Chapter twenty-two (2)

Prince Thelmus' vision turned red, as anger engulfed his being. He pulled a silver dagger from his side and attacked the king. The king mustered all his energy to escape, crawling backwards till his back hit the shelves.

"Don't..." he tried to say, but Prince Thelmus held onto his bloody grey hair, lifted his chin and stabbed under the lower jaw, into his skull, in a single full jab of his silver dagger.

"This dagger, it was your gift to me on my twelfth anniversary, instead of naming me your heir. It is only right that I gift it back to you on your last day," Prince Thelmus said viciously; the feeling of the dagger and his hand covered in his father's blood, exciting beyond compare. He stared into the unwilling eyes of his father; a testament of his last thoughts, relishing the godlike feeling of taking a life. A rush of satisfaction washed his being. His anger half satisfied, he turned and looked up at the man in black.

"Next is that woman," he said. He could not wait to give her a death more gruesome than was given his mother.

But, the Jade hand would not be a fearsome group if they were not alert to this danger. Under the cover of night, Lady Teel was escaping through a thick forest, her daughter held tightly in her arms, forty Jade hand agents matching her unreal speed through the trees.

"Mother, we must go back!" Queen Raine protested.

"Shut up!" Lady Teel struck behind her daughter's neck, sending her into an immediate sleep.

"The cottage?" she asked one of the Jade hand agents.

"We are arriving," he said, taking the lead. Soon, they arrived at a dark cottage hidden in the forest leaves. They hurriedly entered and locked it behind them. Tension could still be smelt in the air.

"My lady, it is as we are told. No one can see this cottage without a key," one of them said. Only then did Lady Teel sigh a relief.

"Lady Wickshire chose us to survive this; there must be a reason. Let us wait,"

In the capital, the invasion had arrived in full force. Screams could be heard from the lower towns all the way to the city. People unlucky enough to be walking the streets at this time were slain where they stood. Commoners in the lower town found their stores and properties burnt to the ground. Some were unlucky enough to have been inside when the properties were set on fire. Many hoped for the Juhntt soldiers to hurry to their rescue, but no one came. No one moved. The nobles stayed inside and were spared the agony of losing their properties. commoners tried to run to them for help, but none opened their doors. It did not take long for the streets to be lined with the dead.

Soon, silence held the capital. Only sounds of horseshoes hitting paved floors and jubilating enemy soldiers could be heard. Many wondered what happened to their soldiers. If only they knew that it was not that they could not move, but that the generals were ordered not to. The royal family had stated their stand and they could not disobey. The generals one would have thought patriotic sorts were under the command of noble families. 

Seeing as the palace did nothing, and how fast the invaders moved in; they reckoned it must have been an inside job. They wanted to see how this would play out, so they waited. They did not have to wait long before their answer came in the form of the invading army's mocking song.

"A queen shamed in death,

A kingdom sold

A chance to take his father's head.

A kingdom bought with revenge's gold

A father lost to mortal son"

This song had the desired effect on those who heard; despair. No one needed two heads to understand what those words meant. The king is dead. The prince sold the kingdom. One could not describe the chill that set in their hearts. This was a betrayal of the highest order. This meant the beginning of a bloody era.

The high-ranked martial arts section of the invading force couldn't care less about the outcome of the invasion; their mission was much more important. They had come all the way from the Harnian gate for one purpose alone; Lady Wickshire. Their plan was perfect. They would enter with the invading force and kill her. When word of her death gets out, one would blame the invasion. There would be no evidence that they were here. No evidence that they broke the treaty. Just like they killed Lady Torgenn in secret, even though the Thraines knew they did it, they left no evidence to be used against them. The Thraines do not move unless provoked. It would be odd if they moved when there is no evidence anyone offended them; thus, they would not break the treaty and leave Thriegor.