Callen sighed. Halad's wife, Jullie, had been left paralyzed with fear upon seeing the door explode.
"Lady Jullie," the prince called to her, "you can go. Your husband's men have accompanied me; they'll escort you safely to the mansion," the prince said without turning around.
He could hear the woman's footsteps fading away. Now they were truly alone, with nothing that could become an obstacle—or worse, a hostage.
"How informed are you, little prince?" Lin whispered to him.
"Informed enough, though I didn't know there was a Tarzovian here."
"Don't worry. I think we all did."
The Tarzovian raised his dagger, and when Callen thought he was going to attack, he took off running, leaving him bewildered.
"Buy time, Viss! The plan is still on!" he shouted before disappearing down one of the hallways.
"Damn it. Hey, little prince, they're planning to attack the province using the revolts as a shield."
"Oh, that's clever," Callen said calmly, turning to look at Lin. "Go and chase that guy, then."
Following his order, Lin ran after the other man. Though she stopped when she saw a shadow move in her periphery—Viss had caught up to attack her.
"Aren't you forgetting someone!?" he shouted, still smiling.
Before the pirate could launch an attack, Callen reached them, blocking a series of cuts.
"No, we're not," Callen responded, now between him and the woman.
Lin once again resumed her path, leaving the combat to Callen. Though she could have sworn something was slipping her mind.
The two men resumed the fight. Neither attacked seriously—they only tested each other's defenses. After another exchange from which they emerged intact, they pulled apart.
I'll finish this quickly. The Tarzovian is the priority, Callen thought.
The reddish aura enveloped the prince's weapon. Lin detected it by the glow that flooded the room.
"Wait, Nellac, don't—!"
The woman left her sentence unfinished when Callen launched a cut toward Viss, who only widened his smile. The cut struck the man's hand squarely and disappeared—and along with it, so did Callen's ability to use his power.
The aura vanished from the prince's weapon, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't use it. Upon realizing this, he shot Lin a withering look.
"Ah, maybe in the heat of the moment, I forgot to tell you about Viss's ability," Lin tried to defend herself, nervous. "Sorry?"
How could you not tell me about something as important as this!? the prince thought angrily, though focused on Viss.
The man began examining his saber. Then a blue aura began to surround the blade of the weapon.
"Well, I suppose we should finish this, don't you think, 'Nellac'?" he said confidently to Callen.
Immediately after, he copied the prince's movements to launch a cut at him—this time blue—which Callen narrowly dodged by throwing himself to the side. The cut continued until it struck a wall, cracking it.
The woman made a pained grimace upon seeing that. Then Callen shot her a withering look again.
"You'll be fine, I'm sure! Good luck, little prince!" she said before continuing down the hallway the Tarzovian had fled through.
Son of a bitch. I swear I'll hit her later, the prince thought. But right now, the most important thing is that this bastard doesn't kill me.
Callen charged at Viss. The latter responded by launching more cuts that forced the prince to dodge to the other side. Before he could recompose himself, Viss launched more cuts.
This time one managed to graze his arm, making a shallow cut that Callen quickly reinforced to avoid spiritual instability.
"What's wrong, Nellac!?" Viss mocked, attacking again. "You weren't so tough after all!"
Callen ran behind a pillar, which received several attacks until it collapsed, raising a curtain of dust and dirt.
"How does it feel to have your ability used against you!?"
The cuts illuminated the curtain with their spectral blue glow, allowing Viss to attack directly at Callen's figure in the smoke.
"How does it feel to lose what makes you so special!?"
The pirate kept shouting, though he stopped to catch his breath once the smoke dissipated. There were no traces of the prince.
He frowned. He didn't believe those cuts were enough to finish off someone to the point of leaving nothing behind. And he was right.
He felt Callen's presence too late. He tried to block an attack that never came—a feint.
"I don't know," Callen began to say as he swept Viss's feet, sending him to the ground. "After all, I still keep my abilities."
The pirate tried to attack him from the ground—a desperate attack that Callen dodged by simply moving to the side. Immediately after, he pierced the pirate's hand with his scimitar.
Viss screamed in pain, dropping the saber and thereby making the blue aura disappear.
"What does this mean?" he said, trying to maintain his confident smile despite the pain. "I should have torn you to pieces."
"If it were anyone else, perhaps. People tend to overestimate spiritual abilities. I think you fit that description."
Callen tore his weapon from Viss's hand, and the man, ignoring the pain, tried to recover his saber. Though in an instant he could no longer feel the touch of his hand—Callen had cut it off.
He began screaming in pain again, though this time he could no longer maintain his confident smile. Viss had barely noticed how the man was dressed—a suit instead of the cloak, plus the crown.
"You—you're not a simple traveler," the man muttered, enduring the wound on his hand.
"Of course I am. I come from the capital," he said with a touch of sarcasm, though maintaining his characteristic seriousness. The source of this chapter is g.com.
"The capital?" the pirate asked in a measured tone, then smiled again—though it was a forced smile. "I see. I bet everything on the wrong number this time, 'Nellac.' How did I not think of it?"
The pirate looked him in the eyes.
"You're Prince Callen, the second-strongest swordsman in the empire," he said between laughs and groans of pain. "You do honor to your title."
"I know I do. Now, it's time to say goodbye."
Callen raised his scimitar to finish the job, but was distracted by someone's whistle.
Looking toward the hallway Lin had fled through, the Tarzovian had returned—but now he was bringing Lin as a hostage, pressing his dagger against the woman's neck.
"Step away from him, Prince, or I'll slit her throat," the man threatened in a thick voice.
Callen obeyed and stepped about six paces away from Viss, who took the opportunity to stand and recover his weapon with his still-intact hand.
"You did a good job stopping him, Lin," Callen reproached her with sarcasm.
"Oh, I did stop him. But it turned out he knew how to fight better than I do."
"Silence!"
The man brought the dagger closer to Lin's neck.
"Viss, finish the prince! If he tries anything, I'll slit her throat!" the man shouted, nervous.
"You're wasting your time. Nellac won't be swayed by those threats," Lin said with a touch of—disappointment?
Viss prepared to launch another attack, and indeed Callen decided not to move, staying still and staring fixedly at Viss.
"Nellac, are you doing it so they don't hurt me?" the woman said as she blushed.
"Huh? Of course not. Viss is on his last legs—he won't be able to use my ability."
The blush disappeared from the woman's face, replaced by disappointment once more.
"Don't underestimate me!"
The pirate tried to launch a cut, but the blue aura faded. Then he felt a liquid fall on his lips—he was bleeding from the nose.
"What...?" Upon speaking, he also began to cough, spitting blood.
He dropped his weapon again, falling to the ground after having lost consciousness.
"What happened to him!?" the Tarzovian shouted, surprised and nervous.
"Woohoo, you defeated him," Lin celebrated with a distant look, barely putting any strength into speaking.
What kind of celebration is that? the prince thought, narrowing his eyes. I'd better forget it. I should already...
The red aura returned to Callen's weapons. Now the prince fixed his gaze on the Tarzovian.
"Answering your question, he probably didn't feel his spirit reach its limit. Though it doesn't seem like it, my ability consumes a lot."
As he spoke, the prince advanced in the Tarzovian's direction.
"Don't come closer! I still have her!" the man shouted, still threatening Lin.
"Lin," Callen called her.
"What?" the woman asked.
"Do you need me to save you?"
The woman let the coin Viss had thrown at her a while ago fall. Then, using the moisture from the floor, she shot it toward the Tarzovian's hand at full speed. Upon impact, the man stifled a scream and released the dagger.
Without giving him time to recover, Lin headbutted him, then turned and delivered a kick to his abdomen, making the man fall to the ground clutching the impact site with ragged breathing.
"Shit," he said slowly as he raised one of his hands in surrender.
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" the prince asked upon reaching her side.
"It's just that I wanted to know what it felt like to be saved by a prince. You know, like in children's stories," the woman confessed with a sigh.
Callen brought his hand to the bridge of his nose. Then he approached Lin to pinch her face—hard.
The woman began complaining about the pain while trying to remove Callen's hand from her face, without success.
"Ow, sorry, sorry, don't pinch me anymore, aaah!"
Callen let her go.
"Monster, barbarian, bastard...!" The woman kept insulting him for a long while.
Through the destroyed door, soldiers began to enter, led by Halad's escort who was still loyal to him. The latter approached Callen.
"Miss Jullie is safe. Tell me, Prince, what should we do?"
"The first thing is to throw this one behind bars," he said, pointing to the Tarzovian on the ground. "With the pirates, you can do whatever you want. I don't care even if you kill them."
The soldier nodded, then moved his head slightly in Lin's direction.
"She's one of the good ones. She comes with me."
"Also, search the rooms. I suspect they've taken the tax food to some kind of warehouse. Then bring it back to the village."
The man bowed and returned to his soldiers to share the orders. Callen began walking to the exit, followed by Lin.
"Where are we going now?"
"To Halad's mansion. I have a speech to give."
The orange color of the afternoon flooded the sky as night grew closer. The people's complaints were no longer just whispers—now they were shouts charged with anger.
The soldiers tried to call for calm but were totally ignored. The crowd, which must have already exceeded three hundred people, was dangerously approaching the place where Halad had spoken earlier that day.
The soldiers served more to guide them there than to stop them—Callen's orders.
Upon arriving there, the crowd stopped. Their shouts didn't—but upon observing Callen standing on the same platform where Halad had been, they lowered in intensity.
"People of Fisherman's Rest, you are addressed by Callen, second prince of the imperial crown of Luneria!"
The crowd fell silent instantly. Perhaps from surprise, or from fear of finding the wrath of the one who called himself their prince.
"I have heard your complaints and seen your situation, so I decided to investigate this place on my own to find the root of the problem that oppresses you!"
"You don't have to look for anything! The problem is Lord Halad!"
The shouts intensified once more, because of who spoke—a pirate. Callen could see several among the group. Probably their goal was to maintain the population's anger, but it would no longer serve any purpose.
The soldiers brought the Tarzovian and two boxes of food up alongside him.
"Your enemy is not Lord Halad, but the pirates who try so hard to turn you against him. Their leader was holding conversations with the Tarzovians, our enemies!"
The people erupted in whispers, and the pirates seemed surprised. Perhaps they were in the same situation as Lin and didn't know Viss's entire plan.
"They kidnapped Lord Halad's wife and forced him to raise the food taxes, thus increasing your discontent and that of the province's villages!"
Callen stopped once more. The soldiers opened the boxes to reveal they were full of food, provoking sounds of indignation from the population. The pirates looked more nervous now.
"I understand you. I understand your discontent. I understand why you're angry. But this must end now. Our enemies want us weak—they want us to fight among ourselves. We cannot allow it, not now nor ever!"
The shouts began to agree with Callen. He could see some pirates trying to move away from the people, only to be stopped by guards or the villagers themselves in the process.
"Stay strong. I will see to it that your lives return to normal. I promise it by the weight my crown carries and by the power I have been given as your prince!"
The prince drew one of his scimitars and raised it in the air, making it shine in the crimson red color of the aura that now surrounded it, provoking shouts of jubilation from the population once the surprise disappeared.
The hours passed. Night fell. The streets, once full of angry people, were now deserted. The food was returned to its owners, and the surplus would be sent the next day to the villages from which it was taken.
Now there was only waiting left. He was tired—very tired. After walking, fighting, and fixing this disaster, the prince wanted to sleep. Halad gave him a fairly comfortable guest room, but there was a small problem.
"Hey, little prince, will you let me sleep with you?" Lin said slowly in his ear.
"No."
"The floor is uncomfortable! Don't be like that!"
"I said no. Let it be a lesson to you—maybe next time you won't forget to tell me important information."
"Tsk. I'm starting to understand why your sister fled the palace."
"She didn't flee. She was kidn—" Callen stopped. "How do you know that?"
"Rumors travel fast. So they're true?"
"Depends. What are the ones you've heard like?" the prince asked, still lying in bed.
"Princess Zara escaped the palace and fled to Tarzovia, or so they say."
"There are a few errors there. You see..."
Callen looked at Lin, who was watching him fixedly, waiting for him to speak. She seemed genuinely interested in what Callen was going to say. Without realizing it, a smile escaped the prince.
"Oh, that's new," Lin said, raising an eyebrow.
Callen settled into the bed.
"I'll tell you everything tomorrow."
"What!? You can't leave me hanging like that, you criminal!"
"Hold on half a night more and don't be a crybaby," he said, yawning. "See you tomorrow."
"Hey, hey!"
For the next few minutes, Lin tried to get Callen to pay attention to her once more, without success. After seeing that the prince wouldn't speak, she settled as best she could on the wooden floor.
"I've slept in worse places."
Both fell asleep almost instantly—a response to the day's events. But Callen couldn't help but be happy and wonder what his sister would say if she saw him at this moment.