Senea: Second chapter with plot! Story progress well with plot. Sorry for the late update, in case you haven't read my profile, my sister's computer died and that had all my stories on it. We're still trying to fix it so hopefully I'll recover what I lost.
Thank you so much for your great reviews! I'm glad that so many people are interested in this story! Updates will try and make em faster, this was suppose to come up last week but that stupid computer...ARG!
Well, here's the second chapter! Enjoy it! I don't own anything tough!
"Prince?" Soren looked up from some papers he was researching to find Ena standing at the entrance way of his tent, a small tray of tea in her hands.
"Ena." He greeted back to her, giving her a questioning glance as to what she was doing here. Though they have only seen each other a few times over the years, both of them have a certain respect for one another as they helped with strategies. Although something seemed to bother the girl, she treated the prince quite kindly.
"I see you're still up." Ena stated, walking over to the desk and placing the tray of tea on the edge. "I brought some tea."
"Thank you." He responded, sounding not at all thankful to her. It was the evening and he hated being disturbed from his research and reports. Especially for a cup of tea. He found it calming to listen to the silence of the camp.
Ena brushed off the cold thanks and poured the prince a cup, she placed it beside him and took a glance up at his face, seeing in the faint light a large bruise forming just under his eye. She wondered just how hard the king had to hit his son for something like that to form. Shaking her head from those thoughts, she glanced at what the young prince was doing with those reports. "Do you think we'll be able to get them at the fort?"
Soren looked at her oddly before taking his tea and sipping it a bit before placing it back down. "Dakova is engaging them right now, but I doubt that will stop. They won't give her up without a fight, I think. Forcing the mercenaries to the fort with Dakova's remaining forces as well as some of our men hereis our best chance of getting rid of the sell swords and retrieving the princess." he explained for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. Although he had been talking to the stubborn General Petrine who never trusted him with doing anything, but with some convincing by Ena, they were able to make the plan work for the lance wielder.
"Do you think that they will fall for it though?" The girl asked. Her information on the mercenaries was little to none, and only the information that she had gotten from the prince allowed her to draw any conclusions about them.
"Judging from the age of most of the people, they might have siblings or families. Adding in the fact that they have the princess and a wounded soldier to worry about, they won't get into any unnecessary fighting unless forced. And when they do, they'll need to protect the ones that cannot fight. So, they would have no other choice but to think that they have an advantage by coming here." Soren said to the girl.
She nodded in understanding, and silence fell on the two again. After a moment, she spoke up, wanting to talk about a topic that had been bothering her. "Do you know the reason as to why the Black Knight showed up this evening?" she asked, uncertainty and annoyance were in her voice.
Soren thought for moment, recalling the knight appearing at their camp and wanting to aid in their effort to reclaim the princess, as per the King's orders. Another on of the Four Riders showing up for one measely person didn't add up to the mage. He felt that he was here for a different reason but could not figure out why his father sent him. "Although he said that he was ordered to help, I highly doubt that that is his true motive. Something else might be up." He concluded. Both of them had their fair amount of dislikes with the knight, many people did, no matter how many victories the Black Knight brought about for them.
"It does seem that way." Ena agreed. "Perhaps we will find out once we are successful." She then gave a small bow to the prince. "By your leave, prince. I must be going. Please, rest well." He nodded his head and she left his tent, leaving him to his thoughts.
Soren took another sip of his tea before glancing at the book he was reading before he was interrupted. Although she said to rest well, the prince highly doubted that he would go to sleep for another couple of hours. Tomorrow was going to be a day in which he prayed that he was successful. Failure twice never looked good in any Daein soldiers eyes, especially the king's.
Word from the other troops finally reached General Petrine; the Black Knight and Soren were waiting in one of the smaller rooms of the castle. The mercenaries were being trapped and led through the castle to them, just as planned. Petrine then ordered her troops to get ready for the attack on them the moment the doors closed, and then rode out to get ready herself, leaving the prince with the knight.
"It seems that your plan has worked perfectly young prince." The Black Knight said to Soren. "The princess will be in our custody soon and then, there will be no further disruptions for the King to worry about. Crimea is now Daein's."
Soren merely nodded his response, wondering just what would be the next step in his father's plan. He had a feeling that Gallia would soon become the next target, perhaps an alliance with the human country Begnion, against the sub-humans. Would his father really want to cause the entire continent to go to war? Would he want to wipe out all sub-humans?
The opening of the door interrupted his thoughts as a Daein soldier walked over to them, saluted and went at ease. "The mercenaries have been captured and the princess is in our custody." The soldier reported, a smile on his face for the victory that they had brought for their home country.
"Good work. I will be there shortly." The Black Knight responded, dismissing the soldier. As he left, the knight turned towards the young mage. "This is a great victory for Daein, your Highness." He said, his voice muffled and distorted by his helmet.
Soren stood and began walking towards the door. He was faintly aware of metal clashing against metal from the other side. The mercenaries were still trying to fight their way through. He gave it no thought as he continued to walk. "Shall we go and see, Black Knight?" He asked, turning to look behind him and stopped, noticing that the general had unsheathed his blade. Something inside of the mage told him that it wasn't a good sign to see and to keep his distance.
The Black Knight slowly began to walk towards the prince, the blade flashing against the small amount of light that was in the room. "I will be seeing this by myself, prince. But," he continued, slowly raising his blade. "unfortunately for you, you will never leave this room."
Soren felt himself back away from the knight and glanced quickly over to the door. He wasn't even halfway there. Even if he ran, the Black Knight was quite fast for his size and could out run him before he got there. His magic wasn't as nearly as strong to scratch his armor either. What was going on?
"Do not blame me, prince." Soren turned back his attention to him as he spoke, still trying to figure out a way to escape. "Your father, the king had given me this order for when we capture the princess." The knight said to an unspoken question. "'Get rid of the boy, I have no further use for him.' were his words to me, and I must obey with this order."
Soren stared at the Black Knight as he approached even closer. It seemed that Ashnard wanted him dead, and Soren could see why. No danger of succession or of getting in his way anymore. His use had finally run dry with his own plan to capture the princess. Nothing was left for him to do. Even if he did run through that door, Soren felt quite unsure of what to do next. Running away didn't seem much of an option to him anymore.
The general was now in striking distance of the mage and he stopped, readying his blade as he did. "Do you have any final words?" He asked, watching as he saw the prince accept his death.
Soren only thought for a second before shaking his head. "I doubt anyone would want to hear anything of what I have to say to them, no."
"I see. Then farewell, prince of Daein. And forgive me." The Black Knight said, positioning his sword to strike and slashing into the mages chest, making it protrude from the other side. It lasted there for a few seconds before the general removed it from his target, sliding it out of Soren's body before letting it rest by his side, blood dripping onto the floor.
Soren stumbled as his eyesight blurred and he felt himself fall to his knees. Blood began to fill his mouth and he coughed. He vaguely heard the Black Knight backing away and he glanced up to see the blurry image of the knight, before it started to disappear completely. He hit his head hard as he finally fell completely but he was unaware of it, instead he tried to focus on the strange noises he was beginning to hear, though faintly. It sounded like wood cracking and voices, along with more metal. He didn't care anymore as he closed his eyes and fell into unconsciousness.
Senea: I think I just killed Soren...or did I? Course not, he wouldn't die if a nuclear holocaust came by. Twice! ...Yeah. So, tell me what you think please! Leave a review when you get the chance. Once again sorry for the late update! Thrid chapter will be faster!