Regicide

The agreed-upon day had come. Through the royal city, several knights, noble lords, and magicians of different classes, abilities, and positions gathered. They waited for the moment when Prince Seigmur's signal would start the uprising. The De Vonder's family wasn't the exception. Although they were officially there to meet with Princess Mable, after confirming the presence of all his supporters, the prince and his new escort established a month earlier entered the palace.

'Good morning, Seigmur,' greeted the princess with a smile.

'I see you very happy, sister.'

'It is a great day; the de Vonders have finally understood the advantages of linking their future to the crown,' said Mable with a mocking laugh.

'It is a joyous day indeed, such wonderful news,' agreed the prince, making the princess frown.

'I thought it would bother you not to have as much control over the Vonder as before,' argued the princess.

'Why? As far as I know, I'm also part of the royalty. Don't be mistaken, sister; the fact that they decide to collaborate with the royalty does not mean that they want to cooperate with you.' remarked Seigmur with a smile.

The princess was a little disturbed by her brother's words. However, as she turned around, an evil grin adorned her face. They entered the throne hall. The colored glass windows that formed images of the ancient kings let the light in. King Theobald III Van Telas showed himself magnificent on his golden throne at the end of the room. Dressed in his ceremonial clothes, red and golden, his crown adorned with three huge rubies, his back straight, and his light green eyes with a firm and full-of-life gaze. Despite everything, it was noticeable that he had grown old. The stress of the dragon war and other conflicts had taken their toll on his health. She had lost most of his blonde hair, and his face had wrinkled. He shaved his moustache, trying to conceal his aging, with little success.

'Father.'

Both the prince and the princess greeted their father with a deep bow. The members of their respective escorts kneeled on one leg.

'Come near, Mable,' ordered the King.

The princess walked on the red carpet towards the king, crossing the two lines of knights in heavy armor formed in front of the throne. It was the usual protocol; after all, Mable was the future heir by merit. Now the king was supposed to call Seigmur, but he did not. He lifted up his hand, and the knights formed in two rows in front of the throne and activated their armor.

"Shit," thought the prince, though he tried to act innocently. 'Father, what is the meaning of this?'

'Please, Seigmur!' replied the king with a tired expression. 'We all know what you were planning.'

The noise of broken glass caught everyone's attention. One of the knights of Seimgur's escort had used a really small crossbow hidden in his clothes to throw an arrow at the glasses of one of the windows of the throne hall. That was the signal for the prince's troops to begin the uprising in the royal city. Soon they would hear the explosions of the fire magicians and the clash of the swords between the knights... But nothing happened.

A few seconds later, the window with the broken glass opened. Master Robalt descended through it. The grand door behind the prince opened, and the other masters of Liev's tower entered into the throne hall. Seigmur's face turned pale.

'That's right, little brother. The Vonder knew about your assassination attempts. They were very kind to inform us of your plans. Right now they should be in their mansion drinking tea,' explained the princess. 'To tell the truth, they took Heigdal by surprise when they made him the proposal; they helped us get rid of you, and we would let them live their lives in peace.'

Seigmur was done for, and he knew it; his only option was for the king to save him. 'Father. You know my sister is a monster. You can't leave the kingdom to her. You know what's going to happen. Avoid a massacre; even if I die here, the royal city will suffer great damage. My men are...'

Robalt interrupted him with his laughter. 'The nobles or knights withdrew their support for you two days ago. The few loyal stuborn bastards that were still loyal to you and that we could not convince have been arrested or murdered by your colleagues; the Lord of Mennor has been more than a contributor to your demise. You're alone, little prince.'

'Attack,' ordered the prince to his escort, but no one moved.

'They're not stupid. They know you're a lost cause. No one would face a bunch of elite knights, tower masters, and two titled magicians,' the princess pointed out.

The king lifted up his right hand. Emeral moved her hand, and the prince burst into flames spontaneously. He screamed for a few seconds until the fire consumed his body completely, leaving only ashes.

"Well, let's get it over with this charade," said the princess.

Most of the knights who guarded the throne turned around and attacked their companions. Robalt made the air around the prince's escort disappear, and they fell to the ground, asfixiating. Meanwhile, the king was surprised; he tried to activate his enchanted clothes, but nothing happened. In horror, he looked at his daughter, Mable, who smiled as she stabbed a dagger into her father's chest.

'Are your enchanted clothes not working, Father?' said the girl, pretending to be surprised. 'Oh no! What a tragedy! My brother must have bought the magicians of the court to sabotage your enchanted clothes. Seigmur was a sick man, obsessed with power, who could not tolerate his own incompetence and tried to reach the throne by force. It's a pity I couldn't get there in time to save you. What a tragedy!' she cried.

Without fully believing what was happening, the king exhaled his last breath while sitting on his throne. Blood sprang from his chest, and his head fell forward, making the crown roll over the red carpet.

'The king is dead. Long live the queen,' said the princess, picking up the crown. 'Now all we have to do is deal with the De Vonder. Do you think you can do that?' asked the princess, looking at the two titled mages.

'This time it will be very different. We have our enchanted clothes,' Robalt smiled.

'They can't win; they're only two men, and we will attack them with everything we have,' said Emeral.

'Take some members of the dark court. I want the De Vonder dead by nightfall. Two rebellius-titled magicians are a danger that the dynasty does not need; if they cannot be mine, they will die,' smiled the princess.

'As Her Majesty orders,' Emeral replied with a deep bow.

In this way, the two titled magicians and the masters of Liev's Tower and other masters from other academies, along with a small army of elite knights, magicians, and warlocks of the court, mounted in all the tumulos carriages that were available, towards the mansion of the De Vonder family.

'Hello, I wish to speak to Lider Xavier De Vonder and the titled magicians,' said Habdlan when he knocked on the door of the mansion.

'Your Excellency. The masters have not yet returned; they are still at their meeting with the princess in the palace,' replied Seron confused.

'Oh! I see. I will come back later then,' said Heigdal, withdrawing and boarding a horse carriage.

After a couple of kilometers, far enough from the mansion of the De Vonder, Heigdal reunited with the troops assigned to this mission. He informed Emeral and Robalt of what had happened.

'What? They are not at home?' Emeral and Robalt looked at each other, confused.

A few minutes later, a Tumulos carriage appeared out of nowhere. A couple of knights in heavy armor came down from the carriage and greeted the titled masters with a bow.

'Your Excellencies, terrible news. Several messengers came to the royal city asking for help. The citadels of Mennor and Duero have been attacked and looted,' the knights informed.

'What?' asked the two titled magicians.

Emeral's eyes opened in surprise when she understood as she looked towards the mansion of the De Vonder. Most of the citadels troops had been moved to the royal city because of Seigmur; the security was minimal.

'What happened?' asked Robalt.

'Bandits, Excellency. But the problem is the magicians. The De Vonders began an attack on the citadels, assaulted the lords mansions, stole all their valuables, while the bandits plundered the rest. What they didn't steal, they set on fire; they attacked both citadels at once, but as far as we know, they are still in Mennor,' replied the knight.

Robalt lost control, and with a scream, he lifted himself up in the air and flew at full speed towards Mennor.

'Robalt, wait!' cried Emeral.

But the wind magician was already far away.

'Idiot!' cried Emeral, clamping her fists and shaking them to the sky, then she breathed deeply and calmed down.

'Everyone get into the carriages. Gaelion and Amelia will support Robalt. With his enchanted clothes, he is almost invincible, but those De Vonder mages are dangerous. I will go to Duero to control the situation,' ordered Emeral. The small army was divided into two and departed for the citadels.

Robalt arrived at Mennor, and staring from the air over the city, he saw it burn. The surviving water and wind magicians were working to extinguish the fire that spread everywhere. Using his wind magic, Robalt easily extinguished the flames and went down to the ground. The people in the vicinity cheered his arrival, some others complained that he should have arrived earlier, but Robalt did not pay attention to them.

'What happened here?' Robalt asked one of the magicians.

'This damn De Vonder, the gray-haired one,' replied the magician.

'Temma.' Robalt pronounced the name with his jaw clenched.

'Yeah, that one. He came into the citadel with a few masked men. He killed the guards and started spewing fire everywhere. The knights tried to stop him, but they could not even get close' the magician pointed to the bodies around him. 'He cooked them in their armors, magicians, and mercenaries; no matter who approached, his flames burned everything; he didn't get tired; his magical energy seemed infinite. Leech stones only made the situation worse. Our magicians were left without magic while he continued to cast flames. The men who accompanied him looted everything.'

'Where did he go?' asked Robalt impatiently.

'That way, towards Finch's forest, they left a little less than an hour ago,' replied the magician.

Robalt lifted up in the air and flew toward Finch's Forest. It took him a few minutes to get there. From the air, he saw a group of carriages that had stopped on the edge of the forest. Several men were carrying the spoils from the carriages inside the forest. Robalt used his wind magic to make the carriages flip and roll around, breaking them down. Lightning struck the men, killing them in the act. A storm formed in the sky.

'He seems to be upset,' said Temma, while hidding in the trees.

'More like very angry,' said Moger, smiling

Both began to collect stones and shoot them with all their strength against Robalt, who was taken by surprise but was not injured. He used his wind magic to divert the rocks; although it was not easy, they traveled at great speed. He used his power to throw countless lightning bolts in the direction from which the rocks came. The lightning bolts struck the trees, causing small fires. But Temma and Moger had already moved away. Violent winds were blowing over the trees, ripping out some as the lightning bolts fell from the sky in succession. A few minutes later, the master's magic energy was starting to decrease; he had used his magic unceasingly since he left the mansion of the Vonder in Farpas.

"Damn it," thought Robalt as he went down to the ground. He needed to save some of his magic for the direct confrontation.

'Temma, come here, you coward. Fight me like a man.'

Temma came out of the trees a few meters from Robalt, who had descended far from the fires he himself caused. When he saw Temma, Robalt smiled. A gray halo covered his body. He used his magic to throw tree trunks against Temma and ran towards him right behind them. Temma dodged the tree trunks easily. But he couldn't evade Robalt, who used his wind magic to increase his speed. His enchanted clothes increased his strength and endurance, which made his body tolerate the high speed. A barrage of punches and kicks hit Temma as Robalt smiled; the enchanted gloves in his hand absorbed the damage from the strikes against the hard skin. Temma could neither defend himself nor respond; he only retreated. Suddenly, Robalt stopped. A blue-colored hand with long nails that looked like claws penetrated through his chest.

'This is for Baham and Reivax,' said a rough and deep voice from behind him.

Temma had stopped using his illusion magic and showed himself in his real form.

'Dragons,' said Robalt in a very weak voice as the blood sprang out of his mouth.

Moger withdrew his hand, and Robalt's body fell to the ground.

'Pft! What a waste,' said Temma, looking about five hundred meters away at the destroyed carriages and all the treasures scattered on the ground.

'Let's salvage whatever we can and get out of here; surely his friends will come soon,' said Moger, looking at Robalt's body.

Moger and Temma collected the most valuable pieces of treasure, entered Finch's forest and lost themselves among the trees.

An hour later, the dynasty's troops arrived at the scene. They made a stop at Mennor, and there they learned what had happened.

'Oh, Robalt! You were always too hot headed,' said Gaelion, looking at his former colleague's dead body.

'What are we doing now?' asked Amelia.

'Return to Mennor. The De Vonders must be on their way to Veldat or Orphen right now. Don't worry, we'll catch them sooner or later. Collect all this stuff!' Gaelion took command.

Upon his order, the soldiers collected the treasures that had been left behind, including the body of the fallen magician, and marched towards Mennor. Temma and Moger watched them from the trees. A few hours later, after nightfall, four horse carriages stopped at the same location.

Temma and Moger came out of their hiding place and approached them, greeting Xavier and Uruk. Six dragon eggs and a lot of treasures occupied the carriages.