Warnings: Someone gets impaled through their skull. Minor depiction of vomiting and mucus.

Chapter 7: The Kingdom to Come Part 4: The Wyvern Warlord

The cave became a tunnel that lead deep into the mountain, one that had apparently been shaped from the corpse of a deceased Kingmaker; Its ribcage lined the walls and its spinal column formed the roof. A gentle breeze kept the air from turning stale, and as they descended deeper, a curious smell began to assault their noses, but one that wasn't an unpleasant smell at all. In fact it was so out of place that it took them a while to place the scent. Roland squinted. "Do I smell… flowers?" He was almost hesitant to ask.

"Yes," Aranella confirmed with some surprise. "Those are coral hueblooms I can smell. They grow all over the Rolling Hills, but the others," she shook her head, "I don't recognise."

"I didn't know the wyverns collected flowers," said Tani. She looked puzzled as she wondered aloud. "I wonder what they do with them?"

"Maybe it's to make the place smell nicer," Evan suggested.

"Higgle?" Runcible replied with a shrug.

The tunnel opened up into a cavern. A number of large bones jutted out of the walls, though whether they were ribs or teeth was impossible to discern at a glance. Woven around these bones were scores of brightly coloured flowers. "Goodness," Evan breathed. "I've never seen so many flowers in one place."

"It's amazing," said Tani.

"I've not seen those flowers before," Aranella remarked of the amethyst ones. "They definitely don't grow in the Rolling Hills."

"They could be from… uh…" Roland tried to recall the name Batu had given the lands east of the mountains but failed. He turned to Aranella to ask, "What was the other place Batu mentioned?"

"The Heartlands."

"Right," he nodded. "Could be from there."

"I suppose they must be," she replied then tilted her head to one side in questioning. "But what's it for do you think?"

"Well…" He looked around. "This cavern is pretty dull. Maybe it's to brighten the place up?" He suggested with a shrug. "And make it smell nice like Evan said?"

"Or maybe they decorated just for us," Tani quipped.

He smiled. "Heh. Maybe."

A barrage of hissing drew their attention upwards. "Uh oh." Wyverns were assembling on the ledges above and they flexed their wings in a threat display.

"Higgle," Runcible growled.

"Stay calm everyone," Roland advised.

A monstrously sized wyvern, the biggest they'd ever seen – and easily twice the size of his bretheren – dropped down from his perch and landed before them with a heavy thud they all felt through their feet. He was clad in golden armour and his scales were a deeper green and his mane a more vibrant red than the rest of his kind, and he had eyes that were a solid purple. There was no doubting that this was Warlord Waryks, and he was every inch as intimidating as Batu. Waryks bared his fangs as he drew himself up to his full height. "And what brings you here, hm?" He drawled. Curiously he spoke without the lisp that was characteristic of his kind. He sniffed the air. "You do not smell like pirates. Too small. Too…" He bared his fangs in a sneer. "Succulent. Are you lost little pinkskins?"

Evan swallowed and glanced briefly at the others before mustering his courage and finding his tongue. "W-we're not lost, Warlord Waryks. We came here to speak with you."

Waryks titled his head to one side and hissed in displeasure. "Is that so, little pointyears? To whom do I speak?"

"My name is Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum."

He tilted his head to one side as he sneered again. "To what do I owe the honour, Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum," he drawled, "of your visitation?"

"I wish to… to…" He blanked for a moment on the phrasing of why he was here. "I wish to negotiate a peace treaty. B-between you and the Sky Pirates."

Waryks straightened in surprise. "A peace treaty?" He repeated. "Between wyverns and Sky Pirates?" He hissed dismissively. "A foolish endeavour. No peace shall exist between my people and theirs. The Canyon is ours! We claimed it first!"

"Y-yes… I-I understand that… So perhaps… um… Perhaps you would consider a temporary truce, or-or ceasefire instead? Long enough for the pirates to-"

Waryks hissed angrily, flaring his wings and brandishing the double-headed battle axes he wielded in each hand. "The pirates should not have come here! There will be no peace! No truce! No ceasefire! They have blood on their hands! Wyvern blood! They will pay with their lives! Every last one of them must die!"

"No please-" Evan begged. But Waryks hissed again only this time an all too familiar dark aura flared to life around him.

"What the-?" Tani gasped, throwing up her hands in shock.

"But how?" Aranella asked, her expression aghast. "How can he have the same dark power too?"

"Please, Warlord Waryks," Evan begged again. "This doesn't have to become violent."

Waryks thrust a taloned finger at him as he snarled, "You speak for the pirates! You bring that pirate girl with you!" He clenched a fist around the handle of his battle axe. "You will die like pirates!" His words riled the wyverns above him and the cavern became filled with loud, fervent hissing and the beating of leathery wings.

"Weapons free, everyone!" Roland called out as he summoned his cutlass. Tani and Aranella didn't need to be told twice; They drew their weapons without hesitation, as did Runcible. Waryks went for Tani first. She rolled away, one of the battle axes embedding itself in the ground where she'd been standing seconds before. She notched an arrow as she rolled, and let it fly the moment she had regained her feet. It buried itself in Waryks' right wing-shoulder and he roared in pain and ripped it out. Batu wasn't kidding, Roland thought.

"No!" Evan objected and he clenched his fists. "This doesn't have to become a fight!"

"Evan!" Roland scolded. "This already is! Now draw your weapon and defend yourself! You gave it your best shot!"

"No… but…" Evan's hands fell back to his side in defeat and he stood there as tears began to fill his eyes. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to fix the situation not make it worse.

"Evan!" Roland shouted again.

Something collided with him and he fell to the ground. It was Tani. From her expression and body language the collision hadn't been an accident. "Hey. There will be a time for tears later, yeah? Right now you have to choose if you want to live or die."

He dropped his gaze and mumbled. "I don't want to die…"

"Then get up and fight. Even if it's just this once."

He looked away to Warlord Waryks. The wyvern was being distracted by the combined efforts of Roland, Aranella and Runcible. But it wasn't going to last. "But I don't want to fight…"

She placed a hand on one hip. "You want to be a leader, don't you? That means that sometimes you'll have to make choices you don't want to make."

"So… so what do I do?"

She shrugged. "You do your best."

He looked away to Waryks again. "But…" The wyvern drew his wings around himself and unfurled them with great force. Roland and Aranella were sent flying. They hit the cavern walls with an audible impact and slumped to the floor in a daze. "Nella! Roland!"

Waryks whipped around with a snarl. "Pirate girl!" He spat. "You're next!" And then advanced on them menacingly.

Tani readied her spear. "So what are you going to do, Evan?" She looked back, a touch of desperation colouring her features. "I can't take this guy on by myself, you know."

Evan looked from Tani to Roland and Aranella who were regaining their wits but far too slowly; There was no way either were going to recover fast enough to step in. So Evan made a choice. He got shakily to his feet and called forth his sword. "I'll-I'll fight, but… But I don't want to kill him."

Tani's expression became perplexed. "Evan-" But whatever else she was going to say was cut short. Waryks was now upon them and he opened the fight with a double downward strike. Tani rolled left while Evan dodged right. He went after Tani and forced her on the defensive, raining down strike after strike which she evaded with inches to spare. With his focus solely on Tani, this left Evan open to conjure up a fireball and launch it at his open back with as much force as he could muster. The fireball exploded on contact, sending Waryks sprawling forward. Seeing an opportunity, Tani leapt forward with spear in hand, intending to drive it into his neck, but he recovered faster than anticipated. He swiped at her legs with one battle axe but she managed to narrowly evade with a backflip. Waryks turned to Evan and bared his teeth in a snarl. "So the little pointyeared one thinks he can use fire. Pitiful. I'll show you real fire." He took a deep breath and purple flames burst forth from his mouth. Evan had to scramble out of the way.

"Evan!" Tani and Aranella called.

"Higgle!" Runcible shouted.

"I'm all right!" He called back. But Waryks wasn't done with him yet. He pursued spewing more dark fire and Evan fell back.

"They can do that?" Roland asked of Tani as he and Aranella joined her.

"They can spit fireballs," Tani replied. "This is new."

"It's that dark aura," said Aranella. "It's giving him strange powers, just like it did the Black Knight."

Tani raised an eyebrow at her. "The Black Who now?"

"We'll explain later," Roland replied. "Right now we need to work together to beat this guy."

"Any ideas?"

"Only one." He readied his cutlass. "I'll distract him. You guys take him down."

"Right…" It wasn't much of a plan but it was the only one they had. She exchanged a look with Aranella and they both nodded.

"Hey you!" Waryks turned away from Evan with a snarl. "You didn't manage to finish me off the first time," he taunted. He raised his cutlass and smirked. "Want to give it another try?"

Waryks hissed. "As you wish." He leapt into the air and streaked towards them blasting dark fire which they all narrowly evaded.

"Nice distraction," Tani snarked.

"Higgle," Runcible agreed.

"Okay new plan," Roland grunted with a grimace. "We ground him first." They all drew their ranged weapons and focused fire on Waryks' wings. But the wyvern had no intention of holding still long enough for them to hit him; He whizzed through the air and their shots went wide. Even Evan's fireballs went astray. "Dammit!" He cursed after dodging another fly-by flamethrower attack. This wasn't working. Just as he was about to turn his thoughts to finding another solution, Roland felt something tug on his trouser leg. He looked down. "What is it, Runcible?"

"Higgledy pig!" Runcible was pointing at Waryks. Then he pointed at his head.

"You…" He raised an eyebrow, "have an idea?"

Runcible nodded. "Higgle!" He mimed a throwing motion.

Roland's eyebrows knitted together. "You want me to… throw you at him?"

Runcible nodded again but with more enthusiasm. "Hig!"

He glanced at Waryks briefly. "Well… All right." He crouched and held out a hand for Runcible to step on. The higgledy weighed very little – even less than his size indicated – and was cool to the touch. It was no wonder Auntie Martha referred to them as 'phenomena', he hardly felt real at all. "Here goes nothing, I guess."

"Good luck, Runcible!" Evan encouraged.

Roland hurled the higgledy in Waryks' direction as hard as he could. Runcible sailed through the air to land on the wyvern's mane. Waryks started at what – to him – must've felt like a phantom touch and tried to shake him off. But Runcible was not so easily dislodged. He held on tight, then pulled out his tiny sword and began jabbing Waryks in the head with it.

"Get 'im, Runcible!" Tani shouted, raising her fists into the air. The wyvern howled and thrashed in frustration as he tried to shake off the invisible force attacking him but to no avail; Runcible's grip was ironclad. And while the little higgledy wasn't doing any significant damage to him, he was distracting him.

Roland smiled. "All right, Runcible." Raising his voice and pistol, and turning to the others he continued. "Let's take him down, everyone!"

They focused fire on Waryks' wings until he dropped out of the air, but before he could collect himself, Roland was on him and for the first time the wyvern was forced on the defensive. Tani and Aranella were close behind. They swapped to their melee weapons, and Waryks found himself fending off strike after strike from three different angles as they pressed their advantage. What followed all happened in the space of a few seconds; Waryks let out a mighty bellow and spun around suddenly, sweeping their legs out from under them with his tail. They all landed on their backs with a synchronised "Oof!" The next moment he was standing over Roland, pinning him to the floor with a clawed foot on his chest. He took a deep breath, dark flames flicking out from behind his teeth and Roland squeezed his eyes shut in preparation for the end.

"Roland!" Three voices cried as one.

There was a splutching noise, followed by a deathly silence, then hot liquid was dripping onto his face. Roland hesitantly cracked his eyes open and it was as if for a moment, the entire world stood still as he drank in the sight before him. The point of Evan's sword was emerging from Waryks' throat and the wyvern stood there with an expression on his face of complete disbelief, his dying breath a ghastly noise slithering out from his partly opened jaw. Evan was frozen in place, the handle of his sword gripped in his shaking hands, the blade piercing the wyvern's skull through the back of his head next to a startled Runcible. "Evan…" Aranella murmured.

"Higgle…"

Waryks slouched forward and Roland quickly scrambled out of the way as the Wyvern Warlord slumped lifelessly to the ground. Evan dropped to his hands and knees and vomited, the force of the exertion shaking his entire frame. Then the cavern became a cacophony of sound as the wyverns erupted into panic and outrage. Their leader was dead! "Let's go," Roland said curtly. He grabbed Evan's arm and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, Evan." By the time they reached the exit, tears and mucus were flowing freely from his eyes and nose and his body was being wracked with sobs. He was in no state to continue running, so Roland scooped him up, threw him over his shoulder and carried him back to the Sky Pirates' Base instead.

"Ye've returned I see," Batu said by way of greeting, with his hands on his hips. He raised a bushy eyebrow at the state Evan was in. "Didn't go well I take?"

"Actually," Tani replied with a victorious smirk. She placed her hands on hips in a mirror of Batu and declared. "We killed Warlord Waryks."

"Blessed be!" Batu shouted, taking a step back and throwing up his hands in astonishment. "The Wyvern Warlord? Dead ye say?"

She nodded and thumped her chest in triumph. "I do!" A murmur of conversation rippled through the gathering crowd. "I saw it with my own eyes. Evan drove his sword," she gestured for emphasis, "right through his skull." She grinned. "He never saw it coming."

"The little laddie really did that?" Chingis asked, open mouthed.

She nodded again. "He did!" Her smiled broadened to close her eyes and she tilted her head to one side. "Impressive, right?"

"Then what be all the blubberin' about?" Batu half demanded, folding his arms.

"B-b-because… I w-wanted… to make peace…" Evan sniffled. He gulped before continuing, "I n-never wanted…" he shook his head, "to kill him."

"Oh, Evan," Aranella sighed, a hand going to her heart.

Even Batu's expression softened. "Ah, well… I'm afraid ye'll find that things don't always work out the way ye want'em to, lad."

"That's right, Evan." Roland agreed. "And I was a goner until you intervened." He smiled. "So thanks. It seems you can step up when it really matters." Evan pulled away from him at that.

"Look, Evan-" Tani began.

"D-didn't you w-want to make p-peace with the w-wyverns too, T-Tani?" He demanded. His ears were pulled back, and his eyebrows were knitted together in an angry frown, but the tears still falling from his eyes and staining his cheeks lessened the force of his expression. "W-why are you s-so happy?"

"I do want to stop the fighting, but…" she shook her head, "that doesn't mean I want to make friends with every wyvern. You saw what Waryks was like," she added, gesturing to the Wyvern's Den. "He wanted us all dead." She folded her arms, her expression becoming defiant. "Good riddance I'd say."

"But he was their leader."

Her expression softened and she allowed her arms to fall to her sides. "Yeah, I know. But look. Whatever that aura was, it made talking to him impossible." She shook her head and shrugged. "You can't blame yourself for that."

Evan just hung his head and mumbled. "But I… I just… I feel like w-we didn't really try…"

"Evan…" Aranella said again. She looked like she wanted to say something more but thought better of it.

Evan swallowed and hugged himself. "I would like… I would like to be alone… if that's all right…"

She frowned. "Evan, I don't think-"

He squeezed his eyes shut and his fingers dug into the sleeves of his tunic. "Please!"

She exchanged a look with Roland. He shrugged and said. "I'm sure it'll be fine. The pirates seem like good people." She sighed.

"Gerel," said Batu. "If ye'd be so kind as te take the lad someplace quiet."

"Aye, Chief," Gerel replied. She guided him gently by the shoulders. "Come away with me, lad."

"Higgle?" Runcible asked and made to follow but Evan stopped him.

"No, Runcible. I need to be alone."

The higgledy's shoulders sagged. "Higgle."

Batu waited a moment until they'd both left before turning to Roland and Aranella with folded arms. "Now then. What aura be this?"

Roland and Aranella exchanged looks. "It's something we've seen before," Roland explained. "In our escape from Ding Dong Dell."

"Mausinger-" Aranella began then sighed. "King Mausinger has an underling who has come to be known as the Black Knight."

"Yeah, you mentioned him before," said Tani. "So what was the deal with him?"

"He was rumoured to have gained great power through the use of forbidden magics, a rumour that I'm afraid to say is very true. We witnessed this power firsthand. It manifested as a dark aura that has the appearance of purple flames."

Tani frowned and folded her arms. "That's just like Waryks. Except he was breathing the purple fire too."

Batu had a deeply contemplative frown on his face, and one hand was raised to his chin. "That be soundin' an awful lot like the tainted monsters what been appearin' o'late."

"Tainted monsters?" Aranella repeated with a raised eyebrow while Roland frowned.

"Aye," he replied simply with a nod. "They be monsters infected with some kind o'evil that riles them up and makes'em more dangerous than usual." He looked them directly in the eyes as he added. "This aura be'avin' the appearance o'purple flames." Then he frowned, folding his arms as he remarked. "Surprised ye'aven't'eard o'em yerself. Monsters o'that sort'ave been appearin' in both the'Eartlands and Summerlands."

"Perhaps those were the monsters Mausinger sent all those grimalkin soldiers off to fight," Roland suggested.

Aranella blinked. "I… suppose, but… It wasn't mentioned in the reports."

He shrugged. "Maybe not the reports that you read. You were only looking at soldier deployment, right? It may have been something that was stated in the field reports."

"That's true, but…" she shook her head, "there hasn't been any gossip of the sort around the castle either."

Roland frowned and hummed, crossing one arm against his chest and raising his other hand to his chin. "How recent are these sightings?"

Batu scratched the back of his head. "It be'ard te say fer sure, but I suppose I'd say the sightin's'ave been fairly recent. In fact I'd wager they be roughly concurrent with the rise o'aggression in the general monster population you be no doubt in noticin'."

"Well it's been hard to ignore that," she said.

Roland looked contemplative and gazed absently at nowhere in particular as he said. "It's strange. It's almost like something big is coming." Aranella and Batu exchanged troubled looks at that.

"What the devil do ye mean by that?" Khunbish demanded with fists clenched, an edge to his voice suggesting he'd found the comment unnerving.

He looked up and blinked. "Uh, nothing." His arms fell to his sides. "I was just thinking out loud." He turned to Batu, placing a hand on one hip. "So we killed the Wyvern Warlord."

Batu nodded. "So ye did."

He gestured in questioning. "What happens now?"

"I reckon they'll be too busy fightin' amongst'emselves o'er who gets to be the next Warlord to be concernin'emselves with the likes o'us. So they won't be troublin' us fer a while. So even if it weren't bein'ow the little lad wanted, I say ye've fulfilled yer end o'the bargain, and ye have yerselves safe passage to the Cradle o'Light."

"Thank goodness for that," said Aranella.

He held up a hand. "I weren't finished. In recognition o'yer bestin' such a powerful foe as the Wyvern Warlord, I'll be'avin' Tani, Khunbish and Chingis," he gestured to them, "escort ye there by sky skimmer."

Roland blinked. "That's… generous of you. But we're obviously not going anywhere right now."

"Aye. The lad needs some time to recompose." He gestured in invitation. "Why not regale us all with the tale of yer great battle in the meantime? Surely it be a tale worth tellin'?"

Roland and Aranella exchanged looks and he shrugged. "I… suppose it couldn't hurt?"

"Hold it right there," Tani butt in, holding out a hand. "If anyone's going to be telling the story, it's going to be me," she thumbed to herself.

"Sure." He replied, and gestured with a smile. "By all means."

"I'm sure you'll tell it wonderfully," Aranella added.

She grinned and nodded. "You bet I will." She lead them over to a communal area where they could take their seats and took centre stage. She waited for the crowd to gather, and for everyone to get comfortable before launching into the story. "We travel deep into the Wyvern's Den, where the Wyvern Warlord awaits," she began, holding up her hands as if painting a picture to set the scene. "First, Evan tries to talk to him like he said he would, but Waryks is having none of it. He's even got this horrible dark aura like the tainted monsters. "You speak for the pirates!"" She snarled in her best imitation of Waryk's voice. "You will die like pirates!" And then he leaps forward with his battle axes. But I roll away and loose an arrow into his wing. But poor Evan," she shrugged helplessly, "he doesn't want to fight. So Roland and Aranella step in and distract Waryks, while I'm," she placed a hand on her chest, "trying to talk some sense into him. They're taking Waryks on two on one-"

"Higgle!"

"Sorry, Runcible-three on one, when suddenly he throws them against the cavern walls with his wings!" The Sky Pirates gasped appropriately. "So now we're facing off with Waryks again and of course he goes after me." She shrugged dismissively as he continued. "He tries and he tries, but he just can't touch me," she grinned devilishly. "While he's distracted, Evan looses the biggest fireball," she held her hands wide, "I've ever seen and it hits him square in the back! He falls! And I go in to finish him off, but no! He recovers too quickly, and I have to evade again. And that's when things get interesting."

"Go on!" One of the audience encouraged.

""So you think you can use fire," he snarls. "I'll show you fire." And then purple flames come spewing out of his mouth," she motioned with her hands, "like he's an Incineraptor or something."

"What'appened next?!" Someone gasped.

"Roland gets the idea to distract him while we take him down. He's like, "Hey you!"" She brandished her spear like a cutlass. ""You didn't finish me off the first time! Why don't you come try again?" Only things don't quite work out the way he'd hoped. Because Waryks takes flight and tries to fry us with his dark fire. We try to knock him out of the air, but he's too fast! Things aren't looking too good, until Runcible gets his brilliant idea."

"Who be Runcible?"

"He's- oh… You can't see him can you?"

"This be the little whatchamacallit ye were speakin' of earlier?" Khunbish asked.

"A higgledy. And yeah," she nodded. "But, um…" She looked at Runcible for a moment before an idea popped into head. "Oh! I know, I'll draw him." So she drew Runcible in the dust with the tip of her spear, and the crowd gathered round to examine it.

"He's a cute little fella," one of the women remarked.

"Higgle." Runcible placed his hands on his hips looking very proud of himself.

Tani grinned. "Runcible says thank you. So Runcible gets the idea for us to throw him onto Waryks' head so he can distract him, and it worked! You should've seen it! Waryks couldn't see him either so he must've thought some invisible force was attacking him."

"'E be small, but'e be brave indeed," Chingis praised and Runcible puffed up even more.

"He is!" Tani agreed.

"That little higgledy was a gods-send," said Aranella.

"Bet you're glad he came now, huh?" Said Roland.

"I am," she admitted readily before smiling down at Runcible. "Thank you very much for your assistance, Runcible." She placed a hand on her chest as she added. "I don't think we could've won without you."

The higgledy saluted. "Higgle."

"What next, what next?" One of the children asked, fists raised in anticipation.

"So Waryks is thrashing around trying to get Runcible off him, which gives us the chance to knock him out of the air. Before he can recover, me, Roland and Aranella all start wailing on him. At first it looks like we've finally got him on the defensive, but the rotten brute sweeps our legs out from under us with his tail."

"That cheat!" Batu shouted.

"He was about to breathe fire all over Roland and for a moment I thought he was done for."

Roland grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Yeah, so did I."

"But that's when Evan struck! I've never seen someone move so fast. He jammed his sword," she stabbed the air with her spear, "right through Waryks' skull before the wyvern even realised Evan was on him. We booked it out of the Wyverns' Den after that and came straight back here," she indicated the ground. "And that-" she placed her hands on her hips. "-is the tale of how we beat the Wyvern Warlord."

The Sky Pirates applauded and Batu declared. "Aye, and it be a fine tale indeed! And a fine battle too."

"To be honest it's not one I'd like to repeat," Roland confessed and Batu laughed.

"Yer life must've flashed before yer eyes, lad."

He nodded. "It sure did."

"Do ye'ave any more tales to tell, either of ye?" Batu asked, gesturing to them in invitation. "'Eaven knows we've all'eard all o'ours, and we be lovin' a good story."

"Uuuuh." Roland and Aranella exchanged grimaces. He couldn't imagine she had any tales to tell from her life in Ding Dong Dell Castle, and there was no way he could recount anything from his youth- oh, wait. "What about our escape from Ding Dong Dell?"

"Oh yeah," Tani said enthusiastically. She sat down and rested her chin on her hands. "Do tell."

"It's not exactly something I remember fondly," Aranella replied. She hugged herself. "It's all so fresh…"

"All right, well… I guess I can give it a try." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he thought back to that fateful day. "It all began on a stormy day. We were prepping for Evan's Kingsbond Ceremony so there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then the mice began their attack. It happened so suddenly that I…" He pretended to cringe and massage his forehead as he took a moment to think up what came next. "You'll have to forgive me but things are still a bit hazy…"

"Yer forgiven lad," Batu said uncharacteristically softly. "Go on."

"I'd noticed that some of my mousekind friends seemed a bit tense on the day but," he shrugged, "I'd just chalked it up to the Ceremony. I'm still pretty new to the castle so I don't think they entirely trusted me because they never," he shook his head, "breathed a word of what they were planning. When they got the signal, they told me to run. So I did. I ran to protect my King. And I got there just in time. Aranella," he glanced at her briefly, "arrived shortly after, so we took Evan and headed to a hidden passage that lead to the sewers. It was supposed to be known only to the Royal Family but…" he dropped his gaze and frowned, "I'm guessing King Leonhard must've shown it to him at one point, because our journey through the sewers was intercepted by Mausinger and company."

"How did you escape?" Tani gasped.

Roland grinned as Aranella groaned and facepalmed. "We jumped."

"Jumped?" The pirates repeated.

"Yeah," he nodded. "We were on a bridge, so… we jumped into the river below."

"Don't remind me," Aranella protested. "It was such a drop, I'd thought we were all going to die."

He looked to her with a smile. "We didn't though."

Tani was giggling. "So what happened next?"

The smile faded from Roland's face as he continued. "We surfaced not too far from the exit so we tried to make a break for it. Unfortunately that's where the Black Knight comes in. He cut off our escape so we had to fight, which is how we came to find out that he has some pretty nasty abilities." His frown returned as he explained. "Some kind of dark pulse kept knocking us down through the fight; It was disorientating and left us feeling dizzy. He nearly managed to get Evan, but I was able to halt him in his tracks momentarily by shooting out one of his eyes. Unfortunately by that time Mausinger and company had caught up to us, but I was able to pin them down with gunfire as we made our escape." He took a deep breath and expelled it. "He was a much tougher opponent than Waryks, so we didn't actually win that fight, we only barely managed to get away."

"Aye, but ye escaped with yer life, and that be what matters most," said Batu.

"I guess you're right."

"What about you, Aranella?" Tani asked. "Do you have any stories to tell?"

She shook her head. "None you'd be interested in hearing I dare say. I'm afraid working in the castle didn't leave much room for any grand adventures you see." Tani aww'd in disappointment.

"Higgle!" Runcible exclaimed.

They looked down at the higgledy before following his gaze, just as Evan emerged from the crowd with Gerel flanking him. He was still puffy-eyed from crying and still looked a little pale but his expression was quite the opposite; He looked determined.

"Evan?" Roland and Aranella both stood.

"I'm ready," he said simply. He clenched his fists as he declared, "I'm going to impress the Kingmaker of the Cradle of Light, and then I'm going to make a place where no-one will have to fight or kill anyone ever again."

Roland and Aranella exchanged looks. "All right then," he said and added. "Your Majesty."

A/N: Temporarily halting the story to recap stuff that's already happened instead of just jumping ahead is something I'm still a little ambivalent over, but Evan really needed that time to recompose, and I wanted all the characters to be caught up with everything that's happened, especially since this is going to become relevant later. And there were many times in the canon storyline where characters had apparently been briefed on details offscreen. :p