The Union

Helios turned his head. There were hors.e.m.e.n trailing them. Their pace was fast.

He squinted to get a more detailed description of their pursuers. The one at the front- Helios knew him. It was him.

"Delay them" he commanded. "Form a rearguard and let us escape"

His order was met by silence and status quo. The mercenaries didn"t bulge. He felt a heat of anger burst through him.

"Didn"t you hear what I said?"

"Sire" The most senior of the mercenaries said "We cannot. Look at the crest on their helm. Royal Guards sire and I ain"t fighting royal guards outnumbered. Even if you pay me a thousand gold coins I wouldn"t. We would die sire!"

"We should all go sire. We"ve seen your hands earlier and them Royal Guards would burn. Fight with us or we all scram" another mercenary said.

Helios ground his molars together. Cowards. All of them are cowards. Well what did he expect from mercenaries? The coward was right though. Royal Guards were tough. They were the best. Mercenaries were like flies to them.

But Royal Guards were still men- and men burn. Brave or cowardly they all burn. Royal Guard or not the all die. It will be dangerous to fight them head-on. But once again they didn"t have a choice.

"Then we should all fight" he turned to Ivan "Including you. They will catch us soon enough. Prepare your weapons. To arms! We turn our mounts together. On my count. Three... two... one..."

**********

The enemies turned their horses around. Leopold was behind Rupert when this happened.

His heart beat faster. He was afraid. He unsheathed the sword provided to him and pointed it forward. He doesn"t even know if his posture is right.

The ones at the front clashed. The horses cried neighs of injury. The riders did too. A few royal guards fell from their horse. Some of them had been injured. Those who were able to escape injury searched for opponents. A mounted melee followed.

Three hors.e.m.e.n galloped towards his direction. One of them had burning hands. It was him. It was the old man Shadow was talking about.

The flame was scary. Any man would have been scared seeing the flames. But two royal guards and Rupert met the flame. They clashed with the mercenaries and the old man.

One of the two mercenaries fell almost instantly. A royal guard"s sword was thrust on his chest. The other ran away but Rupert was able to chase the man and strike him down with a stab to the back just a little below the neck.

But the old man was triumphant on his side. The royal guard he faced burned. The guard screamed. It must have been painful. Of course it was.

Rupert turned his horse around and went for the old man. The old man presented a flame but Rupert didn"t even bulge. Rupert angled his body a little. He crouched on his horse to avoid the old man"s hands. And then he sprung with a thrust of his sword. The sword buried through the old man"s belly. Rupert twisted the blade, ensuring the old man"s demise.

"Helios!" a familiar voice shouted. Leopold looked for the voice. He knew that it was Ivan.

A few steps from the old man and Rupert, Ivan charged with his horse. He met swords with Rupert. The royal guard was able to parry each one of Ivan"s strikes.

But Ivan"s actions gave the old man time to escape. The old man pulled the reins of his horse and trotted away.

Leopold rode towards Ivan. His son was still fighting Rupert. It wasn"t even a fight. It looked like a child throwing a tantrum. Rupert was going easy on Ivan, only defending and not attacking.

"Stop it Ivan. In the name of the Omniscient just stop this nonsense. Look around you. You have lost. Fighting Rupert like that is just embarra.s.sing our family"

Ivan really stopped. He was panting and shaking from exertion. He looked around. Several mercenaries were able to escape. The others were already dead.

Ivan looked at him. There was pain on his expression.

"I am the King! You gave what is mine to Timothy. He is not even your son. He is mother"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d. And you gave him the crown. You dare to this to me father? Am I nothing to you!?"

Leopold went closer to Ivan. He rode his horse slowly like an approaching storm.

"Helios promised me the crown" Ivan declared with an air of superiority "They are powerful father and you must be afraid. Oh they are powerful. Timothy should shake in fear. He should be kissing my boots right now if only he knew. I want to see him tremble. I want to see him realize how weak he is in the grand scheme of things. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d..."

Leopold didn"t let Ivan continue his blabbers. His fist struck Ivan"s face. Even though he"s old, the strength of his arm was still a force to be considered. A painful smack echoed. Ivan"s head was sent bobbing. He went limp from Leopold"s strike and started falling from his horse.

Leopold caught Ivan on his arms. The idiot opened his eyes after a while. Leopold leaned his mouth closer to Ivan"s ears. He wanted his words to be heard.

"I don"t care!"

**********

Shadow followed the trail of blood in the snow. The bright moon aided him in his quest.

A few thousand paces and he found the horse Helios was riding earlier. It remained stationary in the vast snow. He looked around and sure enough he found him. Helios was sitting in the snow and looking at the moon.

Shadow dismounted and walked towards Helios. The heavy crunching of his boots announced his presence. But Helios didn"t rose to fight nor did he tried to escape once more. It was over for him. The amount of blood in the snow confirmed Helios" imminent end.

Shadow stood just a few paces in front of Helios. He had known this man since he was a child.

"You gave them your name. Helios. I heard the Castonian prince call you as such. May I ask why you told him your real name?"

"Do you know what Helios means?" Helios looked at him and smiled "In the old tongue it means the sun. It doesn"t fit you know. My flames are not as hot as the sun. I am a mere flicker. A n.o.body. I couldn"t even do my job well"

"You still didn"t answer my question. Why give Ivan your name? Our names are more than just names. They are our t.i.tles. Some of our kind are too proud to give the humans our name"

"Same reason why you gave them yours. Respect. At first I was like most of our kind. I viewed humans as nothing more than insects. But living here in Castonia for the past years have changed my views. Although they don"t have abilities like we do, they can be powerful sometimes. But I still underestimated them in the end. I thought that the serfs would continue cowering under the rule of the n.o.bles. I was wrong. I now know the importance of the cull. They need to be destroyed or else they would destroy us"

"The cull will fail" Shadow said "King Timothy and Queen Lucia will stop it. It"s a shame that you have to die. You could have joined us"

"No. I am and always be loyal to your father until the very end" Helios shook his head "You know, your father was devastated when you left. His own blood betraying him and supporting the resistance. It must have been painful for him. He told us that we could kill you since you betrayed us first. But I saw it in his eyes. He loves you. He doesn"t want his only child to die. Tell me Shadow. Are you also the same? Do you also love your father?"

"I do"

"Then why do this? You are supporting the resistance and the humans"

"My father is wrong. He oppresses our people. He wants the humans to die by the millions. My conscience can"t accept that"

"Your father is a good man Shadow. He is one if not the kindest that I know. He is merely doing this for our people. Do you think he wants to oppress? Do you think he wants his hand to be bloodied with the deaths of millions? It pains him. But he has no choice. He had seen the horrors of the past and those horrors would be repeated if he doesn"t rule with an iron fist. Those horrors would again occur if the humans were permitted to get stronger"

"That doesn"t make my father right. His ideas are old. His ideas are wrong"

Helios sighed but his sigh turned into a cough of blood. "Then may fortune bless your way Shadow. I hope you find peace in the end. As for me, my time has come. I will not be able to see the future. Good luck to all of you. My path ends here. My flame will burn no more"

Helios lay on the snow. His hand cupped his wound. His breathing had become less frequent. With a last huge heave of air, Helios died.

Shadow walked towards the corpse. He knelt and closed Helios" eyes.

"It has been a long time of fighting. May your flame finally guide you to a warm rest"