Frederick Kaiser: Chapter Thirty

I have been here a week now and I feel like I'm in a different world. My clothes are basic like rags. No servants walking around, everything here is a mess, no one calling me your highness seriously, I have to do chores myself… I will never get used to this… Lucky I have my hammer still. Elrick had to force Erdmuthe to give it back. My precious hammer… I keep it with me at all times now. I even sleep with it.

But at least most of the bandit groups that were here have headed south to join the war effort. It has amazingly gone quieter. Elrick has been staying put as apparently he received a letter from Xavier and he is on the way here. By the time of travelling Elrick says he will be arriving today.

I look around my bedroom and I miss my handmaidens so much… I miss my nightly comforts. But then I remember that one of my girls is still in Denver. I have no idea what happened to her. I think she was still stuck inside the carriage when it flipped over. Or hell even fat ass Gunter… We have heard nothing from them. So now it's a waiting game…

I decide to walk out of my room and look at the temple scenery. Elrick has decided to loosen my containment. Why is my brother meeting at temples like this? I walk into the main hall, it's still a mess after many bandit groups leaving. Ropes, broken gears, tattered rags are left all over the place.

I walk over the dragon side of the temple. Like many rooms, it is another meeting chamber with large space where all the dragons could fit. Since many of the dragons are now gone the room looks massive. I see Duryss on the other side of the room. I have barely seen him since me hitting him and he has been avoiding me.

I walk over to me as he huffs in my face. And without warning, he uses his magging abilities to throw me across the room. My back slammed against the wall. I am complete agony. I hit him on the head I didn't try to obliterate him…

"So we're even I guess?" I looked up at him as his fat body slowly walks towards me. As he then gives me a massive grin. We both have always had a violent streak against each other. We never apologise to anyone. It's quite amazing how we much act alike.

"I first though the bandit life would be exciting… Why are we still here? Many of the groups have gone now. I wanted to go but Elrick made it his way for me not to." Duryss says in an angry tone. I sit and lean on a nearby pillar looking around the empty room.

"Xavier is coming over… He should be here soon." I pet him on the head where I hit him. It must be sore because he flinched away from me. "Xavier huh? What the hell is happening? Everything is such a mess…"

"Don't need to tell me twice. I just want to be back home… I never wanted to leave. But no… My precious eldest brother wanted me to learn a lesson. Well he, himself learnt a lesson. He will never send me on those missions again. And thank fuck for that…" I chuckled. Brother must be so mad at me right now after Denver.

Duryss sighs as we continue to look in the empty room. There is nothing of importance here… As we sat down I see Erdmuthe walk in with her dragon. "Hello, there princey."

For the past few days, she has a softened a little. She doesn't like being around me or Elrick that much. But it comes to no surprise. She is our half-sister… I had no idea we even had bastard siblings. But Elrick confirmed to me that we have many bastard siblings. It's just they are never acknowledged and father never wanted anything to do with them.

"Hello." I look up at her as she stares me down.

"Xavier has arrived. So you both better get your asses moving."

I place Duryss's saddle on him and we rode after Erdmuthe. We walked through the long temple corridors until we reach the smallest temple meeting chamber. Since there is little left of us now we don't need to use the large main hall or the large meeting chamber underground. We walk inside when I see Xavier wearing a simple coat and wearing commoner clothing. His dragon Gabbro standing next to him. The dragon is the smallest bull class I have ever seen. Makes Duryss look ten times fatter.

Xavier aged twenty-eight is the book worm of the family. Known to be one of the smarter family members. Even though he is older than me I like to easily pick on him. He insists to be different than everyone else. He is thinnest and least physically strong of the family members next to Rayna… And she is a little girl. Xavier is one of the family members who chuckled at me before I left on this so-called "small" trip.

Next to Xavier, I see Elrick and Ingrid. Ingrid is a large muscular woman who can make some my brothers jealous. Not as large as my muscles, but hers is impressive. Definitely not a pretty woman though… Half of her red hair shaven off with green tattoos covering her. Brown eyes and a small chest. Elrick seems to like her though… Which blows my mind. Her glowering and yelling can kill a man. I have only met her once before this and even then she only scoffed.

"Hello fuck up," Xavier says to me with a serious glower.

"Really Xavier?"

"Yes really! You had one job. Listen to the concerns of the Hardings and report back to Grand Prince Arman of their status. That is all… Instead you… Well-being you the most selfish prick alive. Offended at their hospitality and then running away… Only lucky to get captured by Elrick's allied bandits." Xavier has never spoken to me like this before… It's like his measly shy demeanour has changed. Well, he is not home anymore, there is not Emperor over his every move.

"Shut up! What is done is done!" I shouted at everyone. Why do I have to suddenly care about anyone else? I have always only cared for myself. It's always how father is! We are royals for crying out loud! It is our right to treat anyone the way that we want!

Xavier rolls his eyes at me and looks back at Elrick.

"Don't worry Gunter and the handmaiden have made it back to the castle. They are okay, just shaken up by the ordeal."

"They made it back. That's good…" Elrick says in relief. Even though I know he was mainly talking about Gunter.

"Buts that's not all Elrick…" Xavier hesitated as what he was going to say next. "The whole Harding family have been publically executed… By fathers orders. Most of the town now has apparently been abandoned. With people refusing to take the new role as mayor and father not appointing another. We have lost another mine for supplies…"

Elrick looked at me and shakes his head in complete sadness. "This cannot go on… Is father so ignorant that he thinks we are winning this war?"

"In a way yes Elrick… He thinks we are winning and there is nothing wrong… He is delusional."

"THIS IS OUR FATHER THE EMPEROR YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" I shouted. How dare they speak of father such a way?!" I made my hands into fists and slam onto the table between us. It creates a huge crack. Duryss looks at me and huffs.

"It is indeed father we are talking about!" Xavier shouting back. This caught me off-guard I have never heard him shout before. "Father! Sits on his Green iron throne all day! Drinking and whoring his life away! People and dragons in our country are SUFFERING! We are running out of food! Our trade routes are being blocked off! Our mining and factory facilities are being abandoned or taken over! Thousands of people and dragons being killed! The Red and Brown armies have successfully invaded our country!"

Xavier walks around the table and stares right into my green eyes. "Our father! Has doomed us! That very moment when father used his hammer to crush Emperor Daxian Pavus chest. There will be no way to gain a peace treaty… There is no Gold Empire to help create a peaceful solution. The Red Army will not back down. They will fight until our country is theirs. They want us off the map once and for all! And with my honesty, I don't blame them!"

I looked at him as he turned away and walks back to Elrick. I couldn't say anything more… I didn't know what to say. I heard we were losing from Gunter. I thought he was just being overdramatic.

"What's going to happen to me if we lose?" I had to ask that question. What will happen to me?

"What do you think little brother?" Elrick strokes his chin and smiles feebly. "Do you think your arrogant charm will appease the fiery tempers of their soldiers? Do you honestly think they would keep most of the family alive? You're an idiot. We all have a mark of death on our heads. And I can tell you right now they will not give you a fancy funeral."

Are they really going to kill all of us? I mean it's very over the top. What will they gain by killing all of us? I am handsome, funny and strong.

Elrick looks at Xavier as Xavier wanted to speak more.

"We are at wars end… But that's not the end of it. There's something else…"

"What is it, Xavier?" Elrick asks in a serious tone. I look at him to see what other crap he has to say.

"Father… Is thinking of getting the Black Draconium Empire involved."

Everyone except for me is looking at Xavier in complete disbelief. We are allies with them. I know they love trying to listen to other people's business. We call them the shadow folk for a reason. But if we are losing this war as everyone here complains shouldn't we be getting all the help we can get?

Elrick in frustration pushes away paperwork that is lying on the desk. And he tries to lecture at me about anger… Hypocrite.

"So father has broken out of his delusion or not?" Elrick getting more frustrated every second.

"He just wants a swift win. He still thinks we are winning, don't get me wrong. But there are also fears that someone else is talking to him. I just don't know whom. Father never listens to advice. This time he might actually take it. Who's ever advice it is… Prince Arman is doing everything at this very moment to convince father not to let Shadow folk join the war."

"So what? Red allied with Macdan after the war started. Why can't we get allies of our own!?" I announced to the table.

The room stood silent. Elrick turns to look at me with sad green eyes.

"Because Fred… If the Black Draconium Empire helps us out. We will be forever indebted to them. Or even worse… We could end up being usurped like the gold Empire. Becoming allies with them was a mistake… Another one of fathers many mistakes… How could he have trusted that Shadow Emperor after what happened to Aelius and Laelia? "

"Who?" I asked sneeringly.

"Now is not the time be like that Fred… The Gold Empire had a peaceful process for ending our wars passed. They gave us sovereignty over our own nations and never once tried to take over us. We don't have that anymore! The Black Draconium Empire is not like them!" It's quite amazing how scared Elrick looks right now. He is on the verge of tears.

"Well if you hate the Black Draconium Empire so much. Why don't we ally with someone else?" I sneered.

Xavier chuckled at this notion. "And who might I ask will join us, Fred?"

"Turquoise? We were in Mille Voix when father killed Pavus."

"Ha! No way! They will not send their armies to help us. They will have their magical spies and their own inside politics. They declared they will not take sides in this conflict. Which is very wise. They already have enough problems dealing with the Red Empire since their leader was killed on their land."

"What about Purple?"

"Too expensive and they are getting to close for comfort to the Black Draconium Empire. Apparently they themselves are in fear of being taken over by them. Fighting our war will not keep them at bay. So you can easily count them out."

"Blue? They are easily one of the most powerful nations out there!"

"They don't like getting into anyone else's business. And they are secretive about their own business. They didn't even take part during the separatist war or when the Gold City was purged. They call themselves a neutral country. But I can guarantee though our enemies would have definitely have had communication with them. I wouldn't fully trust them either."

"White?" I am so pulling out straws right now. Xavier is explaining all of this in smug superiority.

"We did ask and Chancellor Volantriss said no. They had a terrible tragedy of natural devastation. One of their cliff cities had a landslide. Killed thousands. So their armies are all over there trying to fix the place up."

"Light-Blue? We could have used for their fancy-ass ships." Come on this is getting ridiculous there must be someone who can help us!

"We are allied by contract with the Black Draconium Empire. They won't even look twice at us. Father betrayed Emperor Aelius when they begged for help. We are part of the reason for their deaths… And Empress Laelia is the Kings niece. They will never help us. You might as well give up this Fred."

I look down at my feet in frustration. We are one of the more powerful and largest nations in this world. And here we are a few lowly princes discussing stupid matters… The other Empires should help us! We might as well take the Black Empire's help. I know of their history well enough. But father allied with them. They are powerful. Which is why father must have allied with them…

The room fell silent again and we all stand there. We all have no idea what is going to happen.

"Have you have done what you need to do here Elrick?"

"Yes, most of the bandit groups have gone south. To meet with Derrick and Bhaltair. We can only hope they do their best… I will have to join them soon enough. I have done what I can do… Time to rejoin the fight."

Xavier nods in agreement. But his face looks incredibly sad. He must miss his older brother.

"I was hoping to go to Denver but it would be too dangerous for a royal to go there now… I came here in secret with a few guards. Only Prince Arman and Mother know, but I will make sure Fred the idiot gets home safe." And he looks at me with his stupid smile. I roll my eyes.

Ingrid and Erdmuthe move out of the room to talk in private. Duryss yawns and looks at me. I smile and he smiles back.

"We finally get to go back home!" Duryss says in relief.

As Duryss says that a mysterious bang and happened outside. Following a small earthquake. Every one of us looked bewildered.

"What in the Magna-" Xavier says in a surprised tone.

"Everyone! Stay low!" Elrick whispers in urgency and looks at everyone including our dragons. This is going to be hard for Duryss he is a big bulky dragon. He hides as great as a mountain.

"Everyone remain here! Ingrid, please protect my family and Erdmuthe." Elrick unsheathes his bow and sneaks out of the room.

It's amazing of how quiet he was doing so. I unsheathe my hammer and place myself in a fighting position. I notice that Erdmuthe and Ingrid have their hammers drawn out. Not as fancy as mine. My hammer in my hands all the raw green metal glowing in power. I look over to my right and I notice Xavier has no weapon drawn. He is defenceless.

"You must be the only family member who does not carry a weapon with you…" I whispered to him.

Xavier sneaks over to me. "No, I never do… That's what I have my guards for. But I left them at the temple entrance. The war should not be this far up north…" He looked exceedingly worried. He was never a fighter… Even if he had a weapon he would have no idea of how to use it.

The loud bangs and small shakes continued. I wanted to burst out and just fight whatever is out there. Why are we just standing here? What could possibly be out there? Bandits who are rebelling? Wouldn't surprise me… They are a noisy bunch, teaches us to use the lowest of criminals.

A while passed and I was getting fed up with everything. I stand up and begin walking out when Elrick rushes back inside and bars the door!

I looked at him as he is injured. He is wounded and he is covered in bruises.

"What is out there?" Ingrid runs over and holds Elrick in a damsel hold and places him on the table.

"Black Draconium soldiers and priests… I managed to sneak away. They have been opening the large underground chambers. With brute force, I might add." He spat out.

"What? Why are they HERE?" Xavier looks at him complete fear.

"No fucking clue… But we cannot fight them. I saw one of the priests' skills. She used draconium energy like second nature and lifted large boulders and threw them across the chamber. That was how I got hit. Some of the rubble hit me… We cannot fight against them."

"Seriously Elrick? We can take them on. We will not run like cowards." I say in a defying tone. No way am I going to run from a battle! What do they take me for?!

"Maybe we can tell them we are royalty they could give us a pass," Xavier suggests as if it is a last resort.

"Do you all want a death wish?" Elrick immediately retorted. Of course, I don't have a death wish. But I can beat any of those assholes.

"No, but we can beat them!"

"NO Fred! You're sounding delusional like bloody father! Have you seen these people in combat? They seem like thin sticks. But their strengths are on magic!" Elrick then gets off the table and quickly hugs Ingrid. We all get on our dragons as we now prepare to leave the temple. But with Elrick's discussion, this makes me curious.

I have seen our Black Empire ambassadors and they seem to be like every other boring pair you can imagine. I have never seen them fight though… As the large door opened Elrick got onto his dragon and we ride slowly out of the hall. The dragons are so heavy they can easily make the earth shake by jumping. We are not the best sneaking kind… I begrudgingly follow Elrick's lead with Xavier close behind with Ingrid. Erdmuthe lingers behind me.

It felt like years by the time we reach the door to the main hall. We would need to get passed to leave through the exit. Elrick jumps off his dragon. As he needs to see if they are still there. I jump off Duryss who tries to follow me. I look over and there is a gigantic hole where the back wall used to be. And right in front of the hole, we see a large group of people and dragons. The black draconium dragons have always creeped me out. So thin you can easily mistake them for snakes… A small crush with my hammer will deal with those freaks easy. But out of anyone there what got my attention was the priestess. The Black Draconium Empire has always loved wearing slimming clothes and armour. So her thin body is left nothing to the imagination. If only women in my empire could dress more like that… Problem is. Is that she looks absolutely terrifying. Her pointed helmet with bright yellow eyes glowing in the dark. The pointiness of her mask looks like a beak. Sharp claw-like hands with pointed shoes. She even has feathers on all of her armour plates. Her cape even looks like wings as they hang off her shoulder pads.

Surrounding her are slaves and workers. Most of them are in mind control gear. You can tell by the change of the skin being dark purple and not their natural skin colour. Their headgear that is from the back of the head to a rectangular pack on their back. The mind-controlled people looked tiny. I guess they are people from Suravi…

As Elrick pointed for me to get back on Duryss.

"We are still not alone."

As Elrick and I looked in front of us and those eyes and yellow eyes pierced our souls.

And with a quick movement of her hand and with her body glowing. She used draconium energy to remove the boulder we were hiding behind. Completely exposing us.

I grabbed out my hammer and I ran towards her in full fury. And with another quick movement, another draconium streaming pulse hit me. But it did not push me back, it did not push me forward. I froze and I could not move. I see the black draconium magic streamflow between me and her. And the stream pulsed energy back to her. She is absorbing my energy.

She stands in the same spot glaring at us.

"Kill them…" She commanded and all of the mind control minions ran to us in pursuit. Their incomprehensible screams sounded low and distorted, like monsters. I couldn't move… But with a swift movement, I see Elrick's arrow attempting to pierce her heart. She flinched and broke our connection. I can hear Duryss running after me and using his abilities magged me onto his saddle. I have never seen or felt like this before. I can barely sit up… I just managed to keep a hold of my hammer and started swinging around me as the slaves tried to attack us. I can get them all! I can still do this!

Erdmuthe and Ingrid are fighting against the soldiers. Xavier was hiding right behind them… He is completely defenceless. As I looked around I notice the rest of the Iron maidens are also missing. It is obvious that Xaviers guards must have been killed outside.

Looking around as I tried to keep consciousness. I see Elrick and his dragon are protecting us. I looked at him and I notice he knows those abilities as well! He never told us that he could do it! His green energy clash against her black energy. She though is more graceful as she is outsmarting his every move as he remains on the defence.

I swing my hammer left and right hurting the mindless slaves. Duryss using his body and mag abilities to push them away. Her thin dragon came running towards Duryss in roaring fury and used a mag push against him. Duryss replied in kind as they stand opposing each other. Their energy almost merging together as they are trying to prove who is better. To our surprise, the small dragon then unleashed an extra burst of energy and pushed us against the wall on the other side of the temple! My body ached as I felt I have been crushed by a dragon. She is only a small thing! How did she beat Duryss in such an easy manner? And like a victor the dragon shrieks in laughter. She is very happy with herself.

I have lost track of Elrick as I could no longer see him fighting the woman. I looked around and I still see Ingrid and Erdmuthe fighting the soldiers. They are struggling. They themselves are fighting for their lives. But I could not see Xavier… I could not see him anywhere. WHERE DID HE GO? A moment of panic surged through my mind. Where are my brothers?!

Trying to keep consciousness I shake my head as Duryss gets up and runs away in defeat. If I had more strength I would have told him to stay and fight. But I could barely speak. I managed to keep hold of my hammer. But I couldn't swing it around anymore, I just wanted to sleep.

I manage to keep my eyes open as I looked to my right as Duryss is running out of the main hall. The priestess's dragon I notice has been magged across the room. I couldn't see clearly who did it but I hope its Gabbro. I finally see Elrick. I felt relief! He is still fighting on against the priestess! And in a quick motion, my brother looked up at the temple roof. And using a mag push with a powerful force he aimed at an unstable pillar. I felt the floor shake underneath us. The roof started to collapse! I see the priestess ceased attacking as she is preoccupied saving herself and her dragon. The mindless slaves retreated back their master by her command.

"EVERYONE THIS OUR CHANCE! RUN!" As Elrick gets back on his dragon and all follow his lead. We left the collapsing main hall as we are now outside. I looked around and see many corpses of the bandits and Xaviers soldiers.

Our dragons as a species are not fast. We can only hope they lose track of us since we have a head start. Duryss swearing, hollering and roaring the whole entire time. But I couldn't fully understand him… I felt light-headed and like blowing a candle I lose consciousness.

I had no idea for how long we were running for but it must have been a few days. We were hungry, dirty and tired. I still felt weaker than ever. I felt Xavier cusp my head as he looked at my eyes. As we finally stopped for some rest.

"You'll be alright Fred. You stupid idiot…" As Xavier gently lowers my head. I see that his green eyes are watery. He looked pale and even thinner.

"I have never seen anything like that…" Erdmuthe says in bewilderment. "I knew they have slaves… But I had no idea they were like that… Those skills she had… Incredible…" Erdmuthe is breathless.

"You need to eat Xavier…" I hear Ingrid's low voice over the top of me. "You need to rest. Erdmuthe and I will take tonight's watch. I am so sorry…"

With all my strength I managed to sit up and look around me. "Sorry for what Ingrid?" And everyone in the small camp looks at me. I look around I see Duryss, Ingrid, her dragon, Xavier and Erdmuthe. Where is? Where is Elrick? Gabbro And Erdmuthes dragon?

"Fred…" Xavier sits next to me. He looked so horrible. "Elrick is dead…"

"What?" I don't believe it! He is just taking the piss! I tried to laugh. This joke isn't funny… It really isn't… Everyone just stared at me. Even Duryss is being quiet and he is never quiet…

"Please tell me you're joking?"

Xavier was trying his best to hold his tears in. But he ended up crying in front of me. I hate it when men cry. Men shouldn't cry but Xavier is a weakling…

"When we were running from the temple… We all thought Elrick did it. We thought… We managed to trap them. But… All of a sudden a great burst of black draconium light and power sprang forth from the temple. Rocks and debris fell all around us. A great draconium sphere was chasing after us. And the priestess looked like she jumped out of this magic sphere. It looked like she was carrying something. What came out of it was like a stream of raw power. She managed to get Erdmuthes dragon which crushed her poor dragons skull… She was instantly killed. Ingrid saved Erdmuthe by magging her onto her saddle. My dragon was taken out the same way… All that was left was a limp body with no head with a blood splatter…" Xavier burst out crying uncontrollably. His hands covered his face and he wiped tears non-stop. He then sits into a self-hugging position.

"Ingrid saved me like Erdmuthe… I commanded Duryss to keep running in a zig-zag to avoid those attacks. Elrick then turned around and demanded that we keep on running and we do not stop. Keep on running! Don't look back! I will distract her or she will never stop giving chase! And so we didn't… He started fighting back in his weakened state. But I broke his rule. I looked back… I saw the energies lighting up in the distance as we went further away."

I shrugged and looked at Xavier. "That doesn't mean he's dead Xavier… He could have made it out."

"You don't feel it?" Xavier looked at me straight in the eyes. Feel what? If I don't see his body. He's not dead. Simple as that.

"Feel what? If I see nobody he isn't dead."

"The feeling of utmost dread… Like you know someone you love has died. I started feeling it yesterday. That's how I know… Elrick is not coming back…" He cleans his tears and looks at Erdmuthe and Ingrid.

"You're such a prick, Fred!" Erdmuthe shouts at me. I just look at her. What am I supposed to do? I wasn't close to Elrick, but he is my brother. He is the sneaky one so he will just pop up one day. He has to…

I couldn't take it anymore. With all my strength I walk away from the camp. I demanded Duryss to not follow me as he usually does. We are clearly in the dead forest which is as gloomy as ever. I lean next to a dead tree, turning around I can see the campfire lit not too far away. And like that I couldn't stop crying… My eyes stung and felt like vomiting. I collapse on the floor onto my knees. I hate crying… I haven't cried since I was a child. Father would have never approved of me crying… He hated crying… He never cried. He never cried when his own mother or father died. I want to be like him… But why can't I act like him? As I was thinking about my father I couldn't help but think of Elrick. He saved us… And the first thing I think about is father.