Ileus: The Dark Prince

Over the breakfast, which Rolfe was apparently waiting for her to have with, he said, "I have asked my Master Mason to come here and discuss your design. My only concern is how are we going to lay this all out without money, without catching attention. Because I know that my father would simply kill all my loyalists or torture those who would want to get this done. And I am afraid that if he learns about it from anyone, he might end up butchering the innocent villagers." 

"But I thought you carried out these plans discreetly," said Iona with a crease in her forehead. 

Rolfe exhaled heavily. "I did carry out things secretly the last time, but someone must have leaked the information!" 

She bit her lip wondering that a project as big as this would need a large cooperation from the subjects of the kingdom and that was one thing you couldn't be sure of. There always was someone who was close to the king, someone who had selfish interests. She couldn't help thinking about Circe who had played a major role in getting her kidnapped, even though the woman had everything she could desire. 

"Don't worry too much about it, Iona," a warm voice broke her reverie. "Please eat your food." 

She nodded and then served vegetable stew for herself. After her experiences with Diumbe, after how they forced her to feed on flesh and bones and blood, she had started disliking any form of meat. In fact, the thought of having meat would make her stomach revolt. So, in the end, Iona ate all the vegetables. Over breakfast, Rolfe informed her that they would be traveling south by afternoon. 

"Oh! I thought you would start tomorrow."

"No," he said as he bit into the roasted meat. "One of my soldiers saw movement in the north bearing the royal flag. My father has found our hideout… I can't take the risk. We have to move." 

Iona felt horrible about it. She didn't know what to do for this man, who was so wise and who wanted to protect his people. 

The Master Mason, Jonik, came soon after and was very impressed by the design. "If only we can implement it, m'lord. It is revolutionary. All our problems will disappear!" 

Rolfe smiled at him as his chest swelled with pride for Iona. He patted his back and said, "We will figure out a way to execute it." 

Jonik wanted to take the design with him, but Rolfe didn't allow it. "This will stay with me till we find a way to implement it." 

Jonik bowed and left. The entire group was ready to leave even before it was afternoon. The horses were saddled and loaded and the whole site was cleared and left like nothing ever existed there. She saw Rolfe waving his hand and magic sizzling out of it in the form of ripples in the air that spread over the entire campsite. When the ripples retreated to their owner, the place was as good as new. To say that she was impressed, was an understatement. She was awed. And yet another thing that she noticed was that it was only Rolfe who could wield magic and no one else. 

As they started to travel south, she realized that the slope was pretty sharp but the horses moved efficiently through the snow forest. Perhaps they were trained well. She was riding right behind Rolfe who was flanked by his royal guards and some more men, with whom he was talking in demonic language about the situation in Galahar. It seemed that the king had imposed an extra layer of tax on the businessmen, who in turn had raised prices of their goods. It affected the common man to the extent that poverty loomed large over the kingdom. And king… he was least bothered. He had stopped all types of construction activities for the benefit of the people. Rolfe shook his head. Why was his father going back to the dark ages? He hated Etaya for being such a bad influence on his father, and he wanted to kill her with his bare hands like now! 

"Any news about Etaya?" he asked his men, and it made Iona flinch. 

"From the last we have heard she was planning an attack on Draoidh. I have sent my spy to find more about it." 

"Holy mother of demons!" Rolfe cursed. "We have to kill that woman. Keep an eye on all the exit and entry points of Galahar. This time if she comes, we are going to kill her. She is the one siphoning off all the money into Vilinski. The bloody bitch! Her brother was very wise to have frozen the funds but she found her benefactor in the form of my father!" 

"I will, m'lord," said the man. 

"Do you have news about the Dark Witch?" asked Rolfe. "I wish I could kill her too, but I heard that she is extremely powerful." 

"She is, m'lord. She is the perfect dark creation of Seraph. We can't do much about her and I hope that she withers away or rots!" 

Rolfe laughed, hearing hateful words of his General. "Let's hope she does." 

Iona's lips quivered by the end of the conversation. She was the Dark Witch they were talking about and she didn't know how to break the news to them that she was no more what they thought and that Etaya was defeated. Because if she did that, she was sure that even if Rolfe would show mercy on her, he would ask her to leave the group. And once she would leave the group, his men would kill her. Besides, where would she go in this wilderness? Her vision became blurry and suddenly, she found drops of water on her hands… her tears. She slowed down her horse to fall back further in the line. 

They were all descending through a very narrow valley and all of them fell into a single line. Ara was right behind her. She asked, "When are we going to reach the fortress?" 

"Should be by the evening, if the weather is good. I hope it doesn't rain. That would slow us down a lot and I can't think of a decent site to camp for the night!" she replied with exasperation in her voice. 

Iona contemplated whether to ask her the question or not, but then she asked, "Why are we going south when the kingdom is in the northwest? If the prince wants to carry out the development process, then shouldn't he move parallely rather than going south?' 

"The fortress is our safe bet at the moment…" replied Ara and didn't elaborate much. 

Iona, though irritated by her short answer, didn't say much. They didn't stop the horses to have lunch. A few soldiers distributed bread, cheese and meat, wrapped in leaves to the group. They ate it while riding. The weather had been really good and by the time it was evening, the General who was leading the group put his hands up in the air as if signaling a danger. They all stopped. A hushed silence fell on the cavalcade.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Iona in a low voice. 

"The fortress is compromised," Ara grunted.