronn could not hear well from where he was, but he heard the rage and saw the expressions of the crowd when the fire began to burn black and the sword aged before everyone's eyes.

Katarine was the first to scream, then other women were shouting as well, the men drew away in horror, the priest himself had gone paler than everyone else, then Katarine's dress began to stain red on the shoulders and torso she cried out more and more, her parents ran for her while everyone else was walking away, someone shouted that the marriage was cursed, several people fled the place, believing it to be some punishment of the gods.

Ronn watched everything, trying to remain indifferent, his plan worked, so why wasn't he happy? Guilt whirred in his being, the hatred was gone, he had avenged himself, but he was not satisfied, he had not felt the relief of getting rid of something uncomfortable, but in spite of everything, he remained attentive.

The swordsmen rushed to help the fainted bride, he knew that in time, perhaps someone would realize that it had been sabotage and not divine punishment, but he doubted it would happen that day. He frowned, everyone was exasperated, fearful, panicked, all except one single person, who stood unmoved by the chaos unleashed there: Sêlkior Rurik.

Instead, he seemed almost satisfied, there wasn't even a frown on his face, in fact, he seemed to restrain himself from laughing. Ronn had seen people laughing in despair and panic or embarrassment, but that was definitely not the case.

There was something wrong with that man. Ronn was about to get down from the tower, took one last look at what he had done, and instantly froze in place, Sêlkior Rurik was looking directly at him with a smile on his lips. Ronn slipped on the snow on the roof and was thrown to the wall, before falling with a thud on the floor, plucking the air from his lungs as his body seemed to be pierced by a thousand needles and his sight darkened.

...

His head was heavy and the sounds seemed distant when he realized that he had somehow fainted. He slowly opened his eyes, his blurry sight lingered before becoming clear again, but when it did and when he understood the situation around him, he gasped in panic.

His arms were tied on a small pole, he was kneeling in the mud, in what seemed to be the centre of the square, the people around him roared in fury, being stopped by black swordsmen, stopped from killing him.