Sweet Waters Throne

188 Chapter 18The celebrations which were happening in Blackmount after the birth of Princess Haisa, seemed to be so far to help Aryan cheer up after she stumbled upon Prince Ambrose’s army making it’s way towards her kingdom, she was with Olivia. Good for them they didn’t travel with guards and servants, this was a journey they intended on being normal and they sure did enjoy their honeymoon so much as normal people in Sweetfish Retreat.

But now fairytale was over, and the reality had settled in. Aryan was covered in way too much layers of fur coats and she still felt cold that’s how harsh the winters were in Prophis, she held on to the horse’s ropes and Olivia sat in front of her hence making it look as if they cuddling on top of the horse’s back.

None of them believed what their eyes saw, and if it wasn’t for Olivia to suggest they pass through this way which led them into the small villages, then Aryan would have never found out about the ambush she was about to face. The numbers were crazy and that’s made Aryan panic right there ahorse with her new bride.

“They are coming for us, aren’t they?” asked Olivia, her eyes widened with amazement. Aryan remained silent as if she didn’t hear this question, Olivia turned back to look at her. “What do we do now?”

Aryan for the first time ever, she had no clue as to what she should do next. They were on top of the hill looking down at the army, the sigils with an orange fire and a sun on top it clearly showed her this was a Taelin army.

She had spent a lot of time with the Taelins, gods forbid but she even married one under weird consequences. Hence she asked herself, “Could this be the young Taelin, or the Uncle?” but these words refused to come out of her mouth, she was thinking out loud.

Olivia couldn’t handle seeing Aryan quite for so long, she shrugged her off from the shock. “Aryan!” she called out.

And as if she was shrugged from sleep, Aryan suddenly regained her composure and cleared her throat. Then she said “We are going home” but clearly she didn’t understand what Olivia asked her earlier.

“Home? Old City was our home, but Raven is not. It won’t be any more once the Taelins take it from us. They will take off our heads and put them on spikes, Aryan look around you, we cannot win this war. Its over…” Olivia was right, even Aryan knew that.

.....

The journey of being kings and queens seemed to come to a stop for the Squire twins. Gandalf didn’t survive being a King for long and no matter how much the good folks loved him, he met his end in the hands of his father in law who hated him from the beginning.

Then when Aryan took the throne, there was hope amongst the good folks and Lords of Prophis that she will rule for long time. She was strong, smart, political and not to mention kind to her people. She was nothing like her brother, and this made people think she may somehow rule better than her twin brother.

The hope was crushed down the day Artodo took the skies of Lawsend’s City and unleashed his wrath upon Aryan’s men by the command given by Artemis. That day Aryan lost half of her army, and her golds which were burned in the wagons to where they were kept. She had stolen the gold from Cregan Lawsend when her men invaded his castle, but the gold never made it out of the city.

This was a huge blow and she never recovered from that, and this her enemies took advantage of and they were close to knocking on her city’s gates, if they will ever knock.

In the midst of confusion, Aryan noticed something, “Why are they taking route instead of passing through Stonedance?” she asked.

Olivia knew nothing about wars and routes, hence she remained silent.

“Something isn’t right; I must get to my Lord Hand right now” she kept on saying.

Olivia groaned, she didn’t like this plan at all. “How would that help? Will Thomas give you more men to fight? It’s over Aryan, if we proceed to Raven then you are sentencing us to death” she said with a fear look on her eyes.

“I can’t just abandon my people without putting up a fight Olivia. I am not a coward, and I will not run, I have fought way worse odds in my life and I’ve won every single time. Do you trust me?” asked Aryan.

Even though she knew inside her heart the war was lost, somehow Olivia managed a simple “Yes” but that was to just please Aryan. It didn’t come from her heart, she was scared like a toddler on a forest. With every step they made with their horse towards Raven, her heartbeat raced knowing they were all going to die.

Since Prince Ambrose’s army was made up of few men ahorse and many unhorsed, they were slow. Even the marching somehow slowed down after sometime, the soldiers were tired after three weeks of walking from Whitebridge to the small towns and villages of Prophis, they still had another week to reach Raven.

Along the way, Ambrose gave orders for his army to attack small villages and take food. The winter was harsh to them and most of his men started to starve, the only way he could feed all eighty thousand men was through stealing. They stole chickens, goats, sheep and all the food the people had kept for themselves to last them through the winter.

Prince Ambrose watched as his own people wept and begged when his men took their food and animals. His only defense was, “I am fighting for you ungrateful people. The least you could do is give us some of your food, we don’t want to be out here in the cold either. But we are doing this for all of you, to save you” he screamed at them.

These villagers only responded by saying they didn’t need saving, and neither did they want a Taelin on the throne. “The Squires are keeping us happy. Our true King will always be Gandalf, and our huts are decorated by lions’ sigils. You Taelins are ruthless and cruel, we will never rest if you sit on the throne” this was said by a young brave man in his early twenties when he stood for his family after Prince Ambrose’s men took all their food.

“What did you say, bastard?” Prince Ambrose drew his sword from his waist and wanted to slit this young man’s throat in front of everyone. He was so angry in such a way when he talked, small clouds of air came outside his mouth just to show how cold it was.

Princess Thelma stopped him, “Leave him, he’s just cold” she said.

“Then I must warm him with his own blood. How dare you speak to me like that, I am the King!” screamed Prince Ambrose to the point all the villagers were scared of him and his threats. But the young man stood firmly and steadily, he didn’t seem threatened nor scared of Ambrose.

These two locked eyes for few seconds ─ like roosters about to fight. Then Princess Thelma urged her brother to get on his horse so they can keep moving, to which he did and they rode away from this village.

This wasn’t the only village or small town they found an opposition from the people, but Lord Leoric was right, this route no one would suspect them and by the time Aryan is aware of them, they will already be in the gates of Raven. What they weren’t aware of was Prince Amabel and his army docked five days ago and they were camping in the next village, it was called Snowspell.

Aprophil heed to Lord Balrus’s advice and just when they docked in Snowspell, the next day he ordered his captains to return his ships to Whitebridge, all one thousands of them including his favorite Miranda and he only kept just three ships. When Amabel asked why was he sending his ships back, he replied with a smile, “They have done their task in bringing you here Your Grace, you won’t need them anymore once you are King. You’ll have your own fleet”

So for five days they stayed in the ice land of Snowspell, arranging the army and giving men the time they needed to rest. Tents were erected and they were always warmed by fire in the inside, sometimes when it was morning and somehow the sun decided to come out, they would practice until it went down.

Amabel’s men were fully equipped with fur coats which covered their heads too and protected them from the cold, huge black boots made to keep them warm, black fur gloves to protect their hands. Henceforth, even though it was so cold in Prophis, somehow they were warm in the inside and this made them practice better, not to mention they had plenty of food to eat three times a day.

Amongst the army, two thousand men were chosen as scullions and their tasks were to cook for their fellow soldiers every day.