The Union

William showed Timothy the bottle of ale he was drinking.

"The Queen would scold me for drinking ale. She said that royalty should be mindful of what they ingest. Only expensive and refined stuff" Timothy grabbed the bottle and poured into his cup "But this is not some cheap ale. This is a valuable offering from my beloved brother"

"The same beloved brother who will fight against me tomorrow" Timothy added with a shrug.

"I have no choice Tim"

"We always have a choice William. You signed the contract. That is a choice. I wonder why?"

William looked down. He sighed and looked around the room and then at Timothy "Because of you"

"Me?"

"Yes. It is a hard task managing a mercenary company. Silverback prides itself in being tamed and just but the truth is, we experience the same problems as other mercenaries. You know the biggest problem we face"

"Authority"

"Yes. Authority. I always had to defend my authority- and I did for many years. But when you declared yourself as King of Castonia I experienced big problems regarding my authority. I handle Castonians Tim. They know who we are. They know that I"m older than you and yet you pa.s.sed me in line. They wanted me to go back to Castonia and also press my claim. I didn"t. That was hard enough for me. But the straw that broke the camel"s back is when the rumor spread. That thing about the circ.u.mstances of your birth. I tried to stop the rumors from spreading but I failed. I faced mutinies left and right. My Silverback was almost destroyed from within. They don"t respect me anymore. And then a contract arrived. It is from the Vanadian n.o.bles and merchants. My men gave me a choice. They wanted to see if I have guts to face against my brother for their sake. They thought that I was weak. They made me choose Tim. It"s either you or them. It"s either my brother or my dream"

"And you chose Silverback over me"

"It was a hard decision Tim. I built Silverback with my own two hands. Seeing it destroyed breaks my heart. You can just escape anyway. I know you can. You"re smart. This whole thing will set you back a little but you can always return with your army. While I... I"ll have nothing if I refused them"

"You"ll have me"

"I..." William"s words were stuck in his throat.

"But thank you brother. I am relieved to know that you don"t really want to fight against me" Timothy said "By the way, about the rumors. Do you believe in them? Do you think that I am mother"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d?"

William smiled "I know that you are. I have always known"

"Since when?"

"Since we were little"

Timothy lowered his head "And yet you were still kind to me despite knowing"

"What are you talking about?" William put his hand on Timothy"s shoulder "You are my brother. The circ.u.mstances of your birth doesn"t matter. You will always be my brother no matter what. And despite not having n.o.ble blood, you are the best King that I know of. You are the King I have always wanted to serve"

Timothy nodded. He rose and walked towards the exit. "Silverback is your dream. I get it. You are also too honorable to break a contract. But I"m still your brother. I will not escape tonight William. I only have one shot at this. A mere setback you say. But a single setback would mean defeat to me and the Queen. Tomorrow I will accept your combined attack and I will annihilate everyone that is our enemy. You know that I will. You know that I can. I don"t want to annihilate my brother so think it over. Choose William"

Timothy stepped outside. William was left with Wasp. He sighed. He doesn"t understand, he thought. Timothy doesn"t understand.

He turned around and looked at the coat of arms of Silverback. A soldier with a silver shield hung on his back. He didn"t tell Timothy but the coat of arms was based on him. Back when Timothy and Ivan were still fighting in the garden, the royal guards nicknamed Timothy as Silverback. It was because everyone wagered their one silver for him. Timothy would always win and they would get the same amount they wagered in the first place. William had always admired his brother.

He stared at the table. Timothy"s words again echoed in his ears.

"Choose William"

**********

Lucia laid the flowers on the foot of Aunt Anna"s bust. She knelt and said a silent prayer. After she was done, Lucia also sat cross-legged in front of the bust.

"You still remember her favorite flowers huh? White roses. They are also my favorite. These flowers are too pure"

"Just like her" Arthur said.

"Yes. Just like her"

Arthur looked at the flowers. They really are beautiful.

"We already know Arthur" Lucia said.

Arthur was jolted with shock.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. The a.s.sault tomorrow"

His face fell into a frown "Why are you telling me this? I could tell them that you already know and they could changed their plans"

"Oh come on. You know already that we know about what will happen tomorrow. In fact I bet you had already warned them about it. They didn"t listen, did they?"

"I just told them to keep me out of this. I had no intention of alerting them. I didn"t mean to go against you" Arthur said defensively.

Lucia smiled "I know"

"Lucia, I am not that smart. Just tell me why you are talking to me like this"

"We might lose" She said in a low tone "Even if my husband is the best military planner in the world, that cannot guarantee victory. Tomorrow the merchants and n.o.bles could win and we could lose. Mother once told me that life goes on without a.s.surance. Even how hard we try and plan, things could go wrong. The only thing we can do is to do our best and hope for success. Tomorrow is a clean sheet of paper Arthur. The book of history will either write about a failed coup or the defeat of the Union. I"m sorry for saying this but you cannot change the course of history tomorrow. You are a mere figurehead I suppose. But have a choice in which side to pick"

Arthur thought about what she said for a while. "I love my mother"

"Which mother? Yours or ours?"

Arthur found himself not being able to reply. He had two mothers- Aunt Anna and his own mother. He opened his mouth but Lucia talked first.

"That will be your choice Arthur. Which among them do you consider as your mother? Which among them had been a real mother to you. Your fate lies in your decision. Choose wrong and there will be consequences"

She rose and before walking away she said, "Choose Arthur"

**********

After their shocking reunion, Sylvie and her father sat on the exposed roots of the huge tree in the n.o.ble"s district. It was the same tree where the n.o.ble children gathered in the past. Now she was here with her father.

"I thought you are in Wismar" Sylvie said.

"I was in Wismar" Her father leaned on the trunk "But now I"m back"

"You have been exiled. The guards will arrest you if they see you"

"If they see me. If they don"t..." He shrugged "I am free as a poorwill in the spring"

"You shouldn"t have come here"

"You don"t seem happy to see your father again"

"No. That"s not what I meant" Sylvie went closer and hugged his arm "I missed you father. For the longest time, I wanted to see you. I was lost without you. I was truly lost. But now I"ve met amazing people. The Queen even considers me as her friend. And I"ve met Erik. Oh you need meet him father. He is a bit quirky and he"s mean to me sometimes. He"s also smart but he"s too stupid to notice me. But he"s kind to me. You need to meet him!"

Her father smiled and put his palm on Sylvie"s cheek. "I"m disappointed Sylvie"

Those three words struck her heart with pain. She doesn"t understand. What did she do? She doesn"t want to disappoint her father.

"Father I..."

"Remember what I told you before I was forced to leave? I told you to never forgive. I"ve heard you tried to kill the Queen once"

"No that was..."

"I was proud. You were avenging me. You were giving me justice. It was the royal family who exiled me and you repaid them. Well... almost" He clicked his tongue "But lately I"ve been hearing concerning rumors. Some say that you helped the Castonian Marquis escape and even fought against Prince Skall. I didn"t want to believe it. My Sylvie wouldn"t betray me like that"

"I didn"t..."

"But my heart was broken when I heard that you are now living in Greenwater and is good friends with the Marquis of Castonia. You are breaking bread with our enemies. And now you confirmed it yourself- you are friends with the Queen. Imagine how hurt I am right now. You are friends with the people who broke our family. You share laughters and joy with the people who sent me away. I am truly disappointed. My poor Sylvie has changed. She doesn"t love me anymore"

"I love your father!" She cried out "But Lucia has nothing to do with it. She is innocent."

"Innocent you say?! Her family exiled me!"

She hugged her father "Father I"m sorry. Please don"t be angry with me"

Her father"s breathing became tamer. "Fine. But I have a request"

"A request?"

He put something on her palm. It was a small vial. Sylvie recognized it and her body trembled.

"You know what this is right? Silver Moon. You failed once but she trusts you now. The attack tomorrow will fail. I have warned them against it. The conspirators" soldiers are weak. Having weak solders is dangerous. But there"s something more dangerous than a weak army. Trust, Sylvie, trust. Right now the Queen trusts you unlike before. You know what I told you about trust. It can be used to kill. Make her drink this. We will then go to Wismar. I promise I will bring you with me. We will be together again"

Sylvie"s hands were still shaking. She looked at vial. "But.."

"Choose between me and her. I have loved you since you were little. She sent me away." He gripped Sylvie"s shoulders "Choose Sylvie"