Sacrilege

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Grethen and I made it through the City without attracting the attention of any of the guards. My father had worked fast in getting out wanted posters throughout the City, promising citizens a nice size bag of dragon scales. He was trying to force me out by shutting off any places that I would usually hold up in. It was a good plan. I knew my so called friends in this world would be happy to trade me in to the King for the amount of scales he was offering. They were poor citizens that had to feed their family and when it came to things like that, friends did not matter.

  “In here.” Grethen said ducking through the back door of a building. “We’ll be safe here. The owner is in Mayur visiting relatives.”

  “How do you know?” I asked once we were fully in. “Is Samr helping us?”

  “Samr is always helping.”

  We made our way through the shop away from the back door. Grethen headed towards the front and peered out the window. I glanced out the other side. The streets were filled with citizens as they stood in groups watching the guards patrol up and down the streets. A couple of them held my wanted poster in their hand as they chatted animatedly about it.

  “I have to get word to Dyos. I worry that my father will capture him just in case I try to make contact with him.”

  “Your father won’t harm Dyos.” Grethen said stepping back from the window closing the curtain. “His father is the General and he needs to stay in his good graces. But you are right. We need to get Dyos and head to Arwid. We won’t be safe in the City for too long. I have a feeling that your father will keep day running until he finds you.”

  “Won’t the guards find me in Arwid?”

  “Arwid is a close tight community. Even though your father is the King, he does not get much pull around there. The citizens do not even respect their own Prince. Arwid do what they want without asking permission. If I ask them to, they will hide us. We will be safe there.”

  I nodded and walked over to a stool and sat down. My thoughts were streaming with different emotions as I tried not to break down in front of Grethen. I always joked with Dyos about the day my father would disown me, but I never thought it would happen. I never thought that he would grow such a hate that he would actually ban me away from Pearu. Maybe he never cared for me at all. I was only an irritating puzzle to him that he had to find out the answers to. My felt suddenly felt dry as I stood up. I thought I was going to suffocate.

  Grethen placed a hand on my shoulder. “It is okay Aristaeus. It is okay to cry.”

  And I did. Tears streamed down my face as I finally broke down. Everything that had I’d carefully locked away finally unleash and came down on me. My shoulders shook in spasms as I laid my head on the counter. Grethen patted my shoulder throughout it all not saying anything. He knew this was something that had been harboring in me and that I needed to get out. As I cried, I was aware that there was someone else crying. I stopped my sobs some so I could hear. It was the voice of a woman as she cried. I realized it was Samr. Samr was crying with me. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to cause me to stop crying. I didn’t want to hear her crying. I couldn’t handle it. Wiping my face, I sat up.

  “Feel better?” Grethen asked stepping back to allow me to stand.

  “Much better.”

  “Good. I don’t want you to worry about getting the letter to Dyos. I will go and get him myself. When we return, we will head to Arwid. In the meantime, pack up some things we might need in here on our trip.”

  I nodded. “Thank you Grethen.”

  “You’re welcome, your highness.”

  I stared at Grethen as he bowed to me. Standing back upright, he gave me a smile and turned to head back out the back door. “I won’t be long.” The door closed behind him and I was left alone in silence. I couldn’t believe that Grethen had bowed to me. He had never shown any respect for my father or The Courant, but here he was bowing to me and calling me in a manner of the elite.

  Moving around the store, I searched through the jars that were on the cupboard. We would need some things to barter. I didn’t have any money and I doubt Dyos would have time to grab any once Grethen arrived. I couldn’t count on the money that Grethen had on him either. It seemed he made most of his money in the marketplace. We would have to do the same. I found a couple of things that we could use with us on our trip. Grabbing a bag from behind the counter, I filled the sack with jam, cloth, medicine, and other materials. By the time I was done, and had filled two bags, the back door opened revealing Grethen along with Dyos.

  “Aristaeus! Are you okay?” Dyos said rushing towards me. “I heard what happened from my father. I can’t believe the King has resorted to doing this.”

  “Join the club friend.”

  “Well did you at least have the chance to give Kiowa the potion?”

  “Yes, I gave her the required drops. But I did not get to say goodbye to her. Everything happened so fast.” I said.

  Dyos put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I hated that I was pulling him from his family and knew it would cause problems for him when he returned. However, he didn’t seem to mind it.

  “We can catch up and chat later. We need to get out of the City now.” Grethen said. He grabbed one of the bags and Dyos grabbed the other one. “Aristaeus, you are the best fighter out of us, we will need you to be armed.”

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s go.”

  We left out the back door and headed back into the alley. The streets were still filled with noise as we inched towards the opening of the alley, keeping behind some discarded cases and garbage.

  “We’ll have to Camden Street instead of the main road. The main road will be under heavy surveillance by the guards.”

  “Wouldn’t they be watching Camden Street as well?” Dyos asked.

  “Not really. The guards and the kingdom have forgotten about Camden Street since Zobyverth was captured by the Gods. Many believe the street to be curse so they avoid it. They won’t remember the street until it’s too late. By then we’ll already be heading out of the City.”

  Deciding to follow Grethen, we waited until the streets were clear before heading across. We kept our head down as we passed different creatures. I was thankful that I hadn’t changed back into the palace colors like I started to when I arrived. I was still dressed in the blazer I’d worn when I last been in Arwid. We made it to Camden Street without any trouble. Instead of walking like we’d been doing, we ran. Camden Street was a very long road that curved around a group of trees hiding us from the view of the main road. We wouldn’t stop running until we felt that we were completely covered from the sight of the guards.

  Our boots hit the ground as we ran keeping in pace with each other. We took turns glancing behind us to make sure we weren’t being followed. The view of the City began to disappear as we reached the curve of the road. The view completely disappeared the further we got away from the main streets. We were about to slow to a stroll when we heard the sound of a horn being blown.

  “Someone must have spotted us!” Dyos said turning around his eyes large.

  “We can’t worry about that.” Grethen said. “Run!”

  We ran quickly down the road as the King’s horn bellowed throughout the City. I could hear the faint sound of hooves and the excited cheers of the crowd. The noise wasn’t close but it was close enough. We ran until we finally reached the outskirts of the City. Ahead there was a cabin that loaned carriages.

  “Look carriages, we can get one.” Dyos said.

  I shook my head. “No, my father would have already made contact to them. Our best bet is to keep close to the ground until we get to that forest area.” I said pointing. “We get in that forest area— we might have a chance in making it to Arwid.”

  “He’s right. The guards won’t search the forests.”

  The three of us moved to the right side of the road and camoufla
ged ourselves in the grass. The grass was high enough to hide us as we made our way pass the cabin. There was a Chimera on the porch holding a battle axe. His eyes scanned the road, not even noticing us move pass him. Once we were out of his sight, we stood and entered the drapery of the forest.

  The journey to Arwid this time was a long one since we were on foot. The sound of the following guards and carriages had ceased after being in the forest for a while. It was safe to say that that they’d assumed we’d gone another way. When we finally made it to Arwid, we were sore and in need of much rest. As Grethen had said, the guards of Prince Jobson were nowhere to be found. The majority of his guard were probably already in the City to assist the King in his battle, he would not send the last few he had just in case Lilith or Eris made an appearance. We wouldn’t have to worry about him for long either. As the last remaining Prince, he would be joining my father in the battle against the Gods.

  The marketplace was still in full force as we made our way through.

  “Grethen!”

  We turned to see the Orc who’d sold us the potion for Kiowa. He came from behind his booth leaving his customer behind.

  “I’m glad you’re here. Eris was here!”

  “What?’ I said staring at the Orc. “Are you sure it was Eris and not someone else?”

  “It was the Queen. Earlier today after you guys pulled out of here. She tried to enter the marketplace but we stood strong against her. We knew that she was here to recruit more soldiers. We’re not dumb. We heard what happened to her soldiers that attacked the palace. They were left to die by the hands of the Gods. We will not serve a coward like her.” The Orc said.

  “You mean she allowed you guys to live.” Dyos asked surprised. “I thought she would have surely killed anyone that seemed to get in her way.”

  “She would have, but for some reason I don’t think she wanted to attract too much attention.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Well she wasn’t with any soldiers. She had only had one creature with her, but there was something strange about him.”

  “Strange how.”

  The Orc stared at us as if he was afraid to say. More so, it seemed that he was embarrassed.

  “Don’t withhold information Orc, tell us about the creature.” Grethen fussed.

  “The creature that I saw with Eris, he wasn’t a Creature of the Damned. He was something else. He was very tall and he seemed older than the creatures here in Pearu. Even stranger, his eyes changed every second he blinked. Like yours.” The Orc pointed.

  We stared at the Orc before turning to each other. It couldn’t be.

  “Are you sure?” I asked the Orc. “Are you sure the creature eyes changed colors?”

  The Orc rolled his eyes and gave his bumpy leg a stomp. “I think I know what I saw. That creature had eyes that changed colors like a rainbow. He wasn’t a creature of Pearu. Maybe he was a fairy. I heard they exist you know. I ‘ve read books about them.”

  The three of us tuned out the Orc as he rattled on about fairies and the bags of gold they carried around with them.

  “A God, here in Pearu.” Dyos said. “And not just that, he’s with Eris.”

  “Something about this isn’t right.” Grethen said staring at me. He was right. What was a God doing here in Pearu with Eris. It didn’t add up.

  “Well didn’t Samr tell you something?” Dyos said to Grethen. “She sent you back here but she didn’t tell you about the God being here.”

  “She does not tell me everything!” Grethen argued back. “She has her reasons.”

  “I am sure.”

  “Enough.” I said getting in between them. “It won’t do for us to stand here and discuss this where anyone could hear. We’ll head to Grethen’s cabin.”

  I walked away from them as they followed behind me. My eyes scanned the crowd trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of Eris or even the God in the crowd. Maybe they would have stayed around to show their face to me. But I knew that if a God was here, he didn’t remain long. We reached Grethen’s cabin that was hidden in the forest and came to as stop.

  “What happened here?” Dyos said stepping in front of me.

  I withdrew my demos and stopped him. “Wait. We don’t know if there is someone lurking around here.”

  Grethen’s once nicely built cabin was now in ruins. There was a big hole in the side of the cabin and the door was crumbled into pieces in front of the entrance. As we peered through the opening we could see the place was completely wrecked. Papers, books, and dishes were thrown around the room. Someone was in search of something.

  The sound of someone coming behind us put us all on alert. We turned withdrawing our weapons preparing to fight when the same Orc appeared out of the forest.

  “I forgot to tell you about your cabin, but it slipped my mind.”

  “Who did this?” Grethen asked.

  “Eris and that creature did.”

  “I thought you said that they didn’t enter the marketplace.” I said.

  “They didn’t enter it. They turned to leave and were gone for quite a while to the point that everything went back to normal. But as I was making my way to the meat booth, I heard a crashing sound. Me and Ariston heard the noise and came to check it out. When we got here we saw Eris standing outside the cabin. The creature came out from inside of the cabin. The two exchanged words and then they both teleported away.”

  Grethen thanked the Orc for his information as I stared at the cabin.

  “What does this mean Aristaeus?” Dyos questioned.

  “It means one of the Gods, is a betrayer.”