Lady Night, page 2
Such a heavy battleaxe should have at least cracked Derek's shortsword. But his sword had been enchanted long ago to withstand even the harshest of attacks from the toughest of weapons without even receiving so much as a dent.
They disengaged. Almost straight away, Derek lashed out with his sword, only managing to open up a red gash along Bahmir's cheekbone when the older man moved out of the way.
Bahmir responded with a well-aimed kick to Derek's ribs, knocking him off his feet and sending him skidding across the ground.
Derek regained himself in time to duck out of the way of Bahmir's axe. The blade sunk into the snow instead and in that split second before Bahmir lifted his axe from the ground, Derek raised his sword in an arc that sheered straight through Bahmir's extended arm, just below the wrist.
Blood gushed and Bahmir loosed an agonised cry, the first sound Derek had heard from him. He fell to his knees, clutching the stump where his hand used to be to his chest, staining the front of his clothes red.
Derek pushed himself to his feet and Bahmir turned to look at him with amber eyes swirling with fury. He started to speak in Ishlavan, "Tik kebat—"
Derek didn't let him finish. He struck the man hard across the temple and sent him sprawling into the snow.
His arm continued to bleed profusely, but he would live, so long as Derek brought him back to the others in time.
"Derek!"
He looked up to see that Jared and Arabelle had joined him.
"You two certainly took your time," he said.
"Sorry, but we had our own mess to clean up," Arabelle said. "Darus is really pissed at you for running off on your own like that, by the way."
"Would he have rather I let them get away with the prisoners?" He gestured to the cart behind him.
Jared came up to where Bahmir was lying unconscious, his blood staining the snow beneath him. "Derek . . . you didn't . . .?"
"He'll live." Probably.
Arabelle walked over to the back of the cart, trying the door only to find it was locked.
"Maybe there's a key—" Jared began, but Arabelle had already proceeded to kick the rickety door down. It fell from its hinges with a loud clatter.
"Or just knock it down with brute force? Whatever works."
Inside, the fear-stricken faces of Rall's captives peered up at them from where they were all huddled in a corner.
"It's all right," Arabelle said to them. "You're all safe now."
They regrouped near the entrance to Serpent's Cove. Rall and his bandits and the Ishlavan merchants had all been rounded up and loaded into the wagon the captives had previously occupied. They would be on the way to Black Rock prison the next day to face trial for their crimes.
Only one bandit had still been left standing free, the informant who had told them all about tonight's trade. In exchange for helping them capture Rall and his crew, he would be allowed to go free and return to his homeland in Tybenia.
After Derek was finished being scolded by Darus for taking off on his own, he went to join Arabelle and Jared, who were busy freeing the captives from their chains, and not only those they had rescued from the wagon, but others who had been held at the slavers' hideout. While Jared worked on unlocking them with the key that had been taken off one of the bandits, Arabelle handed them thick blankets to wrap themselves in.
"What's going to happen to us now?" asked a young man, with unruly dark hair and a scruff of a beard. The left side of his face was mottled with bruises.
"You'll be taken to Rosewold, which is the closest town from here," Arabelle explained as she handed Derek a blanket to give to the trembling Dark Elf girl.
"You'll be given food, water and accommodation there while they work to get you all home," added Jared, freeing the last of the prisoners from their shackles.
At the mention of the word home, the Dark Elf girl started trembling harder, tears streaking down the grey skin of her cheeks.
"What's the matter?" Derek asked her, keeping his voice soft.
"M-My family," the girl stammered through her tears. "It's been—I-I have not seen them in three years. I wonder . . . if they will even remember me."
He noticed that both of the girl's skinny wrists were adorned with silver cuffs with odd markings that Derek knew to be Magic Mufflers, instruments that inhibited the powers of mages, making it impossible for them to use magic unless commanded to.
"They'll remember you," he said with conviction. "Your family would have thought of you every day since the moment you were taken from them. Because you never forget the ones you love. No matter how long they've been gone."
Fresh tears welled in the girl's eyes. She bowed her head, a lock of tangled, red hair fell into her face. "Thank you," she whispered.
They were startled by a woman making a sound somewhere between a squeak and a scream. Derek looked over and saw that she was staring at Jared with wide eyes.
"You—aren't you the Prince?" she asked almost reverently.
"Um . . . Yes?"
A few of them gasped and the man with the scruffy beard even dropped to his knees in front of Jared.
There were whispers of, "The Prince saved us!" and "He held my wrist. The Prince actually held my wrist."
Jared was beginning to look more and more pleased with all of the attention.
At least until Arabelle flicked him in the ear. "Careful now, wouldn't want your head to get too big for that tiara you like to wear sometimes."
"It is not a tiara," Jared protested, indignant. "It's a circlet."
Later, Derek, Arabelle and Jared stood off to the side, watching as Lila and other Guardians prepared to escort the now freed men and women to the town of Rosewold while Darus and another Guardian discussed something by the wagon now holding the merchants and Rall and his bandits.
"What day is it?" Jared asked after a while.
"The sixth, I think," said Derek. "Why?"
With a smile, he said to Arabelle. "We should make it home just in time."
"Shh," Arabelle hissed.
Derek looked at the two of them curiously. "In time for what?"
"Nothing!" they said in unison.
Derek frowned, but they had both become suddenly very interested in the tree canopy above their heads. He knew they were hiding something from him and he would have pressed further on the matter if it wasn't for the arrival of Darus.
"Excellent work out there tonight." He sounded more than a little pleased. And why not? Their assignment was a success. No one had been killed or seriously injured—not including Bahmir—they had captured Rall and freed his prisoners.
"Now, who's ready to head home?"
2
The air was like ice that morning, but wrapped up in his cocoon of blankets, Derek was pleasantly warm. So warm, in fact, that he felt as if he would never get out of bed for as long as he lived.
There was a knocking at his door. "Derek, you lazy bugger, it's almost ten o'clock."
Groaning, Derek pulled the blankets over his head in an attempt to drown out Darus's voice. Sadly, it didn't work.
"Breakfast is ready and if you don't get up before it gets cold, I'll give it all to Daisy." As if to enforce the point, he could hear the aforementioned dog making snuffling sounds outside of his door.
Once Darus appeared to have left, Derek sat up, disturbing his blanket cocoon to face the onslaught of frigid air. It was the middle of winter and a permanent chill now clung to the air, even indoors.
Finn, the grey tabby cat, blinked blearily at Derek from where he was curled up at the foot of the bed, his sleep disturbed by Derek's movement.
"At least he didn't threaten to give your food to the dog, so you get to stay in bed," he grumbled.
Finn's response to that was to roll onto his back, stick his paws in the air, and go straight back to sleep.
Once he was dressed, Derek made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where the scent of freshly cooked food was heavy in the air. He had expected to find a simple meal of perhaps eggs and toast set out on the table, instead, Derek found the table was laden with all different kinds of dishes. There were fried eggs and crisp, brown toast, as well as strips of bacon glistening with butter, a plate of succulent sausages and even a stack of pancakes drizzled with honey. A carafe of freshly squeezed orange juice stood in the middle of it all.
Darus stood at the stove, brewing himself a pot of coffee and feeding Daisy bits of leftover sausage.
When Darus spotted him standing in the doorway, a broad smile spread across his face, and he opened his arms wide and said, "Happy Birthday!"
It took Derek a moment to register the words before realisation dawned on him. Ah, that's right. Today was the ninth of July. His sixteenth birthday.
"That explains the feast then," he said, eyeing the crowded table.
"You can at least try to sound grateful. I spent hours making all of this and waged a valiant battle against Daisy to keep her from eating it all."
"I am grateful. I just . . ."
The look on Darus's face gentled. "I know." He came up to Derek and pulled him in for a hug. Derek let him.
Over the past nine years, birthdays had always been more of a melancholy occasion for Derek, rather than a happy one.
When he was a child, living in the Valley outside of Windfell, his mother and father, Erica and Alexander Draco, always went to great lengths to make his birthday a special day. It was the one day of the year he could have just about anything he wanted. If he wanted to stay up past his bedtime, then he certainly could. His father would even stay up and have pretend sword fights with him. If he wanted sweets for dinner, his mother would go into town to buy him a whole bag full.
Derek had never been starved for affection with his parents, but on his birthday, they would spoil him rotten.
And then they were gone. Killed by a red-eyed stranger on a rainy night nine years ago.
Now, the ninth of July filled him with an ache of loneliness for his father and mother, despite Darus's attempts each year to make it a pleasant day for him.
"I'm speaking at a lecture at the Academy today," Darus explained while they ate. "So it looks like I won't be able to spend the day with you. Sorry."
"It's fine," said Derek. The Academy was where aspiring Guardians were taught everything they needed to know in order to become one of Aloseria's famed heroes. Derek himself had graduated from the Academy at the beginning of the year.
"So, do you have any plans for today?"
"Not really." He thought back to last night, sitting with Jared and Arabelle in the billiard room of the Aloria household. They had both mentioned that they would be busy today. Arabelle said she had to spend the day watching her youngest brother while her parents were both at work and Jared would be helping his Queen mother with redesigning part of the palace gardens.
Neither of them had said a word about Derek's birthday, and he wondered if they even remembered it.
Once they finished their breakfast, Derek cleaned up while Darus disappeared upstairs to get ready for his lecture.
"I'll be home by seven o'clock," he said before leaving. "Make sure you're home by then, too."
"Why?" Derek asked.
Darus winked. "Just make sure."
The day passed by rather uneventfully. Derek spent the rest of the morning tidying up his bedroom, reorganising his books and his wardrobe. After lunch, he did some training in the backyard while Daisy played around in the snow and Finn watched them from the window.
By the time night fell, Derek was curled up by the fire in the lounge, his nose in a book, a cat in his lap, and a dog at his feet.
Darus returned home as soon as the clock struck seven.
"Put that book away and go upstairs and get changed," he announced. "We're going out."
"Where are we going?"
"I can't tell you. You'll just have to wait and see. And make sure to wear something nice."
After changing into his nicest black coat and pale blue button-up shirt, Derek returned downstairs to find Darus already dressed in a startlingly red coat and plum-coloured waistcoat that matched his cravat.
"Really, Derek?" Darus looked him up and down. "Black? Why don't you wear something with a bit more colour?"
"I think you're wearing enough colour for the both of us," he pointed out.
Together, they stepped out into the cold; the snow was beginning to fall again.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going now?" asked Derek as they stepped onto the cobblestone path, bathed in the light from the flaming lamp posts.
"Absolutely not. It's a surprise until we get there."
They walked through the streets of Ember. Aloseria's capital city was not only the largest, but the most colourful. Each house and shop was built with brick and mortar of vibrant shades of reds and blues and pinks and any other colour one could think of.
Now the colourful rooftops were blanketed in white snow, as well as gardens and trees had been stripped of their leaves.
New decorations had also sprung up around the city; wreaths made of pine and bramble adorned front doors. Ribbons and tinsel of green and silver wrapped around lamp posts and fences, the sorts of decorations that came out every year to celebrate the festive season of Nativitas. A time of year where friends and families came together to exchange gifts and eat crackling pork and cinnamon cakes and drink eggnog together.
They passed through the city centre—normally bustling with people and vendors selling their wares, but on a frosty night like tonight, many chose to stay indoors. Derek had thought Darus was bringing him to a diner, but as they crossed into the upper part of the city, walking through the streets lined with lavish, noble households, Derek felt that assumption dwindle.
Just where are we going?
His unspoken question was answered when Derek found them drawing up to the wrought-iron gates of the royal palace. Two Crown Guards stood on either side in their golden armour and blue, capes. Swords were sheathed at their sides, ready to be drawn at any moment to defend the royal family, if necessary.
But when he and Darus approached, one of the Guards wordlessly moved to open the gate, allowing them to pass through onto the palace grounds.
"Why are we at the palace?" he asked.
"Like I told you," Darus answered. "You'll just have to—"
"Wait and see. I know, I know."
When they arrived at the top of the palace's front steps, they were met by Aldred, the elderly footman who had worked in the palace for longer than Derek had been alive.
"Good evening, Master Flynn," Aldred greeted them genially. "Master Draco. And if I might add, Happy Birthday."
"Good evening, Aldred," said Darus. "Is everything in order?"
The look on the footman's face turned slightly mischievous. "Indeed. If you'll follow me, please."
Following Aldred, they were led through the huge foyer with its spotless marble floors and towering ceilings, and up the grand staircase that had banisters so well polished they seemed to shine. They travelled through hallways that had grown familiar to Derek after years of being friends with Jared and being invited to the palace on countless occasions. Despite its sheer size, Derek knew the royal palace almost as well as he knew his own home.
Which was why he knew that Aldred was taking them towards one of the palace's two ballrooms before they even arrived at the white double doors that stretched all the way up to the ceiling.
"We have arrived," Aldred announced rather loudly as he placed a hand upon one of the ornate door handles. As the door eased open and Darus ushered Derek through, they were greeted by a chorus of, "Surprise!"
Standing in the middle of the ballroom with its amber painted walls and round tables draped in white cloth, was a gathering of familiar faces.
Jared and Arabelle were the first ones Derek noticed, and he saw that they were joined by Julianna, Jared's older sister, and their parents, the King and Queen. Arabelle's parents, Victor and Amara Aloria, and her brothers, Callum and Amias. There was Lila and Charles Decorus and Veter, the blind mage who crafted the Guardians' rings, and his ferret Familiar, Cornelius. Abigail Perril, the Academy Headmistress and quite a few who Derek had attended the Academy with, such as Rosalie Decorus and William Frain.
Four illuminae crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceilings, bathing the room in a bright, white light. A fire burned in the large, ornate hearth on the other side of the ballroom, warming the air.
"What is this?" Derek asked, and he knew his voice came out sounding just as stunned as he felt.
"It's your birthday celebration," Darus explained cheerfully. "We've all been planning it for a while now, but we thought it would be fun to make it a surprise this year."
A thought occurred to Derek. "Did you really have to give a lecture at the Academy today?"
"I did, but only for an hour. I spent the rest of the day helping Jared and Arabelle get everything ready." Darus put an arm around Derek's shoulders. "Now, come and enjoy the party we so painstakingly put together for you."
The Queen caught him up in a tight embrace and, true to motherly form, lamented on how quickly he was growing up.
"Yes, it seems like just yesterday that Darus first brought you into the palace," said Jared's father, Jonathan. He was smiling, but Derek glimpsed a forlorn look in his eyes and he knew the King was thinking of Derek's father. Jonathan and Alexander had been close friends before Alexander went into his self-imposed exile.
Servants came in soon after, carrying plates of food: flatbreads topped with melted cheese and slices of dried tomato, crisp chips and roast chicken, corn cobs and salads, pastry rolls slathered in cream and cinnamon, raspberry pies and sticky caramel tarts.
Musicians arrived as well and when their music took on more of an upbeat tempo, some of the guests gathered round to dance. Derek spotted Jared dancing with a brunette girl from the Academy—who looked quite ecstatic to be dancing with the Prince—just as Arabelle's parents came over to wish him a happy birthday.
"Your father hates me," he said to Arabelle once they were alone again, near the back of the ballroom.
