Chapter 57: Civil war?

Chapter 57 - Civil war?Lee was upset at himself. The intended harmless tease caused a heartache that overshadowed the physical pain he had by a mile. But it was his own fault.

He looked one more time at his stepfather and then turned around, and walked away. Alan remained standing, lost in thoughts, and fighting his own inner pain, clueless about the storm that was about to hit the capital.

Lee was similarly clueless, but he was already leaving. Fortunately the guards let him through without lengthy explanations, and Lee found himself on a street, alone.

He picked a direction and slowly walked for a while, until found an inn, but then realized he didn't have a single coin on him. After a hearty laugh about his own stupidity, he went to the side of the inn, where the horses of the guests were kept.

The guy that was supposed to look after the horses for some reason wasn't around. Either he ran off to take a leak, or to grab something to eat, it didn't matter. Lee quickly inspected the horses, picked a brown, inconspicuous one, and casually led it away, simply by holding a hand on its neck.

It didn't have a bridle or a saddle, but Lee didn't care. When he was far enough, he used the last bits of strength he had, and got on it, said go, and passed out.

From a random passerby's perspective it looked like the boy was glued to a horse's back, afraid to fall off because he was riding without a saddle. Lee knew that the horse on its own will try to return home, thus he picked the one that was most likely from somewhere in the countryside.

Turns out learning from Prides for over two months wasn't a wasted time. While Lee was passed out, the horse steadily left the center of the capital, then walked through the suburbs, and when the sun set, arrived at a farm in hills, somewhere north of Sunwell.

Lee woke up when the horse charged up the last hill, sensing the proximity to the home. The stinging pain in his chest quickly returned him to the reality and, after throwing a glance around, he slid off the horse. Afterwards he sneaked in the barn, and passed out in a stack of hay.



While Lee was traveling north, deep asleep, the New Year's celebrations were in full swing. The princess and Edward had not returned, but their performance was still fresh in everyone's memory.

The race that followed afterwards was also entertaining, but as a great surprise for the host it turned out that the entertaining part was not the race itself, but the bidding war that went on before it. Orpen never could've guessed that people would bet hundreds and thousands of gold despite there was a house cut of ten percent that was initially meant to cover the expenses.

With a one short race of five laps, Orpen made a fortune and so did few others who bet on a seemingly inconspicuous chestnut colored horse. The audience was so thrilled by the event they requested the host to hold the next as soon as possible, hopefully allowing everyone to let their treasured steeds take part in it.

The race was the only public event, and after it ended, the emperor's closest circle moved to a more secluded location to celebrate the New Year according to the established traditions. The emperor held a short speech and then everyone enjoyed the feast.

Afterwards the attention was on the new generation, and this time around the amount of performers was surprisingly numerous. As always, some sang, some read poetry, but the culmination was the usual duel between Mark Hardwood and Ian Foxson.

They stopped being the younger generation a long time ago, but the emperor gladly allowed their harmless rivalry to go on.

Foxson, considering the score, was under a lot of pressure, but he broke the tradition, and this time didn't wait to feel out the opponent. They had been feeling out each other for years, thus Ian's sudden attack came as a surprise. But this surprise left a deep cut in Mark's right cheek.

While some people were discussing whether the scar would make the young man look more manly, and if he would become even more popular with the girls, Hardwood suddenly fainted.

Alan rushed to the stage, but to his great horror realized, that the wound had already blackened and the poison had spread through Mark's body. He was beyond saving.

Although it was practically impossible scenario, Alan guessed that Lee had something to do with Mark's death, but obviously didn't have any proof. Unfortunately, as it turned out, he wouldn't even had the chance to present any if he had. Seeing his son died such treacherous death, the old Hardwood exploded and directly attacked both Ian and his father.

The emperor stepped in and managed to interrupt the fight, but even he knew that the real problems only began. It was too obvious that the kill was intentional.

Both General Hardwood and General Foxson commanded half of the imperial army with the exception of the cavalry being under the emperor's direct command. And the army forces were more loyal to the two generals than the empire.

Only then, seeing the two old generals leave, the emperor regretted of not listening to Victoria's suggestion and fully take over the command over the army. The next day was about to become the bloodiest in the history if he somehow didn't put a stop to it.

Lee woke up surprisingly refreshed, but the itch he was getting from sleeping in hay quickly reminded him of the yesterday's events. He was thirsty, though.

After quickly weighing his options, he decided to not sneak around, and directly go and find the local farmer. That way he would be allowed to drink to his fullest without provoking dogs, and get information where in the world the horse brought him.

It seemed he had slept a long time. The position of the sun indicated it was well past noon, but the troubling part was that after a break of several days, the eyes were back in the sky, observing the world below. This time they seemed to be different though – they looked curious or even amused.

Apart from a bunch of chickens, Lee didn't see a living soul. He went over to the well, drank, washed his face and then drank again. But then heard distant voices, and finally found the owners of the farm. They were a couple of elderly, standing at the side of the hill where their house was located, and curiously stared at something along with two dogs of a rather large size.



Surprisingly no one payed attention to the uninvited guest.

Lee walked over and politely greeted then from a distance, but the two, after a quick look and a couple of nods, weren't bothered with the newcomer. Only after coming closer Lee realized the reason.

Below the hill, probably not farther than half a mile away, in a wide valley, stood two armies, facing each other. There were probably five, maybe seven thousand soldiers on each side, but the fight had not began yet. What made Lee confused was the spot of the confrontation.

The wide fields located between several hills didn't give the advantage to any of the two sides, and from what Lee saw, the more or less equally numbered armies would clash in a stupid fight to the death without anyone having an upper hand. It was against anything that Lee knew about the warfare tactics.

"What's going on?" He asked the old farmer.

"No idea." The man shrugged, "Probably an uprising or something. They gathered here early in the morning, but haven't made a move yet. The three guys, you see, there, between the armies, are discussing something for already half a day. I really hope they're not trying to go against the empire. My nephew is in the army ..."

"What about the eyes?" Lee asked.

The farmer looked up, and said, "What about them? Appeared again ... I don't know ... some say it's the emperor looking at the world. Let's hope he'll arrive in time and stop the madness."

As if heard the farmer's plea, from one of the hills a lone horse charged down, but immediately after the whole imperial cavalry regiment followed in an orderly line, cutting like a knife between the two armies. Clearly, the strongest man in the world arrived to save the day.

But Lee could swear – the moment the cavalry appeared, the two eyes in the sky grew annoyed ... and then vanished.