Chapter FORTY-TWO: Half Red Moon Phase-DEVIN

...

The nervous king paced back and forth in the throne room, knowing the queen would be down any minute. He glanced at the panting knight before him, who waited for a response, and stared at the strange repulsing, blood-encrusted wound on the man's chest before turning away.

"M'lord, we do not know how much longer...We cannot resist the attacks. Our battalion is falling, fighting creatures that they have never fought... Just death...Utter, utter, absolute, death for us fighting men...The scaly demons are too much for us. It is best that we prepare for evacu— "

"—No!" the king roared. He looked over his armored shoulder, making sure he was battle ready. "We cannot. Not yet. Now excuse yourself—The queen should not hear anymore of this, or see you like that…I will be out to fight with you shortly. Please, tell the General to do his best for now. Thais will stand, understood?" Devin murmured the last.

"Aye, your majesty," the knight bowed feebly and limped away.

"Wait. Go to the healer and rest," the king then ordered as the knight reached the exit.

Devin ran his hand roughly over his face and then glanced over at the stairwell where Alicia stood still with baby in her arms.

"Devin, it is late. You are not going out there by yourself! I will come with you," Alicia commanded, having heard most of what the knight had said.

"Alicia, no, you are right. It is late. I will stay then. Actually, why don't we go rest?" Devin insisted, not wanting her to go fight any monsters at this time of night.

"Rest? REST?! How can we rest here any longer?!" she wailed hysterically. "We are on the brink of falling and…and we remain here like sitting ducks—It's absurd!"

"Alicia, everything is fine, woman! The fighting has eased some, you know that. We will win," Devin said confidently as he went to wrap his arms around her. "We will win. This is our battle…not—"

"—Stop! Stop it! You've said enough," Alicia mumbled miserably. There would be no other way but to fight the demons now. She knew all too well what would happen if they didn't do something now.

Suddenly, the castle walls trembled vigorously, making some of the ceiling chip from above.

"Quickly, Alicia!" Devin roared as he led them upstairs to a safer location.

A large boulder flew down in their path as they ran down the dark corridor.

"Devin! No! Not that way!" Alicia cried too afraid to continue in the same direction. She grabbed Devin by the arm and yanked him towards the other way. "I know this castle! I know of a place!" she hollered through the sound of rubble falling.

The movement eventually ceased, though they still kept moving. Devin grabbed a lit torch to shone the way to a passage at the end of the corridor. There, Alicia pressed the stone wall tightly with her free hand and slid it open, revealing a hidden space within.

"I...I have not been here in so long," she said trying to sound cheerful. "Well, I think the quake stopped. Perhaps we should return to the throne room? I really haven't been in this place in so long…It must be full of spiders and dust."

Devin laughed realizing that she was moping like a girl over a little dirt and insects, "Ha! Let's just go in for a minute. I'd like to find these spiders that have made you act like a true princess, dear."

Alicia glared at him, insulted.

"Fine! But if something bites our daughter, you'll be sorry!" she retorted angrily, but Devin quickly drew her close again before she stepped inside.

"Nothing will happen to her. I would never allow it, my darling wife," Devin whispered gently as he pressed his lips on hers.

After a quiet moment, Alicia slowly opened her eyes and looked out the window over Devin's shoulder. The rain outside had finally subsided and now a crescent moon peeked through the dark haze. Usually, its presences in the sky made her feel at peace, but this 'moon' was unusually large and radiated a peculiar tint of deep red.

She tried not to think too much of it, and drew her attention back to Devin and the sleeping baby in their arms.

"Let's name her!" Devin said eagerly all of a sudden. "She has gone too long without a name."

"Oh, Devin…"Alicia replied nervously. "But…but what if something happens?"

"Nothing will happen…I have a million ideas in mind...Like Kel—"

"—Devin, you promised me that we wouldn't…Not yet," Alicia whimpered. "Not until we are safe."

Devin rolled his eyes and sighed, "Then we shall whisper our ideas to each other. Can we at least do that?"

She smiled softly and nodded. He whispered a few names into her ear making her giggle at some and frown on others. She then whispered a few into his ear, making him gag at some and cringe at others.

"Oh, I like that one," Alicia whispered loudly.

Devin gleefully began, "Then it's settled…Our daughter will be—"

"—No it tisn't!" Alicia briefly protested.

All too sudden, their peaceful moment ended. They felt the walls begin to tremble again. Alicia looked out the window one last time, only to see an opaque sky again. Devin pulled her into the hidden room and shut the door secure.

Once inside, the trembling stopped again. Devin placed the torch on the wall to see where they were going. He didn't get far before knocking over a chest full of girls dresses, which he cursed at, then kicked to the side. He looked up realizing Alicia had continued further into the dank, secret room.

Knowing the room more, Alicia went on and sat against the wall in the dim darkness.

"Honey?" Devin asked carefully.

"What YOU! —You know what I want! We need to leave, Devin!" she blurted, resentfully. "WE NEED TO LEAVE! WE MUST!"

"Alicia, Alicia! Calm yourself down!" Devin said as he kneeled beside her, worried. He looked down at their sleeping princess wondering why she wasn't crying, but his eyes quickly caught Alicia's pallid, panic-stricken face.

"…No Devin…This is unsuitable for a kingdom or its king and queen! —Yes, I know we have an obligation—I know—And the promise you made to daddy before he died—I know—But you cannot expect to put our daughter and I through this any longer."

"But Alicia…" he started to protest; but Alicia erupted suddenly, pushing him away. She began to get up and head towards the exit, but he spun her around to face him.

"I don't care! I don't care! Devin, think about it…If we leave, then we can be normal! We can live in peace even if we are peasants. We can be mercenaries somewhere far away from here—Our dream! —Devin, as Queen, I demand that you listen to me!" she pouted angrily.

Devin looked deeply into her eyes realizing how much she had changed; how before she would have risked everything to be in battle. Now, it was different—they were different.

He kissed her forehead before guiding her down to sit on a crate near the exit. He bit his lip after deciding what to do, considering that dreadful times called for some flexibility. "Okay, okay. I'll have a ship waiting for us. We have done our...best," he forced the last bit out. He did not want to just give up, but he had to settle Alicia down somehow.

"Really?" she said a little surprised, knowing how stubborn they both could be.

"Yes, my Queen…Or shall I say from now on, just 'wife'."

"Oh, Devin, really? We can? You have made me the happiest woman!" Alicia wailed and swung a free arm and brought him down to sit beside her.

After many thankful kisses from her, he saw a blanket on the floor, shook it a little, and covered them. Alicia drew back a little, disgusted by the uncleanly gesture, but fell happily silent and rested her head on her husband's shoulder, happy to have gotten her way as always. She then closed her eyes to nap.

..

Devin remained awake, nudging his daughter to see if she would get up and play with him. He beamed expressively at her, making his usual waggish faces, but soon fell to tender caresses and thoughts.

Perhaps...he had put up with all of this just for her, he contemplated blissfully to himself. He had endured so much so far—they all had—but having her made him the happiest man, despite all the bloodshed and chaos around them. Almost none of it seemed too bad as long as it was for their daughter.

He peered up suddenly to look at the burning torch near the door. It was dying down rapidly. He poked Alicia to make her shift so he could get up, but then decided to let her sleep, and let her fall a little towards the wall. He walked over to find a rag or anything he could burn to keep the fire going. He then ripped off a sheet of material from an old robe and tied it to the top of the burning torch, quickly making it lit up again.

However, as he turned to retrieve the torch back to the wall, he caught glimpse of something familiar in another crate nearby. Carefully, he picked up an old sign to confirm that it wasn't what he thought it was. His eyes grew wide as he read on, realizing it was the notice for the Mule Express all those years ago. The very reason he did not make it to Mysten Far in time:

CLOSED! Due to the dangerous climate and fragile state of the mules, according to royal orders. Ye can come back tomorrow no matter the conditions! Business for ye as always, rain, blizzard, or shine!

By Royal Decree of Our Lord Pendragon

"Devin…what are you doing, husband?" Alicia asked as she got up and placed the baby down on the sheet. She glanced at the sign in his hands, unable to speak, realizing that the maid had not tossed it out when she had asked long ago.

After a second, Devin began to laugh from disbelief, "I never read the whole thing. I stopped after 'mules' and kicked it since I was in a hurry...If you remember, honey, how much in a hurry I was that day?" Devin saw a dent on the edge of the sign where he had kicked. The laugh became a sour grunt.

Alicia grew cold and pale, still unsure what to say. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came.

"I must say, I wondered perhaps once why they weren't open that day of all days. I wished to the Gods that those mules and their masters had died from frostbit—honey."

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Alicia finally mustered strength to say. "I wanted to tell you—I tried to tell you!" she trailed off, thinking back to when her longings had come true after waiting years and Devin had finally asked her to marry him. How I did not tell him then? Alicia wondered quietly.

"Alicia, I almost died because of this! Why would your father do something like this? Why?!" Devin yelled, now shaking his head from confusion and anger.

"Devin! Don't say that! Do not blame father! It was me!" Alicia blurted suddenly, she covered her mouth as her confession echoed in the room. "Please…Devin…we will wake up our daughter."

He looked at her menacingly, "You! YOU! How could you do that to me?!"

"Devin, please," Alicia cried and gasped as he grabbed her arms. "I did not want…I did not want to let you…"

"—For me to be happy? Is that it?!"

"No, Devin! We had spent so much time together...and I thought—Well, it doesn't matter...After you told me that Talia was going to finally leave for good, I asked father to make sure…to make sure that you could not leave Thais…I thought you would turn back if you could not get a ride to that place. It was snowing so awful…You were supposed to come back to us—to the ball! You were supposed to come back! You were supposed to come back to me..." Alicia finished and covered her tear-wasted eyes. She did not know where this was going, but fear soon set in.

The fury in Devin's eyes remained no matter how much she expressed for him to have pity; to have some compassion.

He thrust her arms free and grabbed the sign to hold it again, feeling the anguish of all those years ago all over again: years of torture she had caused.

"I nearly died, Alicia! I wanted so much to get to Talia! You…you took it upon yourself to destroy our future together! You only thought of yourself! You and your spoiled ways!"

"Devin! Don't…don't say…" she stopped herself suddenly, attempting to take in his heartless words, but other thoughts came into mind. Devin bringing up Talia all over again made her livid. "—Why?…Why would you talk about HER now, even bring up HER name as though…as though you still love HER?! WE ARE MARRIED! HOW COULD YOU BE SO TERR-R-R-IBLE AS TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT-T!" she screeched so loud that the sleeping princess began to cry. "Look at me…and…and…tell me that you do not love her anymore…Devin, please…"

Devin fell silent, still clutching the sign and staring at it as though it would give him an answer on what to do or say. Part of him wanted to go back in time to change everything that had happened.

Suddenly, he busted the sign in his hands in two and tossed them off to a murky nook. Rage still wrestled inside of him too much to answer or know what to exactly feel. "She—Talia was the love of my life. I just don't know anymore, okay!"

"Oh..." Alicia mouthed softly, crushed from what he had said. She was the love of my life, the words swirled in her mind like hot fire melting her soul. Slowly, she turned to tend to her crying daughter. She wrapped her quickly covering her snuggly and then hugging her to her bosom for comfort.

Devin was nearing the exit, but then paused to wait for her. "I am not leaving unless you are. Well, at least YOU can stay, but my daughter comes with me," Devin said angrily.

Alicia went up to him and placed the girl in his arms. She stroked Devin's face only to have him turn his head and look away. "You…You have no idea how much I suffered because of this whole mess, do you, husband? I only hope that in time you accept my apology for toying around with your life."

Devin was a little taken by her sudden grace, despite everything that had been exchanged. He had expected her to say worse. Nonetheless, she had corrupted everything he had ever considered to be blessings and that would never change.

"...I can only hope that our daughter turns out to be nothing like her mother," he scorned, now pushing his way out. "I will be outside—I have a war to win for her."

"Devin…but…but we are to leave!"

He did not bother looking back.

Alicia followed him astonished that he would dare take back his word, "You cannot do this! What about our dream, Devin?! What of our daughter's safety?!" she questioned desperately behind him.

They reached their chambers and Alicia was not able to get Devin to look at her.

Devin moved briskly and tucked his daughter into her crib, then went to fetch his batting helmet. Alicia stood nearby, speechless over what he was doing.

"Devin!" she begged one last time, but he simply stormed out.

Alicia sobbed loudly, waiting for him to return.

...

As though a mere dutiful knight, King Devin stormed out of the castle with sword out, ready to fight.

Outside in the dark city, no one was in sight. He passed by boarded up windows and smears of blood and shattered glass on the walls and ground. The only presence of anyone was the occasional knight patrolling, most of whom stared at him to make sure he wasn't trouble. But as it had become the habit of most in Thais upon recognizing the king, they sneered at Devin, intolerably, as though he was the one to blame for all of their troubles.

Ignoring them and anybody else in his way, he made it to the castle gates, which had been securely barricaded. A fellow guardsman spotted him. This one, however, bowed considerately and showed him a way out of the stronghold by climbing up a tall ladder. Devin ascended quickly, practically out of breath as he gazed out into the desolated lands which smoldered red hot in some places from fire.

As Devin went into the woods, for the time being, everything appeared quiet with no signs of knights or demons fighting. Yet, everything had a trace of danger to it, after all that had happened during phases of full battle.

As he went, he purposely moved loudly to draw any monsters to him.

All of a sudden, a rogue—a filthy magical rat-like looking creature who were known to terrorize and steal from fleeing peasants—was naively lurking nearby the gates.

The king grinned, elated to finally have found something to release his rage on. He looked into the one yellow eye of the eye-patched creature, and without a moment to spare, drove his sword straight into the creatures arm, making black blood spume all over the rag-covered creature. The rogue growled wildly as it pulled out a curved dagger.

Devin, knowing that the creature could have been dead by now if he wished, let it take pointless swings at him for a few minutes. However, sword and dagger clashed loudly, suddenly bringing the attention of two more rogues. Devin instinctively finished off the injured rogue by cutting across its chest. He then turned to follow up assault on the other two beasts circling like hawks around him; their daggers swiftly craving through the air Xs.

"You die!" one of the rogue barked.

"You die!" the second repeated, evilly.

They continued to circle aggressively, but as one of them made the first strike, nearly hitting Devin's back by a thread. Devin rolled out of the circle and wedged his way through their dicing blades. At the same time, Devin was thinking of Alicia: Alicia and what she had done; Alicia and their marriage; and what could have been if he had gotten to Talia in time—it all crammed his mind with sheer madness.

In moments, he finished off one of the foul creatures. Blackish blood, not his own, flowed like rivers to the forest floor. The second creature tried to escape, but Devin was literally on its tail before long and finished it with two deep hits to the ribs—duty complete.

Suddenly, several arrows came out of the darkness zooming straight into the dead rogues carcasses, then several men came out the trees. "Is everything all right?" one of them asked quickly as they continued running in the same direction. Devin nodded and joined them ready to fight something else.

..

Eventually, they ended up deep in the forest. General Tailor and a group of men were fighting a giant winged-snake. The men with the king urgently gathered around the hissing creature which had several under Mesmerize, including the General. The mean scaly golden-yellow creature slithered around as men with torches attempted to light it on fire. It bit down hard on one of its entranced victims and then another, injecting them with its wicked venom.

"Be gone, demon!" the knights yelled hopelessly.

The king rolled his eyes, "Take a break, men!" he ordered in an almost arrogant tone as he swung his sword, cutting off a part of the creature's fowl-like wing.

"Powerslice!" Devin then yelled, realizing he could have used an even stronger spell, but it would have been too easy. For a moment, he thanked Alicia for having forced him to practice and wished she were here to watch—Alicia...he thought trying to not think of her right now, after all she had done.

The creature groaned fiendishly as it tried to strike him. Suddenly, to Devin's dismay, the wing-snake fell dead, apparently already weakened by its previous attackers.

Devin angrily stabbed the dead creature, disappointed for the fiend dying too soon. He looked up at the men still standing still under Mesmerize. The only magick wielder in the group bravely went up to them. She carefully placed a vile of holy tonic in their hands and commanded them to drink it, which they obediently did.

Devin went up to the other men lying stiff on the ground, apparently dead.

Tailor no longer under the spell, ran up to them and began to frantically search their holders.

"Get out of the way!" he yelled as he opened each man's reserve. Only one had a Cassia leaf which he shoved into its owner's mouth.

"That's it?!" Devin bickered. "The other man needs one now before he's really gone!"

"We haven't any choice…We are short on supplies," Tailor sighed heavily as he helped the now breathing man up.

Devin immediately pulled out his own reserve, having about 10 cassia leaves in his holder. He bowed down to the dead man, but suddenly Tailor charged at him.

"What are you doing?!" Tailor yelled, worried. "You're the king! You need those!"

"Do you think I will let this man die!" Devin yelled back trying to force his way back to the body.

"You don't have a choice…He's dead!" Tailor snapped as he shoved Devin again. "Besides, he might not come back…We need to go now…your majesty. We have other demons to hunt."

Devin turned to Tailor and pushed him hard. "Fine! How many do you have? Take this one then!" he said angrily as he hit the lifesaving leaf into Tailor's chest. "Take it..." Devin mumbled quietly and then marched away.

Tailor trailed behind him, managing to give it back when Devin wasn't looking during another encounter with a demon.

They had a whole night ahead of them with endless numbers to fight.