Chapter 271 - What Happened Before the Arrest (Part 3)

They brought Azer in the Palace of the Crown Prince. It was Wolstan who decided to put Azer in Vaughn's dungeon. Duke Gordon chose the cell, which sunlight wouldn't reach.

Every wounded soldier had been treated. Jorick explained that he could teleport people and horses to the target destinations, but he could not teleport them back if he was not with them. He and Duke Gordon should come along to teleport the soldiers back.

"Hmm, that would take so much time when we do that. The other stations might get suspicious and become more vigilant. I want to take them by surprise so they won't be able to do much."

"If you would like to hear my suggestion, Young Madam, I…"

"Just say it, Young Duke. Every suggestion counts."

"Why don't we just send them to the target stations, and let them return to the Capital on their own. I don't think we will need a lot of men to subdue the Capital. I believe that the Left Minister only brought a few men with him. I think he did not expect that Commander Zander will be able to send his troops in time. He did not know that Jorick can also do the teleportation spell."

"Hmm, you got a point. Let's do that then."

"Do what?"

Zander already entered the study and heard Zenia uttered those words.

"You're here, Big Brother."

Zenia explained the plan to Zander, who did not seem to notice that Zenia was wearing her uniform. They showed him the map where the enemies were stationed and told him their plan. Zander nodded his head in agreement. Zenia also informed him that General Dietrich had already stationed some men near the areas were the Left Minister's men were assigned to guard.

"That can work. Let's do that then. We need to go to the training ground now and assign the men to each station. I believe that you plan to go with me to the Capital?" Zander smirked at Zenia.

She smiled back and replied, "I certainly will."

Zander and Redivo formed the groups to be sent to different stations. They reminded everyone that they should eliminate every single enemy to make sure that no one would be able to report back to the Left Minister.

"Commander Zander," one of Vaughn's men called out to Zander and asked, "Do we need to bring the crossbow that the Crown Princess designed?"

Zander turned his head to Zenia and asked, "What crossbow?"

Zenia ordered someone to retrieve the crossbow. When it arrived, Zander took it quickly from the hands of the person who delivered it.

"It's the same! But, I can tell that there's a great improvement in the design," he announced excitedly and added, "Where can I try it?"

Zenia led him to the practice area where she demonstrated the crossbow before. Zander pulled the trigger in succession as he aimed at the different targets. He did not miss any of them and even managed to hit the center of each target.

"How was it?"

"It's much better than I expected. Where's the blueprint?"

"I will give it to you later. Right now, let's be on our way. We need to have a headstart before they begin teleporting the soldiers."

Zenia gave a crossbow to each group just to let the soldiers see its power. Every soldier was excited to test it, but they knew that it was not the time to do that. Wolstan insisted to come along, and Zenia agreed. She remembered how Wolstan wanted to go riding Thunderbolt with her.

"Grandpa, you ride with me," Zenia smiled at Wolstan, who acted like a little boy when he heard it.

The Old King Jumped on Thunderbolt and turned to Zenia, "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

Zenia jumped on Thunderbolt and held the reign as she instructed Wolstan, "Hold tight, grandpa."

They had decided that it was safer to travel to the Capital the usual way and eliminate the enemies on their path. Zenia hoped that the Left Minister did not harm the people of Tissuria.

As soon as they left, Duke Gordon and Jorick began teleporting the soldiers and their horses to their assigned stations. Zenia and Zander knew that it would be bloody, and they just hoped that they would be able to protect the people in the Capital.

General Dietrich just couldn't stay calm and began to worry again. He walked in circles while he was in his office. The two soldiers that were teleported together with the horses assured him once more.

"General Dietrich, the Commander and the Junior Commander are there. What could go wrong? Commander Zander specifically told us not to let you wander anywhere. You need to stay at Luna Inn until the Commander arrives."

"When will he come? It's taking him so long."

"It's still too early. They could be on their way to the Capital."

"I thought they can be teleported there?"

"I don't think the Commander will like that. They will surely attract many people when they suddenly pop out of nowhere."

General Dietrich remembered the stations were located in inconspicuous places to avoid people's prying eyes. Neither side wanted to let the people in the Capital know that war was about to break out.

General Dietrich was an intelligent person, but he would turn into a fool once he began to worry. Zander gave him the rank of a General to prevent him from participating in actual operations and just use his head in planning.

"Okay let's wait here then." The worry-wart general sat on his chair and busied himself with the doc.u.ments on his table.

Zander signaled to go slow. He spotted four guards up ahead and knew that they were the Left Minister's men. He raised four fingers, and his men knew that four of them should take down the guards silently.

The four military men of Ishelon acted swiftly and broke the necks of the guards in one swift motion. To prevent arousing suspicions, Zenia ordered four soldiers from Ishelon to wear the uniform of the dead guards. They should be of the same built or close.

After wearing the uniform, the soldiers from Ishelon mimicked the movements of the other guards and pretended that they were guarding their posts. None of the Left Minister's men suspected that their comrades had been replaced.

They proceeded as silently as they could. They were able to replace the guards outside the Main Palace. No one was guarding outside the Main Hall. Zenia had a hunch that every guard was inside. Probably, they were blocking the entrance of the Main Hall to prevent some people from entering.

Zenia could hear a sort of commotion upfront when King Tarendino had finally made his appearance. They took advantage of the distraction and quickly knocked out the guards and replace them with Zander's men.

They did not kill those guards right away because they were not certain if all of those guards were loyal to the Left Minister. She saw Vaughn and Zekiah together. She knew that Vaughn already knew that it was Zekiah. She could feel that he was frowning.

They let the people of Tissuria witness the Left Minister's downfall. The guards led them to a safe distance separating them from the Left Minister's supporters. The Left Minister got angry when he saw that other people made their way into the Main Hall, but he let it slide. He thought he would gain victory at last.

The argument was going ugly, and Wolstan could no longer take the foolishness of the Left Minister and decided to clear everything once and for all. The old man was taken by surprise when the Left Minister suddenly took out a dagger and would like to use it to end his life.

Zenia could not allow that to happen. Death was an easy way out for the Left Minister. He and his supporters must pay for the crimes that they had committed. She ran quickly toward the center of the Main Hall and threw her dagger to knock off the left Minister's weapon.

Wolstan acted quickly before the Left Minister could do something stupid. Everyone panicked, and the Left Minister's supporters were subdued. King Tarendino ordered them to be thrown to the dungeon.

Amidst the chaos, Damien was able to escape from the Main Palace. He rode his horse and took the path leading to Luna Inn. It would take him at least a week to reach Lunaria. If he had a fast horse, he could be there in four days. He was already planning how he would recruit new men to strengthen his force. He had no one else, but the men at Luna Inn. He did not see his sister in the Main Hall earlier and did not care where she might be. When he finally reached Luna Inn, he would face the biggest surprise in his life.

* * * * *

"Where are you taking me? What is this place?"

Odette was sobbing as Sir Malik led her to the Palace of King Odhran. She knew that protesting would do her no good. Should she be thankful? She still wasn't sure.

Sir Malik opened the door of the study and went in together with Odette. He shut the door after they entered and left Odette standing in front of a bookshelf near the door. Sir Malik walked toward the man in that room. He had a majestic aura surrounding him, and Odette felt it.

'Is he the owner of this place?' 

"Your Majesty, the First Princess is here," Sir Malik kneeled before King Odhran.

"You may go."

Odette stood there while looking at the man, who was slowly walking toward her. She felt relaxed while looking at the man. She bore uncanny resemblance with the man, who gave her a warm smile.

"Welcome to Prazia, my daughter."