The Paladin Order Reformed

We didn"t really need to have to watch our backs constantly in fear of the originals discovering our farce. After stripping and changing I asked.

"Are we able to carry weapons into the castle, or will they just be confiscated?"

"They"ll be detained for the entirety of your duration there, but I"ll stash both of your equipment in a shop close to the royal castle. It"s called Rex"s Arms if you need them then just tell the clerk "A good soldier follows orders." and he"ll show you where they are. Don"t worry he"s a good friend of mine."

I gave him my equipment and armor, and before we left I asked. "How are you going to get the original papers back into his office?" Since the ones Jake and I were going to use were copied from the doc.u.ments I retrieved from that captain"s office.

"Don"t worry about it, he won"t notice their absence, he"s usually drunk by this time anyway. Honestly, he"s probably going to be "Sick" for the next couple days and recover at one of the brothels like he usually does. "

I couldn"t argue with his logic and I didn"t really want to explore any more of his exploits, other than those already stated. Jake and I adjusted our disguises, then left for the royal castle.

We walked through the bustling cobblestone streets drowned out by the outcries of vendors and merchants alike trying to sell their wares. If you hadn"t already known the continent was in anarchy, then you would have never realized it walking these streets.

Kids ran through the street yelling cheerfully as they did, people talked openly with each other, and everyone wore a bright smile. Even still I could tell something was amiss, even with the cheerful atmosphere, I couldn"t but help sense the apprehension that hung heavily in the air. People"s eyes darted cautiously behind their forged smiles, war was here too, they just try to ignore it the best they can. It won"t make it go away, they just hide being their high walls hoping it will.

We strolled through the garnished roads, pa.s.sing by the richly furnished stores until the well off houses turned to affluent surroundings. Modest housings morphed into mansions and estates all overlooking the surrounding area.

We approached a gate guarded by another watchman, he like Cody, observed us with minimal interest. When we became close enough to speak he said.

"Present your identification and state the reason for your visit."

I retrieved the parchment tucked away in my tailored duster"s pocket, after handing him it, I said.

"We are representatives from the King"s Council, we"re here to speak with the king about the current circ.u.mstances that have transpired," I state with hopefully convincing formality.

He squints at the doc.u.ments before asking. "You"re Sue Smith?" I keep my face even, but inside I began to panic. I faked a grimace and said.

"My father was quite a comedian, he thought it would be humorous to name his son Sue. If you don"t wish to share his fate, then I urge you to refrain from referring to me as such." A dangerous glint pa.s.sed in my eyes, causing him to swallow a dry gulp, he continued without pushing any further asking Jake.

"I can a.s.sume you are Johnny Coine?" He nodded gruffly with his eyes narrowed following my att.i.tude with the strong silent persona. The guard then returned our papers and stepped to the side saying.

"You"re cleared entrance into the castle, someone will direct you once you"re inside. You will have to forfeit any weapons you may be carrying, just know this before you enter."

We walked past him, I kept my composure until we were a good distance away, a sigh of relief escaped my lips. Jake wiped the nervous sweat from his brow and said.

"I thought we were done for, I completely forgot about the name whenever I was forging the doc.u.ments. I remembered to change the gender, but I neglected to change the name. Sorry about that, but I"m glad you were thinking on your feet."

"Trust me, I thought we were done for too. I just said whatever came to mind, I"m just glad he bought it. Just call me Drew from now on, ok?"

After registering we were escorted to the throne room, where the king would hear us. Over the many days of our travels, I had mulled over what I would say to the king when we met him. I have an idea of what I was going to say, but the revelation of some cryptic plot against the king has somewhat muddled my thoughts of what I will say.

We need the king"s support, that was the entire reason for this visit. If we can denounce the Forsaken Order, then there"s a chance that we"ll be able to sway the other Kingdom"s to join us. We will need to gain his trust.....I don"t know how we"ll be able to do that though.

Those thoughts are quickly put behind me as the colossal swung wide open for us, lining the long crimson carpet ahead were knights in full plate mail. Fully armored knights stood at attention, lining the entire path to the throne.

The escort stepped to the side and bowed, as we walked forward one of the many people standing on both sides, adjacent to the throne announced.

"Representatives of the King"s Council, Sue Smith, and Johnny Coine. You are welcomed to the royal court of the Lord"s Union, present yourselves, and your case before the enamored king of this kingdom.

His majesty, the revered Sir William the brave."

I whispered quietly to Jake. "Follow my lead."

I kneel before the king and Jake follows suit. The king asks with disinterest.

"Ah yes, my friends from the King"s Council. To whom do I owe the pleasure? At any rate, I"m grateful you made the arduous journey here at such short notice. It was but a week prior I received a notice of your imminent arrival, I was barely able to prepare myself for the annoyance that as sure to proceed after your arrival. Truly I can"t decide if I"m angered or impressed by your prudence. So I shall allow you to speak your message before I throw you into the streets."

I politely ask. "Would you allow me to stand your majesty?" He scoffs but allows it.

I stand at attention facing the king respectfully. "My companion and I have traveled to gain an audience with you, your majesty, so we may address the concerning developments of your kingdom and the others. Firstly, I must ask where your allegiances lie." I need to make sure I"m not going to be captured as soon as I mention anything about the Paladin Order, I need to know where he stands.

He chuckles at my words, I remain neutral as he said. "You have gall, I"ll give you that representative Sue. I can see you have b.a.l.l.s, even if your name indicates otherwise. Just as I stated in my previous letter, my allegiances are and always will be to the Paladin Order. I am loyal to the brotherhood as my father and his father before him was, no amount of threats or bribery can convince me otherwise. I shall not fall into the pitfall of greed as my predecessors had, so you can return to those Forsaken charleston and direct them where they can stick it."

My neutral expression cracked and a smile formed to the king"s confusion, then I said. "I only wanted to confirm our allegiances intersected. Before you discharge us upon the street, I must ask your majesty, would you happen to have a recent addition to your court?"

For a long moment, the king stares at me with suspicion but says with intrigue tinging his words "I have no recent additions to my court, but there are always newly promoted members of the royal guard, why do you ask?"

"c.r.a.p!" I think. I was expecting the infiltrator to be a recent addition to the cabinet, but it could be any one of the knights in this room, it could be all of them. Does that rule out the court as suspects? I don"t, but I"m going to have to play my cards right. I announce to the king.

"Before I continue I want to reintroduce myself, to my dismay, my name is in fact not Sue Smith. My real name is Knight Christian of the Paladin Order and this is my companion Jake Parsons." I discretely tap jake"s shoulder and he stands, then bows.

"For the moment I will keep the object of my visit confidential, but I will inform you of the conspiracy for your life that is currently underway. I have recently acquired reliable information regarding the infiltration of your court, the contents of such you should be inclined to not take lightly." I said boldly.

Sir William whistles, then said. "Those are some dangerous accusations, but if your words prove to be true, then I might be inclined to listen. Truthfully, I was aware of some infiltration by the Forsaken, but I was unsure of how far it went. So tell me Christian, who do you bring these accusations against."

This is where every movement would be crucial, I have to completely bluff the suspect without him knowing my falsehoods. If I got this wrong, there"s a good probability I would be hanged, that"s if I"m not cut down before I"m dragged away.

I smile venomously at the eight members surrounding the king before stating. "The information I was able to acquire pertains to a large sum of money that was recently allotted to mask the infiltration of Forsaken members into the capital. Thankfully I was able to receive the name of the perpetrator that donated such a large sum."

A deadly quiet lulled over the court all eight members looked around trying to spot the traitor, walked slowly, and meticulously towards the platform the throne stood on, all the while keeping that smug grin plastered boastfully on my face. Enunciating my victory, but that of course was a bluff.

I had no idea who the traitor was, I was just faking that knowledge to provoke a response. As I walked I scanned the group nonchalantly, but behind that facade, I was scanning diligently for a single clue I could use.

When I was close to the platform, my wish was granted. An older man with a good, but deteriorating build and a handlebar mustache gave me what I was looking for. Everyone looked around in antic.i.p.ation and fear, but in that man"s eyes held true terror.

The look in his eyes can only truly be recognized by someone that has experienced it as well. The kind of terror you feel moments before death, the kind when your life is balancing on a hair. Behind his calm expression held true hopeless terror.

I walked up to the man and said.

"Please explain yourself, why betray your king like this? I already have his testimony, so please explain yourself. Maybe the king will be lenient with your trial."

The man set his eyes in anger, but they still held terror in them. More than he could ever hope to cover with an expression. The man said demanding, with a slight tremor in his voice.

"My king! Can you believe these accusations? I have served you my entire life, I have dedicated myself to the Paladin Order, yet this wretch dares accuse me like this. I have never squandered any of my wages, yet he dares accuse me of bribery! That captain is obviously falsifying information for his own benefit. I am completely loyal to this kingdom, my accomplishments should speak for themselves. Such as when I funded the creation of that orpha....."

I interrupted him saying. "Excuse me for interrupting, but when did I ever mention a captain? Of course, it is a corrupt captain of the guard that received your bribe, but when did I state that?"

The man blinked at me, before saying.

"Screw it, Jennifer do it." He was referring to a woman on the right side of the king, she said a few words I couldn"t hear before a stream of electricity jolted through select people, including myself.

I slumped to the ground in a steaming ma.s.s, along with a majority of the knights and the other remaining court members. I tried to cast a healing spell on myself, but my mana was being blocked. A [Mana Disruption] Spell was active, it"s a spell that renders magic null in a broad area. It blocks magic by interrupting the connection between mana and the mind with interfering mana particles, making casting a spell impossible.

The only issue with this spell is that it causes any spell other than the [Mana Disruption] impossible to cast, the spell also costs an absorbant amount of mana to cast so only high levels mages are able to cast it. The only real advantage this spell has is to give soldiers an edge, but now I"m without a weapon or way of defending myself.

The older man stood over Sir William and gloated, saying "Maybe I should have done this a long time ago William, you never really could see the reality of things. Look around you William, the worlds changing, it"s too bad you won"t be around to see it."

He began laughing maniacally while standing over the king"s smoking unconscious body, he drew his sword and raised it above his head preparing to plunge it into the king. Right before he could drive it down, a thud sounded to his side.

The man looked over to see Jennifer lying dead with a hole through her head. He stood in confusion for a few precious moments, before he too was. .h.i.t with a bolt electricity. He was knocked to the ground, forced to stare blankly up at the ceiling.

I staggered to my feet, my hand still raised from casting the two projectiles. I used Shade to cast a [Lance of Light] at Jennifer, effectively taking her from the fight and disabling the [Mana Disruption] spell. I then used a [Lightining Paralysis] spell to subdue the old man.

I slowly turned to the remaining knights clad in plate armor with electricity arcing through the gaps in my fingers and said.

"I"m guessing the rest of you are allied with them." I eluded to the unconscious/dead leaders behind me. "If you don"t want to join in their fate, then I suggest you should drop your weapons." Seeing the previous outcome and seeing how conductive their armor is, they elected to drop their weapons and surrender.

Soon after a squad of palace knights barged through the door swords drawn, they witnessed me and the king sitting and laughing amongst many unconscious men. I turned wearily to them and said.

"Don"t worry guys, I handled it"