"Cursed? But how and why? How can anyone curse him? You told me that he was the chosen one. Chosen for what?" Nicholas started darting his questions at Damianos."He was cursed because he was the chosen one. Just know for now that he is the one who can end all the sufferings of the world and bring in peace and happiness. He can bring back, G.o.d."
Said Damianos and closed his eyes, for there was no way in which he could explain that unless struck by the lightening of death as per the prophecy, Morpheous could never break the shackles of the curse? How could he explain that even though he was struck once, he was thrown back in time and the curse had gripped him back?
"Bring back G.o.d? What on earth are you saying? Where has G.o.d gone?", asked Nicholas and placed his herb pouch on the small rickety wooden table.
"Now is not the time. Let"s find Morpheous first," said Damianos and drank the water which Nicholas had given him and they both set out toward the east wing of the palace.
.
"Psssttttttttt"
"Psssttttttttt"
Nicholas made a fuzzy sound standing behind the pine tree for his friend Theo to hear.
But the sound was not just heard by Theo but two other guards placed on the eastern wind.
"What is this strange hissing sound?" asked one of the guards to Theo.
"Aahhh..... probably its the rusting sound of the wind through these pine trees," said Theo, trying to avoid any suspicion. He knew very well that it was his friend Nicholas as it was his signature sound whenever he wanted to communicate with him.
"But there is no wind," replied the guard and looked in the direction of the pine tree.
"Oh no! It was a bad idea," muttered Nicholas.
"Don"t worry," said Damianos and then lo and behold the pine tree leaves started rusting.
"Make that sound again," asked Damianos.
"Psssttttttttt"
"Psssttttttttt" "Psssttttttttt"
"See it"s the wind," said Theo calming his breath as he could see from the expression of the guard that he was no more suspicious.
"Thank you G.o.d for the timely breeze," thought Theo and then said to the guard - "Brother I need to have some water. I am not feeling that well since morning. Can you cover for me for an hour or so?"
"Oh, not a problem. It"s not like the palace is on fire. Go and take rest."
As Theo saw the guard taking a round he signaled Nicholas to meet at their designated place and started walking away from the palace.
"Where is he going?" asked Damianos.
"To out usual meet up place. We will also leave when the guard will start the second round," replied Nicholas and then turned back to look at Damianos and asked,
"Was it you?"
"What do you mean?" asked Damianos with an expressionless face.
"The wind... I mean the breeze... It suddenly started," said Nicholas hesitantly.
"It"s the wind Nicholas, it doesn"t tell and start," said Damianos and then he looked at the palace wall side and said, "I think we should go now. The guard will soon cross this side."
"Um... right," said Nicholas and turned back to track the movement of the guard and when he crossed the side, Nicholas said,
"Let"s go."
Silently crossing the pine trees and then racing through the apple orchard, they went back towards the pastures. When they reached the horse stable they saw Theo waiting outside.
Seeing Nicholas approaching with another man behind him, Theo said,
"Are you mad Nicholas. Why would you risk your life and come to meet me like that? And who is this man with you?"
"Let us talk about that later. I urgently need some information from you. Have you seen..."
"First, you listen to me, Nicholas. Balthazaar has been imprisoned. Don"t ask me why. Even I don"t know the reason behind it," said Theo, abruptly cutting through the words of Nicholas.
"What? Oh my G.o.d! But why? He was not in a good state," said Nicholas, with an expression of grave worry etched on his face but the face of Damianos hardened upon hearing it.
Looking at Theo he asked, "You are talking about the head of the general council, Balthazaar?"
Theo turned towards Damainos and then looked at Nicholas with an expression of concern, to which Nicholas replied, "He can be trusted. He is not from the kingdom."
Hearing which Theo took a sigh of relief and then looking at Damianos he nodded his head.
"Do you know where is he? At what time was he captured?" asked Nicholas.
But before Theou could answer to hin, Damianos interrupted the conversation with his question, - "Have you heard out a captive who has been brought from Ambracia?"
"Ah! Yes. Our soldiers have captured some man from Ambracia and they are claiming that he has killed all the three hundred soldiers who had been sent in search of the ingot. But that is something impossible. Don"t you think? They have tied him and placed him at the palace ground. He had no movement in his body when my men had checked upon him. I mean he was almost half dead when they brought him here. But don"t believe all these tales though. We think these soldiers were unable to find the ingot so they have made up this story and have caught a poor villager to act as bait.
"Nubeous is about to come to the palace ground to punish that man himself. I sincerely pity that man. Not sure whose face he has seen this morning to end up in such bad luck. By the way, do you know that man by any chance?
Nicholas stood there speechless. He couldn"t hear anything after half dead.
"What do you mean by no movement in his body?" asked Nicholas. A part of him felt relieved to know that the task was completed, but a part of him felt guilty because he was a good man and it was his face that he had seen the first thing today morning.
Damianos heard the words of Theo and then closed his eyes trying to concentrate on something and when he opened, he looked at Nicholas and said, "We need to go to the palace ground. Bring out your finest horse Nicholas."
"But don"t you want to look out for Balthazaar first? He is being held captive at the north-west dungeon," asked Theo, and upon hearing that Nicholas"s blood just froze.
"Did you say north-west dungeon?" asked Nicholas with a voice filled with fear.