Chapter 18

IT had been several months since Nolan had seen his sister. The palace was unusually quiet without her constantly begging to train. He tried to remember a day when Nyla hadn’t woken up at the crack of dawn to pound on his door. It got to the point that Nolan opened the door right before her knuckle could hit it.

There was no such thing as too much training in Nyla’s eyes. There was always something more to learn. Another technique to master. Nolan admired that about his sister, her ambition to become the best.

He remembered the days when Nyla would train with the Gaurde for hours. Each training session ended the same: Nyla standing victorious with several exhausted Guarde strewn around her, begging for respite. Their chests rising and falling at a rapid pace. They were her only companions for several years, especially the last two since Nolan had begun his training to take over from his father. To learn the rules of nobility, politics, and finance. He didn’t need to learn every detail though, that was left for the Magistrates, he just had to oversee that it was done properly.

Nolan had visited over fifty villages and half that number of Magistrates. Even though they could drone on for hours, he was grateful for them. They did, after all, make his job easier. Ruling a region was no easy task, so he had to learn as much as he could to be a just and fair ruler, like his father.

Nolan looked over to his father who sat to his left reading a report brought to him earlier the week. Age had rendered him tired and the entire ordeal with the Althea Sphere had caused him to stress about the future, but Nolan trusted the young Sybils to do their best. He had already received word that they had been through several villages on their quest, and they seemed to be doing well.

Nolan’s father grunted. “Have we received word from the Lily Magistrates?”

“Yes,” Nolan replied, “they expressed their concern for the villages’ safety, so I have sent several more Guarde to the outlying villages for protection.”

Nolan and his father sat in the counsel pavilion. A large open structure with no walls or ceiling, only polished wooden beams holding up a structured roof of beams. An intricate pattern of vines and lilies decorating them. A large table sat in the centre with the Lily emblem carved into the wood, twelve chairs accompanied it.

“Very well.” Oriel picked up a map of Lily. “With how feverish the Faite attacks are becoming, our people need some assurance.”

Several villages had been raided in the past month due to Faite. Hundreds of houses were destroyed and burnt to the ground, leaving families without a home and source of income. The Lily Magistrates had applied for a relief fund when the first few villages were raided, but it only ended in having those very same villages destroyed again. The best course of action was to build rehabilitation camps near the palace where the people were more secure. Unfortunately building these structures was taking time as other regions’ villages were being raided as well. Resources were scarce, and the people with the right skills to build, even more so.

A loud explosion rocked the ground making Nolan and his father stand. Smoke rose in the distance followed by another explosion. Screams filled the air from the nearby village.

“Preator!” a Guarde ran up to them. “The village is being attacked.”

“By whom?” Oriel demanded.

The Guarde didn’t get the chance to answer as another explosion rocked the ground. This one, closer than the last.

Oriel turned to his son. “Take the Guarde with you and get to the village. The people take priority. Take them to the river. I’ll stay with the remaining Guarde and buy you time.”

Nolan nodded and ran off toward the village.

Oriel marched toward the throne room, several Guarde joined him as he walked. Upon entering the room, Oriel stopped.

Waiting for them stood a man with a menacing grin. His evil twinkling eyes looked up at him. The trees behind the man were set alight with several Gaurde splayed across the courtyard, lifeless.

“Preator.” The perpetrator greeted with a smile and tilted his head.

“You?”