We need the old lady
Soldiers of Jotunheim were close to the hideout. About 700 Soldiers were led by the commander, Jade. They raced on their horses onto the location as if it were a familiar terrain until they were slowed down by the very vast swamp before them.
"How do those bandits cross this?" a soldier asked.
"It doesn't matter," Jade replied, "Forge ahead! Save the Prince!" Jade exclaimed, prompting the soldiers at the forefront to move forward.
The limbs of their horses sank knee-deep. They struggled to make any meaningful progress.
Jade gestured a halt signal towards the rest, right before he raised his hands up and forward. His soldiers understood, therefore more beasts were released. The commander's preference were the elephant-sized bats they had used in the war against Nether.
"Sir, we brought only 10 of the flying bats, and about 15 of the jackals Sir." A soldier said.
"Allow only the elite among you to get on a ride on either the bats or the jackals. Let the rest find a way to meet us on the other side of the forest." Jade responded as he and 3 others mounted one of the bats before it took to flight.
It took about 15 minutes before his flying warriors got past the large swamp and the dense forest that was after it. The forest was made up of very tall trees, they were so numerous that they bothered even the flying creatures.
After about 15 minutes of a rough flight, they landed. The 10 bats surrounded the small building. Each bat had at least 3 warriors on it. The warriors slowly came down, fully prepared for the worst, they pulled out their swords and slowly walked towards the building.
Its environment was rather serene, and out of order. The walls were heavily cracked and there was blood everywhere. On reaching closer, they began to see a few dead bodies.
Jade bent over the body, and placed his hands to feel the face, before trying to lift the arm of the body.
"This is a fresh kill," he said.
"Sir, what makes you think s–"
"His face is stiff, but his joints are still mobile,"
"Someone was here less than an hour ago. Someone before us." Jade said, "Soldiers, move in," he commanded.
They slowly moved in. With each meter covered, they only kept seeing more dead bodies, pierced with arrows, spears or swords.
"There was a battle here not too long ago. Search the whole building for the Prince, and any survivors."
Upon hearing this, the soldiers moved into the inner rooms of the building.
"Sir, there are only more dead bodies inside this building."
"Go count all the bodies so we can give a report."
While the soldier went in, he wondered, "where could the Prince be? Why does he keep slipping away from our hands?" After which he gave a deep sigh.
"Commander, there are about 17 bodies Sir."
"Alright then. Bring me the top warlocks and a few of the slug hounds we have left. Let's track the Prince."
Many hours later, a bloodied Jason, staggering to walk, with a severely injured Aaron carried on his back arrived at their base. The bodies of his men were piled up to make a heap. Their base was on fire and all their horses were killed. Jason gently put Aaron down who had more than half of his body severely burnt, barely breathing.
Jason held his hand looking at his dying friend.
"Brother…" Aaron called.
"Our group is finished…I'm so sorry, Aaron," he said "I couldn't protect you, I couldn't protect all those who believed in me."
"This wasn't your fault, Jason."
"Aaron,"
"Make me a promise, Jason,"
"Aaron,"
"Swear to me that you will not abandon your goal,"
"Aaron, you know I can't do th–"
"You never needed us, we always slowed you down, you could change the underworld all by yourself."
"Aaron, I'm so sorry for my carelessness,"
"Brother, I believe in you. Please believe in you too."
"Aaron, I can't go far without you."
"I'm sorry I'm not as strong as you needed me to be."
"stop apologizing, please."
"Brother, I don't want to die like this," Aaron said, his eyes slowly losing it's bluish color.
"Aaron"
"Brother I don't know where my soul goes from here. I'm really scared. I've made too many mistakes. I- I don- don't want to die…" he struggled to say as he breathed his last. His eyes turned completely gray.
Jason slowly bent over and began weeping bitterly.
Meanwhile at Nether,
"Your Highness, we have rebuilt the walls, reconstructed the buildings and reinforced the soldiers. We have also made new improvements to the armor of the soldiers. We are all set, stronger than before, even." Michael said after which he rolled back the paper he was reading from.
"Great." the Queen Responded, then she gestured to Alli.
"All this time Your Highness, we have played defensive against Jotunheim. We thought they weren't much of a threat to us, but with the recent assault on our Kingdom, we can all testify that Jotunheim needs to be stopped. They are a lot stronger than they have ever been. But we also, with our silver soldiers, can put an end to their rampage." Ali said.
"Your Highness, we have word that a large portion of Jotunheim warriors are on the tail of the bandits that abducted the Prince. Therefore, this is our perfect time to attack and assassinate Will. He did not go after his son, and his general is also not around to protect him." Jamie added.
"Objection, Your Highness, this is the best time to clean up our mess. We need to go after the prince and snatch him back. We cannot let the prince get into the hands of the King." Michael said.
"Michael, the Prince is nothing without the King. We need to strike the source now that he is vulnerable and alone. We don't know when we will get this kind of opportunity again." Alli replied.
"Michael, Alli is right. I personally examined the Prince, there is no special gift in that boy. He is the weakest person in the underworld right now. The only thing special about him is that he is not dead, and that's not his doing. That's Nicole's." Jamie said.
"If he wasn't important, the King wouldn't have sent so many soldiers after him." Michael replied, " I assure you, that boy is a key to something we are not aware of yet."
"Alli, Jamie, I think Michael has a point. Everyone has been after the Prince since he got here, even bounty hunters are after him. His name and picture has spread all through the underworld. Not even Will is as wanted as Walter now. We need to be sure of our next move. I believe there's a reason Nariah couldn't even kill him."
"Your Highness, Nariah fell in love with him." Jamie responded, his tone carrying his disappointment.
"You may be right, Jamie, but when she returned, half her strength was lost, she could barely fight 2 silver warriors. And she is dead now. Nariah, the strongest warrior in all the underworld, died by falling off the Bahimi. There was definitely a serious repercussion to her bringing that boy under here."
The court remained silent for a few minutes. Everyone was giving thought to what she said.
"Your Highness, our eyes clearly don't see the treasures hidden inside the boy. Why don't we consult the oracle of the old lady." Michael suggested.
"There wouldn't be a need for that, Micheal. I can't stand that lady, she's weird and terrifying."Alli said.
"To be honest, I don't want to see her anytime soon either." Jamie said.
"I understand the worries you all have. The old lady is not a normal priest. She feeds off our fears before she grants our wishes. I highly doubt she was ever human, but we have no other choice. We need to consult her to be sure we are not making a huge mistake by letting the Prince slip away from our grasp when we could easily chase him down now."