Prologue: The death of a Lord

„My Lord, the enemy has taken the outer wall. We can’t hold them back for long and they will break through soon. You need to leave right now “, the personal guard that just arrived told his Lord.

The Lord looked at the soldier, thought a moment, then answered. “I can’t run. You know they would never stop hunting down me and my son. Get my sons mentor and the 20 most trustworthy men of my guard. And don’t take your time. I will wait for you at the treasury, the men should wait at the escape tunnel with my son. You will personally get him there, then come directly to the treasury. Tell them to leave regardless if you are back when the enemy breaches the inner walls. Take this pouch and give it to the mentor. It should be enough to get through for a few weeks.”

The Lord dismissed his guard. Then sent for one of his maids. There was no time to lose and so much needed to be done.

The Lord had planned for a situation like this. He knew he had a lot of enemies and he knew that if they caught him, he would be sacrificed to the many-faced god. And his son most likely too. He could not let that happen. His son was everything to him. It was the last thing he had promised his wife before she died and even without that promise, he would do everything to protect his son.

The young Lord's room

The maid was waiting in the young lord’s room. She had brought her own son, a playmate of the young lord, with her, as requested by her Lord. It only took a few minutes before the Lord arrived. He was out of breath and it took him a moment to regain his composure. It had taken way too long, in his opinion, to get from the treasury back to the room. The Lord ordered the young man to don the clothes of the young lord and waited with the maid outside.

While the young boy changed, the Lord thanked the maid, then had her watch the corridor leading to the room. The maid did not understand why she had to do all those things but the Lord had always been good to them, so she did not question him. The last thing she heard before a dagger slit her throat was the Lord saying that he was sorry.

At the inner walls

The defending troops were holding the enemy back as good as they could. They knew they had no chance but they had to buy their Lord time to flee. The outer walls had fallen too fast and they had barely got the inner walls closed off, before the enemy had reached them. The men between the walls had fought bravely. For a moment it seemed that the soldiers would be able to hold back the enemy longer but then they heard the screams from behind. The general turned his gaze towards the castle and went white, as he saw the flames on the higher floors. The fire seemed to spread fast. No enemy had reached the castle though. No burning arrows were shot at the castle. It had to be sabotage. But even though the general did not dare to leave his post … he could not even assign men to douse the flames. Every man was needed at the front. He only hoped his Lord would make it out of there alive.

Outside the escape tunnel

When the small group left the escape tunnel and looked back to the castle, it seemed like the whole place was on fire. How could that happen? Even the inner stronghold was on fire. Could the enemy have done all that in such a short time? They did not know if they would see their Lord again but they had a mission. There were no horses ready for them. They could not take much food and the young Lord would slow them down, but they had to get away. As silent as possible they left, one man falling back and covering their tracks. He would catch up with them soon.

At the enemies camp

It all was over in only a few hours. They had breached the outer walls easily; the inside help had paid off. Taking the inner walls had been a lot harder but in the end they had fallen too. By that time most of the castle was on fire and could not even be used for defense. A real pity, as they would have loved to keep the castle as a trophy and perhaps a reward for their men. It could not be helped though.

The Lord had been captured. He was badly injured but he would be sacrificed soon anyway. They could not get his son and still waited on confirmation that he really had died in the fire.

It would be only a short wait and then they would be able to report to their leaders, that the job was done. It was the end of the line for that family. Their names would be scratched out of all the books. With them being only minor lords, it should not be that hard.

The Lord waiting for his execution

Link to chapter 1