A Sword For Gold

Chapter 29 - Together

Prince Melchor found absolutely no sign of Velenya Martel.

Along the way, as he had been trudging towards the capital through the lands of Dazolece, he kept looking around, constantly looking for any clues or any sign that Velenya, and perhaps the band of hunters that she had been with, were present in the area, but he slowly started to lose hope and belief in the fact that he'd ever be able to find them.

He would've had a wider area to search, too, if it weren't for the two guards that were escorting him to the kingdom's capital, keeping the Levyrian prince on a short leash.

"We're almost there, Prince Melchor Holven," said one of them.

Melchor looked around, still seeing no signs of life around him, for miles that would stretch out across the horizon. This was insane. He needed to find a specific area to search in so that he could make his own job of searching for Velenya Martel very much easier and simpler.

Then, he finally saw an entrance to the mines in the distance, just due northeast, but he would have to turn away from the path leading into the capital city of Dazolece. That would mean going against the two guards that escorted him closely. He had to make a decision before it was too late.

The Levyrian prince looked around frantically, checking their surroundings, to see if there were any potential witnesses present in the area if fighting were ever to ensue between him and the two guardsmen that walked right behind him as his horse trotted slowly.

Looking around and surveying his surroundings, there were no signs of other life apart from the deathly, hollow trees that surrounded the path they walked.

Noting it, Prince Melchor slowly alighted from his horse, softly planting his feet upon the ground to mask the fact that he was rather in a hurry.

"What are you doing, Prince Melchor?" one of the guardsmen demanded, strict and meticulous as always.

"I need to piss," he lied shortly, keeping his words at the bare minimum.

"No time for that," the guardsman disapproved, placing his hand upon the Levyrian prince's shoulder to force him back unto his horse, but Melchor quickly grabbed the guardsman by the arm before quickly twisting and breaking it at the joint, causing the guard to scream and yelp in pain as Prince Melchor followed it up with a kick to the guardsman's crotch, forcing him to double down and collapse unto the ground from the pain.

The other guard immediately drew his sword upon the prince's sudden treachery, and so did the Levyrian prince, quickly unsheathing it from the side of his horse, which flailed fearfully from the ensuing brawl between the Levyrian prince and the Dazolian guardsmen.

The second guardsman quickly swung his sword at the prince, who effortlessly sidestepped before darting forward, thrusting his sword into his jugular, before kicking him unto the ground as the guardsman choked on his own blood.

Prince Melchor then turned back to the first guardsman, who still wailed in pain from his broken arm and having his crotch kicked at full force. Mercilessly, he jammed his sword into the gut of the guardsman who lay down, but avoided any vital areas, as he demanded, "How many guards are there at the mines?!"

"Wha— AAAGH!" the guard screamed.

"How many?!" the prince demanded once more, shuffling the weight and the angle of the sword around the guardsman's stomach to torture him and force the information out of him.

"AAGH— TEN!" the guardsman finally surrendered, as Prince Melchor quickly ended his suffering by lifting the sword and jamming it straight to the guard's heart, before wiping off the blood on his sword with the clothes that the now lifeless guardsman wore.