Chapter 205. Fall (3)
The terrible itching and pain continued, but after a while, another torment began to take its place.
Hunger pressed in.
“How laughable. Abandoned by the tribe, my left hand severed and aching… yet hunger takes precedence over all that. And since they tossed me out without treating a single wound, it looks like they just left me here to die.”
Azadin, writhing in pain, staggered toward the prison bars.
“Hey! I’m awake!”
When Azadin shouted, the guard flinched. Without approaching Azadin, he vanished, likely to fetch someone else. It seemed he thought a herald-tribesman like Azadin might ambush the guard and break through the bars.
“They aren’t exactly friendly. They’re wary of me, afraid of me.”
When he woke in the cell, when he saw that not only his weapons but everything else was gone, Azadin had already expected this. The situation was not looking good.
[The Golden King is dead, and someone must take the blame.]
“……”
[Fortunately, the Blue Sky Order is pleading for your life. Since you are the Sky Lord’s adopted son, punishing you would draw fire upon them as well. With the light of king’s virtue gone, the Blue Sky Order has only grown stronger. As vassals of the nether, they earned great merit. Those who want to punish you cannot ignore the Blue Sky Order’s stance.]
“That alone isn’t enough to be optimistic, is it?”
Azadin gave a bitter smile.
His bond with the Sky Lord of the Blue Sky Order was a thoroughly false one.
For Azadin, it had always been so with others. Aldis and Kazas too, in the end, chose Hatir over him.
No, even saying it like that was nothing but nonsense.
To them, Azadin was nothing more than a pitiful child, an object of cheap pity, unworthy of comparison with a father who bore the blood of the divine, or with the reincarnation of the woman they loved.
All the tribesmen, blinded by vengeance and power before their eyes, buried the fact that Hatir had deceived the tribe, and branded Azadin a traitor.
And now that the Golden King was dead, how would the people of Bruma treat Azadin, a herald clan member who had slain the king?
It felt like being left utterly alone in the world.
No, in truth, he had always been alone in this world. He had merely clung to cheap pity to drag his life along.
And so now, if his life was spared, it was only thanks to such false ties.
“Azadin. You’ve awakened?”
At that moment, a voice came from the neighboring cell. It was Karcen.
“You too are imprisoned?”
There was no sound of movement. Likely she had been collapsed in her cell and woke only when Azadin made a fuss.
Which meant….
“Because I am herald-tribes. The Golden King is dead, someone must be held responsible. And it is surely my responsibility that I fired catapults into the royal castle. I dared to aim siege engines at His Majesty’s residence.”
Karcen too had been toppled from power, and reduced to a prisoner.
“You’re being foolish. Without your efforts, things would have ended far more horrifically.”
When Azadin captured Haldun and his group, Karcen had rigged the palace dungeons with explosives and moved some of the catapults from outside the castle to within its walls. It was only possible because she feared the herald-tribes more than anyone.
She detonated the explosives, drove out Kazas’ band, fired the catapults, rescued Azadin, and repelled Hatir’s followers.
But with the Golden King dead, she too had been overthrown on the charge of firing weapons at the royal castle.
“In that case, I should have just surrendered to the tribe. Now that His Majesty is gone, we’re once again soulless heretics. Only His Majesty was strangely free of prejudice.”
Karcen lamented her fate, a kite with its string cut now that the Golden King was gone.
Hearing her, it seemed likely the tribes had approached her beforehand with offers of reconciliation, but she had chosen to stand with the Golden King, and so opposed them.
“Manza-Zadek… His Majesty was a worthy lord.”
Azadin thought of the Golden King who had thrown himself in harm’s way for his sake, and gave a bitter smile.
“The children? What of Midiam and Ishmael? Were they caught?”
“I sent them away. They weren’t captured.”
“That is a relief.”
At that moment, noise rose outside the prison.
“Your Highness! You must not, it is dangerous!”
“Do not speak such foolishness. If I can be assassinated by those locked in cells, then I am unworthy to be heir to the Golden King. Stand aside.”
“……?”
A young man appeared before Azadin and Karcen’s cells.
He was a youth with dark skin and golden eyes. His features resembled portraits of Manza-Zadek in his younger days, and his height rivaled that of an ogre.
Azadin himself was quite tall, but this man stood nearly half again taller than him, and compared to most women, he was easily more than twice their height.
“Your Highness.”
Karcen spoke and offered respect.
“Karcen. And Golden Lion of the Heralds. It is unfortunate things have come to this.”
“Your Highness?”
Azadin already knew most of the circumstances through the emperor’s voice, but he feigned ignorance, curious to hear what this prince would say.
“I am the Golden King’s legitimate son, the First Prince, Amun-Zadek. Golden Lion. Or should I call you Azadin? Which do you prefer?”
“Whichever you find convenient.”
“Good. Then let me tell you the situation.”
Prince Amun-Zadek looked Azadin up and down before speaking.
“I know you showed sincerity to my father. Yet people claim you conspired with the enemy. Above all, the military wishes to eliminate Karcen, and the Golden King’s crows, who have long been thorns in their side.”
“Your Highness. I swore loyalty to His Majesty, and I kept it. That loyalty, of course, will continue unchanged should Your Highness inherit the throne.”
At her words, Amun-Zadek gave a bitter smile.
‘If I inherit the throne? She does not yet think of me as king.’
Well, the Golden King had many children. Though Amun-Zadek was the strongest candidate for succession, another son of the Golden King, Darhan-Zadek, was presently stationed at the fortress facing the northern ogres.
If the one leading the northern armies against the ogres were to lay claim to the throne?
‘Foolish woman. To cling to principle in this situation. Or perhaps… is that what makes her wise?’
Amun-Zadek looked at Karcen, feeling both irritation and a touch of pity.
‘This woman was indeed loyal to Father. Her skills are excellent. Being herald-tribes by birth, she poses no threat in terms of power. As a tool, she is quite useful. But the support of the capital guard is important, and since her loyalty does not lie with me, perhaps I must have her killed?’
It was while he entertained such thoughts.
“What is the current situation. The throne?”
Azadin asked Amun-Zadek a question.
“The Golden King was slain by the herald-tribes, and the throne has been defiled. The power of the nether surged forth, and it would not be an exaggeration to say the madmen’s prophecy, the Age of Jupiter, has begun. We could no longer defend Bruma, and so we abandoned the royal castle and fled. The Nagas seized Bruma’s royal citadel, and the people are still fleeing, escaping from Bruma.”
Bruma, which had been overwhelmingly holding its defenses against the Nagas, fell in a single strike when the herald-tribes invaded and carried out sabotage. Was that what he was saying?
“There must have been enormous casualties. Are there no problems with the people’s flight? They would need food, and shelter.”
“Yes. Fortunately, thanks to the aid of the Bel Hoda sugar plantation lords, the losses were minimized.”
“Is that so?”
It seemed the plantation lords of Bel Hoda had done exactly as Azadin had requested.
Indeed, one had to say they were merchants who kept faith. Thanks to them, those forced to evacuate suddenly were well-supplied, and able to flee with little harm.
When Azadin asked Bel Hoda, he had no idea this would happen. He had merely asked as a precaution. Yet in the end, it saved many lives.
But the look Amun-Zadek gave Azadin was not that of one regarding a benefactor who had saved many lives.
“Yes. And they petitioned for your rescue. Tell me, what trick did you use to win over the money-grubbing misers of Bel Hoda?”
“……”
“The Sky Lord of the Blue Sky Order, he is your foster father, is he not? The Blue Sky Order are the vassals of the nether, of Grimslawn. In this crisis, they were of great use. With the light of king’s virtue gone, they used the power of the nether’s vassals to open a path for the people’s escape. Their service was so great that it will not be easy to purge you, who have their support.”
Amun-Zadek said this with a sly smile.
“What a troublesome fellow you are. Tossed in a cell, I thought your wounds would fester and you would die… yet you did not, and now you survive. Your vitality must be extraordinary.”
“You are very frank.”
“As the son of Yaegas, the divine king, you too can afford to be frank. Speak openly, and there will be no consequences.”
So saying, Amun-Zadek rose to his feet.
“I cannot kill you with my own hand, but neither can I let you live. Too many entanglements are at stake. So either rot and shrivel away in this prison.”
“You mean to starve me to death?”
“No. Before that, we may retreat further, leaving you here behind. The nether’s domain spreads ever wider. In the end, you will either starve, or fall into the Nagas’ hands. If neither pleases you, I will leave you a rope. Use it, should you wish to take your own life.”
Azadin had rallied the plantation lords of Bel Hoda, and won the support of the Blue Sky Order, to prepare against the coming catastrophe.
Thanks to that, many in Bruma were saved, but precisely for that reason, to Amun-Zadek he had become someone who must be eliminated.
“Would you not think to spare me, and together restore the throne, Your Highness. At this rate, you will lose all that you possess.”
“I am not a man who wagers on such slim odds. The copy of the Book of the Divine King you brought, I shall put to good use.”
“……”
It was a remark fit to provoke anger, but Azadin soon lost interest.
Abandoned by his tribe, estranged from Aldis and Kazas, he now felt such conversation meaningless.
“Karcen. You shall come with me. And what happened here, you understand?”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
Karcen had no choice but to comply with Amun-Zadek’s order.
As the bars scraped open, Azadin remained seated quietly in his cell, sinking into himself.
Then, Amun-Zadek tossed him his silk belt.
“When the suffering becomes unbearable, hang yourself with this.”
That was Amun-Zadek’s mercy.
“My mind is a storm. Please, leave me alone, in silence.”
“So be it.”
Amun-Zadek and Karcen left the prison, and Azadin was left alone, in silence.
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