A day passed since Morgan’s conversation with Emmer and he was feeling a lot better.
The brothers had been helping Seras to decorate the castle’s backyard for their little New Year celebration. With the winter so close, the afternoons were getting colder and colder, so they used an extra layer of clothes.
Understandably, everyone else in the castle was busy too.
Sigmund had been on his study all day, finishing some last-second business; Cailin was helping the maids in the kitchens; and Bertrand…
He had no idea what Bertrand was doing. Knowing him, probably pulling some prank on an unlucky bastard, probably
Work aside, everyone was cheerful, the exception to the rule being Emmer, who had looked almost nervous since the morning.
While they were taking a rest, Morgan decided to ask him about it. “Is something the matter, brother?”
By his complicated expression, Emmer was thinking carefully about what to answer. “We need to talk about something important.”
“Yeah…?” He was getting nervous himself.
“It’s something private. If you don’t mind, could we go to the watchtower?”
He looked at his aunt. Seras nodded with a smile. “Okay.” The situation was weird, but if his brother was in some kind of problem, he wanted to help.
The siblings rode to the watchtower. Once there, leaving their mounts on the little stable.
While they did, Morgan couldn’t but notice he and Emmer were the only ones around.
Ivonn’s company was composed of about twenty soldiers. So usually there were at least a couple of them guarding the perimeter. Not today, though. The tower looked empty, just like it was before Emmer arrived.
For the first time, Morgan found the place ominous.
“Where is everyone?”
“Mmh?” Emmer looked at him. His expression was blank. “Ah. The soldiers. They are busy.”
“Busy with what?” To his knowledge, they had no particular tasks but protecting Emmer’s back, which they were not doing at the moment.
“That’s not important, Morgan.” They entered the building. “Let’s go up.”
Weirded out but having no reason to refuse, he followed Emmer to the top of the tower.
“We should be fine here. He promised,” murmured Emmer.
“Brother, what is happening?”
Emmer shook his head. “Please take a seat first.”
That phrase echoed in Morgan’s mind. He heard it before and every time followed by bad news.
“No.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Morgan, please.”
“You’ve been acting weirdly all day. And I can’t keep ignoring it. Just tell me, what’s the problem?”
“I… I lied to you.”
Goosebumps ran through Morgan’s spine.
“What?”
“I lied about the reason Father and Mother didn’t come.” Emmer was clearly distressed. “Onder is not a safe place anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Uncle−, I mean, Lord Basthed. He is practising dark magic.”
For a moment Morgan’s thoughts halted, but as soon as he understood the entirety of what Emmer said, his anger took control. “What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“Brother, have you seen the inside of the Light Tower?”
“What does that have to do with anything?!”
“Just like I thought.” Emmer sighed. “I tried to ask Lord Basthed about it, acted subtle, to convince him to let me in. But he refused. And it wasn’t just me. No one has seen what he does inside that building. It has no windows, and both the door and walls are somehow impenetrable. Do you understand how suspicious that is?”
“He likes his privacy, what about it?” He said defensively.
But Emmer wasn’t wrong. Morgan had always found that weird.
Emmer ignored his comment. “Also, for a magus, don’t you think he rarely uses magic at all?”
That was right too.
Morgan had only seen Sigmund using magic a few times, always to entertain his children and him with mere party tricks. For that reason, sometimes Morgan even forgot Sigmund was a magus.
However, maybe Sigmund practised his real magic by himself inside the Light Tower?’
Morgan couldn’t give Emmer the reason, though. “Uncle Sigmund is not like our father. He doesn’t need to show what he is capable of all the time to receive the respect he deserves. What you’re saying is just slander!”
“No. I’m sad to say it isn’t.” Emmer’s expression turned grim. “Father received evidence about Lord Sigmund’s illegal activities. He didn’t want to leave you in the control of such a person but couldn’t put the whole family at risk so he gave me the task to bring you home. That’s the reason Sir Ivonn is here in the first place: To capture Lord Basthed… Or deal with him accordingly.”
Morgan paled. “Deal with him…?”
They wanted to kill Sigmund.
“Lord Basthed is dangerous. But as long as he doesn’t resist he should be-” Not interested in hearing further, Morgan rushed towards the door but Emmer caught his arm. “Brother, please calm down!”
“No, you get your hands off me!” He snapped, pushing Emmer away. “You are saying Father has evidence of this ridiculousness? Then what is it?! Show me!” For his frustration and anger, Emmer didn’t answer. “You… You don’t even know what it is, right? You are just trusting Father’s words on this.”
This time Emmer had something to say, “do you truly think Father would lie about something so grave? Do you think he would let someone else trick him into this?”
In other circumstances, he would say no. But seeing how easily Emmer had lied to him and kept him in the dark, Morgan realized how little he actually knew about his family.
“I don’t know.” He was done with Emmer.
He couldn’t waste more time.
“You won’t be safe out there, Morgan. Sir Ivonn has been worried about you being corrupted by Lord Basthed’s influence. If you go out there and try to oppose him, I won’t be able to do anything to stop him. That’s the reason I brought you here. So you wouldn’t get hurt. So you would be safe!” Emmer pleaded, in the greatest show of emotion Morgan had ever seen from him. “So please stay!”
He stared at his brother in disbelief, having to reign himself not to punch him in the face.
He gritted his teeth. “But what if aunt Seras tries to stop those soldiers…? Worse. If Bertrand or even Cailin attempt to save his father, then what…?!” Emmer’s face paled. “I already took my decision.” He glared at him. “You don’t abandon your family.”
Then he left. Emmer didn’t try to stop him anymore.
The walk to the ground floor felt like an eternity. On the way, he grabbed a bastard sword from one of the exhibits. The weapon was heavy and hadn’t been sharpened in a while but it was all he had at the moment.
As soon as she opened the doors to the outside, he saw his enemies standing by the other side of the bridge.
The red knight and two archers beside him, arrows ready.
“Just as I expected,” said Ivonn in a deep voice. It was the first time Morgan heard him speak. “You walked out of your burrow to try to rescue your master.”
“Master?” Was he talking about Sigmund?
“Don’t fake ignorance, you fiend. Unfortunately for you, it’s too late.” He smirked. “I already dealt with the heretic. Now it’s just a question of time.”
Morgan’s face twitched with cold anger. “What did you do to my uncle?”
“I did what I had to do. Easy and simple. Not like trash like you would understand.”
“You and Father are mistaken, uncle Sigmund didn’t do anything wrong! They are all lies!”
“Ridiculous! Men can lie but not God.”
Morgan frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about…?”
“I have no time to waste explaining to you something you won’t understand anyway. You choose darkness and now you will pay with your blood.” He drew his weapon, a sword covered gold. “And don’t dare to try to escape or my men will fill you with arrows. Die like a man!”
They stared at each other.
Seeing the hate in the knight’s eyes, Morgan knew he had no escape. Especially now, that he realized Ivonn’s sanity was in question.
If he won’t move, then I’ll make the first strike.
Morgan crushed his remaining doubts and advanced to Ivonn, making a slash with all his strength. The knight blocked with ease, not moving one step from his position.
Morgan put on guard, expecting a counter-attack that didn’t come. Then, he attempted a second strike, but again, it was ineffective.
“You are too predictable. Your inexperience shows.”
Morgan started panicking, his attacks becoming wilder. However, none of them seemed even close to trespassing Ivonn’s defences.
Inevitably, he started doubting himself. He had only started sparring with real swords recently and always in a controlled environment.
Now, he realized a real fight was immensely different from his usual training.
The knight was playing with him. His prowess was obvious and yet, he kept only defending.
“Let me guess, the filthy untalented men from around here teach you. Such a boring and rigid style won’t get you anywhere. And you don’t seem to read the situation either. ” Morgan stumbled as Ivonn dodged his strike. “We are not sparring.”
For the first time in all their exchange, the knight attacked. Morgan tried to block, but as the golden sword struck, the strong impact knocked Morgan’s sword away.
For a moment, everything was in silence. The only noise was from Morgan’s heartbeat and the little splash as his sword fell into the river. He was disarmed, with no weapon or shield to defend himself. He didn’t even have any armour. And no matter how many layers of clothes he had, they weren’t going to protect him from getting hurt.
But he still had an option: The river. It was close, so even if the archers shot at him, he could get away if he was fast enough.
But as Morgan took a step back, Ivonn dashed toward him, a flash of yellow slashing at his stomach.
As the attack finished, dizziness took hold of him. When he looked down, he saw red spilling out like a cascade.
“This is an execution,” said Ivonn.
The strength of his legs vanished and he fell backwards into the river. The clear water around him staining red.
The pain of his wound and the coldness of the water engulfed him.
So this is it? Dying was all I was able to do…? He felt no fear. Only disappointment.
His vision darkened, as he pictured all the people he had failed.
Eventually, the pain vanished. But also the rest of his sensations and emotions.
He was empty.
Suddenly, two orbs of light shined in the darkness.
For an instant, he expected salvation. But as the lights approached, he understood that wouldn’t be the case.
They were eyes. Silver ones.
“What a cruel man he is to choose you of all people in this world,” said an unknown man’s voice. “But if that’s his demand, I can only comply.” The man chuckled and Morgan felt something change in the deepest of his being. “See you on the other side, Morgan Selbair.”
