The secret captive of Helmut

Rufus and Haley came back to their army. Doreen was walking behind them and asked to be left alone.

They explained what had happened, about the prince, about how they left and what had become of him. They didn't understand how someone fell so deep.

The grey skin entered the Targavis citadel the home of the dead Helmut Gröhl. All the soldiers of the citadel surrendered after their lord died and didn't resist Rufus and his warriors.

The grey skins found the treasury of the kingdom that was meant to pay for the Guiscard mercenaries and were ready to take it back to the capital.

"What should we do with the gold we have now?" Edward asked.

"Don't know. It still is not that much to rebuild the capital from the war. We also need Doreen to help rebuild the city. She has the knowledge we need," Haley explained.

"How is Doreen doing?" Edward asked.

"Not good. She hasn't said a word after Markus tried to kill her," Rufus explained.

The grey skins were amazed at all the great foods and delicacies at the pantry of the lord. It was so different from what they saw at the capital that was destroyed. They plundered and celebrated with great food and wine.

One Gherseng ran to Rufus.

"My Raja, we found the dungeons of the citadel. Most of the prisoners are dead, but we found something that would maybe interest you," the Gherseng said to Rufus.

"What do you mean?"

~ ~

Rufus was taken to the dungeons. They were deep underground. No light natural light from windows with only some torches lighting the dark corridors. Prisoners were locked into small rooms with some being so small that the prisoner only had room to stand. When one grey skin warrior opened one dungeon door a moldy body fell from it. The smell was indescribable with everyone covering their noses.

Amala was waiting for Rufus in the dungeon. She was next to a large door where two Gherseng warriors stood next to it. The door looked special from all the rest with the door being clean and unreasonably big.

"Who is in there, or more like who was there if they are anymore alive?" Rufus asked and pointed at the large dungeon door.

"Oh it is alive and it would maybe be better for you to see it yourself," Amala said and opened the door.

The dungeon was clean, with a chandelier on top lighting the room. It had a large bed with a small work table against the wall. Rufus looked around, but the room seemed empty.

"So who is here?" Rufus asked Amala.

"Look under the bed."

Rufus bent over and looked underneath the bed. Under it, he saw a little girl hiding with her head against the floor. She was shaking in fear and was about the same age as Gwon.

"Who is she?" Rufus asked.

"We interrogated the guards. She apparently fled from the capital during the riots. She was taken here by the lord of the castle. Her name is Liana Jacob, the youngest daughter of the deceased king."

~~

The army returned to the capital along with Joan who was put in chains with a nonstop guard around her. She was placed in the dungeons of the palace where she was chained up and given little to no chance of moving freely.

Liana Jacob was placed in a room with two grey skin warriors guarding her day in day out. She wasn't placed into the dungeons since she was deemed harmless and Rufus insisted on giving her a proper room. The most confusing part was that no one knew that there was more than one child of the king.

~~

It was winter and the situation in the kingdom was terrible. Rufus had called in all the tribal leaders who had returned from helping their people to move south a start building settlements for them.

The victorious nobles also were called. Count Hunyadi rode from the south and from the region of Wallach as did Erik Hanse who was now the lord of the Craiov region.

The treasury that they were able to get from lord Helmut presented opportunities to use it for something useful.

It was also time to start a new chapter for the kingdom and nation. A new chapter that also included a new ruler.