Chapter 40: The Great Conference of The Dukes VI

Gilbert stormed over to Williams' position drawing a scepter from his side.

"Die Coward!" He screamed bringing down his weapon onto William.

William drew out a decent sized broadsword, blocking Gilbert's attack.

"Godefroi is the coward! And those who follow him will share the same fate!" William screamed.

Pushing Gilbert back he thrust his sword into his scepter, sending the old man toppling over a group of bookshelves, falling like a set of Dominoes.

"You'll pay for this!" Gilbert yelled.

"Wait!" A voice cried from the other side of the room.

Weisheng and Duke had arrived.

"Stop this Gilbert! Let's apprehend him the right way and bring him in for questioning!" Duke yelled

"Question what? He's admitted to the crime! What more do we need from him!" Gilbert yelled

Duke turned towards Wiliam with astonishment.

"Is this true William?" Duke asked.

"Indeed," William answered.

"How did you do it?" Duke asked

"Do you know what my artefact is?" William laughed

"No…" Duke said.

"Below this library is a sewer line, allow me to show you!"

William slashed into the floor, denting a giant hole in the library floor.

A mound of sewage water burst into the room flooding the halls with disgusting filth

"Awaken! Dom Pérignon!"

In a flash, Williams' sword instantly transformed all of the sewage into wine. The pungent air was replaced by the beautiful smell of fermented grapes as the dark bleak waters were replaced by a golden flush.

"This is amazing." Duke said as he watched the wine cascade.

"Don't let that touch you!" Gilbert yelled.

Jumping in front of Duke He used his scepter to block the path of wine.

"Each of his wines has an ailment! This Wine will paralyze you if it touches you!" Gilbert yelled.

"Well How will you deal with a flurry! Rain of Champagne!" William cried striking the wine again.

The wine rained down from the ceiling landing gon everyone.

"Shit! We can't move!" Gilbert cried.

"Weisheng!" Duke cried.

"I was foolish, I had no idea artefacts like this could exist! I'm also frozen in place." Wiesheng answered

"He, now you will die by my hand!" William yelled.

"Bloody Mary!" He yelled, striking at a different source of wine.

"That's the wine that killed Godefroi!" Duke yelled.

"That's right! Usually I am limited but, because there is a never ending supply of liquid, I can use two different sources of my wine! You're as good as dead! It only takes one drop to be consumed to kill you! A whole Wave covering your bodys will definitely do the trick! You're finished!"

William flicked his sword transforming a nother break in sewage into a wave of wine.

"Listen! HE can't control two wines at once! We will have a brief moment to dodge the attack at that moment, stand behind me Gilbert yelled.

"BOOM"

Another wave of wine came crashing in from behind them.

"I had Barrels of wine at the top of the staircase to trap you! Lets see you block the attack from both sides!" William said.

"Noooo!" Gilbert yelled.

"Au Revoir, Join the King in the everlasting sleep."

"Scarlet Garden!" A voice cried from above them.

BOOOOOOM!

The wave of Wine crashed into Weisheng, Duke, and Gilbert carrying them onto a Bookshelf.

"Shit! We were too late!" Gilbert said. "Are we going to die?"

"I don't believe so." Duke said. "If what he said was true, we would be under an extreme asphyxiation right now. Somehow, it seems we've been saved."

"Thats impossible! His attack was heading towards us, he would have had to have died instantly besides the…"

Gilbert froze in shock. It seemed that all the wine in the room had been replaced with sewage water, and the wine that they were soaked in was just regular wine.

Gilbert, Duke, and Wiesheng got up and walked towards William.

"Dear god!" Gilbert gasped

Williams' entire body was pierced by hundreds of huge orange thorns. THey penetrated through the roof above right through his body, crucifying him in mid air. The room was soaked in his blood, that had spluttered all over the floor and ceiling, with an orange haired man sitting on a desk in the library with his back turned.

"I penetrated his body with 1000 thorns, 100 of them targeting his vitals, and the majority of them aimed at his brain stem, severing communications to his brain."

Weisheng looked on at the scene in complete awe.

"You did this all through the ceiling, you couldn't even see your target. How was that even possible?"

"Look at the floor" The orange haired man said.

All across the floor were hundreds of little orange thorns, nearly indistinguishable from the library floor to the untrained eye.

"He was standing on my garden the entire time. He never had a chance."

"Then why is it that you waited so long."

" I had to make sure you didn't get caught in the attack." The orange haired man said. "By the way, your all still standing on my garden."

The three anxiously shuffled away from the man, getting their footing straight.

Duke closely examined William's body, and after letting out a sigh turned to his men.

"Let us report to Godefroi," Duke said.

Wiesheng and Gilbert looked on at Duke in amazement. Here was an 18 year old boy who had nearly been killed, sitting in front of a dead man with blood splattered on his clothes as if nothing had happened.

"What?" Duke said. "Don't tell me this is the first time you've seen a man killed? well if it is, you have my condolences, it's a terrible thing" He said to them. He took his lead, walking back to Godefroi.

"Godefroi…" Weisheng said looking at Duke, and then to the Orange haired man. "THese men are incredibly sharp and strong, what need do you have of me and my assassins here?" Weisheng thought. "These men are just as capable, I would say they are our direct equals… Wait, thats it isn't it!" Weisheng realized.

"They are the 13 shields, we are the 13 swords, no group can be stronger than the other, that would lead to one of them being able to control you… Although we are both there for your protection, our equal strength makes it so none can bully you without fear of being attacked by the other… That is why you told the leader of each of these groups your secret… to balance the power! Godefroi… It's not the things you say that make you king, its the things you don't. You rule indirectly, keeping people in control, I thought i was your shadow minister, but it seems you are your own!"

Weisheng shook his head in amazement as he followed Duke, leaving Gilbert and The Duke alone.

"It's a shame he had to die," The orange haired man said.

"It should have been me," Gilbert said. "This was my plan, if things were to go wrong I was to pay the price…"

"He was under suspicion already for talking with Britain, it was only a matter of time before they found out, and with this you are even closer to Godefroi than before."

"True…" Gilbert said. "I've already disposed of Godefroi's napkin, the evidence of the real poison has been destroyed."

"Excellent" The orange haired man said.

"Valentene, now that we know that the King cannot indeed be killed by conventional methods, what shall we do?"

"For now, we make it out of here" Valentene said "And then we seek out allies, if we want to take him out, it will require a full scale war, I doubt we will reach him with his guard down like that ever again."

"Does that mean it's finally time to find him?" Gilbert asked.

"I didn't wanted to do this, between us, You and William were men I could trust, but now it seems we need someone who can galvanized people, someone who will serve as the face of our cause, someone with a natural right to the throne.

"Then it's time?" Gilbert said.

"Very well, track down Lindor, get me every last detail of information on this, Dark Prince, if he is indeed Prince De Bourbon, there may be hope for our cause after all."

"William, my friend..." Gilbert said touching his bloody corpse. "I will avenge you! I won't let Godefroi get away with what he did to your wife!"