Arablest/ Prototype

“Lord Darius. The very one who wanted Leona assassinated.” I spoke quietly. “I’m pretty sure that man wants all the power for himself, and that somehow he knows we’re here… This is a bit of a problem.”
“A bit of a problem? This is serious!”Winston replied. “How should I reply?”
“Why are you asking us?” I said. “You’re neutral, remember? However, the facts that you let us in now means you only have two choices. If you help us in any way, then you would now have taken sides with Lady Cathy. If you don’t help us, and force us out, then you technically have taken Lord Darius’ side. You can’t stay neutral anymore, Lord Winston. I’m terribly sorry that we unintentionally forced this on you, but now is the time to choose sides. Even if you deny that we are here, you have already chosen to pick Lady Cathy’s side. Just take note that if you decided to turn on us, you may lose more than just people. After all, we already are here and armed, and we have taken on armies with these numbers and won.”
Lord Winston looked around, and realized that what I’ve said was true. He told a soldier to tell Lord Darius that he would be out to greet him soon.
“What is your name, child?” He asked me.
“Me? My name is… Jeremy.” I said. “Have you made your decision?”
“You… by far, are the wisest child I have ever met. However, do you have proof of Lenora’s heritage?”
Joseph produced some documents and showed it to Lord Winston.
“The King’s own signature and seal! This is no fake, I can see that… I will help you, for I truly do not believe that Raymond is dead; he is too good of a king to have died. Go, you can either stay here and fight, or escape with Leona through the back. Hopefully, Darius may not notice you if you do. I will do my best to stall Lord Darius.” He said, standing up. “Go, make your decision!”
With that, he strode out, leaving us in the room.

“I think we should leave.” I said. “Lord Winston my turn on us at any time, and Lord Darius could do anything to make Lord Winston do something. Let us prepare to leave.”
“Should we not help Lord Winston?” Garrett asked, for once not distracted by the opposite gender. “I fear that because of us he may be in trouble.”
“Our main goal now is to find King Raymond. It doesn’t matter if’s dead or not, although I certainly hope he is alive” I said, glancing at Leona, “We just to need to know where he is and why. That’s our main priority now, because obviously there’s no point bringing Leona to Gravius if King Raymond isn’t there. I think we should go there first, however, so we can have a place to start.”

So we quickly reached an agreement, a soldier that Winston had sent to us led us out the back of the province through a hidden passageway right after picking up Iris and our mounts. I also began noticing that Joseph walked with a noticeable limp, and Garrett’s left arm was still hanging limply. However, despite this they hadn’t uttered a word about their injuries. I admired their will to continue on, even when crippled.

It was in this manner we escaped. We quickly ran across the plains towards the cover of the forest, hoping Darius and anyone with him wouldn’t see us. The province was as large as, say, a small city, so it should be big enough to hide us from people on the other side.

I still don’t know if Darius saw us or not, but I do know that we made into the forest without anyone pursuing us, which I suppose is good for us.

We made our way very quickly through the foliage, Joseph, Est, and Durand clearly knowing their way,, despite their injuries from that battle in the Northern Isles. They were from Thrycia, after all. They easily brought us a pretty big distance. In fact, we moved quickly enough that by the time we had to stop and camp because it was almost night, we were already halfway to Gravius.

During our run there wasn’t anything interesting. We just moved as quickly as we could; at this rate, I expected to reach Gravius before the end of the next day.

Things never seem to turn out the way I wanted, however.

The next day, we ran into a group of soldiers, under the flag of some random lord I didn’t know of. Joseph said they belonged to Lord Erik. Seeing that none of us knew who was on whose side, and that there was a civil war going on in Thrycia, we tried to bypass them without them spotting us, but they did anyways.
“Halt! Who goes there?” One of them shouted. The squad immediately lowered their spears in a defensive position. Some of them were trembling, though. I could see some of their lances shaking. They certainly weren’t as well trained as Joseph or Garrett were.
Since we’ve been spotted, we’ve had no choice but to reveal ourselves. The question was, if they could be trusted or not. Having to fight soldiers of Thrycia would seem strange, especially after having fought alongside Joseph, Garrett, and Durand. I’ve always thought that generally, Thrycia were supposed to be the ‘good guys’, and yet here I was, not able to trust anybody due to some stupid civil war.

Joseph spoke out first. “I am Joseph, a knight of Thrycia! I command you to stand aside and allow us through!”
But of course. Joseph should technically have more authority than a bunch of soldiers.
“It doesn’t matter if you were a knight or not. King Raymond has gone missing, and you are now on Lord Erik’s property! You will allow us to escort you to him, or otherwise we will be forced to fight.”

We had no choice but to comply. After all, most of us wanted to avoid conflict. Iris, however, was confused.
“If you people are mercenaries, why is a knight of Thrycia traveling with you guys?” She said, asking as if noticing that for the first time.
“Because we’re travelling with them, not the other way around.” I replied quickly. It did make sense, after all.

The soldiers escorted us to Lord Erik. I hoped that he would help us.

However, when we were brought to Lord Eric, he refused to let us go.
“You do know that King Raymond is gone, and most likely dead, right?”
“I don’t care. We’re still going to the capital, and you have no right to stop us.” Joseph replied.
“The king’s orders are now null and void!” Eric shouted. “I don’t care what the kings said back then anymore right now. Right now, you’re here, and I won’t allow you to go to the capital. And as for th-that girl being King Raymond’s daughter, I find that utterly ridiculous! I refuse to believe it! And whatever document you bring up probably has been faked, and you could easily have grabbed random girl fr-from Raalte! You are not getting through! Guards! Take them away!”