Destiny Divided

Chapter 17:

Ilsie's POV:

Luki beat Oliver after an hour or so of dueling. This was because Oliver demanded a rematch at least four times.

Luki kicked Oliver to the ground and put the stick to his throat. "Do you surrender? Or shall I kill you off?"

"Kill me off. Gumi's never going to let me live this down." Oliver sighed while Gumi laughed.

Luki gave him mercy anyway. "Truce." He held out his hand.

Oliver started to take it but then he whirled around and pretended to kill me. I dramatically fell back and "died".

"No!" Luki cried.

"MU HA HA HA HA!" Oliver ran off.

Then Miku came over to me. "The queen of the forest has decided to use her magic to let you live." She smiled and waved her hands over me.

I stood up and smiled a little.

"Oh thank you great forest queen!" Luki laughed. "What might I do in return for this great service?"

"You must join the king's regimen. And Ilsie must become one of the forest folk now." Miku announced.

Luki put his fist over his chest. "I swear on my honor to defend the forest kingdom."

Then Oliver appeared behind Miku and held the stick to her neck. Luki started to cross over but Oliver shook his head.

"One more step and the queen dies." He smirked.

"Oh no!" Wailed Gumi sarcastically. "Who could possibly save us from the weak villain!?"

"If you wish for your queen to be returned safely then I demand for...uh..." Oliver paused and scanned the boys. He had already lost to Luki and Fukase was stronger than both of them combined.

"I challenge the king to a duel. Winner is the true king of all the land!" Oliver smiled mischeviously.

"Alright." Len stood from under his usual tree and took Luki's branch. Oliver was going to win, he had experience while Len didn't. Len's hands were shaking as Oliver and he faced off.

"Begin!" Luki called.

Gumi's POV:

Len was going to win. I could tell by the look in his eye's and the way he held the stick. Almost as if he had used a sword many times before. When he and Oliver faced off, Len's hands began to shake.

"Nervous are you?" Oliver grinned.

Len just smiled. He was obviously excited. His hands were shaking in anticipation, not fear. Only a ninny would be afraid of Oliver. 

Len floored Oliver so quickly, professionally, and easily that we hardly had time to cheer.

He helped Oliver up. "Good match."

Oliver mumbled something in return.

"The king of the woods has saved the queen!" Luki declared.

Emi clapped her hands in delight. "Oh that was wonderful!" She cried. "You did it so easily!"

"Speaking of which, I have a ghastly tale about a swordsman that might be true..." I started in a creepy voice. Everyone sat down in the circle, except Len who sat against his usual tree.

Emi paled a little, but Fukase patted her head and muttered something like: "Gumi always makes up stories."

"Once upon a time there was a man who worked in the king's army." I began. "He was a very good knight, but one day he was falsely accused for stealing the queen's jewels. The king had him executed and believed his troubles to be over.

Soon the king had twins and was indescribably happy. However, less than a year later he awoke to his son's crying. A dark figure stood over the crib and was holding the baby boy. The king called for the guards and ran over to retrieve his son. Then the figure looked at him. It was the dead knight! He ran away and the son was never found. 

Some say that the king really died because the knight raised the son to hate his father. And so soon the son killed him. That is how the lost prince became lost. He remains lost because he realized his crimes and fled the kingdom." I took a breath break and looked into my friend's eyes.

Most of them held what I had expected to see: Pity, and a little bit of fear. Miku and Len were the exception. Len looked sad, but also as if he wanted to laugh. And Miku looked angry.

"I think the prince should have known it was wrong to kill." She declared.

"He was raised by a ghost what do you expect?" Oliver grunted.

"I expect he was stupid and a terrible person." Miku laughed.

Len flinched. Why did that hurt him?

Miku and Oliver went on until Len interrupted. 

"I know what really happened to the prince." He announced.

"Oh really?" Ilsie asked and rolled her eyes. "Do tell."

Len rose from the tree and faced us all. Ilsie looked like she wasn't going to pay attention, but I felt that this was important. Something in his tone of voice captured my attention. Along with the hand motions and the amount of expression put into each syllable.

"This is the story of young Prince Allen before he went missing." Len began.