Chapter 106

106 The trial by fire

The one who stayed behind after the discussion, Xander, faces his uncle alone in the room with a bunch of his cronies.

“Leader, I think it was best for us to just killed those children immediately!” Said one of the soldiers.

Xavier glanced at the soldier, “That was a rush and stupid decision, it was better to wait until we’re done with the raid.” He tried to prolong the time for the children until he find a way to rescue them.

The soldier glared at Xander and begin to mock the teenager, “Who makes you the designated leader here? Let him decide their fate, and you just shut up!”

Furious by the mocking of the soldier, he shouted back, “No, you shut up! I was trying to make sense here! When they knew the children were missing and we already killed them, it will anger them, and trust me, they will guard the festivities and traps us there, to avenge the loss!”

The old man thought for a while, he stay quiet and tried to listen to everyone who tried to give their opinion in every corner of the room. Xander was frustrated, he knows how much hatred his uncle had for the Lycans, and he knew exactly what kind of moves he will be doing right now. All Xander needed right now is to convince him to halt whatever things that he wanted to do to the poor innocent children and tried to release them after the ambushed.

“Uncle, please... Listen to me, it is not wise to do something to the little ones right now.” Whispering to the old man, Xander practically begged him to consider the brutal action once again, “We could decide their fate after the ambushed, that would be a good solution for all of us, right?”

The old man turn his face to Xander and glared at him, “little ones? I knew leaving you at the orphanage for too long will be messing up with your head, did you know what those little ones will become later in the future? A destroyer? A carnivorous monster that will eat people.”

“Killing them right now, is still not the best choice, uncle!” Said Xander, to the old man, whose face was full of desperation, pleading with his uncle.

.....

The old man sighed and patted Xander’s shoulder, “You should leave this place, like your brother was, a long time ago.” He then looked at all of the soldiers, “Prepare the combustions woods, we are going to burn the shed where we kept the Lycans’ children.”

Xander’s eyes go wider, and his face went pale, he runs from the room as soon as possible and goes to the second floor where he met with Justice, Vale, and Henry.

“Hey, stop, why are you in a hurry?” Henry asked Xander with much disdain in his voice.

“Where’s my brother?” Asked Xander panicking.

Justice came along and tried to talk some sense to the young man, “He was busy at the moment, why do you need to talk to him?”

Xander was panicking, “It was my uncle, he wanted to kill the orphanage children immediately! We need to stop him!”

As soon as Justice heard the news, he barked orders for Henry and Vale while running back to Anne’s bedroom, the two of them gasped when they saw the crown prince, “Sorry to interrupt, but Xavier, we need to go.” Said Justice.

“What happened?” Xavier asked the question while he clean his face on the small basin.

“It was your uncle, he’s going to kill the orphanage children right away.” Said Justice while leaning himself to the door, keeping it open for Xavier.

Xavier was flustered when he heard Justice, “He what?! my f*cking uncle went mad!” He curses and steps outside the bedroom right away.

They meet with Xander and the others already on their coat and the horses, Anne gave Justice his coat, and together they are galloping into the hidden shed inside the deepest forest, Xander told all of them that the soldiers need to compile the combustion woods first in order to create enough density to fire all of the shed.

“Wait! They are going to fire the children alive inside the shed?! What kind of cruelty that your uncle could display in just one day?!” Henry was in shock, he couldn’t believe that the old man wanted to do something beyond his imagination just because of hatred.

Anne was already imagining the horror, “That was too cruel, being burned alive?! Oh my God! Come on guys let’s hurry!” she galloped her horse throughout the forest matching Xander and Xavier’s horses on the front.

They almost arrived at the hidden shed, fire from the torches is visible from their view. Xavier pointed at the hidden shed, and everyone stops the horses and tied them to one of the branches, they circled up, strategizing before confronting the old man.

“I think we need to go in two teams, team one, trying to get some sense back to the old man, and team two prepare for the worst.” Said Justice to everyone.

“I agreed, but I don’t think there was a single person here having a warm moment with the old man.” Vale gave his reason to Justice.

“I think you can, Vale,” Justice gave him a smirk, remembering every single person that seldom talks to the grumpy and vengeful old man, “Oh, also you, Henry, how about the two of you, with Anne and Xavier go to them, let me and Xander, be ready to ambushed from behind.”

All of them nodded their heads, but Henry asked him one other question, “How come you know when it’s time to ambush or not?”

Vale handed out an item to Justice’s hand, the orbim, “It’s a good time to use this, Anne will hold the orbim since it looks like a regular mirror from the outside, so if everything went sour, she could inform you right away through orbim.”

“Good idea, we’ll be ready,” Justice put the orbim in his pocket, and when he separated from the other, Justice pulled Anne away from the others, and his right-hand caressed her cheek, “Be careful, alright?”

Anne felt the warmness through his cold and short words, “I will, you too.”

Anne, Vale, Henry, and Xavier run into the crowd, they could hear the crying coming from the shed. Anne was trying to go to the shed door but the old man grab her hand and throw her into the ground. Xavier, Vale, and Henry were furious when they look her fallen.

“Anne!” Xavier screamed, when Henry helped the girl, his face turned to the old man, “Uncle, are you going insane?! How come you are going to burn the orphanage children alive?”

“Do you prefer we killed them first instead?” the old man asked Xavier.

Gritting his teeth, Xavier tried to put a perfect sentence to his uncle, “No! I prefer you stop all of this ridiculousness at once!”

The old man glaring eyes go straight to Xavier, “This is not a ridiculous notion, Xavier! They will become our plague ten years from now! Eradicating them immediately would be the best decision!”

“But not like this, uncle! We need a bigger plan, remember? In two days, the festivities, they will be gathering in one place, taking turns to slay the innocent victims,” Xavier explained to the old man, trying to reason with him, “If... if we killed the children right now, they will be scattered around and it will be hard for us to fight them, remember we are the one with the smaller number here, uncle.”

“But... what if they find this shed before the festivities? We don’t have many soldiers to guard the shed.” The old man once again was frustrated at the situation.

“I can help you!” Shouted Anne, every eye now goes upon her, she nervously bite her lips and said once more, “I... I can help you.”

“How? How a mere uncertified healer could help me?” Scoffed the old man to Anne.

“Just hear her first, then judge.” Henry is furious when the old man seems to underestimate Anne’s ability.

The old man shrug and sat on the ground, “Fine! What will you do?!”

“Before I explained, you need to promise me something first.” Said Anne again to the old man.

“What? you want some leverage also?” The old man laughed, he was amused by it, “Alright? Let me hear this deal first.”

“If I succeed to hide them away, after the battle, I want to take all of them to be tested at the capital, f they don’t have the Lycans trace inside their blood, they need to be free.” Said Anne, she was nervously waiting for the answer.

“What?! Do I have to release them if they don’t have the Lycan’s trace inside their body? are you insane?! They will be changing on their sixteenth birthday!” The old man was screaming, seems unlikely he will be agreed by now.

Anne wasn’t giving up that easily, “No, they got brainwashed from early childhood, yes, but the process to become the Lycans begins with the ritual at sixteen, there is a chance for them, please!”

The old man looked around, the soldiers, the werewolves that dwindled in numbers, and then to his family, the grandchildren of his brother. He let out a sigh and finally told everyone to extinguish the torch.

The old man then turned to Anne, “So, what kind of brilliant plan that you have for us?”