Assassinations (Part 3)

…

Castle Alidia…

It wasn't a calm and cold night it used to be in there. With the king's death and the suspected killer is on the loose, the prince is furious with the competency of his own men.

"You hrrmrgh!" *BAM!* "The suspect is a mere kid! How come you bunch of slack offs could not catch her?!" The prince said infuriatingly. The desk beside him got kicked to pieces of shattered woods. Fifty elite soldiers are lined up kneeling before the prince in the throne room. Another hundred regulars are gathered as well only to get sprayed with the prince's rage.

"I want the suspect to be brought before me before sunrise. I don't care what methods you use. Tame the assassin, kill any collaborators." The prince paused briefly. "This is not merely for me, but for our fallen king! Our kingdom shall not accept this besmirch upon our great king.

Do. You. Understand?!"

The entire soldiers in the wide spacious throne room answered simultaneously, "Yes, your highness!"

…

Marco and his friends assembled in secrecy in a hidden alleyway. Their movements shall remain invisible as long as they avoid the guard's vision. Each of them wears a robe with a hoodie that will cover their faces from detection. Sean makes up the plan.

"Listen up, fellas. Alidia Kingdom may be a small 'dusty' kingdom, but they have some passageways we can exploit that are located underground. We shall use these passageways and head to the castle. The castle has five towers standing in every corners of the compass with the tallest one in the center. The sewer—I mean, underground passageways shall lead to the eastern and southern tower."

"If we're hunting down an assassin, why would we go to the castle, Sean?" Marco asked. "There's a possibility that the dude's escaped beyond the walls already, right?" he added based on his guess.

"Good point. But the assassin we're after is rather messy in his or her job." Sean explained. "Killing a royal family, especially the king himself is a massive blow to a kingdom. But it doesn't make the kingdom history. Their heirs or anyone could take over the throne and continue on ruling and maintain the kingdom's stability, in Alidia's case, their prince."

"S-So… you mean, the assassin is heading straight to slay the prince?" Scias guessed.

"Precisely." Sean confirmed.

"Whoa, Sean… you're really good at this, aren't you? We're glad to have you by our side, tee-hee," said Nina complimenting the vanguard knight. Sean backlashes with a blush in his face.

"W-Well! I happen to know this kingdom's layout pretty well, hehe," Sean replied. His face shifts back to serious, "But doing this does defile my status as a knight and I might be titled as a traitor for helping you people."

"I'm sorry, mister green hair," said Pio sadly. "Because of me, you're—

"—Speak nothing of it." Sean cuts shortly. "You were quickly marked as a prime suspect. I was ordered the same as the other soldiers in this kingdom: to find and seize you. But I could not do it. I witnessed you a few days in a row and you've done nothing bad aside from strangling that demon from before. I witnessed you taken into Marco and his fellow allies. I know the truth that you're not a bad person, so I must reveal the truth and find the real culprit."

Pio's eyes became teary. Hearing someone else standing up for her makes her heart touched. "M…Mister… green hair… thank you, thank you so much!"

"I said it before… speak nothing of it. Also, stop calling me Mr. Green Hair. I have a name."

"Yes… *sob* I just… *sob* feel happy."

"It's not the time to feel happy just yet, Pio." Aily cut short. "We're not safe unless the real evildoer is found. Sean, what shall we do?"

"Hm. You're right, we shouldn't be wasting time. Alright, so here's the plan…"

…

..

.

Three hours later…

Inside the castle chapel, the prince mourns over his father's casket. He could not believe his beloved father died all of sudden, killed by an assassin with unknown motives. He wanted to crush the kid who he suspected the absolute killer. From his robe, he draws out a picture of the killer.

"This… little kid…!" he said ferociously. "I will… I will smite you dead when I find you."

Then, a group of soldiers come to him. "My prince, we've got bad news."

"Bad news?! I don't want to hear any of 'em. I only want the killer to be found immediately! If the sun has risen and the killer's not found, I assure you all will regret it!" the prince stated angrily.

"Y-Yes, my lord, please excuse us." The band of soldiers walked away from the chapel with a grim look in their faces.

"What shall we do?" one of the band members asked. "This is much more grim news rather than the king's assassin is it not, captain?" another one of them asked.

"I agree. This is far more worth the concern." Their captain shared the same opinion with his fellow soldiers. "The dragon race of the world of Gaia, the dragonians are the ones responsible for the missing of our supply convoys. There's one of them, caught by our sights. We cannot let him escape our grasp."

The captain looked into the forest to the north of the kingdom. "Just from above this castle, we can see the smokes rising up in there. All of them are trying to communicate with us, but with the dire situation on board, we are ordered to prioritize the king's killer and ignore them. Such a foolish idea, I'd say."

The captain thinks thoroughly, what's the urgency of finding the king's killer while a titanic threat is upon them, looming with its hidden fangs that will someday bares out and destroy their precious home? Of course, finding the king's killer is not worth the while. Even though his loyalty will be questioned, he realized that if he doesn't rally his troops for the greater threat, the kingdom's existence will soon be pulverized.

He then decided, "Let's go. We must make sure this kingdom is safe and our people can sleep soundly. Come on!"

"Yes, sir!"

…

Without the prince knowing, most soldiers are rallying out of the castle to join the masses outside the kingdom walls to the north. A dragonian has been spotted and they're sending every last man to catch him. Their movement rises up, knowing that one of the empire's sympathizers is defecting to Alidia and stated that the dragonians along with the empire are going to trample Alidia.

"Don't let the dragonian escape!" said the battle captain to his horsemen. "Yes, sir."

"Move out! Move out!"

There's only less than fifty men remained loyal to the prince in the castle. Though most of them are promised a lucrative fortune if they do what the prince commanded them to.

Meanwhile, in the eastern tower, Sean alongside Marco's party just got into the middle floor. They realized the soldiers are going outside the city walls.

"Hey, hey… what are they doing?" asked Marco offhandedly. "Well isn't it great, they're leaving the kingdom just like that."

"Yeesh, if we know it will be like this, we shouldn't really take the sewerage route. *sniff* *sniff* ugh, the smell is just bad." Aily griped. "This smell is normal for me, ehee-hee…" Pio smiled adorably.

"Pio, you really need to learn some modesty as a girl," said Aily.

"Sean… what is happening?" Nina asked in concerned thoughts. Sean and Scias looked into the fray in the far distance to the north. Many forces are heading out of the gates.

"…tch!" Sean felt irritated. "Unbelievable, the assassin is already on the move!" said Sean.

"What do you mean?" Nina asked. "With the army out of the castle, the assassin can freely move in and takedown the prince unnoticed!" Sean replied in alarmed face. "We must hurry, or else our mess will be thicker if the prince is dead."

"I agree." Scias nodded.

"Let us split, Scias and I will head out to the central palace and warn the prince. Marco, Nina, Aily and Pio, you guys must sweep the castle, find the assassin, quick."

"Tell us, Sean." Aily cut short. "What does the killer look like?" she asked. "We cannot find out who's the killer if we don't even know what he or she looks like."

"Hrrmgrrgh! I freaking forgot to tell you guys about it. Alright, listen up!"

…

..

.

Twenty minutes later…

Prince Chamel cried over the king's casket. Anger and sadness combined into one, his mixed feelings made him look terribly crazy, as if he will snap out of control. He called out, father, father, and father most of the time. He really cannot accept his father's demise.

"I can't wait any longer… where's my men?"

He then stands up and heads outside into the courtyard. "Where's my men…? Why it's so empty here…?" he wondered. His face is still soaked up from the tears fallen from his eyes.

"Damned knights… damned soldiers… unreliable bastards! Where are they now?!" he shouted in a furious tone.

And then…

A big shockwave surprised the prince. He nearly lost his balance because of it. "W-Hwhat the…?" he then runs to the back of the chapel, where the gigantic noise nearly blasted his eardrums.

What shock he can express, that the walls of the northern tower has been blown up.