It took a death curse, Coren noted to himself with an amazing amount of clarity, to really make you appreciate who transient life was.
The soldier had managed to stumble inside the gates of Hamlin, and wasn't sure how much farther he could make it. Already he was starting to have the hallucinations, the spitting up blood, and the general loss of the use of his limbs, and it was already a full day out since he'd left the smouldering ruins of the Moonbrook kingdom behind, desperate to try and make it to his goal as he had been ordered. It wasn't like he had anything else to do in the last few days of his life.
The problem was that no one seemed inclined to travel nowadays. Not that he could really blame them, with the monster attacks. Hamlin had a particularly good reason to be nervous; with the fall of a kingdom's barrier so close to their own, smaller and more defenseless town, some people had already given themselves up for dead and promptly gone to the bars to drink the town out of ale and beer. Others had moved into the church, praying for the salvation of their souls. Their bodies and lives, obviously, were already beyond saving. And as if that hadn't been enough against him, the few that seemed like they might move from outside the walls, either from fear or lack of it, didn't seem inclined to take a blood-covered, stumbling man with slurred speech.
How had things turned out this way? Coren reflected, with an odd amount of cheer, or at least a lack of bitterness, that he had never been particularly lucky. First there had been the thing with the sea serpent (and they said it only happened once every few thousand years!) Then had been the lightning. After that, the lightning again...in the same spot. It seemed his bad luck had finally decided to peak and bring an end to itself.
Or, on the other hand, it was very good luck, he reflected. After all, no one else had survived the sea serpent, and how many people could say they had been struck by lightning--twice, no less!--and survived? And even with the bothersome death curse, he was doing a fair sight better than most of his companions, dead at the hands of the monsters. He'd heard they did terrible things to corpses sometimes...He tried not to think about it as he turned back to his goal, stumbling after the caravan he had seen. "Shurs, jusht a moment of your time--"
The woman with the wagon leader saw him, shrieked, and within moments swords were pointing at him. "I shay, that'sh not very nice," he managed to get out. "I just need a lift--"
"Get out of here, monster!" the wagon leader demanded, and although the pointy object was quite capable of doing him harm, Coren couldn't help but note that the man's hands were shaking.
"You've got the wrong idea--"
With a shout, the man threw the sword at Coren. It flipped through the air, the butt end of the weapon catching him between the eyes. Rubbing at his forehead for a moment, he picked up the sword, but the wagon was already leaving him behind. "I say, you forgot this...!"
"Don't waste your breath," a voice said from behind him. "He won't be coming back for it."
Coren turned, and the sudden movement made him ill, causing him to vomit out another hearty dose of blood. "You're in really terrible shape," the pair of boots in front of him observed. "What the hell happened to you?"
The soldier looked up, and the owner of the boots looked down at him. He was a young man, perhaps in his twenties, with unusually striped hair in light and dark brown, tied back in a ponytail. Crossing his arms, the other looked down at Coren with sharp green eyes. "Uh, sorry about the vomiting and all," Coren said, a bit embarrassed. "Death curses tend to do that to you."
"I'll keep that in mind. Where are you trying to get in your condition? I don't know of any place that can break a death curse."
"Isn't one," Coren said with a shrug. "I need to get to Lorasia."
The other man frowned. "That's a long ways from here. You'd have to cross through the Lora tunnel to get to the Loraisan continent, and the castle's still several days away by foot."
Coren offered a smile. "You see my dilemma, then. I'm pretty sure I don't have several days to get there."
"What are you going to do when you get there?"
For the first time in the conversation, the soldier's face turned serious. "I need to warn them of what's coming. There's an ill storm coming, one that's going to overtake the world."
The other man frowned. "He's been making moves for a few years, now. What makes you think now is the time?"
"Moonbrook is gone."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"Well, there's still some wall left standing," Coren said with a wave of his hand, "and probably quite a bit of corpses. But that doesn't really count for much."
The other man put a hand to his chin, finger absently stroking a pair of scars on his cheek. "That's not possible. Moonbrook has a barrier, and a fairly strong one at that. What happened to their church, their priest?"
Coren shrugged. "Don't know. I'm just a guard. Didn't know anything until they started swarming over the walls."
The other thought about this for a moment more. "Then we probably don't have time to waste. Not sure if Lorasia can do anything about it, but I suppose we should see if we can tell *someone*."
Coren perked up at that. "Would you give me a ride, then? Do you have a horse, perhaps? I'd be much obliged. It's the last thing the king ordered me to do, so I'd really like to get it done."
"Do I have a horse, he says," the other snorted to himself. "It's at the edge of town. Come on."
"Oh, and I'm Coren, by the way," the soldier said with a salute that didn't work quite the way it was supposed to. Dratted arms. "What's your name?"
"Teslian," the other man answered, "and you talk far too much for a dying man. You should save your strength."
"Oh, believe me," the soldier replied, "that's all I'm doing."
The guards of Lorasia had arrows to string, watching cautiously as they saw the shadow overhead, trying to decide whether to fire or not. "It's not making any move to descend," one man said with a frown. "Should we hail it?"
"That'd be a good idea," agreed another man from behind the guard. "There's a person on top of it."
The guard jumped slightly, fumbling with the bow as he turned around. He proceeded to fumble a second time as he saw the figure before him, looking up at the sky at the figure circling. "Prince Nikado! I beg your pardon, sir. What are your orders?"
The prince turned his dark blue eyes to the guard in a steady gaze for a moment, then looked up again, cupping his hands to his mouth. "Hello up there!"
"I have a wounded man with me," a voice floated back down. "He has a message for the King of Lorasia."
"Bring him down into the courtyard," Nikado called back, "we'll tend to his wounds." With that, he turned with a whirl of cape and long black hair, turning toward the stairwell and leaving the guards feeling slightly befuddled.
"Teacher," the prince instructed as he began down the stairs. "Lend me your bag, please."
The woman, an older lady with dark hair and eyes, looked up at the tall man. "Let the healers handle this, Prince. The wounded could be carrying plague or something equally dreadful."
"I'll be fine. I didn't bully you into lessons of aid just to watch others do the work," he replied, taking the bag she offered out reluctantly. "Besides, I want to see that horse up close."
The horse was easily the first thing visible in the courtyard, its large wings folded up as it munched on some stray blades of grass, for all the world like any other horse if not for the large golden-colored wings. "Thank you for bringing him here," Nikado said to the man standing by the horse, kneeling by the injured man that had been set on the ground.
"Don't bother," Teslian stated, tone devoid of any emotion. "He's too far gone for help. There isn't any cure for a death curse, anyway."
Nikado frowned up at the man before taking in the condition of the injured. Streaked with his own blood, some coming out in splits on the skin, like an overripe fruit, what skin was intact was ashen and clammy, and the man's breath was short, eyes unfocused and darting back and forth. "I brought him here from Hamlin," Teslian explained. "His conditions gotten this worse in only a few days."
Nikado frowned, then wiped away the sweat on the other man's brow. "Bring me some water," he called as he dug through the bag, looking for something to relieve Coren's pain.
"Wow, you're optimistic, aren't you," Teslian observed. "Or just dumb."
"Watch your mouth!" one of the nearby guards exclaimed. "You're talking to the Prince of Lorasia."
Nikado paused in his rummaging long enough to frown at the guard. Teslian's expression turned dark. "I don't care who he is. Dumb isn't restricted to commoners."
"You low-life--" the guard began, raising his sword.
"Enough," Nikado interrupted smoothly. "We don't kill people for words, here."
"How generous of you, princeling," Teslian snorted.
Nikado looked up at the other man, before the bucket of water arrived. "Where is my father? This man has a message!"
"We've sent word, prince."
"Why did you bring him to us?" Nikado directed at Teslian.
"He said he needed to come here," Teslian replied.
Nikado nodded slightly, wiping at the man's face and neck with the wet cloth. "Oh..." Coren groaned as the cloth moved across his face. "Feels nice.... Do that again."
Nikado obligingly wiped at his face again. "What's your name, sir? Where are you from? Why have you come here?"
Coren tried to salute, but his hand only flopped in a weak, limp motion. "Coren...of Moonbrooke. Came to deliver...a message. To the king." His eyes drifted around. "Is he here? Can't see so good right now."
"You can tell me," Nikado told him, continuing to clean the blood off of the dying man. "I am Nikado, the prince of Lorasia."
"Oh? Is that so?" Coren squinted at him. "You're kind of fuzzy-shaped for a prince."
"What's your message?" Nikado asked quietly.
Coren coughed, took a shuddering breath, and tried to focus. "My message...yes. Moonbrook...gone. All gone."
"It's gone? What of the King, his...." Nikado paused for a moment. He was pretty sure the King had had a child...a daughter? "the princess?"
"Don't know. He's found a way inside the barrier, prince. He's going to try and destroy everything. For real this time. Tell Lorasia...tell them that we need to make preparations. To prevent the end of the world."
"He? Who's 'he'?" Nikado put a hand on the man's shoulder, taking Coren's hand in his own. "Who destroyed Moonbrook?"
"Ah...that's the question, isn't it?" Coren looked up at Nikado, and smiled slightly. "He...the tyrant of the monsters. Ha...Hargon...." And with the name, the last breath was sucked out of him, and the soldier of Moonbrook finally succumbed to the death curse, his job done.
The prince was silent for a long moment, placing the soldier's hand on his chest. A gesture of being at peace. "Prince?" one of the guards questioned. "What should we do with...If he's carrying plague...."
"You idiots," Teslian interrupted, "a death curse isn't a plague."
"We will give him a proper burial. Teacher," he instructed the woman standing nearby, "are you familiar with the funeral rites of Moonbrook?"
"To a degree."
"I'll leave it in your hands, then."
"Prince," another guard called, walking into the courtyard. "Your father is on his way."
Nikado shook his head. "Apologize for bothering him. The situation has been taken care of. I'll speak with him later."
"What a useless man," Teslian observed to himself before turning toward his winged horse. "I'll take my leave, then."
"MIght I persuade you to stay for a few hours more?" the woman spoke to Teslian.
"I doubt there is much you can say to convince me of that."
"Because you're a citizen of Murkbythe?"
The man paused. "My name is Morita," she told him, "and I used to live just outside of that town, before the Swallowing."
"Don't talk of that to me." He kept his back to her. "I didn't ask for your name, and that connection means nothing to me."
"Then would you consider it for the sake of the world that we both live in?" she countered evenly. "You must realize the danger imminent. This is one of the three houses."
"The houses have no power. Cannock and Lorasia both couldn't stop the Swallowing, could they? And Moonbrook is wiped off the face of the world. Probably their royal line is dead, too."
"Just a few hours. Until twilight," she pressed. "I won't impose on you further."
He looked over at his horse. The winged beast kneeled on the ground, folding its wings in an obvious desire to stay put for the moment. "Sorry," he apologized to the horse. "I did overwork you on that flight here. We'll rest. Unless the grand folk of Lorasia have objections to my staying the night?"
It was just before dawn, Nikado was pretty sure, as he turned in his bed to glance out the window. His father, the King of Lorasia had shown some concern for Coren's message, but in the end, Nikado was pretty sure nothing would come of it. After all, Lorasia was just a small kingdom on the end of the continent. If Moonbrook had been defeated, there wasn't much Lorasia. I'm sorry, Coren. I don't think there's anything I can do for your kingdom.
The sound of his door opening made him sit up, the prince taking a moment to reassure himself of his sword's presence by his nightstand. The person that entered, however, was Morita. "Teacher! You scared the spit out of me," he whispered. "What are you doing here at this hour?"
She put a finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. "Get dressed and put on your armor and cloak. And grab your sword. "I've already packed a bag of supplies."
He frowned in confusion. "What? Why, are you going somewhere?"
She shook her head. "I've arranged for an escort for you to Leftwyne. From there, you'll have to make your way to Cannock by yourself. From there, the prince of Cannock should be able to help you."
"I don't understand. Why am I going to Cannock?"
She gestured impatiently for him to get out of the bed and get dressed. "Hurry, we haven't much darkness left. I'll explain as you dress."
He frowned at her again, but did as he was told, shucking off his night clothing and pulling out some fresh clothes from his closet, picking out a long, warm cloak in the color of Lorasia's blue. "All right, why am I going to Cannock?"
"You heard what that poor solider said," Morita said softly. "Hargon is on the move, and for real this time. He's probably attacked Moonbrook because they're one of the three houses of Loto."
Nikado grunted as he pulled on a tough leather leg guard. "What's that got to do with it?"
"Because the three houses are descended from Loto, of course," she told him. "Haven't you learned anything from me at all? Loto is the hero who defeated the great evil many long years ago. After his descendant defeated the Dragon Lord a few hundred years ago, he founded three houses, three kingdoms to guard against the return of evil. Hargon is that evil. You and Cannock need to stop him, and Moonbrook, if the princess has survived."
"What about my father? Does he know?"
"No, and I don't intend him to know until you're gone. He can be angry at me for putting you in danger if he likes, but there's no denying you're in no less danger if you stay here. The children of Loto are the only thing we have against the tyrant of the monsters. Now, will you go?"
"I'm getting dressed, aren't I?" he replied, standing up so she could buckle his breastplate on. "So I need to go to Cannock. Where is that?"
"From Leftwyne, it's almost directly due north. You should be able to see it after a day and a half of travel." She fastened the cloak on him, then frowned. "Here, take this," she told him, taking the clasp, which bore the royal symbol of Lorasia, off the cloak and replacing it with her own. "It would be best if you kept your identity under wraps. If Hargon's monsters find out who you are, they'll probably try to kill you to be safe. Now, come." She handed him the bag.
He followed her out of the room, down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Teslian was standing near the wall, cinching up the saddle on his winged horse. He scowled as he spotted the other man. "You want me to babysit the princeling? You're really stretching my good graces."
"Just to Leftwyne. I'll fill my end of the bargain. I would ask you to go further with him, but I don't think you will, will you?"
"Just the thought of going this far with him makes me want to hurl," the man replied, patting the horse.
Nikado wasn't sure this was the best person for the job, but decided to try and make the best of it. "Thank you for your assistance," he said with a bow.
"Whatever. We're going on foot to Leftwyne, at least until we reach the desert. Think you can handle that?"
Nikado nodded, shouldering the bag. "I'm ready when you are."
Teslian didn't respond to Nikado, seemingly content to ignore him otherwise as he walked outside, the horse following of its own will. "That's a well-trained horse," he observed. "You've never used a bit with him, have you?"
"I find them cruel. What do you care?"
"He's a beautiful horse," the prince complimented, reaching out to touch a wing. The horse seemed pleased at the attention, pushing his face against Nikado's shoulder. "What's his name? Where did you get him?"
Teslian scowled at the horse. "His name is Roybealle. Traitor," he added to the horse. "He found me. Rescued me from Murkbythe."
"Murkbythe?" Nikado scowled at the name. "That sounds familiar, but I'm not sure why. Is it far?"
"Of course you wouldn't know it," Teslian snorted. "It was north of Leftwyne. Was. Now there's nothing left. The monsters dragged the entire city under beneath the earth a few years ago."
"I'm sorry," Nikado apologized sincerely. "I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't. We only asked Lorasia and Cannock for help many times. Neither of them came to our aid, and as a result the entire town was wiped out. I'm the only survivor."
"I'm sorry," he apologized again.
"I don't need your apologies. What are they going to do? Bring back the dead? Just stop talking," Teslian snapped. "It's just as well that we don't. There are monsters around here, you know."
"Monsters? This close to Lorasia?"
"There are monsters everywhere, you moron," Teslian told him. "The barriers of the church is all that keeps them out. And if the word from Moonbrook is correct, even that isn't holding up any more."
Nikado let out a sigh, a hand drifting to the sword behind him. Teslian caught the gesture. "So can you actually use that thing?" he asked with a gesture to the longsword.
The prince nodded. "I've trained with a sword since I was a kid."
"That doesn't mean much. Have you ever been in battle?" Nikado shook his head. "I figured. Welcome to the real world, princeling. Things aren't as nice here as they are in your safe little castle."
Most of the trip to Leftwyne passed in relative silence. Nikado would occasionally ask questions, but getting a response was difficult to say the least. Thus far, he had only been able to gather that the man was a trader, using his horse to travel quickly and relatively safely, and that he hated monsters...and the kingdoms of Lorasia and Cannock. The only thing that did seem to make an impact on the other man was the fact that Nikado, while having no actual battle experience, was no slouch with a sword. Not only was he able to easily dispatch the local monsters, but he was sharp and alert, rarely being taken by surprise. "Don't forget the spoils," Teslian instructed after one such fight.
"Spoils?"
Teslian pushed aside the body, finding a few gold coins after a quick inspection, handing them over to Nikado. "Monsters love shiny things, especially coins. They usually get them from robbing and killing humans."
As promised, once they had crossed the small desert over the evening, the town of Leftwyne was easily visible. "I'll see you inside, but that's all the help you get. Use those coins and get yourself a room, or another guide. I have work to do."
"Thank you for your help, Teslian. I really appreciate it."
The trader snorted, turning away and letting Roybealle follow. The horse did so, but not before giving Nikado another friendly headbutt to the shoulder. Smiling, Nikado turned away himself, looking to orient himself. He'd been to Leftwyne a few times, but not recently, not since the monsters had become active. Thankfully, most things were where he remembered, particularly the inn.
In the morning, he began his journey toward Cannock, after consulting with a few locals to make sure of the path. It was just where Morita and the townsfolk had said it would be, a beautiful stone castle rising out from the top of the hill it was on. Somehow, it looked very similar to his own home, enough to give him a brief pang of homesickness. He'd never been so far from home, and not for so long. His father would probably be angry. What if Lorasia soldiers came looking for him? Pushing the thoughts aside, he walked up to the gate, motioning to the gatekeeper. "State your name and purpose," the gatekeeper declared gruffly.
Nikado paused, remembering Morita's warning, but pushed ahead with the truth. "I am Nikado, prince of Lorasia. I seek an audience with the prince of Cannock."
"Do you have proof?"
Nikado reached inside his shirt, withdrawing a pendant with the royal mark of Lorasia. The gatekeeper disappeared for a moment, and Nikado could hear murmured voices, and then the gate opened.
Upon entry, a guard greeted him with a salute, leading him into the castle's interior. Even the inside was of a similar layout to his own home. Had they been designed by the same person, perhaps? The guard led him straight up and into the audience hall, saluting as he entered.
The man and woman that sat before him could only be the king and queen of Cannock, dressed in royal finery. Unlike his own family, with their black hair, blue eyes and tanned, olive-toned skin, the people of Cannock were fair-skinned and had brown hair and eyes. "Greetings, prince Nikado," the king greeted warmly. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? Your father is well?"
"He is, but unfortunately this isn't a visit for pleasure." Nikado looked up at the king. "The kingdom of Moonbrook has been destroyed by Hargon."
"What? Surely not," the queen gasped.
The king leaned forward with a frown. "I had heard rumors that they had been attacked, but destroyed? What of the king, the princess?"
Nikado nodded. "I spoke with a soldier of Moonbrook who confirmed it before his death. He had no word of the royal family, sadly."
"I see. This is most troubling," the king said, mostly to himself. "Thank you for coming all this way to give us the message, Prince Nikado."
"If I may, sire, that is not the only reason I came here," Nikado pressed.
"Oh? What is your other reason, then?"
"I have come to seek an alliance with the prince of Cannock," the younger man said firmly. "To unite the three houses of Loto against Hargon, if we can. We can't allow our cities and towns to continue to be knocked down by this tyrant."
"I agree," the king said after a moment.
"If only Jer was here," the queen sighed to herself.
The king nodded agreement. "Prince Nikado, I have suspected such a thing might be necessary. Unfortunately, my first son is no longer with us, but I have sent my second son to the Spring of Heroes for advice and prayers."
Nikado nodded. "I will meet with him, then. Where is the Spring of Heroes?"
"It's not far," the queen reassured him. "Just out to the tip of the peninsula. There's a road leading out to the east from the crossroads in front of the castle. Here, give us your bag, we'll refill your supplies. Take a moment to rest."
"Thank you," he said with another bow, letting a handmaiden lead him out.
The rest was much appreciated as he let the handmaidens take his cloak for cleaning, preferring to leave his armor on, and bring him food and drink. Sitting down on a plush couch, he flopped back with a sigh, trying not to think too much about the eventual goal of what he had to do. Right now, he just needed to focus on meeting with the prince of Cannock. The second prince, he reminded himself. He hadn't known there was more than one. Who was the other prince and where had he gone?
A noise caught his attention, and he looked up. The cause of the noise let out a little squeak which was accompanied with a rustling of the curtains. "Hey, it's okay," he reassured. "I'm not going to hurt you, come on out."
A face peered out from behind the curtain, that of a young girl perhaps eight years old, with the fair skin and brown hair like the king and queen. "Are you really a prince?" she asked. "Mamma and Pappa say I should marry a prince someday."
Nikado smiled at that. "Yes, I am a prince. I'm from Lorasia. I'm not looking to get married right now, though. You are?"
She smiled shyly, fidgeting with the curtains, but didn't give her name. "Are you any relation to the king and queen?" Nikado hazarded a guess after a while. That got him a nod. "Their daughter, perhaps?" Another nod. So she was the princess of Cannock. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said after a moment. "So you have two older brothers?"
"Jer is gone," she answered, "but we have Alex."
Jer and Alex. "Is Jer the eldest? Where has he gone?"
"Into the ground."
"Into the ground?" he echoed.
She nodded. "He went into the ground and didn't come out. Mamma and Pappa put a stone where he went into the ground."
Nikado's expression sobered. "You mean he's dead, then?" he asked gently.
She nodded again. "But Alex hasn't gone into the ground. He went to the cave."
"To the Spring of Heroes, right? What's your brother Alex like?"
She considered. "He's not like Jer. Jer was big and strong and could protect everybody. Alex hides in his room and reads books all the time."
"I see. He sounds like a nice guy," Nikado said with a smile.
She grinned back, showing off a gap between her teeth. "Are you Alex's friend?"
"Well, I hope to be," he answered honestly.
The grin got bigger. "Great! Alex needs a friend that isn't a book. He stayed with the books since Jer went into the ground."
"Were your brothers close?"
"I don't really know. I was really little when Jer went into the ground. I was this small!" she said, pulling her hands out from behind the curtain to show him. "My nanny said Alex used to always follow Jer around, though."
"I see. You were really small, huh?" He smiled at her.
"Princess!" came a scolding voice from the hallway. "Don't bother our guest."
"Oh, it's all--" The girl had already fled at the scolding, light footsteps signalling her escape route.
The Spring of Heroes was little more than a hole in the ground with a spring at the bottom, a priest keeping watch over the sacred waters. He was delighted to see Nikado and was more than eager to make conversation, explaining that the Prince of Cannock had indeed been by, but had already left towards Lorasia to meet up with the Prince of Lorasia and he guessed they had just missed each other? Which left Nikado with a bit of a dilemma, because he was pretty sure he couldn't return home.
He had started back that way in hopes of catching up, but the distance he had covered thus far had revealed no other prince, and so Nikado took a break for lunch at a crossroad, looking down the path where he knew Lorasia to be, just out of sight. As he ate, he considered what his next move should be. Return to Cannock and hope the prince would return there? Wait for him somewhere and hope he'd cross paths?
The sound of a horse's hooves on the dirt made him look up in hope, but the man riding into view at a casual pace didn't resemble the Cannock royal family in the least. While he did have brown hair, kept amazingly long, down past his waist, it was a darker shade, and his face was different, more defined and less rounded than the Cannock royal family. And his eyes were purple, Nikado noted with a start as the man got closer, an unusual shade. The man grinned as he approached, giving the prince a friendly wave. "I guess I'm not the one you were hoping to see."
"Sorry," Nikado apologized. "It's just that I'm looking for the Prince of Cannock and it's very important that I meet with him."
"The Cannock prince? He was there a day or two ago," the rider said with a gesture behind him. "Left pretty quickly after he found out the Prince of Lorasia wasn't there. There's a pretty big uproar over this prince missing, apparently. I wouldn't really want to get involved either. Kiel Brand, by the way," he said, sliding off the horse and extending a hand. "Treasure hunter, hired hand, and jack of all trades. Nothing I can't do for the right price. Why are you looking for the Cannock prince, anyway?"
Nikado shook the extended hand, deciding this stranger was a decent sort. "I'm Nikado. I'm looking for him because I'm the Prince of Lorasia. I need his help against Hargon."
Kiel let out a low whistle. "You don't set your aims low, do you? How are you going to pull that off?"
"I don't know. Right now, I need to find the Prince of Cannock before I can move on to the next step. Do you know where he might have gone next?"
The treasure hunter thought about it. "No, but if I was looking for someone wandering between Lorasia and Cannock, Leftwyne would be the place to go. One of you needs to stop moving about so you two don't keep missing each other, and that's a good place to spend the night, at least. Oh, and I'll let you have that for free," he added after a moment. "Normally I have a pretty high premium on my advice, but I'll consider it an investment in your future success. Just keep lots of money on you for the next time we meet," he added with a laugh and a hearty pat on Nikado's shoulder.
"You're not going to Leftwyne?" Nikado asked as Kiel moved back toward the black mare.
"Got a job to do, poking around in the ruins of Murkbythe. I'm sure we'll meet again if the price is right," he said before mounting smoothly, nudging the horse into the easy trot he had approached with. Nikado smiled as he watched the man leave toward the north. The gods only knew why everything about him had a price attached, but he certainly was friendly enough.
The town of Leftwyne had gone quiet with the end of the day, the businesses closing up shop and the lights going out Nikado was exhausted by the time he made it back into town, and feeling discouraged as he made his way into the inn, opening the door slowly. The innkeeper looked up as the bell over the door rang from polishing a glass, nodding to the prince. The inn was mostly dark except for a lamp, the chairs put up on the tables and the floor freshly swept. "Welcome back. You'd like a room, I'd take it?"
"Yes, and something to eat, please," Nikado replied, feeling the weight of his armor on him.
"Sure. Let me just pull down a chair for you," the man said, moving out from behind the bar.
"That's not necessary," came a quiet voice from the back of the room. "He can sit with me."
The innkeeper raised his eyebrows, but didn't protest. Nikado turned toward the sound of the voice. The man sitting at the table was almost as tall as he was, with light brown hair and darker eyes, his green cloak cast over a chair. A few books sat on the table with him, one open as he read over it, not glancing up at the other man. The resemblance was immediately apparent. "Are you...Alex?" he questioned as he made his way over to the table.
He nodded, shutting the book and finally looking up. "I've been looking for you."
A sense of relief washed over Nikado as Alex extended a hand, which Nikado shook warmly. "I'm very glad to meet you. I didn't think I'd manage to find you," he added with a little laugh.
Alex gestured for the other man to sit, and Nikado did so, unfastening his own cloak and draping it over the chair that held Alex's cloak. "What matters is that we have met up, I suppose. Am I to assume that you were seeking me out for the same reason that I was seeking you?"
"If you mean the tyrant of monsters," Nikado lowered his voice as he spoke, "then yes. Apparently we're the only thing that can stop him. The three houses of Loto."
"That's what I have heard as well." The innkeeper brought Nikado over a plate and a mug of something steaming, which the other man gratefully accepted. "Yourself, myself, I suppose, and the Princess of Moonbrook."
"If she's still alive," Nikado said with a frown. "Did your family tell you Moonbrook was destroyed?"
"I've heard the rumors. Did they bring you word of the King or the Princess?"
Nikado shook his head. "At any rate, our initial goal should be to cross over to the Moonbrook continent and make our way to the castle itself. If we can't find the princess in that area, we may find a clue to her whereabouts," Alex told the other man, taking a sip of his drink.
"Okay. How do we get there?"
"We'll have to take the Lora pass," Alex told him. "There aren't any boats running around here. But there's a problem. The door to the pass has been shut, and it's a silver-set door."
Nikado frowned. He only knew vaugely of the curse the monsters had laid on doors made with gold, silver, or iron, causing them to stay sealed. "How do we get it open?"
"The monsters made themselves keys," Alex stated. "I don't know what's become of the iron key or the gold key, but the silver is kept in a cave not too far from here. Guarded, of course. We'd have to fight our way through."
Nikado nodded. "What kind of cave is it? What kind of monsters should we expect?"
"It's a snake's pit. Mostly king cobras and the like. We'll have to watch out for their bites, they're poisonous."
Nikado nodded, watching Alex for a long moment. "You've done your research on this."
"I've done my research on a lot of things," the other prince said simply. "I make it my business to know."
"Your sister said you read a lot of books," Nikado continued with a tone of admiration. "My teacher is always trying to get me to read more, but I'm not terribly bright," he admitted.
"My sister did, huh."
Nikado nodded. "She's very nice."
"She is. A bit silly, though. I expect she'll probably grow out of it."
"You must feel very lucky to have a nice sister like that," Nikado commented. "My mother died when I was young, so I never had any siblings."
He shrugged slightly, not committing to the idea. "We'll set off tomorrow morning. The trip will be a couple of days by foot, so you'd better rest up while you can."
Nikado nodded. "Don't worry, we'll be fine, now that we're together."
"I certainly hope so," Alex said, putting his plate aside. "But I'm not so sure."
