Hey guys, MT here!

Managed to get all my chapters up on time which I'm pretty happy about. Been so busy I wasn't sure if I'd have enough time but I managed to squeeze it in. Anyways, this chapter isn't as long as I wanted to make it but I didn't want to cut into the next scene and I managed to give it a relatively smooth ending.

I do apologize, though, for the changes in perspective. I had to do it a lot so you might get a bit dizzy going back and forth.

Anyways, ENJOY!

Chapter 71

"We must hurry, now. I will lead you from the castle and out the gate. First, though, we must get Eir. I can deal with whatever punishment my father can place upon me but I will not allow her to be hurt," said Otr as he, Saito, and Gwen ran down the halls of the castle. As they had been running, they had passed Otr's bedroom, grabbing two coats to cover Saito and Gwen with as they ran.

All the guards seemed to be compliant as they left the castle, though they were a bit suspicious by the two cloaked figures behind Otr. As soon as they exited the castle, they ran to Eir's house, said woman sitting on her porch, slightly concealed. As soon as they came into view, she leapt out and ran to Otr.

"Love, what happened? Did your father refuse to listen?" questioned Eir, looking him over to make sure he wasn't harmed.

"It didn't work love. I'm not sure what father has planned for me but I fear he may try to punish you as well. Please leave with these two and once things have settled in the future we shall reunite," explained Otr, his eyes not straying from hers for even a moment.

Eir wanted to retaliate against such an idea but she could clearly see the pain and resolve in her lover's eyes. She nodded once, hesitantly, and he sighed in relief that she didn't fight him on it. The group made their way through the dark streets, careful not to run through the lit streets so as to hide their presence a bit better. Just as they were nearing one of the entrances to the city, they heard a tremendous horn sound, echoing throughout the mountainous area.

"We must hurry! Father must have had a change of heart in allowing you two to leave," said Otr, his voice filled with stress.

The group sped up even more, almost flying to the entrance. They arrived and Otr quickly ordered the guards to open the gate with random lies. The guards complied, though very reluctant considering the emergency horn signal that had just sounded. Otr waved them off as they ran out and the guards closed the gate behind them.

Once the group was outside of the city, they made their way to a large field on the other side of the bridge. Eir had pointed it out and said that, since there wasn't enough room in the city for the hundreds of merchants that entered and left each day, most camped outside of the city and re-entered in the morning.

They came up to one of the carriages and Saito banged on the side.

"Huwah! What?! What?!" shouted the startled dwarf, looking around in the darkness. "What the…? Why are you banging on my cart at this hour? Tryin' to rob me?"

"No, sir merchant. Do you recognize me?" asked Eir, hopefully. The dwarf squinted at her in the darkness and his eyes widened in realization.

"Lady Eir! What can I do for you? You rarely exit the city without Prince Otr so I didn't even realize it was you," said the dwarf, a bit flustered.

"Sir merchant, I require your assistance in transporting myself and my two friends somewhere as quickly as possible. We can pay you as much as you would like," said Eir, seriously.

The dwarf looked at her, confused, for a moment before glancing over at Saito and Gwen who were still cloaked. He seemed to internally debate something about her plea before nodding.

"Where do you need to go?" asked the dwarf as he hopped out of the cart to wake the horses.

"As far south as you can get us. If you can get us across the border and to a nearby town, I can guarantee both your safety and that you will be one rich merchant," said Saito, simply. The dwarf paused for a moment, the horse being startled a bit by his sudden stop.

"You want me to take you into magic-folk territory? You better have some mighty powerful connections there if you want me to go in there. Being rich does sound nice though," said the dwarf before continuing to bring the horse to the front of the carriage. He was attaching the horse to the carriage when Saito responded.

"I was a translator for a Queen of one of the countries. I fled here out of fear that the other countries might tries to attack me but she said I was free to return whenever I felt safe," lied Saito, trying to be as smooth as he could with it.

"A Queen you say? Hm…that does make sense. None o' these magic folk try learning other languages. They think theirs is all they need til they go outside the country and can't read squat," said the dwarf. "Anyways, I'll think about it on the way. I'll let you know if I can take you across."

"Thank you, Sir Merchant," said Eir, relieved. The dwarf grinned a bit and beckoned them onto the cart as he climbed into the driver's seat. As soon as they were on, he whipped the reins and the horse was off, pulling them as fast as he could.

After Otr had seen the others leave, he saw a messenger come and speak with one of the guards. The guard nodded and turned to walk over to Otr.

"Prince Otr, it seems you are required at the castle. The messenger says it was supposed to be urgent," explained the guard, calmly. Otr nodded and followed the messenger back to the castle, only to be greeted by four guards.

"Prince Otr, by the King's word, we require you to come with us," said one of the guards, sternly. Otr nodded, though a bit suspicious. The guards led him down to the dungeons and one opened a cell. Otr stared at him for a moment and looked at the cell. He glanced back at the guard who only nodded, answering Otr's unspoken question.

Otr detached his sheathed sword from his side and handed it to the guard before entering the cell, said guard also closing the cell door right after he entered.

All four guards left in silence and Otr sat down on the bench in the back of the small and dark cell, awaiting whatever fate might afflict him.

Otr awoke with a start as he heard the door to his cell slam open. He found two guards standing at the entrance and they entered, both holding lit torches. They moved to either side of the doorway after entering to reveal Reginn who walked in slowly with a blank expression.

"Brother, has father sent you to scold me?" asked Otr, scornfully. Reginn stared at his brother blankly, both guards' faces streaked with minimal grief, letting Otr know something was wrong. "What has happened brother?"

"Father is dead, brother," said Reginn, simply. Otr's eyes widened at hearing these words but was unable to say anything before Reginn continued. "You killed him brother, or do you wish to feign ignorance?"

"…W…What? You dare insinuate-," began Otr before being cut off.

"I dare insinuate what?!" shouted Reginn, expression still blank. I spoke with a guard and he said that you entered his chamber late last night, that you dismissed him. I heard from other guards that you were seen escaping the castle with suspicious characters. Who else but you could have killed him?"

Otr stared at his brother for a moment, piecing together what was going on. He realized after a moment what was happening. Reginn, his eldest brother, had set him up to be imprisoned for a murder he did not commit. He remained silent at this revelation and Reginn's mouth flickered into a smile for a split second, probably due to the fact that he was aware that Otr had caught on.

"I have informed all the guard in the palace and have already held a public meeting where I announced the situation. The people chanted their desire for imprisonment. Seems they at least don't want to have you executed. I'll at least allow that. Though who knows what Fafnir will say. He was quite broken by father's murder," said Reginn, slyly. Otr squinted at him a bit and Reginn turned to leave, not bothering to offer a goodbye. The two guards followed him out and shut the cell door, leaving Otr to his thoughts which were, of course, filled with grief that his father had been murdered and that it was most likely by Reginn, his own flesh and blood. Oh what a sad day in the history of the kingdom.

Meanwhile…

It was a lot faster getting to the border than their trip into the country. They had originally had to take a route that was almost double the distance in order to make their presence as obscure as possible. Now, though, they were already only two hours of riding from the border, at least, according to the driver's estimates. He also said it had been a few years since he had made a trip that long.

Saito had already had a few routes planned out for emergency exits and he found that there was a small town called Munish only an hour and a half's ride from the border. The dwarven merchant had agree to take them across the border, Saito luring him in by promising more gold he could make in a year of selling goods as well as a place in a trusted Duke's wine business (which of course belongs to Saito).

Once the merchant had taken them to Munish, Saito would attempt to get in contact with Axel, since Munish was a part of Germania, and had hoped that he would reveal himself as being alive. Gwen was right to not keeping his being alive a secret and, now that the dwarves knew, there was no reason for him to hide it. He was quite happy considering it would mean Louise wouldn't have to look so broken anymore.

Speaking of Louise, he had actually spent a good portion of the ride watching her using the mirror Vivlio had made him. His heart was wrenched with every moment as he watched her suffer and cry. Saito always hated seeing her cry because she was always such a strong woman and seeing her broken like that showed just how far past she was from what she could handle.

Soon, Louise…soon we can be together again, thought Saito, sniffling a bit as he held back tears of his own.

The next day…

Otr sat in his cell, only the dim light of a candle to keep him from darkness. He sat wondering what Reginn's plan for all of this was as well as how Eir, his beloved, and his two new friends were faring. Had they made it back to Halkeginia safely? Or had Reginn sent out groups to wipe them out en route.

As he thought, he heard the door creak open and his eyes snapped upward to find a guard holding a torch as well as Fafnir, wearing a deep scowl as he followed the guard in.

"Brother? This is a surprise," said Otr, not expecting anyone but Reginn to visit him.

"Silence brother. We have little time to speak before Reginn wonders where I have gone," said Fafnir, sternly. Otr nodded in understanding and Fafnir continued. "Firstly, I know you are not a traitor who killed our father."

"How could you be so sure?" asked Otr, surprised by his brother's words.

"Brother, you are quite literally the opposite of myself. You dislike violence in every sense of the word. You would never commit it of your own free will and you are always so careful with where you leave Eir that nobody could ever use her against you. To be honest, I believe our brother is at fault for the murder of our father; no, I am certain of it. Especially after he declared he would take the position as the new king to carry out the war father envisioned," said Fafnir, disgusted.

"You sound against the war now, Brother. What has changed?" asked Otr, curiously.

"I hoped that the war would be a chance where we as a family could avenge our mother who was murdered by filthy magic-users but Reginn disgusts me far more for killing his own flesh and blood. That and I would also much rather have you sitting on that throne. You may not let me have war, but you won't try to kill your family to get your way," explained Fafnir, receiving a smile of relief from Otr.

"What else, Brother? You said 'firstly' so I assume there is more?" asked Otr, cocking a brow in interest. Fafnir gestured to the guard who was with him and said guard bowed before looking Otr in the eye.

"Prince Otr, I am speaking for a small group of the guards who believe you have been falsely accused. We plan to try to work in the background to uncover evidence to prove your innocence with Prince Fafnir. I would also like to inform you that we have received sightings of someone matching Lady Eir near the border with Halkeginia. It is likely that she crossed the border and is already safe," explained the guard, receiving a sigh of relief from Otr.

"Thank you for informing me of that," said Otr, relaxing in his seat.

"We're going to figure this out Brother. I won't let Reginn destroy my family for some personal vendetta," said Fafnir, seriously. Otr smiled at his brother and nodded before Fafnir and the guard left the cell and disappearing into the dark hallway.

Meanwhile once again…

"I can't believe my eyes," said Axel after hopping off his horse. He strut over to Saito and placed his hands on Saito's shoulders, looking down at him with an overjoyed expression. "You're alive, right? This isn't some illusion to give me false hope?"

"I'm alive, Axel. Glad you managed to get here so quickly," said Saito, smiling a bit.

"Are you joking? When I received the message that you were alive and here in Munish I came running. The Hero of Halkeginia and the hope of her people, alive. We've been in mourning since Louise and the others returned," said Axel, sadly.

"Hero o' what now? I thought you said you were some translator or whatever? Does this mean you can't hold up your end of the deal?" asked the merchant, angrily.

"My friendly dwarf, I am the son of the emperor of Germania, whatever it is that Duke Hiraga has promised you, I will happily give as thanks for the tremendous deed you have performed for us," said Axel, happily. The dwarf seemed pleased by this and nodded before wandering over to tend to his horse, leaving the group alone.

"I guess we should start by letting all the world leaders know that I'm alive, right?" asked Saito, wondering what should be their move after that.

"Yes, I will inform all except Henrietta using the communications device. I'm sure she would love to see you when you return to your territory. You should probably go after reassuring your wife and loving maid," said Axel, teasing a bit at the end. Saito rolled his eyes and nodded.

Afterward, the group moved to a nearby tavern so Saito could tell Axel the whole story before trying to find out how long it would take to get home by dragon from Munish. They clocked it in at around half a day's journey by air if he rode a good dragon. Munish just happened to have a dragon raising farm that it and a few other towns have to supply the military. By 4pm, Saito and Gwen were saddled up and ready to fly, meaning they should arrive sometime in the very early morning the next day. Saito and Gwen waved goodbye to Axel, also laughing a bit as they saw the dwarf merchant dancing around while throwing gold coins from a chest in the air, happily.

The two took off on the dragon and their journey home began.

So? What did you guys think?

Hope it still followed decently despite all the back and forths.

Let me know what you thought and expect the next chapter around mid-November, until next time...byeee :D