Liars, Traitors, or Allies?

In Bintan, Meliesse and her team hid in one of their hideouts. The house was a well-furnished and beautiful mansion, located in the western part of Bintan. The mansion belonged to Majeed, and Meliesse and her team were using it as their base of operations.

Meliesse sat down on a chair in the common room, surrounded by six people—some clad in armor and ready for battle. They were planning their final strategy for the upcoming battle. One of the people present was Rebecca, the leader of Hana's group. Their mission was finally coming to an end, and by the end of the day, they were sure to take over Bintan.

Meliesse looked at everyone present. She wanted Majeed to be there, but the young lord was still nursing his wound from the previous day and had sent a representative. The short, bald man dressed in a robe was seated calmly among the others.

After a while, Meliesse finally spoke.

"I believe everything is ready from your end, Master Jad?"

"Yes, Lady Meliesse," the bald man replied. "Although Lord Majeed is injured, he had already given me the task of preparing everything before now, so everything is in place."

"Good. We'll be relying on your men when the time comes," she said. "We will also play our part, and with your help, we will take over the castle."

"Most of our men are already stationed at the eastern gate, waiting to open it for your army to come in," Master Jad responded.

"What about Rashid and Ramon? Any new movements from either of them?"

"Well, apart from his arrangements to send his wife and daughter away, there have not been any strange movements," Jad replied.

"Then we can proceed according to plan. While Majeed's men open the gates and General Khalifa makes her way in here, we will attack the other gates and Rashid's mansion from inside. Once her army is inside, we will be able to take over Bintan without much resistance, and I'm sure the Sultan would surrender."

Meliesse turned to two of her men. "You two, help the men at the eastern gates and make sure everything goes as planned."

She looked at the other two men in armor. "The two of you can take the other two gates. Take the available men."

"I will take the rest and attack the mansion directly. Once General Khalifa is inside, lead her to the mansion," Meliesse ordered.

"Rebecca, is Hana still indisposed?" Meliesse asked.

"Yes, my lady. She used her curse carelessly yesterday and is not yet recovered."

Meliesse sighed regrettably. Hana was very strong, and losing someone like her was a huge blow to their strength. However, her plan had always been to put Hana against the suspicious young boy in the coming battle. She wanted Hana to deal with him when the time came to take Bintan, since he was the other troublesome person aside from Ramon. Now, their fight had already taken place, and she was sure the young prince would have probably left Bintan by now. All they had to worry about was Ramon, Rashid's guard—the man who was once said to have served with Jai in the Kings' Legion before it was led by Jai. The golden generation of the Ghayz saw the rise of the likes of Jai, Jirbad, Ramon, Sultan Burak, General Abu, and the late Haziza.

It was safe to say Meliesse was wary of a man who was seen as one of the powerhouses in that generation of powerful warriors. She would try as much as she could to make Rashid see reason and surrender quietly, but she wouldn't shy away from fighting Ramon if it came to it.

"You all have your orders. Make sure you carry them out. There is no room for failure."

"YES, MY LADY!!" they all chorused before leaving the room, but Rebecca stayed behind.

After they all left, Rebecca spoke. "Are you not going to tell them about the prince of Wize, Lady Meliesse?"

"Why, do you think that would make any difference if I did?"

"I already gave my reports to the higher-ups about my suspicions. They can take over from there. But as for me, I'm not interested in capturing the young prince," Meliesse said.

"My mission is Bintan, not the young prince."

Rebecca sighed at Meliesse's response. It would have been great if they could capture and use the prince, but that wasn't the only reason she wanted the boy captured. The boy had hurt her friends, and she wanted to pay him back with a punch at the very least. But since the strongest person in their group had lost against the boy, she knew there was nothing she could do on her own.

Meliesse noticed Rebecca's reaction and spoke. "You don't have to feel down. Various people are after the prince, so it's already certain he'll have a hard time even if we don't intervene. The question is, 'who will get to him first? Liars, traitors, or allies…'"

After seeing that Meliesse had made up her mind not to pursue Kin, Rebecca left, leaving Meliesse alone in the room. Meliesse made sure she no longer felt Rebecca's presence and then spoke.

"I know you're there. You can come out now, Lady Fatima," Meliesse said.

A few seconds later, a woman came in through the window. She wore a brown vest and black pants, looking like a harmless little girl.

"Captain Fatima," Meliesse greeted.

"Lady Meliesse," Fatima replied.

A short silence trailed their awkward greeting, after which Meliesse spoke.

"So, what are you going to do next?" Meliesse said.

"I'm going to go after the prince."

"Did your father ask you to bring him?"

"Yes," Fatima replied.

"Do you know where I can find him?"

"He should be on his way out of Bintan by now. He's with Rashid's daughter," Meliesse replied.

Fatima raised her brow.

"He's her guard," Meliesse said, and Fatima grew further confused. "You will know more when you see him, but be mindful. He's nothing like he was in the past."

"I'll keep that in mind," Fatima said and left the way she came.

"I wish you luck," Meliesse said. "I wish all of us luck."

In the sky above Bintan, a young man with wings made of darkness was hovering above the city. The man was tall and muscular, with a sword hanging on his back. His gaze fell on the city and never faltered for a moment since he arrived. He was like a monstrous machine programmed to carry out its orders without fail. His dark eyes had been watching over Bintan for two days since he arrived from Jubai. His eyes registered everything he needed ever since; his dark gaze recorded different information even from a great distance from a woman taking care of her crying baby in her home to the beggars begging for arms in the streets, even to the various suspicious individuals roaming around the city. His gaze had never stopped searching. It continued its relentless work until it finally fell on a young boy with golden hair, moving suspiciously. His gaze had no ears, but sight could hear plenty. It followed the child from the Jasim mansion to a warehouse, then as he was captured, and even when he fought his captors and left after they let him go. Jirbad found the young boy interesting. Everything about the young boy was strange, and when he had witnessed his curse, his interest only piqued. So, he decided to keep his gaze on Kin. He suspected the boy might be the prince, but he looked nothing like him. If he remembered correctly, the prince was said to resemble a 'fat distasteful pig.' What he was staring at was anything but that. Jirbad wanted to take his gaze elsewhere, but for some reason, he felt he was looking at exactly what he was trying to find. His gaze continued to stay on the boy until he had led a young girl into a tunnel in the Jasim mansion. Jirbad finally made a decision.

"Immediately they come out, I'll go to them," he concluded.