Sweet Waters Throne

198 Chapter 19When Prince Ambrose decided to follow his sister’s advice and go straight to the capital, he was anxious at first even though he had fully agreed to go along with the plan. The green river was impregnable, dangerous and huge. He remembers when he was a boy, he used to travel with his friends just to see the green river.

Some of the villagers nearby said the river was full of crocodiles, and some even went further and claimed they had seen huge snakes in the river, but throughout his years as a teen, he never saw any of the things the good folks spoke about.

It was winter and the prince couldn’t have picked up a better season to cross the green river, during winter the river turns to complete ice hence this made it easy for him and his men to pass through. Considering they wouldn’t hasten the horses or cross it in bulk, the ice was thick and strong to withhold all of them.

After crossing it, they rode hard towards Raven and by dusk, they were at the front gates.

There was no “welcome party” or an army waiting for him at the front gates. By now Ambrose knew Aryan had already seen him from miles away. Either through spies or just by lurking at the front balconies of the main palace. This wasn’t an ambush but a declaration of war.

Prince Ambrose dismounted from his horse, “It’s too quiet for my taste, I don’t like it” he said while pacing around as if he was waiting for the city’s gates to be opened.

His Lead General asked him, “Are we supposed to wait for the gates to be opened my prince?” and he meant him and all fifty thousand men who followed his orders.

“What were you suggesting General?”

“It’s a war my prince, not a negotiation ceremony” replied the Lead General still ahorse, “I say we press the attack now and storm the city”

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Prince Ambrose smirked, he turned to look at his other five generals. “Do you all agree with the Lead General, and that I should storm the city?” he asked them.

The five generals remained silent, they just looked at each other without saying anything. Prince Ambrose explained as to why it was bad for them to storm the city, and he had pretty good reasons. First, he said Raven belonged to Aryan and that meant she knew more about secret tunnels, setting traps, and protecting the gates.

If the capital was to remain King’s City, then Ambrose would sure have attacked the city and sack it in less than few hours. He was born in King’s City and raised there, he barely knew anything about Raven until his seventeenth name day when his father took him to Raven for celebrations.

Apart from that day, Ambrose never stepped foot inside the gates of Raven. Their father King Taelin warned all her sons against fighting with Lord Boross, the former Lord of Raven and that’s because Lord Boross had a powerful army.

But they didn’t have to ask each other questions anymore, from where they stood, suddenly they were attacked by arrows without knowing where the arrows came from. It felt as if they came from the sky, and the chaos started. Prince Ambrose was protected by his men using shields as others dropped down from their horses once they were hit by the arrows.

Then the gate was opened and Aryan’s men came running towards Prince Ambrose’s men in full speed. Just like what Aryan said earlier, she was in no mood to talk to the prince, this wasn’t a negotiation ceremony. Hence they started fighting in the dark, only the stars to guide them but not their eyes or their heads.

One of Aryan’s plan was to not allow Prince Ambrose to get inside the city and cause chaos, she wanted to fight him right there outside until Prince Amabel shows up. How she wished the raven delivered the later safely to the young prince, she could hold off Ambrose’s men for few hours but her men will definitely be overwhelmed and what would she do next?

As the time passed by, the fight intensified. You should note this, Aryan was actually fighting in a vanguard and at the front alongside Sir Thomas Buken. Her face helmet was covered with blood, that yellow armor made of gold and shone in the sunlight, turned to red and one could hardly tell it’s true color. No one who swung his sword towards her lived to tell a tale, she slaughtered the Killers as if they were chickens for celebration.

The same Killers who were praised by Lord Leoric for being the best fighters in the realm, fell down like toddlers when they attacked Aryan. And they did attack in full form, four against one and they still fell ─ their heads weren’t covered with helmets and that was easier for Aryan. All she had to do was slit their throats without even them knowing it, and before they could continue, they found themselves dead.

Prince Ambrose was a good fighter but he played protective tonight, he was fighting but from a far. He stood far from the battle and alongside his sister, he lied to his men that he had to stand beside Thelma in order to protect her, but it was all a lie.

Aryan struggled to find him as she fought her way through. When she felt she’ll be exhausted soon, and they were overwhelmed. She called out her generals, and Sir Thomas, “I have to end this war, where is Prince Ambrose?” she asked. The chaos was intense and the darkness heightened, it’s probably they were approaching midnight and an hour of the wolf.

“I don’t know Your Grace, but we can find him for you” replied one of the generals.

“Do it! Then lead me to him”

The generals departed from Aryan and they kept on fighting, so did Aryan with her two huge swords which at this time, they were fully covered by blood of her enemies.

Like a sunshine during the storm, or when a toddler sees his mother, Aryan managed a wide smile when she heard horse’s hooves pounding the earth hard from a far. The impact alone notified everyone that there is an army coming, and it wasn’t far. “It’s Amabel! He’s coming…” screamed Aryan to her men as she prepared them to retreat and let Amabel take over. Her words were repeated by her generals, “Cease the steel and fall back! Fall back” they shouted.

Prince Ambrose was awestruck as to why his enemies were falling back, he was ahorse standing close to his sister and almost fifty men who were guarding him. He also felt the earth shaking and the impact of the horses’ hooves and he grew anxious, “Is that a dragon?” he asked his sister and his men who stood beside him.

The prince’s eyes widened with amazement and he had that fear look on his eyes, if it was a dragon, then he hoped it will burn Aryan’s men to ashes and make a way for him to be King and not otherwise.

But Princess Thelma was smarter than him, she softly replied, “That’s not a dragon brother, it’s our nephew” and then everything escalated so quickly and unexpected.

While raising his own sigil, Prince Amabel Taelin reached the open space just before getting inside the city of Raven with seventy-five thousand strong and fresh men ready to fight. He surrounded his uncle’s army in such a way there was no where they could pass if they wanted to fall back, at the front Aryan’s men were in formation and ready to attack more, while at the back Prince Amabel’s men waited to kill them.

This was like a bad dream to Prince Ambrose, how could everything fall out like this. He was supposed to win this war, not to be surrounded in a trap like a fool. He started to scream loud for his men to attack, but he even didn’t know where should they attack. Should they keep attacking Aryan’s men at he front and die by being stabbed in the back, or turn back and attack Prince Amabel’s army to which they were vividly outnumbered.

The chronicles written later explaining this battle recalled the fear that was on Prince Ambrose’s face when he realized everything was lost. Princess Thelma trembled like a young girl knowing they were totally surrounded with a no way out, how did Amabel know they will be attacking the capital that night? Well that’s something none of them found out.

Aryan mounted her horse, then she took out her steel helmet and sighed. She sent an envoy to tell Prince Ambrose’s men to drop their swords, or die right there. It was either they retreat, or they die.

Prince Ambrose struck down the envoy right then and there, he was so full of wrath that he couldn’t think straight. His generals advised him to calm down, and think before acting but he even threatened his own generals, “I’ll take your fucking heads if you don’t shut up” he screamed at them. But there was no meaning for screaming and being angry while the battle was lost, in just a few seconds, they will be attacked and killed at the spot.