Chapter Four: The Paths to Follow
Returning to the Market District a hooded Connor and Seth made their way into Gabriel's shop making sure the close was clear before the two began to close all the blinds and lock the doors.
"I am sorry," Gabriel spoke sitting behind the counter.
"Ok old man, time to talk! How did you know we had a traitor?" Connor demanded seeing Seth narrow his eyes and turn his attention to the blind old man.
"Like I said twice already I am a bloody seer!" Gabriel spoke getting annoyed that no one was believing him.
"Prove it then," Seth spoke pulling out a pistol and pointing it at the old man expecting him to flinch if he was pretending to be blind.
"Want proof? Ok, Connor do you wanna know your true last name?" Gabriel spoke getting a raised brow from the man who crossed his arms.
"My last name? It's Swordbreaker," Connor spoke seeing the seer shake a finger.
"That was the adopted last name your ancestor took when the palace was set in a blaze and the royal family was killed," Gabriel spoke hearing Seth snort.
"Oh, come off it, not the lost prince rubbish! We all know that myth old man, the royal family was killed, a maid and butler escaped with two children and disappeared into the night, there is no 'lost prince' that will reclaim the throne, it is just a Fable!" Seth yelled ready to leave this store.
"It would be rubbish if it were not true, it may have been a few hundred years but that ancient blood runs through your veins, you are Connor Lionheart heir to Albion throne," Gabriel spoke looking at Connor who burst out laughing.
"Bwahaha! Right! Me? The Lost Prince! You're funny! Come on Roscoe we're leaving," Connor laughed about to leave but saw a green spell whip snap in front of him, both he and Seth turning to see Gabriel had used Will.
"If you don't believe me then how about I prove you wrong, go into Bowerstone Castle Family Crypt, only a true heir of the throne can enter and retrieve the ancient treasure inside," Gabriel spoke seeing Seth roll his eyes.
"Because we don't have a death wish! Why on earth would we waste our time with this?" Seth asked seeing Gabriel go into thought and smiled.
"Because Albion needs heroes," Gabriel spoke forming a light spell in his hand, "a small part of you both still believe in heroes like the one Taylor would tell you about in stories at the orphanage."
Narrowing his eye Seth approached the counter, pointing his pistol again, "How the bloody hell do you know that?! Who the bloody hell are you?!"
"He's a seer you dumb twats," Ginjer spoke hopping onto the counter, "I remember you."
"It's nice to see you again too Ginjer-actually no, if I recall you were quite unpleasant back then too," Gabriel spoke getting a chuckle from the gnome.
"Ginjer you know him?" Seth asked putting away his pistol.
"I do and he a nosy twat like that other old twat!" Ginjer spoke getting an annoyed look from Gabriel.
"Ok," Connor spoke approaching, "let's PRETEND, I buy this whole I'm possibly an heir to a royal bloodline of heroes, how exactly does that even help us?"
"Because it would also make you a hero too, not just any hero, a rare hero from one of the most ancient bloodlines in Albion, if you follow the path you are destined to walk, you too would awaken your powers," Gabriel spoke seeing Seth raise an eyebrow.
"Powers? Like Will?" Seth asked seeing Gabriel think about it.
"Yes and no, the Will the Black Bloodline used is far more powerful than any Will user, including me, they were also incredibly powerful in Strength, and agile with Skill, on this journey, you will master these three important traits all while recruiting allies," Gabriel spoke throwing a card at Seth that he caught and examined.
"The Leader?" Seth read raising an eyebrow then watched Gabriel set another card on the counter of the Hound.
"Wait that includes me?" Roscoe asked, his speaking making both Seth and Ginjer turn wide eyes at the hybrid hound.
"DID THAT BLOODY FLEA BAG JUST SPEAK?!" Ginjer asked while Seth stared at Connor.
"That's what you meant by 'special' the dog can talk?!" Seth asked seeing his friend shrug.
"Yeah, I was surprised too," Connor spoke approaching the counter and handing Gabriel back his card, "So you're saying if we go that crypt that will be the true proof I'm this heir."
"Pretty much yes," Gabriel shrugged, "though I suspect you already knew, all your life there was a small part of you that felt like you were meant for something greater, something heroic."
Remaining silent Connor turned to Seth who then let out a sigh, "Alright fine, we'll go break into this crypt, who knows Maybe we can get our hands on ancient weapons or something."
"By the way, how the bloody hell are we supposed to get past the Guard Patrol when there is more guarding that castle than the actual city?" Connor asked looking to Gabriel who smirked.
"You will think of something," Gabriel said with a shrug.
"Oh, that is so reassuring," Connor said sarcastically leaving the store with Seth, Ginjer, and Roscoe close behind.
With hoods up and rain coming down Seth and Connor carefully made their way through New Bowerstone, taking a sort cut through the historical Old Quarters Seth and Connor took a peek around a corner seeing Bowerstone castle in the distance.
"You know this is a very stupid idea, right?" Seth asked turning to Connor.
"So stupid, but what if he's right? What if this is how we save Albion? Becoming heroes will give the people hope, they will join the cause and help us fight," Connor spoke seeing Seth cross his arms and peek around the corner again.
"Not going to get close with how heavily guarded that fence is," Seth spoke getting an idea, and looked to Ginjer who was sitting on Roscoe's back, "Do you still have some dynamite?"
"Never go anywhere without two sticks!" Ginjer smirked holding up one of the sticks of dynamite.
"Now that just leaves the cameras to deal with," Seth spoke his attention being called away when his phone notified him of a message.
Pulling his phone out Seth's eyes widen, "it's Friday!"
"No bloody way!" Connor spoke looking over to the screen while Roscoe looked confused.
"Whose Friday?" he asked looking up to the two adults.
"A Hacker we recruited to our cause, a while back they helped feed us information to help aid in our cause, mostly where shipments of weapons would go, what buildings were going to be targeted for a raid, things that helped us in a pinch," Seth explained opening the email.
"Then suddenly Friday said in a cryptic coded message that they suspect they may have been compromised and needed to go offline to put up new walls of defense," Connor also explained looking at the coded message translating with Seth.
"I'm sorry about the base getting destroyed," Seth read, "Hope you don't mind I am using your camera to make sure you both are who you are."
"Camera?!" Connor spoke seeing the light on the screen next to the camera lit up, "They've upped their hacking skills."
"Which means they can also hear us, Friday we need help getting into the Bowerstone Castle Crypt," Seth explained waiting before seeing a new coded message pop up.
"Why do you need to go in there?" Connor read before replying, "Let's say we got a new lead, something that may truly help us in saving Albion, we need to get into that crypt and get our hands on the treasure locked inside."
Waiting for a reply they saw a new message pop up that Seth read, "I can create a glitch in the system, I can only get you five minutes, you'll need another distraction to deal with the Guard Patrol on the ground."
"That's where you'll come into play Ginjer," Connor smirked looking around the corner and spotting Reaver's limo behind the gates near the front of the castle, "I think Reaver won't be needing that nice limo."
"Leave it to me!" Ginjer smirked rushing off down the alley.
"Friday wait for Ginjer to set off the distraction," Seth spoke waiting for a reply, and got back a thumbs-up emoji.
Sneaking down the alley Connor and Seth crouched behind some dumpsters peeking to see the heavily armored guards at the front gates. Pulling out his binoculars Connor peeked through looking to the limo where he saw some guards walk past a bush that Ginjer ran out of when the close was clear and slid under the limo.
"Nearly time," Connor spoke pulling out a pistol, "I swear that old man better be right about this."
Waiting Seth looked at his phone patiently awaiting Ginjer's distraction, "Lizzie was right, I got them killed."
Hearing Seth Connor punched his friend in the shoulder making the other wince, "Oh shut up! You couldn't have predicted Lizzie would betray us, there was nothing you could have done, since day one I stuck around because I know how much of a good leader you are."
Staying silent Seth was about to speak but both their heads turned towards the castle when they heard an explosion, peeking out to see Reaver's limo was now in flames, a fire alarm was now going off and guards were scrambling to get the fire out.
Hearing a message on his phone Seth looked down to see Friday's message read 'Go now,' With the cameras down Seth, Connor, and Roscoe ran down the alley and towards the large fence where Seth put his hands together and gave Connor a boost up the fence.
At the top Connor reached down and grabbed Seth's hand pulling him up and hopping down on the other side of the fence, Turning to Roscoe Connor watched the hound run towards the entrance and sneak through before joining them across the castle gardens.
Descending the stairs to the Catacomb entrance, Seth reached the doors where he saw a keypad on the entrance, "DAMMIT! I'll message Friday to see if he can get us through."
Crouching down Connor drew his pistol not wanting to draw any attention at the bottom of the stairs, "Come on Seth!"
"Oi! What's the holdup Troll humpers?!" Ginjer hissed jumping down to join them, "I don't like being sitting bloody ducks!"
"Friday working on it, he just needs a minute," Seth spoke watching the numbers on the keypad screen getting hacked and scrolling through all the numbers.
"HEY! What are you two doing down there?!" a guard yelled about to point a gun at them but Connor fired his pistol hitting the guard in the head.
"There's more approaching!" Roscoe growled hearing running footsteps approaching.
"Come on Friday!" Seth growled waiting till he saw all the numbers turn from red to green and heard the door unlock, "It's open! Get in!"
Pushing open the door the group quickly dodged bullets before slamming the door shut where Seth looked at the keypad before punching it and breaking it locking them inside.
"Everyone okay?" Connor asked turning to Roscoe who growled when Ginjer climbed onto his back.
"Oh, hush arse breathe!" Ginjer spoked seeing Roscoe growl and glare at Connor.
"Can I rip his throat out?" Roscoe asked seeing Connor shake his buddy.
"Sorry buddy but 'she' is strictly no-kill, trust me I wanted to put a bullet in her for years," Connor chuckled turning on a flashlight with Seth both shinning them down the stairs into the royal family crypt.
"Alright then, let's see if we can locate this 'proof' that old fraud was talking about," Seth spoke leading the way as they entered a large tomb filled with statues and coffins all around the walls while in front of a large statue of a hooded figure were two special sarcophaguses.
"Amazing, they're all here, the entire royal family up till the night the fire took their lives," Connor spoke approaching a spiderweb-covered statue of an ancient hero in armor and brushing dust off the name plague, "The Hero of Oakvale: Zane."
"Scarlet Robe over here," Seth spoke reading a plague before watching Ginjer jump off Roscoe and rush towards a brick wall where the large statue with its face covered by its hand hung above.
"I bet I know who this is," Connor spoke approaching the decorated sarcophagus blowing off dust from a plague, and read aloud, "Here lies the Great Hero King Sparrow, may his legacy inspire all to live by his example and sacrifice."
Looking around Seth shine his flashing all around the room growling when he was no visible exit, "dammit! We're trapped!"
"Oi!" Ginjer yelled getting their attention, "that's what you think! Hey, Goldie locks! Push this birck!"
Pointing her finger Seth sighed before approaching and touching the brick Ginjer had pointed out feeling it shift a bit, "Alright let's see what happens."
Pushing with a grunt Seth pushed the brick in setting off ancient machinery within the walls making the statue above slowly lower its hands revealing its face and holding out an ancient guild seal before Connor.
"What on earth is that?" Connor asked watching the seal glow and float up from the statue hands transforming and shrinking till it became the size of a baseball but much flatter.
Approaching Seth watched in awe with Roscoe who all watched the seal float towards Connor who took a step back but stopped when it floated directly in front of him.
"Remarkable," Seth spoke in shock watching Connor cautiously reach out then taking the newly transformed Guild Seal in his hand and examining it in the palm of his hands.
"What the hell is this thing?" Connor asked Seth looking up to his friend who approached and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know mate," Seth spoke tracing his finger on the Guild Symbol, "same symbol as our country flag and the symbol Page used for the Bowerstone Resistance."
"Oi! Dumber and dumber don't break that! That used to be his property!" Ginjer spoke getting their attention watching her hop onto King Sparrow's sarcophagus and patting the lid.
"Ok I'll bite Ginjer, what is this thing?" Seth asked seeing the gnome smirk.
"That's the Guild Seal, it only transforms and responds to the members of the family, It becomes what is most handy for the century, it seems to have picked pocket size! That more handy than that big bulky thing Adam had to use in his days," Ginjer spoke kicking her feet.
"Then it's true," Seth spoke taking a step back in shock staring at Connor, "holy bloody shit! You're the bloody Lost Prince of Albion!"