chapter 1

With his hands trembling and shaking uncontrollably, sweat dripping down the furrows of his brow, the guard fidgeted with one end of his robe pleading

"Mercy my king mer...cy," his voice breaking as he cried out.

"My father has served this kingdom for years my fore…" while the word was still in his mouth Saturn, the king's second lifted up his eyes fixing them towards the top right corner of the castle where the king was seated, awaiting the conclusive judgment of the king.

Aria noticed how the king, her father gave a flick unobserved nod that caused his chin fall bearish. The transmission occurred in a second that only sensitive subjects in the hall noticed the gesture.

Fulfillment spread across Saturn's face as he proceeded towards an instrument that resembled the pillory, only this time specifically designed for chopping off hands of defaulters.

Its operation was pretty simple; traitors were to be chained firmly to the ground to avoid insignificant movement. It had two Round openings able to fit the hands and legs with an inner blade like steel that reflected any infinite opening of light indicating how sharp the tool was.

Having received the permission from the king he shoved the right hand of the guard into one open end of the instrument playing deaf to the unending wailing and howls of the guard with no trace of remorse in his eyes.

She watched as he took two steps backwards then reached for his scabbard she could hear the cry of the guard soar high considering he had sensed what his fate holds – the whole crowd could hear− as Saturn unsheathes his sword, leaned backwards once again, this time to get a good alignment.

Even with her eyes closed it didn't hinder her ears from hearing the rustle hissy sound of the sword as it renders its clean cut. She could also hear the pitch of the guard rise as he writhe in pain.

A collective feeling of distress grew amongst the crowd- massive jaw drops from folks who weren't familiar with the occurrence- as they watched the right hand of the guard collapse to the ground with a thin red river gushing out of his hands, In crayons it would be called 'brick red' but coming out of his hands everyone could see it wasn't crayons.

As chaos continued amongst the crowd Saturn remained numb ignoring the turbulence he just created without pretense. The way he carried himself one could tell he wasn't a first timer on these kind of events.

She observed him as he gently pressed his eyebrow signaling two knight to remove the wounded guard from his sight. There was a sense of fruition in his face as he watched them exit the hall in scurry with the wailing guard in their possession.

Aria stared with disgust as he retrieved a piece of torn surcoat from the opposite side of his scabbard, then swung his sword skillfully causing its apex to face upward as he wiped blood out of his sword.

On certain occasions it was almost impossible to tell if he derived joy from this type of bloody show considering the neutral nature of his facial expression – his eyes were Icy like the wolves he had a massive thick black bush hair that flapped in the wind whenever he rode his horse, plus he was tall and stout. Even with the crowd in the hall anyone eyes would still single him out because his stance held power and poise.

After cleaning she observed as he raised his upper jaw it was almost certain he was about to let loose his long held tongue.

"Silence", he snapped his voice reverberating to the end of the hall, calm but still firm.

"Tomorrow before night fall we strike Chaldreon", he proceeded with an intense voice as he notice the crowd pledge their loyalty with uttermost silence in the hall.

"It's been three years since our last battle, we march tomorrow with a different target", he vocalized, swinging his sword once again this time replacing it to its origin.

He must really love this sword, she thought.

Still rummaging her thoughts her mind trailed back to the details of Saturn's announcements. It wasn't the first time she's encountered such proclamations. It has literally been a part of her since she was a kid. She understood perfectly well what most kingdoms longed for.

She knew why battles between kingdoms were fought- most of them took a dual nature of either battling for supplies, slaves, armours which a large number of insignificant kingdom partook of. Or the nasty circumstance of bloodletting ascribable to questing for dominion and revenge for stained reputation.

Unarguably House Caspian held a firm honour for the latter. Since the last visit of the marauders they've acquired a stunning record of over forty two battles won.

They had the most equipped armoury, thousands of trained soldiers armed to teeth plus enormous supplies.

"We march we the intent of taking the kingdom", Saturn continued shaking her off from her thoughts.

On hearing his final words 'taking the kingdom' Aria heart raced a little because she perfectly knew what that meant.

Blood shed was not far away. she thougth