Pherenike - Chapter 124

Pherenike couldn’t bring herself to look at the princess. She turned away.

In this perfect trap, Actor Nikandros had slipped right through her fingers. But once he realized that Paetusa’s army had invaded on such an auspicious day, he would forever regret telling her he was leaving for Davys.

With this, she had betrayed Deucalion. She had betrayed Actor. And she had betrayed herself.

Soon, the royal hunting procession bound for Davys passed through the castle gates. From atop the walls, two gatekeepers watched them go.

It was late at night when a breathless messenger, who had barely escaped from Ephus, finally arrived in Lykke. Nearly everyone was already asleep, but dawn was still a few hours away.

Leaping off his horse, the rider rushed to bang on the great gate of Lykke. He didn’t care about the icy metal biting into his skin—he just kept pounding until his hand, clutching the massive door-ring, was red and swollen.

At last, a torch flickered above the gate. Someone was peering down at him from the wall.

The light didn’t move, but in the quiet darkness, the sounds of movement behind the wall could be heard. Finally, the gate creaked open just enough for the rider to slip inside—only to find the guard standing like a wall before him.

“I am a messenger sent by the governor of Ephus. This is urgent!”

The messenger spoke quickly and quietly, his face pale even in the dark, as if he didn’t want anyone else to overhear.

“I must see His Majesty at once.”

“You think you can see the king just by saying so? A messenger without a banner—how dare you?”

“The one carrying the governor’s banner was killed!”

“And you’re still alive? Show me your seal from Ephus.”

“I have no seal. But I can tell His Majesty in person—I survived only by sheer luck when the prince killed my companion. He didn’t see me. I’ve ridden here without stopping, just to bring this news.”

“The prince?”

“…”

The messenger fell silent for a moment.

“Are you telling me the Lord of Paetusa invaded Ephus? The king’s own domain?”

“Please, you mustn’t raise any alarm—do you understand? The governor warned us again and again: if word of what happened at Ephus reaches the people or the lower ranks before the Paetusan army brings open war, the chaos inside these walls will be what destroys us, not the enemy.”

Torchlight wavered over the man’s terrified face.

“The prince invaded Ephus with no warning at all.”

“That’s absurd! How could the prince lead an army from Paetusa to Ephus with no one knowing? There’s been no word at all in Lykke.”

“I’m telling you, we’re running out of time! Ephus must already have fallen. Lykke is next—don’t you see?”

The guard stepped back, and the messenger hurried inside. He heard the heavy gate locking behind him, and only then realized he’d left his horse outside. He turned, but the guard was already right behind him, blocking his way like a stone wall. The messenger grimaced.

“Please, my horse is still—”

It took him a few seconds to realize there was a knife in his belly. His first scream was silent. The next sound was swallowed by the guard’s hand as he clamped it over the dying man’s mouth and shoved him against the wall, driving the blade deeper.

He didn’t care that the dying man clawed at his collar and yanked at his hair.

“That’s right. Lykke is next.”

When he let go, the messenger’s body slumped to the floor. The invasion would come even faster than the dead man could imagine. But for now, silence was best.

The guard finished his quiet murder, then dragged the body by the collar into an empty guard post along the wall.

Not long after, the guard emerged, looking perfectly unruffled, his knife cleaned and sheathed. About thirty paces away, a grizzled officer came out of the junior officers’ quarters, his belt marked his rank.

“Lazarus, what’s going on? Sounded like someone was banging at the gate.”

“Just a crazy wanderer, sir. Wanted an audience with His Majesty.”

“His Majesty? And what would someone like that want?”

The officer snorted, and the young guard gave a faint smile.

“Well, His Majesty isn’t even in Lykke now. If he comes again, tell him to come back in two days. I’ll personally greet such an important guest.”

“I’ll let him know if he returns, sir.”

Even so, the officer glanced once more around the gate area, calling up to a few of the men posted on the southeast wall. But he never noticed the bloodstains hidden under the young guard’s tunic before he turned away.

“How’s your night, Sir Kosmas? Win much silver?”

“If I were that lucky at dice, I wouldn’t still be rotting on this wall at my age.”

“It’s corpses that rot, not the living. Sir Kosmas has lived well enough to earn a decanus’s honor, haven’t you?”