Chapter 102 Beginnings and Endings
The first floor of the tower.
Esteban watched the fierce battle in the corridor. The knights were advancing with great force. He knew his guards would not be able to hold out much longer.
Arturo: Count!
The man turned around and looked at a fearless face: What do you need, page?
Arturo: The man who is as tall as a tree, with red hair. He said the door is broken.
Esteban thought: We are surrounded. If nothing changes, we are going to die.
The count knelt on one knee so that his face was at the same height as that of the child.
Esteban: What is your name?
The page boy tried to look a little taller: Arturo. Page for the Herald.
Esteban: Run up the stairs. Look for a soldier who uses two swords. He is probably near the royal chambers.
Arturo interrupted: Captain Handsome?
The count smiled: Yes, captain Handsome. Tell him this: Slowly and at a high price.
Arthur: I understand, Count. I will not fail the queen.
The Count of Arms stood up and grabbed a sergeant by the arm.
Esteban: Move the archers to the tower. When all our forces are in the tower, retreat when necessary. They will need to bleed for every door, for every entrance.
Sergeant: I understand, Count. They will pay for every step they take.
On the second floor of the tower.
Victorino and his most competent captain entered the main corridor and found Pedro.
The two men lunged at Pedro with their swords, but he blocked each attack with lightning-fast movements.
Yegor thrust the spear with all his might. The tip struck, but the armor held firm.
Marco pushed with his strong legs, and the tip of the spear penetrated the armor enough for the man to groan in pain and for blood to become visible.
The captain deflected an attack from Pedro and saw that his commander was wounded. He grabbed him and dragged him back through the doorway.
The other knights blocked the entrance and began fighting against Pedro and the pages.
Arturo appeared in the hallway. To his left there was a big fight and to his right a small fight. He searched for the captain who carried two swords. He observed his movements as if they were guided by magic.
Arturo ran over and shouted, Captain Handsome! The Count said, Slowly and at a high cost!
Pedro blocked an arm high into the air. Antonio thrust his sword into him with all his might, and the man fell to the ground after the blow. Yegor stabbed a man in the leg and twisted the spear upon seeing the blood. The man screamed and swung his sword towards Yegor. The page fell to his knees, and the sword clattered against the wall. Pedro stabbed him in the arm through a gap in his armor. Marco thrust his spear into the chest of another knight. The armor stopped the point, but the knight recoiled from the impact.
Pedro: Antonio, Marco! Run down this hallway. Shout: Golden blood! Yegor, boy, run to the count.
The captain blocked a series of attacks from the knights and kicked one of them in his groin.
The soldiers and pages of the militia heard the pages shouting in the hallway. They began to block the corridor with doors, furniture, and shields.
When they were all further away, Pedro brandished his swords in a flurry of attacks that made the knights recoil slightly. He ran towards the grand staircase behind Yegor. The knights rushed to the door of the royal chambers and broke them down.
On the sixth floor of the tower.
Danilo stopped. His breathing was heavy. He took out his pipe and the herbs and prepared them.
Wulfhelm: Priest! This no time for that.
Danilo: I cannot help you much in a fight. But I can help the brave and the pure. I am neither of those things.
He inhaled a large puff of smoke and exhaled quickly. The smoke split into two streams, surrounding the faces of the young men.
Wulfhelm looked at the priest. The priest was moving slowly, but the rider was moving normally.
In a room in the tower.
Monika sat down on the empty bench. She looked at the frail old man who was sitting on the other bench.
Monika: Guten Abend, Clemente.
Clemente: Good evening, Monika.
Monika: Can I help you? You look like you are about to die.
Clemente: No, no one can save me. In the morning, I will see an image that I have seen in my dreams for more than four decades.
Monika: I am going to die with you, yes? It is fine. I have understood that for many years.
Clemente: Yes. I regret that your trust in me is going to lead to your death.
Monika: I am not sad. I took care of an exceptional girl. If she survives, she will become a powerful queen.
Clemente: Did you kill the king?
Monika: Yes, of course. The only difficult part was having to wait twenty years to kill him.
Clemente: I understand. I was on an isolated island, far from his evil.
Monika: I remember well the days after the death of my son. The High Priest was very kind. He gave me a purpose for the future. Many times, I doubted your visions. But when the girl was born on the very night you had predicted, to the servant who died just as you had told me...
Clemente: The only daughter of the king. Like his father, Aloisio was practically unable to father a child. Only the combination of herbs I taught you allowed him to conceive Olivia.
Monika: Did you use the same method with Reynaldo to conceive Aloisio?
Clemente laughed weakly: No, Aloisio is not the son of Reynaldo. Both wives of the Conqueror sought the bed of another man.
Monika: Who?
Clemente: I do not know for sure. Reynaldo surrounded himself with the eight Knight Lords. Each one was a strong, pure-blooded man from Costa Lunas. Valero is the last of them who lives. Every time he went out to fight, one or more of them would stay behind to protect his castle and his queen. I know it cannot be Edgardo.
Monika: He trusted the men he wanted to be like. And two of them stole his wives. So, we put a girl with no royal blood on the throne.
Clemente continued to smile: No one knows. Some of them were of ancient royal lineage.
Monika: What are we going to do now?
Clemente: Wait until tomorrow morning. The All-Mother is now within another rider. Everything she asked of me has been fulfilled.
Monika took out a bag of herbs and a pipe. She put the herbs in the pipe and lit it. She inhaled and passed it to the priest.
The priest inhaled some smoke and exhaled it towards the door. Until dawn, no one would think about that door or who was in the room.
Clemente: We can rest tonight while the kingdom crumbles. From tomorrow morning onwards, the kingdom, the future, nothing will matter to us. We have done our part.