Nobart Castle

  I groaned, then spoke to no one, “Let’s see if we can still avoid a civil war.”

  The balcony was no longer a place of comfort. I turned and walked briskly to the brothers’ chambers, faster than my body wanted to move.

  The corridors echoed with the thunk-thunk-thunk of my cane as I had to actually put my weight on it. Footsteps fell into place behind me.

  “Loyalists or bribed men. Which one could it be?” I asked Elric.

  “There were some men loyal to Lord Gunter in the garrison, but I had them reassigned away from the keep,” Moore replied. “I have failed in my duty, Sire.”

  I raised a hand before he could kneel. “Castigate yourself later. Time is of the essence. Focus on capturing them. We don’t want them gathering support and military backing, or there will be more warfare. Enough Nobaran blood has been shed already. Send riders to every road they could be traveling through.”

  He bowed and turned immediately.

  I faced the soldier who had delivered the news. “Where is their mother?”

  “Still in her chambers, Sire.”

  “Hmm. Either they assume I won’t hurt her, or they don’t care about her.”

  I looked to Elric for an answer.

  “The former, Sire,” he answered hesitantly.

  We entered the suite where Gunter and Olfric had been confined. The door was wide open.

  “They were kept together?” I asked sharply.

  “Um-” the soldier stuttered.

  “Speak,” I barked.

  “You allowed it yesterday, Sire.”

  My brows knitted in confusion.

  Why would I do that?

  I smacked my forehead when realization hit. Jack’s memories and feeling had been affecting me and I hadn’t realized, until the confrontation with Lady Erenna. It had softened my attitude towards the brothers. Olfric, the clever little weasel he was, had observed, hatched a plan and managed to escape with his brother within hours.

  We looked around the room but found no method they could’ve used to escape. No rope hanging from the window and no sign of forced exit.

  Nothing.

  “Enough. Their method of escape isn’t important right now,” I said, trying to control my rising temper, “but where they are at the moment and their destination. Where could they have gone?”

  Before Elric could answer, a soldier came running as if being chased by a ghost. One of the Great Company’s soldiers, from his livery. My guards stepped in front to stop him, before he went down on a knee.

  “I’m from the Great Company, Sire.”

  “I can see that. Why are you drenched in sweat?”

  “My troop was patrolling near Blackrain. We came across a carriage that was running towards the town in haste. The lieutenant stopped it. When we opened the barrels it carried... we found Lords Gunter and Olfric hidden inside.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Still there.”

  “Why?”

  “While we were apprehending the carriage, Ironfeld soldiers arrived there. There was no fighting but the situation was tense.”

  “We need to go now.”

  “You’re hurt,” Reshma spoke immediately. “You cannot ride.”

  “No I can’t, but I can sit in a carriage, and mine has springs.”

  “It’s still dangerous,” she spat.

  “Every choice I make is dangerous,” I said through clenched teeth, then exhaled, letting go of the tension.

  I met her eyes and softened my tone. “I will be fine. I will recover, I promise.”

  She stared at me for a while, turned and walked away. I wanted to go to her, but every second was precious at the moment.

  As we moved toward the castle’s courtyard, I turned to Elric.

  “Did you send the letter to Ironfeld? Rescinding Isanna’s betrothal and demanding Blackrain back?”

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  “Yes, Sire; a few days ago. I received their reply this morning.”

  I gestured for him to continue.

  “They regret the breaking of the betrothal and ask you to reconsider it. As for Blackrain, they claim they only took over the mismanaged town to restore order and protect royal revenues.”

  “They’re stonewalling you,” Reshma said from behind. “Until they can physically and legally cement their hold over it.”

  I turned around to see her following us. I nodded my thanks, noticing the two pillows she was carrying.

  “Here,” she shoved them into my chest. “So you won’t cripple yourself.”

  I accepted them without comment.

  Within minutes, the carriage and its escort of two dozen riders were ready to leave. As I was about to climb it, Lady Erenna arrived with Reshma.

  “Take care of yourself,” she said, meeting my eyes.

  “I will, mother,” I nodded, smiled faintly at the sullen Reshma and boarded the carriage.

  The convoy moved out.

  My back didn’t hurt, until we got out of the city. Then, as the carriage picked up speed, the jolts from the rough road began to send shocks of electricity down my spine, despite the springs, the padding and the pillows. I grit my teeth and tolerated them.

  Almost two hours later, the convoy mercifully slowed down. Theo opened the carriage. I gingerly stepped out, my back screaming in pain, to the noise of the Iselau rushing next to the dirt track. The deep gorge it carved into the land also acted as the border between Nobart and Ironfeld. No way anyone could cross it without a bridge.

  And a rope bridge was supposed to be nearby.

  I had only stepped out, when the noise of men shouting and weapons clashing rang out, loud enough to be heard over the noise of the rushing river. A few dozen meters ahead of us, men in different uniforms had begun fighting.

  “Stop them!” I said to my men.

  My riders charged forward. By the time they reached the skirmish, many men had already fled towards the rope bridge that spanned the river not too far away.

  “Get me closer!” I shouted to the driver and climbed back onto the carriage.

  I pulled down the window to peer outside.

  Moore’s face came in view. “Ironfelds’ men freed your cousins, Sire.”

  “After them! They will have to slow down on the bridge.”

  The carriage lurched to a halt near the span. I forced myself out, cane biting into earth. Ahead, the fleeing riders were already halfway through the swaying bridge.

  “Stop! Or I will cut the ropes!” I bellowed.

  No one stopped.

  I gestured for one of the ropes to be cut.

  One of my guards, Noah, nodded and hacked at the thick rope with his hatchet until it snapped, flying away from us like a whip. The bridge, held on both sides by six such ropes, lurched.

  Horses neighed in panic. Men shouted.

  “Stop running,” I called, “or I cut the rest.”

  They kept on moving.

  I gestured again.

  He hacked a rope on the other side until it broke as well. The bridge groaned and sagged. One more rope and it would break.

  The men on the bridge dismounted from their panicking horses, except for one.

  He skillfully turned his horse around, raised his sword and charged at us.

  Of course it is Gunter.

  There was no safe way to stop and capture the idiot. Not with his horse picking up speed and me unable to run.

  Sighing, I lowered my hand as a signal. Theo and Ethan sighted their bows and began shooting.

  The bolts dug into the poor horse and it tumbled, headfirst. Gunter tried to jump away, but was flung upward by the mass of the beast.

  He was about to fly over the bridge to his death, when by a stroke of luck, his outstretched hand caught one of the thick ropes.

  Lucky bastard.

  To my displeasure, the rest of the men had used the distraction to cross the bridge.

  I approached the idiot barely clinging to the bridge, right over the roaring river. His muscles quivered with the effort, his large body pulling him down.

  “Will you surrender?” I asked calmly as I looked him in the eyes.

  “No, impostor,” he spat.

  My heart clenched.

  “Impostor?”

  “You are not Jack. I couldn’t see it, until Olfric pointed it out. Who are you?”

  “I am Jack Nobart, your rightful liege.”

  “No, you are not. I knew there was something wrong the moment you allowed us to stay together in that chamber. If you were Jack, you would have known there was a secret passage that led out to the castle wall. You and I found it together as youths and used to sneak out of the castle.”

  “I almost died saving the Cha and lost my memory, but that is not important right now. I doubt you can keep hanging for much longer. So, what will it be, Gunter?”

  He was about to answer when an arrow found his side. His eyes widened as his grip weakened. Before any of us could grab him, he fell away.

  An inaudible splash and he vanished in the turbulent river.

  For a moment, no one moved.

  My head turned towards the direction the arrow had come from; the other end of the bridge. Olfric and Ironfeld’s soldiers were standing there, staring at us.

  “He killed his own brother,” I whispered in wonder.

  “We must withdraw, Sire,” Moore said, putting himself between me and Olfric’s party.

  I got myself up from my kneeling position with some effort and pain, and walked back to the carriage, my men surrounding me.

  Sitting in my arrow-proof carriage, I wondered what was going through Olfric’s mind.

  Whatever his plans were, one thing was clear.

  Uplifting Nobart, never mind Nanon, was going to be a lot more difficult.

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