Solving Puzzles

When Ryan opened his eyes, he couldn't remember what had happened. All that he could feel was the immense pain searing through his body.

He tried to get up and sit but it felt as if all his energy had been drained. He winced.

Just then he saw Brutus and pieces of his memory began to come back to him. The war, the defeat and most importantly Brutus' deceit. Suddenly, he felt much warmer and rage overpowered all his physical pain. He was ready to fight all over again.

"You traitor!" He yelled; his body shook with anger.

"Yoy would've died Ryan. I had to do it for you. We have already lost more than half of our troops. It was the first battle where we lost. If I would've lost you too, what would I tell your father?" Brutus said with deep remorse.

Ryan calmed down and suddenly Brutus' move made so much sense. And yet there was a nagging feeling within him that there was more to it than his chief was letting on. However, just before he could ask any more questions, Amada stepped into his room, his eyes gleaming.

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As Ariana went to her room, she wondered what the letter was about. But more than that, she was curious to know who it was from. She was sure that the sender had to be someone important and powerful because the messenger had literally killed himself. Just the  she heard a groan from her father's room. She ran as fast as she could and entered his room. She saw that he was lying in the same posture. There were no signs of improvement or struggle. She calmed down her beating heart, went closer to her father and hugged him tightly.

It was in a minute that she reached her own room. She drew the blinds and locked up her room. She opened the letter.

"Dear Princess,

You should be thanking me right now for giving you the details about the attack earlier. Your soldiers did their duties well and I am happy that Ambrosia is safe. I was told by one of my men that you wanted to know who I was and why I was helping you.

Well, let's just say our interests are the same, the safety of our own people. However, in my case I have to resort to indirect methods to make sure that it is fulfilled.

I know some secrets of Ambrosia and of you that maybe even you are unaware of and I would love to disclose them to you. In person.

My identity however, must be kept hidden at all times even after we meet for obvious reasons. I hope you understand my point. If you're willing to meet me alone, I would allow you to pick the location, date and timing. How I will find out, is a plan that I will tell you once you have made up your mind.

At your service always

Your friend"

Ariana was confused. Ether had told her in their brief meeting that somebody from the other side of the border had provided her the tip on the impending danger, however Ariana did not expect that whoever he was, would want to meet her directly. The fact that he had still kept his identity hidden just made things worse. She closed her eyes and lied down on her bed. She decided she would make up her mind later.

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Brutus came back to his room. He frantically searched every drawer, every cupboard, every corner. But he couldn't find anything suspicious. He has told Ryan that he had hit him to save his life. But he knew, somewhere deep down that it wasn't true. No matter how badly he would have wanted to protect Ryan from the enemies, he would never have forced him to run away from the battle field if he had been in his right senses.

He sat down, lost deep in thought. There was something that was missing. He remembered taking down a soldier and the next thing he remembered was hitting Ryan with the rod the soldier had given him. Everything else that happened in between was blurred. He sighed. There was something amiss and he had to find out what before it was too late.

                  **************

Ariana had a tingling feeling about this man. Even though he had been helping her, she couldn't get over the fact that he was a traitor. The last thing she wanted to do was meet him. But, then again, a part of her really wanted to make sense of why somebody, who had all the inside information, would be willing to risk his everything just to protect her kingdom. Also, the part where he said he knew secrets had stuck with her. She had made a decision. She would see him.

             *******************

Amada went and sat on the armchair neat the window. Ryan had never liked him. However, that day there was something particularly annoying about him. Maybe the fact that he had been right when he had asked him to back off. Maybe he should have.

"It's not your fault, you know. The magic was operating. You weren't defeated by their troops and you know that. However, I do wish you would have listened to me," Amada said.

" Don't you dare start with your I-told-you-so speech right now. There is already more than enough on my plate. If they used magic to defend themselves, I will screw them. It's against the laws of war to use any such thing while on the battlefield. Plus, the whole Brutus thing is making me angry. I am sure the Brutus I know would never have pulled me away from war even if I was really dying. It's so frustrating."

Amada sighed. "Sometimes I wonder who is the elder one among us. Don't you see Ryan? Rules, laws, science and all of that bends as soon as you enter Ambrosia. It's woven like that. And even though I can't give you a logic for everything that happened, you really have to stop overthinking. You will never be able to make any sense about any of it. So don't even try. Or I will have to protect my army if you remain so reckless in your decisions."

Before Ryan could say anything in his defense, Amada stormed out off his room.

Ryan knew he was right. It was over and he could do nothing about it.

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