They Know!

"What kind of sick joke is this? Why didn't you tell me this before?" Ranulf asked aggrievedly as the black sphere disappeared and Alexander's lifeless body covered in his blood fell to the ground. "What? How this happened. Why'd no one had told me? My friend is dead and nobody even bothered to tell me." He didn't know how to handle all this and where to direct his frustration. He turned towards Eva for answers but she was crying and couldn't able to speak. "No, no, I didn't mean that. I was not blaming you. Please don't cry." He walked up to her and held her from her shoulders firmly.

"No, this is all my fault. He told me what was happening and where he was going, yet I let him go alone. If I had gone with him, this would've never happened. It's all my fault." She replied sobbing as she breaks down crying. Ranulf had little to say.

"My king, it's done, and he asks for your presence." A knight rushes in and asks "Should I tell Captain Isabel too?"

"No, you mustn't. I'll tell her myself." Willam replied and left the room. As he enters the room in the infirmary, he saw Eva and Ranulf sitting in the corner quietly.

"I wanted to see what happened, but I didn't want to do it without you or her presence. I believe the body next to him was the killer. If you allow me to proceed." Ranulf asks William in a down voice and both Eva and he slowly stands back up.

As William looked slowly towards, her eyes were red and swollen. "Yes, you have my permission," William replied as he walked up to Eva and hugs her. "We couldn't do anything despite having the power to prevent this, and please don't blame yourself. What's done is done. Now we have to find who is responsible so we can prevent anything like this from happening." William said.

"Oh, the spirits of past, who see the forgotten and know what's to come, bring forth the reflections of what has come about." Ranulf chanted and green light started engulfing the room as the room started turning into the forest.

"It's raining," Knight said as they saw Alexander walking in the forest looking up at the dark clouds and a man was carving something in the mud with his foot in front of him. Alexander looked towards them and asks him something and they seemed to have a brief conversation and as Alexander looks at the markings on the ground and that man stabs him in the back.

"Stop it right here," William asks Ranulf and started walking towards where Alexander looked at the ground before getting stabbed and started looking at the markings on the ground. "These are the markings on the muddy ground for the nullification curse." He thought. "Note the appearance of the man in the robes and ask every captain and the knight." He commands the knight standing behind. "Have any of you recognized him?" William asks both Ranulf and Eva.

"No, we have never seen him before." They replied and Ranulf started walking towards the dead body. "May I have the permission to examine this man, my King? We might get a clue about who he is or who he was working for." Ranulf asked William.

"Yes, as long as you find something useful, do whatever pleases you." He replied, and Ranulf started cutting his robes and his shirt. "He, Seemed like an average farmer guy. From hardened skinned patches on his palms below his finger and the smell from his clothes tells me he used to work in some kind of field. There's nothing out of ordinary here." Ranulf said as he turned to the man on his right side. He saw a burn mark on his right shoulder. It was a circle splitting in half and straight lines shooting horizontally from the opposite end of both half-circles, and there was a round mark in the center. "William, there's something you need to see," Ranulf asked.

"Address me as William or king, but stick to the one," William replied, staring at the burnt mark. "Notify all the Captains of the incident," William asks Eva while leaving the room.

"It is what I think it is?" Ranulf asked.

"Yes, am afraid you are right," William replied.

"But this should be not possible. No one in the entire kingdom should know about this. Wasn't this supposed to be lost knowledge?" Ranulf asked in confusion.

"We'll discuss this later somewhere else. She is still standing here." He replied as he was still looking at the mark on the man's shoulder. "This is the same mark I saw in those temples and that magic nullification spell. They weren't after him. He found this man at the wrong time. They were after Isabel. Isabel not able to use magic, Horde appearing there, and magic nullification spell. They were after Isabel. No one here should know about the birth and where she was. Whoever they are, they know." He was lost in his mind and trying to make sense of all this.