Re:Creation Book 1: Allegiance

Re: 33 Vayl Ralhana

A long, deep breath.

Vayl stood a bit down the road from the main gate of Castle Tyveren. The new moon hung high above him; almost as if Lunyre herself was shielding her eyes from what he was going to use her sister's power to accomplish. Aster--the God of Stars and brother to Lunyre and Solgeara--was surely watching through his twinkling vessels as well.

Vayl's heart was leaden with anxiety; so much so that there was little room for his own blood. The resulting tightness in his chest and chill in his veins were almost paralyzing. Once again, the thought of turning back flashed in Vayl's mind and once again, he had to silence it. As much as he wished to leave, he feared returning to reap the consequences of his cowardice by his father's hand. Vayl had already fallen out of favor with his father ever since his relationship with Telk was forced into the light. The last thing he needed was to fail at such a monumental task.

A harsh breeze drunkenly danced through the air, ruffling Vayl's cloak and attempting to knock the hood off of his head and expose his long hair tucked away underneath. The tiger insipred mask on his face rattled slightly, calling for readjustment. The wooden mask was of traditional Taëlan make and anything but subtle. Rather than the traditional hues of a tiger's pelt, the mask boasted a display using eye-catching shades of green, orange, white, blue, purple, and gold. Despite having such an ornate palette, such masks were a common sight in Taëlas and sold by traveling merchants all over Aböl. Such an easily obtained item made for an exceptional disguise. Underneath Vayl's cloak were extremely plain and worn clothes that a prince of Taëlas would normally never be seen in. Such garb granted little in terms of protection, but was meant to help conceal his identity while also granting him complete freedom of movement.

Vayl's hand found its way to the dagger sheathed at his waist. The weapon had been coated in a special oil made from moonblight. The ashen petals of the rare Kinsai bloom were crushed to create a concoction potent enough to render a mighty warrior unconscious within minutes. A blade dipped in it held the dangers of its effects for days unless properly cleansed. One scratch from Vayl's weapon was all it would take to incapacitate Lords Valera and Selvris so that they could be captured and exiled for the sake of the world. Lysidia would then be captured upon Vayl's return before she had time to catch on. After that, the only priest remaining would be Lord Everly. Of the four, his powers were supposedly the least suitable for combat, so once he was all alone, catching him would be easy.

But all of that hinged on Vayl's success.

"One scratch," Vayl muttered to himself. "That is all."

The problem was that drawing blood from either priest required getting close enough to them to use the weapon. That's why Vayl was given the job; if it came down to a fight with the priests, he was the most likely to stand a chance against them.

Bearing such power and responsibility had quickly taken its toll on Vayl. There were so many things that could go wrong. For example, his identity could be discovered and possibly lead to retaliation from Myral or even war between all of Aböl. He could also fail to incapacitate either priest, resulting in a complete failure and putting all four of the priests on alert. Or, maybe Vayl could lose his life or get severely injured in a fight. What if he ended up getting captured himself? Plenty of other possibilities ran through Vayl's head, serving only to add to his nerves.

Another deep breath. Vayl had to calm himself down if he hoped to have even a chance of being successful.

On the opposite side of the castle, the Thrali and Taëlan soldiers accompanying Vayl lie in wait by a hidden entry point revealed to them through an anonymous informant. Vayl had no idea who it was that offered the location about the secret tunnel underneath Castle Tyveren; only that their mysterious helper had spoken directly to his father and King Ilaven. To be granted an audience with one king was difficult enough, let alone with two. Whomever it was to come forward with the information must have been very important, which only piqued Vayl's curiosity.