Hello everyone. Here is chapter 21. I hope that you will enjoy it. :)
Lilac is still following Andrio as she knew that there must be an explanation as to why Andrio is refusing to listen to her and she did have a mission to fulfil after all as well as the fact that she needed to tell Andrio about something that is important, including the fact that it has life or death consequences.
She followed him to a cottage in the forest and she watched as Andrio entered the cottage before entering the cottage, herself, as she saw Andrio preparing himself some food before he began eating the food as well as looking at a magical book with the book looking very familiar to her.
Andrio noticed her looking at his magical book and he, begrudgingly, passed it over to her in order to let her see the contents of it with Lilac looking over the book's contents as she realised that this is a book of spells which would explain why it looked so familiar to her in the first place.
"Yes, I am still learning new magic, even in exile" said Andrio as he remained annoyed. "Besides, why I should bother about some destiny, if someone dies anyway?".
"Wait a minute, what exactly was your destiny?" asked Lilac which caused Andrio to groan. "No, no, no, seriously, tell me, what was your destiny?".
"My destiny was to protect a princess, that's all" said Andrio as he was clearly not in the mood. "But of course, what 'great' destiny that turned out to be".
"Oh, I'm very sorry that I asked, Andrio" said Lilac as she felt sorry for the poor guy. "I had no idea, that happened to you".
"Don't worry about it, I much rather forget it" said Andrio as he drank some water. "Anyway, why did Merlin send you?".
"It's because someone needs your help" said Lilac as she explained it to him. "You see, princess Jewel has been kidnapped by a dragon-bird called Nigel".
Hearing that princess Jewel has been kidnapped shook Andrio, knowing that the princess was once a dear friend to him as he knew that they had many fun times together and yet it all led to this one moment where some dragon-bird kidnaps her and it was this information that caught his interest.
"I see, so has anything else happened?" asked Andrio as he finally looked at Lilac. "While I've been away?".
"The kidnapping is very recent" said Lilac as she braced herself for the next information. "But Sir David, Sir Blu's father, has been dead for some years now".
"So Blu has been knighted? good for him" said Andrio as he drank some more water. "As for David's death, good riddance for that".
"How can you possible say that, Andrio?" asked Lilac as she became horrified. "Sir David was killed by the same dragon-bird, that has kidnapped princess Jewel".
"Then, he should have been more careful" said Andrio as he ignored Lilac again. "Besides, his death is nothing compared to how many innocent sorcerers he's killed".
Lilac couldn't believe what she was hearing from the guy that she was suppose to find, but, she knew that Andrio had made it very clear that he wasn't interested in helping her which caused Lilac to storm off while Andrio could only watch her go as he didn't intend on following her.
But, he knew that he has a responsibility to protect others and this made him realise that he is needed more than as he sighed before packing up his stuff for the journey ahead as he intended on going with Lilac in order to find out what he is suppose to be doing after all these years.
When he had finished packing, Andrio began to make his way out of his cottage and he silently followed Lilac back to King Eduardo's kingdom where he saw that the kingdom looked starkly different from when he had left it as he could see that many knights are already in the throne room.
It was at that moment, when he saw Sir Blu making his way towards the throne room and he could tell that this is an emergency gather of knights which Andrio suspected that Eduardo is going to select a knight to go rescue the princess Jewel, the original decision was Sir Roberto, but now, thanks to Blu, the decision was delayed until morning.
"So, I see that Eduardo is still King, no difference there" said Andrio with his presence surprising Lilac. "Let's hope that Sir Blu, gets to go and rescue the princess".
"Oh, hey, glad to see that you could come, after all" said Lilac as she smiled at Andrio before looking at the throne room. "Also, yeah, I hope that Sir Blu gets chosen".
"If Blu does get chosen, he is going to need help" said Andrio as he finally smiled at Lilac which the latter returned. "Which is exactly what we will do, but, secretly".
Lilac nodded in agreement as she knew that Eduardo still doesn't like sorcerers, though, he is growing to be more tolerant of them and he showed this by relaxing some of his rules against sorcery which had brought some hope that things will change for the better, though it is a start.
That night, Lilac was asleep in her bed and Andrio was watching over as he took the first night-watch, though, he couldn't resist looking at the still sleeping Lilac as he knew that she looked so peaceful when she's sleeping as Andrio vowed to himself to protect Lilac, no matter what.
When he did finally go to sleep, Andrio heard Drago's voice again and he sounded a lot older than when he last heard him as Andrio knew that he needs to go see him again in order to tell him about Sir Blu's possible journey to rescue princess Jewel and that he needs all the help he can get.