Chapter 10: Chapter 10

The dark cyan colored Ford Explorer was speeding along the highway.

Inside the stunning SUV sat four anxious teens, their hearts pumping

blood fast as their sights were set on an impatient jeep which was

increasing speed at a tremendous rate as if vying to leave the world

behind.

“Why’s he in such a hurry?” asked Clair who was sitting on the

seat

beside the driver.

“Maybe he can’t wait to perform whatever evil he is planning to

do to

Emily,” said Ethan sourly, his eyes set on the distant shadow of the army

green jeep, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly to the point blood

was leaving his skin.

Clair shot a frowning look at Ethan sideways, her expression saying

clearly: ‘Are you okay, dude?’ While Daniel from the backseat

gave what

was a mixture of snort and a laugh. But Margarete seemed to remain

silent. Ethan only jerked his head slightly in an annoyed motion.

“Look Ethan, I’m sure there’s a good reason why Nathan acted

as he

did, I mean, what even made you think he’s up to something

shady in

the first place?” said Clair.

“Because,” Ethan sighed, suppressing a feeling of

embarrassment but he

swallowed and said, “You know, I’ll admit that I was a bit jealous

of that

bastard at first…”

“What!” gasped Clair in mock astonishment, suppressing laughter, “The

great Ethan was jealous?”38 | P a g e

“Oh, shut up, will ya?” said Ethan exasperatedly. “Anyway, I

wanted to

get back at him. So, I used a bit of the resources I had at my disposal and

hired two professionals to look into Nathan’s past records. At

first, I just

wanted to find some stupid dirt on him, because I knew very well what

kind of things a wild rich kid like him could do. I thought if I could

spread his old dirt around the school, he’d be forced to transfer

school,

or at least Emily would see him differently.”

“Oh god” inhaled Margarete who was sitting beside Daniel in the

back seat.

“Jesus fucking Christ, man!” exclaimed Daniel from behind. “You’d

really go that far for a girl? Just how fucked up is you, man?”

“In your own weird way, you really cared for her, and still do, don’t you?”

said Clair, sounding as if she was almost impressed.

Ethan did not respond, his eyes still locked onto the form of the fleeting

jeep.

“So, what did your spies find out on Nathan?” asked Margarete,

breaking the silence.

Ethan chuckled, “Marge, you can’t hire a spy! Anyway, my privet

eyes

reported that they found nothing.”

“Oh,” exhaled Clair, “that’s good.”

“See? You’re just bring paranoid, man. Nathan helped me out in

the

past, he could never be a bad guy!” said Daniel with a tone of finality.

Ethan only eyed them using the back view mirror. His stare, cold and

mocking.

“What?” snapped Daniel. “Did I miss something?” “What is it, Ethan?” asked Clair with a frown. An uneasy

sensation was

creeping into her seeing Ethan’s expression.

“My privet eyes,” said Ethan slowly, “didn’t find anything. What I

meant

to say was, they didn’t find anything at all!”

A long silence followed Ethan’s last words, which seemed as if

they were 39 | P a g e

hanging midair, still spreading shock.

Clair spoke first, her voice quite and her expression puzzled as if failing

to process what she had just heard, “Ah- wait- what do you mean by not

finding anything at all?”

“I meant that I had my guys follow the information Nathan

submitted to

the school. And they investigated the school he previously attended. For

such a wild guy, no one seemed to know him or even seen him before.

They checked his residential details and they all matched up correctly

but surprise, surprise, none of his neighbors ever even seen or at least

heard of him in their entire life!”

“But how could that be?” protested Clair.

“Dude,” said Daniel, his voice almost inaudible, “are you telling

me that

this Nathan is an imposter?”

“I’m afraid there’s no other explanation for this,” Ethan looked

almost

pleased seeing their reaction. “That’s exactly why I was worried

about

Emily’s safety.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus!” cried Clair quietly. “Is that why we can’t

contact

Emily? Is he really keeping her?” She gulped, then frantically

looked

back and forth from Ethan to Daniel to Margarete. “Shouldn’t

we call

the cops?”

“But,” said Margaret slowly, voicing her opinion for the first time, “if he’s

really keeping Emily his prisoner like Ethan is saying, then none of his

behavior today makes sense at all. He looked really stressed out and

worried in the morning when I saw him at the library. He looked like he

didn’t have sleep at all last night. And what’s more… the things

he said

before he left school… what did he mean by that?”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” said Daniel dryly, his

expression

was troubled. He had accepted Nathan as his new best friend, and he

had thought they were getting pretty close. This sudden revelation of

shady business seemed to have struck him the hardest.

“And we can’t just call the cops yet. What are we even going to

tell them? 40 | P a g e

We need some proof first,” said Ethan.

Clair had all lost words to say, all of this seemed extremely perplexing

and surreal for her reach any conclusion. Deciding that she was going to

wait and see how things turn out, Clair turned her head towards the

window and gazed blankly at the fleeting trees, lampposts and road signs

outside.

Bring! Bring! Bring!

Ethan pulled out his smartphone from his pocket, then placed it onto

the phone holder. Upon accepting the call, a heavy yet whispering voice

floated from the car’s speaker system now connected to the

phone.

“Mr. Price?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Where are you right now?”

“I’m close to the La’ Cruise mansion, keeping an eye on the

situation

here at the moment,” replied the heavy yet whispering voice. “What do you mean ‘situation’? Is that why you’re whispering?”

asked Ethan.

“Affirmative sir.”

“Well, tell me about it!” said Ethan impatiently.

“About half an hour ago, three S.W.A.T action van looking

vehicles

entered the premise of the mansion. I’ve witnessed many armed

personnel in heavy battle gear coming out of the vehicles and roaming

about the place. Sir, my partner here was in the army as you already

know, and he thinks the people in there could possibly be ex- military.

And judging from their movement and behavior, it’s safe to

assume that

they’ve received specialized training.” “Are they police or something?”

“No sir. They all seemed to lack any official branding. Except-” “Except what?”

“Sir, they were all wearing big gold colored dragon insignia on their 41 | P a g e

chests.”

Ethan looked distressed at the news, he fished for words to speak, but

failed to come up with a direction.

“A- alright. Thanks. Keep watching what they do, alright?” said

Ethan at last, unsure.

“Affirmative. We’ll contact you if there’s further development.”

The connection broke as the ‘tut-tut-tut’ sound trailed off. The

four of

them exchanged bewildered looks. But before any of them could say

anything about the latest information, they saw the army green jeep in

the distant suddenly turning a sharp left and vanishing down the lane that

separated from the continuous highway. Ethan sped up the SUV and

quickly followed the trail of the jeep and turned left. But brought down

the speed afterwards since there was no point in keeping a tight tail with

Nathan anymore. All of them knew where the mansion was, and they

weren’t going close to the mansion directly anyway, not with all

the armed

people inside. Letting Nathan vanish from their sight, the four followed

the almost narrow road that would eventually brush with the La’

Cruise mansion.

“What would a bunch of army guys be doing at his mansion?”

asked

Clair, almost as if to herself.

“We don’t know what to expect from this point on,” said Ethan

with a

tone of emergency. “So, if any of you want to get out while there’s still a

chance-”

“Just shut up and drive, dude!” growled Daniel. “We’ve been

with Emily

since we were just kids! So, just stop it.”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere without getting to the bottom of

this.

Who knows what Emily got herself mixed into?” Clair said firmly.

“I still don’t think we should judge Nathan before understanding what’s

actually going on,” said Margarete from the back quietly.

The other three did not respond. Clair and Daniel didn’t know

what to

feel like suddenly being exposed to such bizarre circumstances, while 42 | P a g e

Ethan grew more determined to expose Nathan for who he really was.

Seeing the top of the high tower peeking above the tall trees in the distant

on the far-left side of the road, Daniel announced that they were nearing

the La’ Cruise mansion, he knew the way around since he had

been here

once before. After a short discussion between him and Ethan, they both

came to an agreement that it would be wise to move further along the

road and enter the forest surrounding the mansion and park the car

somewhere beyond common visibility. After parking the car in a small

clearing near the mansion, Ethan contacted his detective buddies to learn

their location and soon they were on their way to meet up with them.

Trailing through the woods the four teens proceeded towards the

western side of the mansion where one of the detectives said to meet.

After about a minute of crossing bug infested high bushes and shrubs,

and slipping in between nasty trees, they finally saw the high walls around

the mansion. The trees were thinner here, and the four decided to take

a breather positioning themselves behind the trees.

“So, where are your spies, bro?” said Daniel.

“They are not my spies!” snapped Ethan, scowling at Daniel. “As

I told you bef-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever!” Daniel waved his hand. “We need to

get in there

to figure out what’s happening. Call your buddies will ya?”

“They already have my position, and tracking me with GPS. Pipe

down,

they’ll be here shortly!” said Ethan, his voice irritated. “Good morning, Mr. Price,” came a voice from above them.

The four flinched terribly at the prospect of a voice coming from an

impossible direction. Looking up frantically, their hearts almost vomited

itself via their mouth voluntarily. Two figures in black clothing were

coming down from the tall trees they were under.

“Boris! Rover!” gasped Ethan, his eyes almost popping out. “What in the

hell are you two doing up there?!”

The four watched as the figures climbed down the tree with perfect 43 | P a g e

smoothness just like a monkey. They jumped down the last couple of

feet, then stood straight. The short one among them has wide shoulders

and coiling muscles visible even beneath his black shirt and black

overcoat, while the tall one wore brown shirt and grey suit, had a big

mustache and was as thin as a needle.

“Jesus Christ Rover! You almost killed me with a heart attack!”

cried out Ethan.

“Please accept my sincere apologies, Mr. Price,” said the tall

one, Rover.

“But the best place to survey is always the highest position.”

The other three with Ethan cried a sigh of relief in unison finding out

that it wasn’t ghosts who were descending from the rusted

trees.

Clair said, looking as if trying to regain composure, “So… uh…

these

gentlemen are your… your…”

“Yes, madam!” announced the short one, who must’ve been Boris. “We

are privet investigators hired by none other than Mr. Price.” He

swiftly

brought out a card from his pocket. “If you suspect your

boyfriend is

cheating on you, fair young lady, do not forget to call upon the Cheaters

Investigation Agency!”

Clair barely suppressed her laughter. “I don’t have a boyfriend,

thank

you.”

“Oh, keep it nonetheless, mam. It might come in handy in the

future.”

Boris almost shoved the business card into Clair’s hand. “What did you see up there?” asked Ethan.

“Not much since you were last updated, sir,” said Boris, his eyes

now

sweeping over the mansion’s outer walls. “I suspect you wish to

know

what is happening inside?”

“That’s right, you see-” Ethan proceeded to tell the two

detectives his

suspicion that Nathan might be keeping Emily as a captive. The tall detective sighed. “I suspected it might come to this.” “So, what are your suggestions?” asked Ethan.44 | P a g e

Boris and Rover exchanged glances. Then Rover, the tall one

said, “We

can gather what’s going on in there, but it will cost extra sir.” “Fine,” said Ethan. “Just do it.”

The two detectives nodded shortly. Then started towards the mansion,

and vanished into the tall grass.

Ethan and the others kept waiting under the shade of the trees, it was

nearing afternoon and the sun’s orange radiance casted strange

shadows

around their restless faces. Their bodies fidgeting with nervousness.

Forty minutes had passed, and just when Ethan was about to call them

out of fear for their capture, the two detectives emerged from the depth

of the tall grass, looking somewhat frantic.

Ethan and the others ran to them and helped them sit under the shade

of a tree. Their eyes were wide, and their breathing was ragged.

“What happened in there?” asked Ethan.

“I don’t know!” replied Rover. “I- I never felt anything like that

before!”

Ethan and the other’s exchanged puzzled looks.

“What do you mean, bro?” asked Daniel. “What did you see in there?”

“I- I was in the military intelligence once,” said the short one,

Boris,

staring at the walls of the mansion, terror in his eyes. “I’ve been

around

some pretty horrible people, and encountered many scary situations. But

I’ve never seen soldiers like those in my entire life!” “You’re not making sense,” said Ethan calmly, “Please-”

“We were sneaking around them, trying to overhear what they

were

talking about,” said Rover, still panting, “It was the easiest

sneaking

around in my life, I tell ya. It’s as if they didn’t care who were

around

them at all! And their guard was so lax even a blind person could infiltrate

their camp!”

Rover paused to catch a breath, then continued, “But we didn’t

understand what the hell they were talking about at all. It’s no

language

I’ve ever heard. And I have a degree in linguistics! But that isn’t

the issue, 45 | P a g e the issue is-”

“What? Tell me!” urged Ethan. Clair, Margarete and Daniel were standing, shocked and gaping.

“I- don’t know how to explain it,” Boris almost cried out, “maybe

my

damn nerves are shot after all those years of service. But I swear those

things in there aren’t human at all!”

Clair pressed her mouth, Margarete stepped a few paces back automatically, and Daniel just stared.

Ethan shook his head. “They’re just mercenaries or something

right?

Just what’re you implying here, Boris?”

“I don’t know sir. All I know is that every second I was in there, I

felt

like I was going to shit myself in fear. I was just terrified out of

my mind!”

There was a long silence. Rover sighed deeply and said, “It feels

stupid

now, really. The two of us must be losing our shit that’s all.

Anyway,

some of them talked in bits and pieces of English. What we learned from

that is they are going to go someplace where Miss. Emily is being

kept.”

“Where?” asked Clair.

“We don’t know,” replied Boris. “But I saw them preparing to set off. If

we want to find out what they’re up to, then we better tail them.”

Agreeing with the two shaken up looking detectives, the small party

proceeded towards where they had left their cars. The car that the

detectives brought was too small for all of them, and two cars on the tail

would look suspicious, so they all decided to take Ethan’s SUV to

follow

Nathan’s group.

They hid behind a gathering of trees just outside La’s Cruise mansion’s

front entrance and not even a few minutes went by before the gate

opened and out came Nathan’s jeep, following him were three

big black

colored SWAT looking unbranded vans.

“Just what in the hell is happening around here?” said Clair

desperately

sitting in the back of the SUV with Ethan and the other two.

Ethan had

handed the reigns of the SUV to the professionals.46 | P a g e

“Do not lose your heart mam,” said Rover while driving, “All will

be

revealed soon if I suspect correctly.”

“Don’t you think we should contact the police now?” asked

Margarete.

“Yes, I definitely could,” replied Boris from the front seat. “I have

friends in the department, and I could have them check this situation.

But from what we’ve gathered so far, these guys look like they’re

connected in high places as well. So, our best bet would be to wait for

further development, some solid proof, hopefully.”

“Yeah, I understand,” said Ethan. Then he said leaning a bit

forward,

“Boris, tell me what happened in there again.”

“Sure, sir,” said Boris and began narrating his bizarre experience inside

the La. Cruise mansion enthusiastically.

Nathan was sitting in the back seat of the jeep, his body covered in Kevlar

armored combat suit, his hands absentmindedly caressing a naked long

sword, shining from the orange glare of the sun.

“Only 50 men will be enough? Are you certain?” queried Nathan. “Yes, sire,” replied Mark from the driving seat.

“Hmm, how many ninja assassin did our scout spot?” “About two hundred and fifty, sire.”

Nathan chuckled. “You’re planning to give them a fair fight?”

“Not quite, sire,” Mark smiled wryly. “I’m bringing the

enchanted

grenade launchers.”

“It’ll be a good show,” commented Nathan simply.

“Well, since it was my lord’s love who was kidnapped, we must

make an

example out of those wretched fools!”47 | P a g e

It took an hour of drive to reach the destination of the assault party. It

was an old castle by the lake near the old town of Priory Monica.

Loblolly

pines and soft maple trees stood whispering in the light of a sleepy sun.

The jeep and the vans followed the gravel road that led to the castle

keeping small hills to the right and a lake of crystal water to the left.

“We’ll be approaching the Rafa Castle shortly, sire,” announced

Mark.

“How big is that castle, Mark?” asked Nathan, watching the

beautiful lake

through the window, it’s water glistening like a lake full of liquid

auburn.

“Medium sized,” replied Mark shortly, to which Nathan smiled.

Castles

meant nothing to the old man anymore, the day people stopped

conquering castles for wealth and beautiful princess, was the day Mark

sold his old river bane castle and moved to the more city area by buying

a flat in tall skyscrapers. Mark said he liked the modern cities because of

the hustle and bustle compared to the melancholy of the places he used

to dwell in. On the other hand, Nathan could never call a place home if

it weren’t big and imposing.

“It’ll be a fight in the darkness,” said Nathan. “We’re prepared, correct?”

“We are sire,” reassured Mark. “Plenty of flood lights, and flares.”

A minute of drive later, the compact convoy halted right before a set of

corroded iron gates. Beyond the gate lied a tree guarded castle

surrounded by walls as tall as a grown man. The castle’s towers

ascending

above the tree tops like some old panther in the shadows of young night.

With lake still to their left and the hill’s getting bigger on their

right side,

the trees inside the court yard seemed to have left alone to grow without

control, now preventing the castle from a direct view.

Nathan slipped his upper body through the large moon door of the

rooftop of his jeep, and positioned himself there, his eyes scanning the

surroundings. He took a look behind his jeep where the vans were

currently standing by, their roofs somehow gone or better yet folded

sideways into their bodies. Through the open roof of the SWAT looking

vans stood firmly Nathan’s soldiers, the Knights covered head to toe with

black cloth or armor, wielding various weapons from grenade launchers 48 | P a g e

to assault rifles to swords, all seem to be cloaked in strange shimmering

blue air. The soldier’s faces were covered in masks, yet their stance and

their razor eyes looked ready to receive commands.

Nathan took a long and hard look at them, filling up his lungs full of air,

he bellowed, “Brethren! It’s been too long I’ve denied you all a

good

fight! You’ve all been briefed already!” Then he pointed his finger

towards the castle. “Our objective here is to put an end to the

nuisance

that dwells there! They’ve hunted your Lord’s life for a century.

And now

they’ve showed the audacity to abduct his people to hurt him!”

The soldiers standing stone on the back of the vans suddenly began

stomping the floor, all in a synchronized motion.

Nathan now screamed, “Brothers! Remember the days gone! Remember our fury! Kill our enemies! Kill them all!”

An air ripping roar erupted out of the unassuming abandoned looking

place, startled birds taking flight at the sudden ominous rage in the

atmosphere. The battle cries stopped. Bellow him, Nathan heard Mark

relaying orders to the rest of the troop. Soon, clicking noises of guns

from the vans issued and several soldiers appeared to be pointing their

grenade launchers towards several spots of the court yard, including the

janky iron gate.

“Fire!” screamed Mark from below, sending order via wireless

communication.

Instantly balls of flame shot through the air and lit up the deserted

looking place. A sparkling ball rushed towards the gate and collided, after

a fierce explosion three times greater than a regular grenade shell, the

gate appeared to have vanished as if reduced to iron dust from the force

of the blast. Flying fireballs rained down upon the trees of the court yard,

exploding upon impact, sending wood splinters, soil and smoke

everywhere. But the Knights weren’t blowing up things at

random. Once

the smoke had settled a bit, it would seem a straight passes way had been

cleared from where Nathan’s convoy stood to the castle,

everything in

the path had been reduced to either nothing or ashes.49 | P a g e

Waiting a few more, and letting the fire clear out a bit from the path,

Mark revved up the jeep’s engine once more and led the convoy

through

a thin forest on fire over a path of burning ambers.

Leaving behind the welcome of fiery trees, the convoy ended up in a big

clearing covered with unkempt grasses. Seeing the castle finally appear

before them, Mark gave the command to halt and position the vehicles

sideways to give them better cover. The atmosphere suddenly seemed as

if it had transformed into a time in the past as the amber shade casted by

the fire’s glow mingled with the dark shadows of the brooding

castle, as

if it had waited for it’s pray to sneak in.

Mark and Nathan exited the jeep, both wielding swords with pistols

strapped to their waist. They both stood for a moment, silent and

observing the withered edged of the old glory that laid ahead.

“Brax, Light up the area,” whispered Nathan into his earpiece, a

command for the captain of the troop behind him, “I want to see what’s

hiding in the shadows.”

“Aye, my lord,” replied a gruff voice into Nathan’s ear. At once

the entire

area seemed to become day as several flair shells shot up into the sky, as

if burning like mini suns they projected light onto everything below and

remained in the air providing light. Flairs weren’t supposed to

burn for

more than a minute, while the once up in the air did as if they had forgot

to go out, clearly enchanted.

At once, sharp flying objects started raining down upon Nathan’s

army.

Fast and spinning with supernatural velocity, they shot out from the

darkness of the castle that had cleared away. None reached flesh however

as they bounced against what seemed to have been invisible airs around

Nathan and his army.

Laughter came from the Knights. And Nathan thundered towards the

creeping figures who were now reveled in all sorts of places around the

castle’s roof, now visible under the light of the flairs, “You fools! Enchanted shuriken won’t penetrate shields!”

A raspy voice relied from atop the tower where Nathan was standing right 50 | P a g e

below, “Fools eh? Then what’s the purpose of brining those

toys? You

think your bullet will penetrate our shields?” “WHERE IS EMILY! GIVE HER TO ME!” roared Nathan.

A unified chuckle from the figures lurking above. The man

sneered, “Oh

really? And I suppose you’re going to spare us if we hand over

the

woman? And surrender?”

Loud laughter swept thought the gather above once more. But they

stopped when Nathan spoke, his voice cold, “No. Hand her over. Unharmed. And I promise I’ll make your death quick.”

Silence fell above. Then angry whispers issued, so did the noise of

metallic clanking.

“Filthy cowards!” shouted Mark angrily. “Sneaking around and

stabbing

people in the back! Come down here and fight you goddam

eunuchs!”

A shadow from the tower roof suddenly seemed to have slipped, it was

falling, falling, then landing on its feet with astonishing grace without

making the faintest of noises. It rose up, body covered in chainmail and

strange black clothing. Only the shadow’s eyes stared out with

piercing intensity.

“Myrkio Freude,” rasped the shadow. “I’ve heard of your legend.

The

great military strategist. Tell me one thing now,” there was

mockery in

the shadow’s tone, “was it one of your brilliant ideas to bring

fifty people

to fight against three hundred assassins? Do you want to die that badly?

I thought you had an army of ten thousand?”

Mark’s mouth curved in a smile, he said darkly, “Oh that’s not

all. I’ve

made sure to bring the weakest of them.” Mark laughed. “Even I’m not

able to control them sometimes! You see, the era has changed,

rampaging and laying waste in your wake are quite out of style.” “Boasting,” said the shadow furiously, “you’ll pay for it you fool-

”

“Enough!” thundered Nathan. “Men! Slay them all!”

As if a projectile had been released from its spring mechanism, waiting

to be free from tension, Knights flashed towards the assassin in front of 51 | P a g e

Nathan and Mark wielding glimmering swords in hand, they had already

abandoned rifles. Silent as a dead night, countless figures jumped from

the rooftops of the castle over the oncoming soldiers of Nathan.

As if

waiting for it, the group of Knight who didn’t run off to fight

raised their

grenade launchers and began firing shells towards the falling shadows.

Although unharmed by the effect of the enchanted grenades as they had

enchanted shields, the blast smashed them against the wall anyway while

they were still midair. Ninjas’ screams of agony suppressed

under the

explosion, they crashed on the walls, then dropped on the ground.

But the ones that managed to land unharmed, quickly rushed to engage

the troops of enraged soldiers of Nathan. Sword against sword clashed

spreading flakes of fire into the air. Knights fought the ninja assassins.

Each slash rained blood over the surroundings and cries of pain were

quickly muffled by another slash that removed a head. Nathan had

stabbed, slashed and chopped three of the ninjas, and found a busy Mark

engaged in a fight with the shadow, who seemed to be the leader of the

group. An assassin who escaped the raining firebombs above was landing

right on top of Nathan, his blade pointed at Nathan’s head.

Noticing the

predicament at the last moment, Nathan slipped to his right baring the

sword left. Missing Nathan entirely, the assassin fell on his blade first, his

body was in two pieces when he found ground.

Right then, among the maddening frenzy of the fierce nature of the

battle, he saw some familiar figures creeping into the castle from its

southern side, which was Nathan and the castle’s right side.

Shocked

seeing this, Nathan pondered on his next move while driving his

longsword into the chest of an advancing assailant. Next moment, he

pressed a switch on his earpiece and said, “Mark! Brax! I must

go inside

the castle and look for Emily. Can you two contain the fight

here?”

“Yes, my lord!” replied the two voices at the same time, both

engaged in fighting assassins.

“Leave this to us and go save her, Nathan,” said Mark.

“Thanks!” said Nathan, then turned and shot off towards the

southern

side of the castle where he had seen the figures creeping in.52 | P a g e53 | P a g e