Sweet Waters Throne

Princess Thelma understood what Lord Leoric was suggesting, even she had doubts about this route even though she never criticized it in front of her brother.

Hence she asked, “What do you suggest my Lord?”

“I say you take the route amongst the small villages in the East, then make your way towards the harbor where your nephew will be waiting. He thinks you are taking the Queen’s road, how about you ambush him where he stands. Eliminate him and then march towards the city a victorious, my spies tell me he has less than fifty thousand men” said Leoric taking turns into looking at both Princess Thelma and Taelin.

“That’s a…” Prince Ambrose gave himself a little bit of time, “Are you sure he has less than fifty thousand men?”

“Yes, I’m one hundred percent sure my prince”

Princess Thelma and Prince Ambrose locked eyes, then they both smiled. For weeks they were so worried mayhaps their nephew had outnumbered them in terms of men, but here they were learning that he had less men than them.

This boosted their morally to fight and they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and Prince Ambrose was so delighted to see that he can actually become a King ─ as he was meant to be, he said this to himself.

.....

The Killers were given a new master and his name was Ambrose Taelin, Leoric made sure to tell them to obey and respect Ambrose, but also to fight to please their master. That same day Prince Ambrose and his army continued marching towards the North, now their army was complete and as they passed through villages, the local people couldn’t help themselves but watch at how huge his army was.

Many swore Ambrose Taelin had already won the war, but maybe if they had seen how huge Amabel’s army was, then perhaps they would have changed their minds.

Back in Blackmount, three days passed without Visera and it was so hard for Aurora to handle since she was so connected to her grandmother. With just few days away from her labors, she became overcrowded with melancholy feelings. She isolated herself from everyone and everything, including Artemis and the only joy she found was through playing with Jahery.

The young prince was getting big each day even though he was just one and few months, he could run and he even tried to say a few words although he was still a toddler. Aurora introduced her to the dragons and Vizoro would sometimes hold him in her wings, they were well accounted with the prince since they played with him when they were young.

Apart from pregnancy melancholy, Aurora was also experiencing nightmares whenever she slept. The flames which she once dreamt about never seemed to go away anytime soon, although they just increased. She feared if the war was getting close to happening, although she didn’t want it to happen anytime sooner.

These nightmares and flames, she shared with none other than Lord Balrus. She invited him one particular morning and they had tea while they sat in the gardens of Aurora Hill. The servants brought in pastries, breads, lemon cakes, pies of all taste and all the sweetness things you know of because that’s what Aurora ate. She despised salty foods saying it makes her want to vomit.

Lord Balrus was delighted to find such treat, “You should invite me more for teas if this is all I’ll get” he made a joke while stuffing a piece of a pastry inside his mouth, then he washed it down with the hot tea and honeyed red wine.

“I have weird dreams Lord Balrus” said Aurora.

“You have been having weird dreams before you even wed the King, you knew about Aprophil while I thought I was the only one”

“These dreams are strange now, it’s just flames… and heat and…” Aurora stuttered, she struggled to continued.

It’s not always Aurora grows speechless with no words to say, even Balrus knew that well. Hence he paid full attention to her.

“What do you see in these dreams, apart from the flames?” he asked her.

“That’s the thing, nothing… just flames”

“Is there any way you can decipher them; aren’t they riddles?” Lord Balrus continued to inspect Aurora with any way he knew how, but he was truly trying to help.

Aurora sighed softly then she looked at the clear blue sky, it would be dark soon and freezing since it was winter, although the winters in Maldonia weren’t as cruel as the ones in Prophis. There was no ice or snow falling in Maldonia, the last time ice fell was two hundred years ago. Hence their winters were just cold weather and that’s it but no snow.

“I miss snow” said Aurora, then she turned to Lord Balrus. “Have you ever seen frozen lands my Lord?” she asked him.

Lord Balrus was caught off-guard, they were just talking about flames and nightmares, but then Aurora shifted to frozen lands and snows.

“I was born on a frozen land Your Grace” replied Lord Balrus. “But that’s not what troubles me, it’s your nightmares. Can you decipher them?”

Aurora changed the topic again, not intentionally but she just found herself asking irrelevant questions. She asked about Aprophil and his involvement in the Taelins war, something which Lord Balrus opted from telling Artemis. Yet Aurora was well aware of it.

“I know you went to talk to him, I can see him in your eyes. You do love him so, don’t you?” she told Lord Balrus. “He’s like a son to you, a child you’ll never have”

Embarrassed and feeling exposed, Lord Balrus lowered down his head. Aurora raised his chin and told him, “There is nothing to be embarrassed about my Lord. He needed a father when King Luca couldn’t be to him, and he’s lucky to have been raised by you” she said and smirked.

“I fear for him I can’t lie; my mind was at ease knowing he was running his trade in Whitebridge and being successful. But now that he is going to war, I ─”

Aurora quipped in, “You are scared, like how any parent would be once they see their children off to war. What’s there to wars other than filling the graves, I wonder why men go to war at all. Not to mention he’s the true heir to Sweet Waters throne”

“That he did mention to me Your Grace. He said Amabel Taelin reminds him of his own lost throne” said Lord Balrus. “But I told him the throne was never his to begin with, the day Artemis was born, that’s when even Luca Arteides knew he’d found an heir”

“This war of the kins, none of them will succeed. I have seen Aryan on the throne during the great war, she won’t fall now” said Aurora looking at Lord Balrus.

“But they could… succeed. You said your visions were blurry and you weren’t aware of what you were seeing” he was in denial, even the way he sounds he knew it very well that he was disagreeing with fate.

“My visions may be blurry my Lord, but this is vividly clear. The war of kins will take place and they will fight… hard but against each other without reaching the capital. No one will win, they will all die. This is my omen and it will come true” said Aurora and her voice was full of concerns.

Lord Balrus remained silent, Aurora knew exactly how he was feeling. She reached out to touch his hand, “Aprophil will die if he stays in Prophis any longer, you should write to him and tell him to flee with his ships. Otherwise come fortnight he will be molding in his grave, and you wouldn’t like that Lord Balrus. It will tear your heart open, the pain of losing a child is like no other” she finished and then nodded to him.

Lord Balrus nodded back but he was so heartbroken to hear such news from Aurora. He thought Amabel would win the war, and that meant Aprophil would be safe. The plan Lord Angun constructed sounded too good to be true, how could he believe such plan would work ─ winning a throne with such easiness. And he planted this onto Aprophil without thinking twice about it, did he just sent his beloved son to his death?