Sweet Waters Throne

249 Chapter 24Aurora held Artemis’s hand which was on her left cheeks, she took it and kissed his palm. Then she added, “We must leave now” however, Artemis had a plan and it involved his sister, Aeryn.

Even though at first he denied Aeryn to be involved in the fight because he thought it was dangerous, he realized he couldn’t do this without his sister. Aeryn was the Lady of the Mines, in her husband’s absence, she is the one who commands the city and Leoric’s army. Leoric’s bodyguard One wasn’t present in the city and that made this whole thing easy.

Maybe if Leoric would have left a statement to prohibit his wife from entering to the Mines, then maybe he could have saved his city, but not even once did he think Aeryn would come back to the Mines or his discreet journey to Iron Falcon would be revealed. With Jeremiah back in her arms, Aeryn had no reason to go back to the husband she despised and was terrified of, even Aryan didn’t see this coming.

When Aeryn was approached with this proposition, she immediately accepted because it was her plan. Sir Dante Lucan was to escort her to the city and while everything is in order, they will send a raven and then Artemis will fly to the Mines as soon as possible. The plan was to collect the Killers in one place, and Aryan knew very well where to put them.

There was a small arena in the Mines, far from local people and very close to where the slaves were digging mines. The arena had two doors, if these doors were closed, no one could get out because the walls were too high for anyone to climb ─ even for the most dangerous fighters in the realm.

“How would you get them to the arena?” asked Aurora during a small meeting where it was just her, Dante Lucan, Artemis and Aeryn.

“I shall throw a tournament, Leoric does that every year. This time I’ll place a bet for one million gold coins, and the winner will be given a chance to be my sworn protector and he will live in the castle. All of them will be there, with an exception of few who will be guarding the castle, but I believe those can be taken care of”

This time Dante intervened, “Yes, I will personally see to that. We shall travel with five hundred knights to the Mines, we only need to make sure the castle is guarded by less than five hundred of them”

Artemis wasn’t convinced by this, he knew exactly the amount of strength and skills the Killers had, and he wasn’t taking any chances.

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“Five hundred men isn’t enough to overcome the Killers” said Artemis, he was the only one standing up while the rest were sitting on chairs. “Is there any way you can reduce the guards?” he looked at his sister.

“Yes, I mean… how about fifty?”

“Fifty is good” replied Dante, his eyes warm and soft towards Aeryn.

Yet still, Artemis wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure Lord Commander?” he asked him because he just didn’t want him to promise things he couldn’t keep, he had to be sure and not just say things in order to please his sister.

Dante looked at Artemis and assured him. “We have the best men Your Grace. Five hundred of our men against fifty Killers sound like an easy task, besides, all the best ones will be at the arena right?”

“Right” replied Aurora, she was with Dante in this.

“We have to be certain about this, I would hate for anything to happen to you” Artemis said this to his sister, and he meant it.

Even though Aeryn appreciated the display of love from her brother, she was a woman grown now and not a little girl who used to cry underneath her brother’s robe. She was ready for this war and she wanted to help, “Nothing is going to happen to me brother, besides, Dante will be with us all the time” she replied while looking at Dante.

Then Aurora cleared her throat. “Where is my part in this?” she asked because ever since the meeting started, Artemis hadn’t explained yet what will be his wife’s role.

“Here, guarding the capital” replied Artemis.

Aurora’s eyes widened with amazement, “What?” she asked. “You want to go alone?” but this came out more of her being a caring wife and scared of what will happen to her husband.

Aeryn held Aurora’s hand with a smile, “He burned a whole city while being attacked from upwards, I’m pretty sure he can handle a few Killers who have no idea how to kill a dragon” she said.

“And I want you here because I want all the blame” said Artemis softly. “if they see two dragons in the Mines, they will brand you as cruel as me. But if it’s only me, it won’t be shocking, they will say he’s done it again, as usual”

It may seem like nothing but Artemis’s clarification to Aurora meant everything. It meant he was still the same man who she fell in love with years ago. The old Artemis would go above and beyond to protect Aurora, and during that day, he showed it that he was still the same man.

Aurora rewarded Artemis with the best sex of his life that night, it had been months since they were physically close and it felt so good, for both of them to be able to touch each other and tell each other about how much they missed having that.

During this moment there were no discussions about the upcoming war, the dreams, the worries and definitely not Leoric. They took this moment just for themselves, to be present and happy and it felt good. When they finished, they did it again and again until the sun rose up from the sky, that’s when they decided to sleep.

On the other side, during the first light, Princess Aeryn left Blackmount with five hundred knights dressed in red Maldonian armor uniforms with helmets, and they were all on horses. Aeryn rode inside the royal wheelhouse with Dante and her son Jeremiah, she took no servants because she didn’t want this to be known by anyone. Even the hours when she left the capital, there were the ones where everyone was sleeping and even the brothels were closed. Hence no one saw her leaving the capital.

Of course with an exception of the Master of Spies himself who never sleeps, always eavesdropping and looking out. Lord Balrus was outside of the capital and he camped under the stars, he saw the royal wheelhouse while it was still dark, and he saw the knights fully dressed in their Maldonian colors and carrying House Arteides’s sigils.

Balrus knew right there that Aeryn was going back to the Mines because neither the King nor the Queen rode in carriages or wheelhouses anymore, they flew dragons for the matter of fact. Also no one would ride the royal wheelhouse if they weren’t member of the royal family. A smile escaped his lips, he knew Leoric was done for and he knew exactly what was going to happen next.

They say the only way to kill a monster, is to destroy it’s source. Leoric’s source of wealth and power was his city. The slave trade made him the most wealthiest man in Maldonia, not to mention the golds, diamonds and whatever that was found in those mines. He heavily depended on his city for everything, so what will happen if he were to be cut off from his millions of gold coins and his impressive army?

Lord Balrus knew very well that dragons were important, but dragons only don’t win wars unless you want to burn everything to ashes. An army is needed for one to win a war, if the Killers were to extinct, all of them, how will the poor Leoric afford an army? The dragons wouldn’t grow for another year, or what if they never hatch? Wouldn’t that be a tale for ages…

“The fall of Leoric Walsen is near, I can taste it” said Lord Balrus and he still hid themselves where he was without causing attention, he let Aeryn pass with his men without alerting them.

When the sun rose to it’s peak, Balrus gathered his things and walked to a nearby harbor. He booked a passage across the Black Sea, which will lead him to Blue Ridge, it was a short cut instead of crossing the Freezing Sea. The small towns and villages where the Dragon Hunters came from were all inside the Blue Ridge ─ a magnificent spread of land and greenery which consisted of mountains, valleys and woods.

Balrus learned of this shortcut when he was in Penrith, maybe if Aprophil would have waited a little bit longer, then he wouldn’t have to meet Amabel and his mother, and have that awkward talk where Amabel told him he’s never laid with a woman. He could have avoided all that, but at the same time, he was glad the conversations happened and he was so focused on getting the portion now less than thinking about Amabel’s virginity.