The prisoners had no idea what their captors were planning, on how they would get Chamberlain to surrender.
But then, a Drenchen hunter came out of nowhere.
"Hey! I'm looking for my leaders. Any idea where they might be?" he said sarcastically.
The new guards looked at him odd. "Why, they're right here. You can join them."
"And your new leader is right here."
"Uh, I don't think so. Come and get me!" he laughed, then ran the other way.
"Don't just stand there. Get him!" Rahn ordered.
Three guards ran after him.
Soon, they were side-tripped from a staff that came out of nowhere. It made them fall onto their faces.
"Good work. Now tie them up." Sil ordered and complimented.
The three were tied up. They were unconscious at the moment.
When more came to investigate later, it was four this time. They too were taken by surprise.
…
As more and more began to disappear with no trace, Seleya finally got suspicious. Many would go next.
Ten went next, and Sil and the Drenchens took them on together. They took them out. But they were now out of rope. They would just guard them now.
Now it was the final straw when they didn't return.
The Drenchens came and lured more Gelflings to them. Seleya too. Sil was in hiding for the moment, but waited.
There were still a few guarding the prisoners.
The Drenchens fought with all they had to take on the best guards and Seleya. She was an awesome warrior. She took on the Drenchens and they were losing when she took over.
"You will not win!" she exclaimed.
Then Sil finally stepped into the picture. "Is it me you want?" he asked.
Seleya stopped fighting the hunters and looked over to her left, it was him! "You!"
"Yes, it is I! The Skeksis!" Sil mocked her. "If me you want, come and get me!"
"You will give up your power or else! NO Skeksis will rule Gelfling ever again!" she yelled out.
"Remains to be seen, traitor!" Sil retorted. He drew a dagger.
Seleya used her wings to try to fly towards his head, but he saw her coming and dodged her attempt. It knocked her into the wall. She got down on her feet. Now, she charged from his front.
Sil's dagger collided with her sword. He blocked her from touching him. He spun his wrist and it knocked her sword from her hands, and he threw his weight into her, knocking her down.
Seleya was finally down. But, she wasn't going down so easy. She had a small dagger herself, hidden in her right sleeve. She pulled it out, and without him noticing, she threw it at him.
The dagger landed in the left side of his lower stomach, beneath the armor. It caused Sil to yelp in pain, but he still kept up the fight.
"Get up!" he ordered. She got up.
"Gelfling will pay for this treachery!" he held his dagger at her throat. "Now move!"
Seleya was in front as Sil made her walk in front of him over to the others. He now put a hand on her left shoulder. Her clan now looked up, as did the prisoners. It was Chamberlain! But not looking like his usual self. Their eyes all widened.
"Now, I have your leader!" Sil growled. "You free others, NOW!" he ordered fiercely as his voice would allow.
The guards couldn't believe their Maudra had been captured. But they let the others go at last.
Once they were free, Jen and Kira came up to him, "Chamberlain, thank you for freeing us. We will decide what to do with her."
"NO! Chamberlain decides on this one." Sil exclaimed.
They were shocked at his outburst, but understood.
"I am still your emperor! No Gelfling is to betray here. I make example of this one as clear sign of my leadership. I make clear." Sil explained.
The others nodded.
…..
Later, outside the castle, all Gelfling were out there, save the youngest ones, Chamberlain held court over Seleya and her family.
"As emperor here, I make perfectly clear that I will not put up with any betrayal to my power, just as you seeking to usurp me. I make nice home for Gelfling, and all do is try to harm that effect. After this, no more trips to find other Gelfling from me. If any come, will make certain conditions first met. If not, they go back to other place, or die! And will not stand for this any longer." Sil declared sternly.
"As for Sel- whatever, you are sentenced to-"
The Gelflings listened. "Death!" They all gasped.
Sil had his armor off now, but he held a dagger in his hands. He raised it and stabbed Seleya through her back. She gasped out in pain.
"MOTHER!" Marak, her sister, and brothers all cried out. Guards held them all back from running forward.
Seleya fell over, dead. Sil pushed her off the dagger. "This is what happens for final punishment when what happened, or pull anything else to hurt Chamberlain. I be honest ruler up till now, and put up with so much from Gelflings. This is not to happen here. Mean that. Other Gelfling, banished. Go back to Beta continent."
Seleya's offspring and her clan were forced to go back to their lands. They were not going to rule here. But later on in life, they would probably plan to return, and in greater numbers.
Chamberlain's clan stayed behind. So, there would at least two clans of Gelfling. The Alpha one, here on this one, and the Beta one. The enemy clan. But the Alpha one was led by a Skeksis. That was the difference.
One of Seleya's daughters would take over as their Maudra when they got back, but Marak might as well take over on that part.
Sil's clan had not been harmed at all, but then, after it was all over, there was blood noticed under Sil's footing. He dropped his dagger then.
"Chamberlain, you're bleeding!" Jen noticed.
"Know. Happened in fight with… her…" he said as he pointed out. Then, his vision began to get blurry on him.
Aughra was out there too. She moved as fast as possible, and caught him. He was still standing. "We must treat injury as quick as possible." she advised.
"Yes. Hmmm!" he whined in pain. He had tried to ignore it for awhile, but could no longer.
He was led back to the castle, to a lower chamber room where he was laid down and his wound was exposed from his robes. He was losing blood. Some moss was quickly put over it by Yayra. She was still among them.
"Chamberlain, you must remain awake." Yayra stated.
"Trying." he said. "Hurts..."
"I'm trying to help you. Just hold still." she said.
Sil laid there, taking the pain as he was examined.
Yayra felt around his belly, and found it wasn't that deep. Nothing internal was punctured, luckily. But he still needed some stitches.
Three stitches later, he would be fine. But he would be better off just resting for now.
Sil was tired anyway, from his getting home and having to fight so suddenly. Then, his friends and the clan came into the room. He looked up at them.
"On behalf of this clan, Lord Chamberlain, we have all come to thank you for saving our lives." Talia spoke on their behalf.
Sil nodded. "Yes. Now, need rest." he said. "Go do chores." He laid back to go to sleep.
"Is he alright?" Jen asked.
"Yes, he'll be fine." Aughra said. "Still breathing. Just exhaustion take him over."
"We can see why." Baron had to agree. They wanted to rest too, after having been out for nearly a week and dealing with all those animals brought back here for some of Sil's protein needs.
They would let their emperor rest while the rest of them went to go do their chores again. But Aughra remained with Chamberlain, to make sure that nothing happened. Someone else would take over in a while.
The hunters went and put the captured animals into the cages in the Chamber of Life. This time, they would never be experiments, just food. SkekTek, back when he was alive, kept some maybe as both pets and experiments.
All the Gelflings went on doing their chores for the rest of the day. They hoped they would never see that clan again. If one came from that clan and was honestly willing to join them, certain conditions would have to met from now on.
…
The Chanter had made it to the Circle of the Suns to see his old friend, urGoh. SkekGra and urGoh were now looking after the Chanter as they had urVa the Archer so long ago in his time of need when he had tried to bring justice to the Hunter. To stop him from taking a Gelfling.
Even though the Chamberlain was not welcome here, his brother was since he wasn't the same as Sil. The Wanderer was glad to see another Mystic again, for once. It had been too long since he had last seen one.
The Chanter wondered what it was this time that caused his brother to be wounded again. There was some cloth applied on his wound, along with some herbal medicine. He was lying on a bed, with pressure off the wound. He was just resting at this point.
…..
Jen came in to watch Chamberlain to give Aughra a break. He was more than grateful that he had come to save their clan in their time of need, when they had least expected him to. There would always be key differences among them, but what mattered more was that they were friends.
Sil had done what he could and there had been a small price to pay, but he was still alive. He would be fine in some days time. It wasn't that serious. If the knife had been bigger, it might have pierced his intestine.
He had also made sure that he was the most dominant one here, despite his friendly looking demeanor. He was not going to stand for crap like that any longer. He had had to put up with it from the other Skeksis for so long and that was what had driven him to declare he wasn't going to put up with it anymore. He was just being a good leader, to keep his kingdom safe and intact.
The group he had banished were a larger group, but they weren't worthy to stay here after betraying this clan. But this clan would get bigger over time.
Jen was still a little worried about Sil. He hoped he wouldn't die.
Sil was breathing deeply while sleeping. A whimper here and there, but that wasn't unusual for him. It just came naturally. Kira later brought Jen a book to read.
After awhile, Sil woke up to the male Gelfling reading a book. "Jen?" he spoke.
Jen looked up. "Chamberlain? You awake?" he asked.
"Hmm. Yes." Sil replied as he tried to stretch his legs, but then, was greeted with pain from his belly. His hand went to grab it as he whimpered. "Ow!"
"You alright?" Jen asked.
"Horrible, searing pain!" Sil winced.
"Yayra and Aughra did what they could for you. It'll hurt for a little while." Jen stated.
"Chamberlain hates pain! But know." Sil said.
"My Lord, I just wanted to say thank you for saving us all. We had no idea when you would return. Yes, they were setting a trap for you." Jen explained.
"Figured it out. Was not going to let all accomplished go down river. Had to stop and punish evil Gelflings." Sil declared.
"But, how do we know they won't come back?" Jen asked. "I think they were rather confused rather than evil."
"We just must be ready at all times. Get numbers up. But not matter of confused. Evil enough for Chamberlain to let them stay." Sil recommended. "Not want to be seen as once was."
"The number is going up, slowly." Jen replied.
"We be watching at all times. Not let this happen again." Sil said.
Jen agreed.
…
As the days passed, Jen, Kira, Aughra, and the healers took turns watching over Sil's recovery. They were all truly grateful to him for saving their lives. They were also grateful to the five Drenchen hunters that had been with him. He didn't let this small injury make him stay in bed, but he took it easy around the castle. Within two weeks, Sil's injury was healed.
There was talk of exploring more of the continent in the high mountains elsewhere. Sil would give it some thought and his blessing, but he wasn't going anywhere this time. And all the seekers were to travel in groups of at least five.
…..
The Chanter stayed away until he was healed, then he stayed a few additional days and began to head back to the castle. It had been a good trip to just get away from the castle for awhile. But even when he got home, he usually would keep his distance from his brother.
The Heretic and the Wanderer were still keen on staying here in the desert. It was their home now. UrGoh might one day come to visit urSol at the castle by himself again. But SkekGra would stay behind.
The Chanter was welcomed back to the castle with open arms from Aughra, Podlings, and Gelflings alike. Not so much from the Chamberlain, but he was still allowed there.
Life would go on like usual.
…
Seleya's clan made it back to their continent. Since this had been their home for so long, it would now stay their home. Marak wouldn't plan on letting the Skeksis get away with killing her mother like that. Her heart was so full of rage at him at this point, but there would have to be a good time to build up their numbers first. They would take back that continent someday.
Marak was going to make sure that her mother's memory of what she stood for would not be forgotten. But then, Skeksis were almost invincible fighters, if they had the youth and strength for it.
Only time would tell what would happen. She was named the new Maudra of her clan. Her siblings all supported her. Her younger sister had no complaints. Nor did her brothers. They all became leaders among the soldiers. But then, was it wise to go back at all? They could just stay here and be their own clan, but Marak would always hate that Skeksis. So would her siblings and others of their clan.
Sorry if it seemed rushed. I hope you all are enjoying this.