Chapter 30

Once the man had burst out of the keep he came to a halt in front of the 3 companions, still ranting about dealing out the death penalty for the murder of his brother.

“Who the f**k are you 3?” he yelled in their faces. They could see the vein popping from his neck, Lizz thought they were going to die.

“These are the 3 accused of Dreg’s murder” replied a guard who was near them. This made the red-faced man leer at them, if looks could kill they would have all died by now.

“I hereby sentence you 3 to death!!” he screamed pointing at them.

“They cannot be sentenced to death without a trial my lord” said another man.

“Typical politician” he sneered looking up and staring the man down, “Very well Jules, a trial it is. Tomorrow morning, we will sentence these 3 to death by hanging!!” he cried out lifting his arms, this made the crowd surrounding them start to cheer.

This made Lizz cry out, “This is not right, how is it a fair trial!!??”

“It’s fair if I say it is, you killed Dreg, so I will return the favour and kill you” he said leaning into Lizz with a creepy smile.

“May I ask your name?” asked Rex.

“My name is Lord Stug, I am the standing head of this city, as appointed by the people.” Said the man smiling at Rex. “Takes this s**t to the dungeons!!” he said to the guards sweeping his -hand at the companions.

“Me want bash that mans skull in” said Charr not budging at the guards attempting to pull him towards the dungeons.

“I have a feeling by tomorrow morning, I will make that man s**t himself, come with me Charr” winked Rex.

This made Charr burst out laughing and Lizz only gave a quizzical look, “What do you have planned Rex?” she asked softly.

“Enough talking prisoners, command your slave giant to come quietly or we will skin him alive” Called the head guard to Rex.

“Come Charr, it will be all fine” said Rex to his companions, at which all 3 followed his directions and allowed the guards to lead them towards the cells, his whispered softly to the head guard, “If you don’t want that slave giant to start plucking your heads off, I suggest we all get the same cell tonight.”

This made the guard falter for second before he yelled to the other guards, “Throw them all into cell 3 no questions asked!!”

That command made the 5 guards look at each other before one shrugged and they all followed the command. They brought them down the stairs into the keep and led them into the 3^rd cell away from the stairs, “This is your stop, everyone in.”

Once all 3 companions were inside the cell the guard shut and locked the cell door and said, “I don’t know what you said to Ricka, but everyone in the same cell isn’t what we do here, keep your noses clean until tomorrow unless you want trouble.”

“There will be no trouble at all” Rex replied to the guard, with that he nodded and walked off.

“What do you have planned Rex?” Lizz asked again, “We are in the cells and that maniac up there is probably cooking up a way to have us skinned alive, trial or not.”

“I bet he doesn’t know who I am, so I believe this is a simple misunderstanding and he will come to his senses tomorrow when I explain the situation” Rex said sitting down onto the edge of the bed, he got them all into the same cell so they could keep an eye on Lizz to keep her safe, looking around at the cells that had occupants, their looks made him think anyone who came close would be eaten alive, looking around his own cell it dawned on him, 3 people, 1 bed.

Lizz seemed to notice that also when she sat to next Rex, she sat close enough that he could smell the scent of the perfume she wore everyday and it was mesmerizing. “Where are we all going to sleep?” she said pulling Rex away from his daydreaming. It didn’t even take a second for Rex to know the answer.

“Looks like we are on the floor big guy” he said to Charr.

“Me not mind, slept worse” he replied sitting down and leaning up against the cell wall.

“You are in fact the prince here, so I will take the floor” Lizz said.

“Absolutely not!” Rex said sharply, “I will be fine on the floor, it is one night, and you can make it up to me later.”

Nodding her head in agreement with a smile, Lizz handed out the 2 blankets that were on the bed to the boys before laying down herself. After trying for almost an hour to find a spot to get comfortable Rex tried Charr’s trick of propping himself up against the wall, it made it a little easier for him to rest a little. It was not long before night turned to early morning and the guard clanging the cell bar woke them abruptly.

“Alright you 3, up and backs to the wall with your hands out where I can see them, I don’t want any surprises and you keep your magic away otherwise it will end badly.” He called out pointing with his sword to Lizz.

“Do not worry, we will not be any trouble” Rex replied doing what he was told and motioning for the others to follow his lead. Once all 3 companions were cuffed again a few more guards came in and escorted them back up the stairs and into the keep’s courtyard. It was quite a nice place, it had a circular stone sitting area with flowers in garden beds surrounding it with statues of men riding horses on other side of the path that led to the large building at the end.

Once they were close to the keep’s mansion, the guards told them to stop and they would be told when to enter. The head guard walked in through the front doors and walked out of sight, a few minutes later, he walked back out and instructed them to follow. Walking in through the front door they were led to the left side of the main staircase that ran up the centre on the house. Heading down the corridor there were pictures lining the walls, some were of men dressed up and some were of large and strange looking fish. They were soon into a room that resembled a study where the town mayor was sitting up the front and there were some other people who were dressed in quite fancy clothes sitting to his left and right and standing in the middle was the man named Jules who had stopped them being executed on the spot yesterday. He nodded at them when they walked in.

They were pushed into the 3 seats that were next to Jules before he whispered, “I do not know if this will go good for you, so I hope you have something that will make them see you are not guilty.”

“Well we didn’t actually kill him, the poisoned fruit was in fact one that I was supposed to eat and he took it from me, so in truth it is his own fault” Rex said back. This made Jules raise his eyebrow and was about to say something when the mayor cleared his throat and boomed.

“Time for confession worms so we can get this over with quickly!”

“Lord Stug, I believe these children to be innocent of Dreg’s murder” Jules said standing up.

“Is that so? Well get it over with” Stug said rubbing his temples.

“I have just been informed that the poisoned fruit was not originally for Dreg to begin with, it was in fact for this young man here” Jules said pointing to Rex.

“Why would anyone want a kid dead? What makes you special that someone would ruin my markets just to try and kill you? And how did my brother end up with it then?” Stug roared glaring at Rex.

Rex stood up, cleared his throat and said clearly for everyone to hear, “I strongly believe that they were under the command of my uncle Ean to have me assassinated, it would not be the first time and I doubt would be the last. Dreg took the fruit from my hands and before I could stop him he ate some and that is what ended his life.”

“So, you’re telling me your so-called uncle Ean is trying to have you killed? Ean who?” Stug scoffed shaking his head.

“My uncle is Ean Magnus and my name is Rex Magnus.”

The moment Rex said that the whole room went silent. Everyone was looking in amazement at what he had just said.

It was only a few seconds before Stug stood up slammed his hands down on the table and spat, “If you are prince Rex, I am a unicorns a**!! Claiming to be the lost prince will not get you out punishment so easily!”

Rex knew he would have to now prove this to everyone so he asked Fafnir, ‘How can I make them believe what I have said.’

‘That is easy, let me tell them’ Fafnir replied.

‘Promise me no one will be killed?’ Rex spoke to Fafnir.

‘If no one attacks, no one will die and everyone will know.’ Fafnir said.

‘Very well, I give you, Fafnir, permission to use me to speak to these people.’ Rex said.

Using his own voice instead of Rex’s, Fafnir boomed out across the room.

‘I am Rex Magnus, now everyone BOW!!’ he commanded.

The looks of fright from everyone in the room was instant and it was mere seconds before everyone dropped to their knees and lowered their heads. Once he saw that the weight of Fafnir’s command had also made his friends bow he looked down at them winked and smiled before saying, “I told you I had a plan.”

“Anyone going to get these cuffs off me and my friends?” Rex asked.

“Of course my prince, please let me get those removed” stammered Stug, pointing at the cuffs. The guard quickly ran up to the 3 friends and removed the cuffs before bowing to Rex once more and walked away.

“Please forgive us, had I truly known I would not have had you arrested at all” Said Stug who promptly shooed everyone else from the room beside Jules.

“It is no problem, but I would like the information of my identity kept quiet for now, my uncle seems to not want me to make it home.” Rex replied with a smile.

“Of course, everyone that was in this room will be told to keep their mouths shut or their tongues will be removed.” Stug said bowing his head to Rex, “You must be hungry, please come, eat and I will arrange a change of clothes for everyone and a hot bath.”

“Oh my, a hot bath sounds amazing” squeaked Lizz in excitement, It had been a while since any of them had washed properly.

“I have other things to talk to you about as well Stug” Said Rex as they walked out.

“Of course, anything” Stug replied. He quickly got the house maids to sort out Charr and Lizz while he brought Rex to his study. “What do you need?”

“I would like a map and some horses for the trip ahead, and any information about the people who had the first 2 stalls, a fisherman stall and vegetable stall. I don’t want any more surprises on the next leg of journey.”

“Of course, I will get onto that before lunch” Stug said.

Nodding his head Rex walked back out and met with the maid who was waiting for him. She led him upstairs and past a set of doors and into a back room that had a bath running. Thanking her he was closing the door when a familiar face looked at him as she walked past, dressed in her maids’ outfit.

That’s curious Rex thought, where have I seen that face before? He thought as he undressed and sat down. Closing his eyes, the face popped back into his thoughts, the moment he matched the face with the woman from the vegetable stall it clicked and he sat upright.

She was here!