The trumpet's blast cut through the chaos, and the gruesome brawl ground to a sudden halt. A ripple of sheer panic shot through the rear of the pirate horde, racing forward straight to the bottleneck where the enemy was locked in deadly combat with the Throne Guards.
The horn bellowed once more, and the surviving Throne Guards cheered as one in the quiet gap between the fighting, "Gold in our blood, iron in our bones!"
"From the depths of our vaults to the edge of our swords!" a matching battle cry boomed from the shadows behind the mob.
Then, both groups roared the final, defiant slogan in unison, their sound crashing over the trapped pirates like a wave of thunder and completely shattering their remaining morale-
"Let the earth bow, for Veridia outlasts them all!"
Lorian froze in shock, and so did the pirates. Effect of the sleeping draughts were not supposed to wear off so soon. Panic ripped through the pirate mob, stripping away their inhuman courage in an instant. But they had nowhere to run. They were trapped between two solid walls on left and right, and with enemies closing in from both ends. Many of the pirates in the middle did not even die from a blade- they were crushed to death in suffocation and in the sudden, desperate stampede as their own comrades shoved forward from both sides to escape the trap, only to smash right into the waiting Veridian lines.
Faint, desperate voices cried out from the back of the mob, "Surrender!""Please, have mercy!""Let me live..."
Their pleas fell on ears deafened by bloodlust and rage, dying away instantly beneath the boots of the advancing soldiers. The massacre ground on for another hour until the two Veridian groups finally met in the center, climbing over a thick, gruesome ridge of pirate corpses.
That was when the identity of the rescuers was revealed. It was Grand Commander Lucien Lehance himself, marching shoulder-to-shoulder with Darina Sihar and a band of wounded soldiers who had dragged themselves out of the restoration wing.
Rylan's jaw would have hit the floor if it could. His plot had relied on spiking the food supplies prepared for the common soldiers and citizens across the palace. But he had completely overlooked the restoration wing. Because Veridians loved rich, heavily spiced foods, the medical ward always ran its own separate kitchen,- cooking plain, bland meals specifically meant for recovering patients. Even in wartime, that rule never changed, simply because the hospital cooks had forgotten how to make 'ordinary' food, and the sick men could not stomach it. That single, boring culinary routine was the only reason the medical staff and patients had been saved from Rylan's poison.
It turned out that Commander Lucien had spent the evening visiting Darina Sihar in the recovery ward, checking on her and the other wounded men. Deciding to skip the heavy spicy food, he had stayed to share a simple, plain meal from the hospital kitchen instead.
They had all fallen asleep, only to jerk awake when the loud, terrifying noise echoed from the Auric Spire. The experienced Grand Commander and Darina had instantly figured out what was happening. They had rallied every wounded soldier who could still stand and hold a blade, rushing toward the Spire and waking up every guard they could whom they found along the way to build a desperate relief force.
Though their numbers were small, they were led by brutal veterans- Grand Commander Lucien Lehance and Darina Sihar,- special Darina Sihar who was arguably an even deadlier fighter than the commander himself, and knew every trick in the book.
They slammed into the unguarded rear of the pirate army, hacking and slashing their way deep into the mob. By the time the very last pirate fell, the fresh violence had torn open Darina's healing stitches, and she was bleeding freely through her bandages again. The Throne Guards gently hoisted the wounded fighters onto their shoulders to carry them back to the medical wing. Lorian stepped forward to offer his shoulder to Lucien Lehance, but the old commander shook his head, pointing to Darina instead.
Lorian gave a quiet, tired smile, nodded, and turned to offer his support to another blood-soaked soldier instead; when Lucien carried Darina to Restoration Wing.
Walking back with the surviving Throne Guards, Lorian helped close the heavy golden doors shut against the carnage outside. They slumped down onto the cold stone floor, leaning their backs against the massive gates. Lorian ordered to bring out a cask of the finest reserve ale, and passed the drinks around, and sat quietly with his men, drinking until the bitter taste of the battle washed out of their mouths.
When morning came, the people of Veridia woke up groggy and thick-headed from the lingering chemicals. They stumbled out of their quarters, only to freeze in sheer horror at what they saw.
Their lord and his elite Throne Guards were sleeping on the stone floor right in front of the golden doors, covered head-to-toe in dried blood, gore, and soot, reeking heavily of stale ale and iron.
Ahead of them stretched a monstrous, towering mountain of mutilated pirate corpses that jammed the palace hallway, growing thicker and higher the closer it got to the Spire doors. It took the waking citizens only a second to piece together the nightmare of the night before.
The Throne Guards who had stayed sober- or those who had spent the night sweeping the halls for stragglers- revealed the truth to the trembling crowds. Some of the commoners hurried forward, arguing among themselves that they needed to carry the Lord inside, that it was shameful to leave him sleeping on the hard ground like a common soldier.
Before anyone could touch him, the Queen Mother stepped through the crowd. She waved them back with a quiet, shaking hand.
Seraphina knelt down beside her son, her fingers gently brushing the grime from his pale face. The royal surgeon had already treated Lorian's feet the night before while the young lord was busy gulping down liquor to numb the shearing pain. But during the exhaustion of sleep, his bandages had worked loose, and dark blood was slowly seeping through the fresh linen.
A heavy wave of guilt gripped Seraphina's chest. For past few days, she had kept her distance, failing to speak to him properly or recognise the crushing, impossible burdens he was carrying- burdens no boy of his age and status should ever have had to bear alone. If he had died last night, what would she have left? She shuddered, biting her lip hard to choke back a sob so she wouldn't wake him. She wept quietly, watching him sleep with the heavy, dead exhaustion of someone who had not rested in a lifetime.
The commoners watching from a distance were stunned. They had always believed the nobility and Royalty were cut from a different cloth, that even their grief and tears were different from theirs. Seeing the Queen Mother weeping like any ordinary, terrified mother cracked that illusion wide open. Their hearts swelled with a sudden, aching wave of compassion and fierce loyalty. Nobody dared step closer to offer hollow words of comfort, but the invisible wall that had always stood between the royal house and the common people crumbled away right there in the blood-stained hall. They felt deeply connected to the Thornes now, their own pain forgotten, replaced by a sudden, burning hunger for justice.
The Queen Mother looked up; her voice dropped into a quiet, absolute command that allowed no further argument, "Let him sleep. No one touches him."
When Lorian finally cracked his eyes open, the harsh midday sun was shing bright in the sky. He blinked, groaning as he tried to sit up, only to freeze in utter bewilderment.
Jax, Zara, Kaelen, Lucien, Rena, and a line of dusty Veridian Guards were sitting right in front of him on the stone floor. Every single one of them was kneeling, their heads hung low in shame.
"What the..." Lorian muttered, his voice was rough and raspy. He tried to push himself up to his feet.
Pain.
A sharp, blinding agony flared through his left foot as his weight hit the torn flesh. His knees buckled instantly, and he pitched forward.
Before he hit the ground, Jax and Zara shot forward like lightning from their posts, catching him firmly by both arms. They hoisted him up, letting him lean his full weight against their shoulders. Seeing their lord stumble, the rest of the guards started to stand, but checked themselves and dropped back to their knees, bowing their heads lower when they saw he was safe.
"What the hell are you all doing?" Lorian snapped, a tired mix of irritation and confusion was bleeding into his voice.
"We are seeking your forgiveness, my lord," Kaelen said, his voice was thick with guilt, "We were sworn to protect you with our lives. We were supposed to fight until our very last drop of blood before a single scratch touched yours. And yet... we were sleeping peacefully while you bled. We failed you. We are your culprits."
"Oh, shut up," Lorian groaned, waving a tired hand in dismissal, "It wasn't your fault. You were drugged out of your minds."
"We know, my lord, but still..." Kaelen murmured.
"Still what?" Lorian scoffed, leaning his weight against a stone pillar, "What do you idiots think you are? Superman or the Hulk? You're normal human beings!"
The crowd exchanged blank, confused glances. The lord had used those strange, alien words again- words that made no sense in any language spoken in Veridia. But they caught his drift loud and clear- he was absolving them, shielding them from a guilt that was eating them alive. His sudden, practical mercy had left them speechless.
"True, my lord," Grand Commander Lucien Lehance finally broke his silence, though he still kept his head bowed low against the stone, "Even so, as Grand Commander, the blame falls squarely on my shoulders. The food supply of this entire garrison is my direct responsibility."
"Well, that part is true," Lorian shot back with a dry, humorless smirk, "Though I suppose I can forgive you- mostly because you showed up at the very end to save our skins with your 'friend'!"
The final word hung in the air with a sharp, sarcastic tease. Grand Commander Lucien's face blushed turning bright, blazing red right down to his collar.
"However," Lorian continued, as his tone turned cold and hard as iron, "the kitchen staff and supply officers in charge of inspecting the stores will face a proper tribunal. But we'll deal with that after the dead are buried. Right now, we have a more pressing matter..."
An old, tired voice interrupted him from the back of the group.
Gravil Farthom pushed himself up from the floor, his face looked hollow, as if carved out of stone, "My son's fate, my lord. I beg of you... let me carry out the execution."
Lorian's face went pale. He stared at the old statesman, shaking his head, "Are you sure about this, Gravil? It isn't necessary. We can just throw him in the deepest dungeons for the rest of his miserable life or any other..."
"No, my lord," Gravil said quietly, his voice was now dead and steady, "My son tried to murder you. He came within a hair's breadth of succeeding. He had no grand honor left, no noble cause- he sold his loyalty to an unknown enemy for hollow promises. He dragged Veridia and its future to the edge of the precipice for his foolish, dark ambitions. I brought him into this world. It is only right that I am the one to take him out of it, and wash the stain of his treason from our family name with his own blood."
Lorian looked into the old man's eyes, saw the deep, bleeding grief hidden beneath the resolve, and slowly nodded.
The day ended at sunset with the public execution of Rylan Farthom in the courtyard, his own father holding the heavy executioner's blade.
Rylan laughed right up until the end, shouting wildly into the gathering dusk about how his death meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, screaming that everything the Veridians knew, loved, and built was about to be swept away by an incoming tsunami they could never stop.
Yet, just for a split second, as his father's steel flashed down in the dying light, anyone watching closely enough could see a single, quiet tear slip from the corner of Rylan's eye.