Chapter 39

It was still quiet on the battlefield, only from time to time a whistling gust of wind could be heard. The battle was about to begin and Galaspiael once again calmly analyzed the whole plan. Everything seemed clear on the map, but when he found himself among people he could barely focus, although he could see more from his position than others.

Madegaldian commanders did not give a signal to attack for a long time. Finally, the Sekanian ride came first. Galaspiael restrained himself for a long time, waiting for the right moment, but eventually, he realized that he could not delay.

He was surprised by how loud the battle can be. Naturally, he expected noise, especially since dynamite was making an extremely unpleasant bang, but after the first minutes, he found it unbearable. Wild chaos and tumult reigned everywhere. The fire quickly began to digest Madegaldian launchers lined up in one compact row. Fortunately, it did not spread to dynamite, placed behind them.

For the first minutes, Galaspiael was praying silently for the fastest possible end. It doesn't matter if it was the end of the battle or his life. Quickly he scolded himself in thoughts for this attitude. Something hit his shoulder hard, so he almost dropped the shen.

Suddenly there was a deafening bang. The horse jerked in horror, even though it had protectors on his ears. Fortunately, nothing happened. The heavy armor was uncomfortable, but it provided excellent protection against shrapnel.

When the Kagolanian army used dynamite, the Madegaldian soldiers were overwhelmed by panic, which further compounded the chaos that was already prevailing. They didn't know what was going on or who was attacking. Some, convinced that there was treason, began to murder their kinsmen. Galaspiael couldn't say he wasn't happy. He knew how important it was to gain an advantage. The joy continued until he heard another explosion very close to his position.

A terrifying scream caught his attention. He slowed, breaking from the formation he had previously created. Less than two meters from him lay two people. He felt an icy spike pierce his heart as he recognized the piece of the Silver Guard uniform. He had no idea who it was. The explosion must have been close to the head. Another man lay next to him, still alive. Without legs. Blood splattered around.

Galaspiael wanted to look away, but the body refused to obey. He felt as if someone had caught him in a snare. He knew that he should do something, at least defend himself, otherwise he would die, but at that moment he couldn't. Death surrounded him and clenched the fighters in an invisible trap.

"Your Majesty!" Jun took on himself the blow of a Madegaldian rider who was about to attack Galaspiael. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," he answered and shook his head several times. He felt like he was out of the trance.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm fine." He tapped his helmet. "I got stunned a bit."

They couldn't stand still in the middle of the battle. He had to stick to the plan. People trusted that he know what he was doing. That he is not as lost and scared as they are.

Everything was going well. They won. It wasn't over, however, and Galaspiael knew it. Before using the dynamite reserve, the Madegaldian troops broke the attack for a moment and pretended to retreat to draw their enemies closer and lure them into an ambush. So it went quieter for a moment, but it didn't help to focus his thoughts.

Galaspiael couldn't tell how many people he stunned, how many injured, and how many he killed. He knew, however, that he had killed many people by his invention.

And it still wasn't over.

General Tien smiled gratefully when the king saved his life, and in a moment he was almost killed again.

It has lasted too long.

With each passing moment, Galaspiael realized that he preferred when something exploded. The silence made the noise in his head unbearable. Frightening images stood before his eyes. Faces of people he killed. Blood. Everywhere a terrible stench of blood and screams. Galaspiael wondered how close he was to losing his mind.

Finally, there was the sound of a Sekanian horn that was like deliverance. It was over.

*

Galaspiael found out later that the battle lasted six hours. It surprised him. He thought it was six years. Or six minutes.

He had been lying in the royal tent for a long time, but the tiredness did not go away. What he been through during the fight did not want to leave his mind. He had the feeling that every death was caused because of his dynamite. The invention he created with Kalena, additionally blaming her conscience.

"Your Majesty, how do you feel?" Rikken, came closer seeing that no one was there. "How are you?"

"I'm not hurt," he replied. "Someone scratched my hand. Maybe I got deafened, but nothing happened to me."

"You hid here so quickly that His Majesty Selain began to worry. I was convinced that the commanders of the victorious armies are much happier celebrating winning the battle..."

"Maybe I can't celebrate?" The king smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't want to celebrate. At least not now."

"Your Majesty, you have achieved great success, and the King of Sekania is forever grateful to you. Your invention has saved many people."

"How can you even say that it SAVED anyone?!" Galaspiael asked angrily and rose to a sitting position. "I have created a weapon so deadly that it can match with what the emperor did during the Great War." My successors will redeem my guilt for millennia!"

"Ah, so that's it," Rikken smiled. "I don't know the rules of your religion in detail, but I remember that the culprit can correct the sin by a good deed. This weapon took many lives, but it saved as much. Imagine the losses we would experience having only swords and arrows. I think it alleviates your guilt. The emperor simply killed not only enemies but also his subjects. Please, don't compare yourself to him."

"I can't be blind to all the similarities between me and him. I wonder if Samin can see them too. That would explain everything."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"Have you seen how he behaved at the meeting?! He attacked me as if I were some enemy. Hatred gushed out of his eyes."

"I couldn't get in there, Your Highness. This meeting was only for generals and Okiani." Rikken paused. Galaspiael looked at him in surprise, then looked away.

"Go rest, master. It's not over yet."

*

Zarkin arrived at the archers' camp late in the evening, when the celebration of victory was in full swing. Of all the units, the archers were playing the loudest, so it was easy to find them.

He knew a few, but they were strangers. Some greeted him with a nod so he answered mechanically without even wondering who he was.

"Are there a lot of you on your way to us?" Asked the man next to whom Zarkin sat down.

"Not really," he replied, glancing at him briefly. "I didn't see anyone on the way."

"It doesn't matter, we'll crush them anyway! His Highness should build something else, we would be invincible! For example, for us, some shooting machine."

"If he was an archer, he would do it right away," someone answered.

"Hey! You are the guard, aren't you? Maybe you would take care of us ?! You are closest to him."

The boy sighed heavily and without saying anything sat a little further. He thought it would be good to write to Kalena and tell her how well the battle went on, but then he realized there was no one to deliver the message. The second archer of the Silver Guard had his post falcon, but he demanded payment for help in delivering letters.

His attention was caught by shouts of joy that suddenly became much louder than before. Galaspiael went to the next meeting. Only Jun was with him, there was no other guard.

It surprised him strongly. He didn't know what they were doing and why were everyone present. When he asked someone about it, he only received murmurs of impatience.

The camp was set up on a slight hill. It was easy to see the smoke rising from the valley on the east side. Zarkin, driven by curiosity, came over there. When he broke free from the crowd, which was not easy, a wall of fire appeared in his eyes. It took a moment before he realized what was going on there.

Funeral pyres were burning nearby. They were so numerous that they merged into one great pillar of fire from afar. He noticed gathered people dressed in the characteristic bright robes of the guardsmen and then understood everything. Someone from the Guard had to die in battle, and Galaspiael dismissed the rest from service so that they could attend the cremation ceremony.

An unpleasant wave of cold energy went all over the boy's body, penetrating to the bone. He turned his face once and for all. Only he looked at the piles.

*

Two days later, they set out to oust the Madegald forces even further towards the border.

Galaspiael didn't know how, but in some wonderful way, he could focus. It felt as if someone had installed protective armor around his head. He managed to maneuver in chaos, smoke, and fire no longer annoyed him. Even the screams seemed quieter, and he didn't want to vomit from the smell of blood.

The noise in his head turned to total emptiness. It seemed as someone else was controlling his body, and he was sitting somewhere on the side, seemingly present, but not entirely. He stopped paying attention to unimportant details, stopped counting victims. He just fought.

This time the opponents were more numerous and much better prepared. They could not be ambushed. It was a longer, much bloodier fight. Special formations of the Righteous Conspiracy have also joined the Madegaldian troops. They quickly realized that the Kagolanian side had dynamite. There was no surprise point anymore.

Suddenly, Galaspiael noticed someone was watching him. The mysterious figure slides unnoticed between the fighters, without any armor or weapons. Now and then black fog hung around it. The king did not see this person's eyes because their face was hidden behind the mask, but he was convinced that they were looking straight at him and with each passing moment it became more and more onerous.

Even when he managed to lose him for a moment, he was coming out and looking again. The Madegald men managed to break up the silver guard. He was alone. No one to help.

Bang. So loud that Galaspiael almost passed out. The horse, already nervous before, now panicked. Before the king knew it, he was lying on the ground, and the man in the mask was only a few steps away from him.

It was very bad. Heavy armor made it difficult for him to move, and smoke made it unable to see anything. Galaspiael backed away as the grass under his feet turned black. The leaves on the tree began to wrinkle and fall. The masked figure reached out. Galaspiael understood. They were not dry or burned. They were dead.

The warrior in black robes was enchanting death. Therefore, he did not need a weapon, he had enough in this place.

Galaspiael quickly gathered his energy and sent a lightning-like stream to him. He knocked the opponent off his feet, but he lost almost all his strength. He knew that he would not attack this way again. He had to run quickly. He turned and then another explosion occurred.

Only a dozen or so meters away from him was Zarkin, who had been watching him for a few good moments.

He didn't stay behind with other archers. He gradually moved forward until he finally entered the forest. He chose one tall tree with branchy branches and set up a shooting point there.

Although he took a lot of arrows with him, he used almost all of them. He did not shoot blindly, hoping that he would hit someone, but was accurately locating his target. He could follow the target for a good few minutes before getting into a position convenient for him. He saw that Galaspiael was followed by someone, so he was waiting for a good moment.

However, just as he was about to shoot and save him, he heard someone's breath disturbingly close. Zarkin sat on a tree so the leaves covered him well, but he knew that from some places he could be visible anyway. He turned quickly and aimed. Seeing Raian he froze in an instant. The boy also recognized him and stopped, hanging on one branch, completely defenseless, because in this position he had no way to reach for the sword. He was at the mercy of Zarkin and was well aware of this.

Zarkin would shoot right away if Raian didn't look him in the eye all the time. He knew that his gaze would haunt him, as would the funeral pyres. Raian didn't say anything, he didn't beg for mercy, he didn't try to move. He just watched and waited.

Zarkin moved imperceptibly and released the arrow. He only saw the dark-haired boy grab his arm and lose his balance. He quickly turned and cursed loudly when he didn't see Galaspiael again.