Blood Pledge

The scene unfolded with tensions running high as the group paused to regroup along the mountain road. Father Edgar, Laura, Indry, little Jasmine, Ralph, and Agnes huddled together diagonally across from where Aden sat.

Nearby, Phil, Ethan, Oliver, Hjalmar, Martin, and Kazama were catching their breaths, steeling themselves for the challenges that lay ahead.

Captain Willem, Corporal Knightly, Ser Percival, Ser Cedric, and Ser Gareth were engaged in an emergency meeting, their hushed tones carrying a sense of urgency.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted within the group surrounding Father Edgar. Aden turned his head to see Ralph, clutching an amount of beef jerky that far exceeded what any one person could have. A middle-aged female villager attempted to take the jerky from his grasp, but Ralph defiantly shoved the entire handful into his mouth, his cheeks puffing out like an inflated fish.

Without warning, Ralph shoved the female villager to the cold, paved stone road, eliciting a cry of anguish from her lips.

Aden rushed to her aid, gently helping the woman to her feet. "It's all right," he soothed, leading her away from the arrogant brute.

The female villager sobbed uncontrollably, her wrinkled face soaked with tears. "He...he took my food," she choked out, her voice laced with despair.

Aden watched as Ser Percival marched toward Ralph, his expression thunderous.

"What the hell, Ralph?" Ser Percival growled, grabbing the man's shirt and pulling him close, his eyes ablaze with fury.

"What? I'm still hungry," Ralph defiantly swallowed the last of the beef jerky.

"At a time like this, you still do nonsense things," Ser Percival seethed.

"Nonsense? This is the most senseful moment," Ralph scoffed. "Look at her, she's barely able to walk. Her husband and son were dead. She won't survive anyway. Might as well make herself useful by handing over the beef jerky she was holding on to."

"Your beef jerky?" Aden interjected, unable to wrap his mind around the chedaim's blatant disregard for the wellbeing of others.

"You can't just take whatever you want, you damn h'mar," Aden cursed, using a derogatory term for Ralph's kind.

"Well, that's your problem, not mine. I just take what's rightfully mine," Ralph defended himself with a smug grin.

Every eye turned toward Ralph, but no one dared to stand against him, knowing the consequences of challenging his arrogant entitlement.

Knowing his place, Aden shrugged off the confrontation. It was better for him not to mess with the arrogant donkey before he received his Crown's Pardon.

"Here," Aden offered his only remaining piece of beef jerky to the female villager. "You can have mine."

Ralph swaggered toward Aden and the woman, his eyes gleaming with arrogance.

Striking an akimbo pose, the chedaim boasted to the female villager, "I, Raphael Rosenber, hereby exercise my rights as God's chosen people. I demand your Blood Pledge."

With a reluctant hand, the female villager handed over the jerky that Aden had given her, surrendering it to the chedaim's demands.

Ser Percival could only grit his teeth at Ralph's despicable act, powerless to intervene. In fact, no one could do anything about it, bound by the privileges afforded to Ralph's kind.

The tense atmosphere was palpable as Ralph approached Aden, holding the last piece of beef jerky with an air of arrogance. "You should learn your place in this land, hagri," he sneered, his tone dripping with mockery.

Aden clenched his fists, his jaw tightening at the derogatory term. Hagri, a swear word used by the chedaim, means "animal in human flesh." It was a term he had never heard spoken aloud in his homeland, even by his own foul-mouthed chedaim friend, Nasser. It was a term born of the chedaim faith, which viewed all Men except their ethnicity as hagri – animals in human form.

At first, Aden had thought it was merely a fabrication by the Median people, a way to paint the chedaim as villains. But now, the ugly reality of such beliefs was laid bare before him.

"And this will be your first valuable lesson, which you should thank me later," Ralph taunted, bringing the beef jerky to his mouth and chewing it with an arrogant smirk as if challenging the Jinn. He swallowed the last morsel and opened his mouth wide, declaring, "This is the way in this land."

With a triumphant sneer, Ralph turned and walked away from Aden and the helpless female villager, smirking and giggling like a harpy returning to its roost. Agnes, Ralph's wife, could only hide her face behind Indry's back, ashamed of her husband's despicable behavior.

Aden stood on the road like a jackass with a pointy hat, tired, battered, and now seething with anger at the selfish act of the arrogant "God's chosen people."

His gaze swept across the people gathered at the side of the road, their eyes downcast in defeat, their silence deafening. The air was thick with tension, and all Aden could hear was the echo of his own thoughts. No one stood up against Ralph. Is this the power of God's chosen people over the Aionians?

Aden's eyes met Father Edgar's, and he stared at the respected village chief with a mixture of disdain and disappointment, silently questioning why he did not stand up for his own villager against Ralph's cruelty. Father Edgar could only break eye contact, looking down at the cold ground in defeat.

Aden returned to his spot, sitting down with a heavy heart. As the arrogant donkey rejoined his group, Aden witnessed a male villager offer his own piece of beef jerky to the helpless woman. Aden could only nod silently in respect before the villager returned to his place.

As he sat, Aden couldn't stop his mind from racing. What the hell is the Blood Pledge?

"All right, everyone. The break is over," the captain's voice broke through the silence, snapping Aden out of his dark thoughts.

"Pack up your things and get up. We must reach the fish farm before sunrise." The captain adjusted his sword's holster, checking his straps and armor meticulously.

Drawing his sword, he stepped to the front of the group. "One last push and we'll all be safe."

⁕⁕⁕

As the villagers descended the winding path from Stormsteps Mountain toward the empty seaside port of Monterei, a sense of urgency propelled their steps forward. "Keep up the pace!" Captain Willem's voice rang out, his tone laced with anxiety as he watched the sky turn an ominous shade of gloom.

The sun was just beginning to peek behind the mountain, casting its golden rays upon their weary band as they resumed their march along the paved road. Captain Willem led from the front, while Aden guarded the rear, ensuring no one was left behind.

The winding road down the mountain was well-paved, allowing the villagers to make steady progress towards the seaport before sunrise. Its width accommodated merchants' wagons and horse- or ox-drawn carriages with ease.

Lining the road were tall Monterei cypress trees, their branches and canopies forming a tunnel-like canopy along each side. Aden couldn't help but admire these majestic sentinels, standing tall and straight, their distinctive pyramidal shapes reaching toward the sky.

The branches of the Monterei cypress trees, covered in a lush cloak of evergreen foliage, reached outwards and upwards, seeking sunlight amidst the ocean's salt-laden breezes. Their trunks, often twisted and gnarled by the relentless coastal winds, provided an elegant contrast to the lushness above, a testament to their enduring strength.

The vibrant green leaves of the Monterei cypress imbued the trees with a sense of vitality, even in the face of adversity. These tiny, scale-like leaves, closely packed along the branches, created a dense canopy that offered both shelter and privacy.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, the cypress trees stood as sentinels in the gathering twilight, their silhouettes stark and haunting against the darkening sea. In coastal folklore, the Monterei cypress was often associated with resilience and endurance, an emblem of nature's indomitable spirit.

Their roots, buried deep within the rocky soil, anchored them firmly against the fierce ocean gales. As characters in the grand tapestry of the California coastline, the Monterei cypress trees added depth and majesty to the setting, living monuments to the enduring beauty of the natural world.

The villagers trod down the Monterei slope for hours, the distant screeches and cries of the harpies echoing from above the tree canopy, their winged forms powerless to penetrate the protective embrace of the cypress tunnels.

As the villagers and defenders trod down the road, the sky above them grew increasingly ominous. Dense, grey clouds gathered, casting an eerie gloom over their path. A towering vertical cloud formed menacingly above their destination. It seemed as though the thunderstorm had shifted from the mountains to the seaport.

"Shit," Ethan and Ser Cedric cursed in unison as they reached the end of the descent path on the Monterei slope, their eyes widening at the sight that greeted them.

"Sir, they are blocking our way," Ser Cedric's voice carried a sense of urgency as he addressed his captain.

"Damn it," Corporal Knightly's jaw clenched. "The harpies are already expecting us."

Dozens of the vicious creatures had landed upon the sandy beach that lay before them, their presence effectively barring the path to the seaport. The harpies stood in defiant formation, their twisted faces contorted into sinister grins as they snickered menacingly.

The villagers couldn't get any further with them there. Other dozens of harpies perched nearby at the treetop or leafless branches or dock structures.

The villagers were also can't go back to the village as half of the village already in ruins.

To reach their destination, all they had to do was cross the sandy beach between the Monterei slope and the port. This would take them to the dockyard, where a tall maze made by the stack of crates awaited. Once there, they had access to an abandoned warehouse past the dockyard.

Aden was aware that the towering crates at the dockyard created a maze, providing much-needed protection to the villagers. They were higher than any spear, making it difficult for the harpy to reach them as the defenders and villagers had shields, poles, and spears ready for defense.

But all of that will be for nothing if they can't get past the harpies waiting for them on the open field in front of them.

The Regalia rescue party stood battered and weary, their supplies of arrows and bolts long since expended against the relentless onslaught of the harpies. All they had left were their melee weapons, their last line of defense.

At the center of the winged formation blocking their path, the harpy queen awaited them, her massive form towering over her brood in a display of dominance.

"It's the queen again," Ethan pointed out, his voice laced with apprehension as he gestured towards the arrogant figure standing defiantly on the sandy beach. Fresh blood seeped slowly from a shallow wound on her torso, the remnant of Aden's earlier attempt on her life.

After the failed assassination, it seemed the queen had learned not to underestimate the Imperial party. Her elite harpies now surrounded her, forming a formidable shield wall.

"It seems she wants to finish us off with her own hand," Ser Percival observed grimly.

"Yes, this is our final battle, it's us or them," Aden agreed, his mind racing. The harpies must be at their last leg as well, or else the queen wouldn't risk exposing herself in such a way.

"Good, at least we still have a chance," Captain Willem declared, his voice carrying a steely resolve.

"What do you mean, ser?" Corporal Knightly inquired, confused by the captain's remark.

Captain Willem pointed his blade towards the sandy shore that separated them from the dockyard. "The fish nets."

The shoreline was littered with debris, fish nets, and wooden junk left behind by the harpies' previous raid on the seaport. A glimmer of a plan began to form in the captain's mind.

⁕⁕⁕

Aden single shield wall.

They have to hold the line until all the villagers get onto the mountain road to the seaport below the mountain.

The harpies were pressing the volunteers and the villagers. Squeezing them in

"Men! Stand your ground!" Captain Willem

Ethan saw the harpies already surrounding them from the west, blocking villagers' route to the descending path, "Shit, they cut our escape route."

Aden was still lying on the ground, collecting himself from the sheer pain of a dislocated arm. He saw Ethan extend his arm. Aden reached for him.

"Get yourself together, ruhimi," Ethan supported Aden, carrying the arm-dislocated Jinn on his side. Hjalmar protected the very rear with a wooden door while

Gilbert used the kite shield in his left hand and buckler in his left hand bashing every harpy who tried to snatch the rear party.

<> Right after Lororis Old man Jedd reveal and finale

Aden's failed attempt on the queen harpy's life provoked the harpies,

disoriented, and staggered.