AND NOW WE'RE BACK

Kalen's pov

Tridents sea blue walls towered above us as we crossed passed the gates, the perpetual smell of the sea clung to them and brought relief to our nostrils but even though we should have been estastic that this lengthy journey was at its end we all held dour expressions, it had been cleaned up quite well the corpses of the hundreds to thousands that died here but a life time of battle and training had left each member of our party with quite sharp senses so even with the admirable clean up that had been carried out the minute traces of death that permeated the air and soil were still tracable.

"I never thought Don langris would do something like this"

said Desmond aptly guessing the culprit of this mess

"no one did'

responded Felix

'no, not no one'

I said, I could feel their stares on my back begging me to explain but I just couldn't bring myself to do so, their eyes lingered for a few more seconds before leaving as they had probably guessed I wasn't in the best of moods

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE"

it wasn't a guards man that yelled but he was definitely standing guard, he wore a uniform of white and gold allowing any one to easily place him as one Langris's men, from the top of the wall he jumped forming a small crater at his feet before pulling out his sword all in an attempt to seem threatening

"state your name, where you're from and business before I take your head off"

I got down from my horse without so much as a sound and in the blink of an eye I was at his back with my hand around his head, I smashed his head into the ground with a moderate amount of force instantly knocking him out. I knew what I was doing was technically wrong, we had just gone to war and the entire city was probably on guard as such rough methods were needed for inspections at the gates but the sight of that bloody uniform simply drove me up the wall and I couldn't control myself, i walked all the way back to my horse mounting it again before saying

'let's go'

Felix followed me silently with Damien tailng with a smirk on his face, the others moved hesitantly perplexed as this was the most aggressive they had ever seen me,

"this city, its aura seems strange"

said Damien

'I know'

I replied, the cities inhabitants seemed to be trying to decide on what mood to take, a joyous one or a guilty one, I stooped in front of an apple vendor setting up shop

'how much for that one'

she seemed not to have noticed my approach as she seemed startled by my presence but like a professional in a city run by dons she quickly collected herself saying

"a single copper"

'bring five I said pulling out exact change, it's been a few years since I've entered this city but the mood feels different care to tell a traveller why?'

it seemed like my question was choice gossip as she instantly replied with quite shocking words

"Aegis has been destroyed"

shock reverberated around my body,so much so that I almost dropped the apples she was handing to me, I felt the same emotion from each member of my party as someone muttered "impossible"

"I know right, it's said that we were at war with them, they came all the way here with a shit ton of warriors with the intent of burning this city to the ground but luckily the Don's stopped them"

I quickly composed myself before asking

'which ones'

"all of them"

the woman said excitedly

'all of them?'

"uhmm uhmm, the first Don lord Langris defeated Aegis's first Don in a duel he then dragged his battred body over to Aegis's army and singlehandedly vanquished them, the second Don Mistress Raine bless her beat two Don's by herself while the 4th and 5th Don's were the one who led our forces to Aegis where they evacuated all of its citizens before destroying it, they also beat Aegis's 5th Don but they let him live so that he could protect his people but the craziest thing was what the third Don did"

'ohh, and what did he do, I don't really think he could have done anything comparable to Don's 1st and 2nd'

i had to put up a front as since the woman didn't seem to know who I was. It was best to act like someone who was still skeptical of the new Don but the woman didn't seem to care as she was practically beaming at this point as she said

"ohh but he did, he defeated Aegis 2nd Don, they say that guy was not far off in strenght from the first and a 3rd Don not only challenged him but won"

'has anyone heard from him at this point'

"nope no one has, they say day the battle was so terrible that he's lying in bed teetering between life and death from his injuries from battle, the entire city is desperately praying for his recovery there's a monument in his sector of town where all the young girls go to place flowers in order to wish him a healthy recovery, my daughters there right now"

'she is?'

I said taking a bite out of an apple

"yep, I wasn't there for his enthronement ceremony but from what I heard he's quite fetching, of course I still have my doubts since he seems to be a little blood crazy but even then, it's nice having someone who this city could always rely on watching over us, don't you think?"

'I pray so, if we won why do some people look like they lost from what I can tell we didn't seem to loose any men'

"we didn't, it's just, Aegis, we never really liked the place nor the people there but we've been getting reports about how millions of them lost their homes and I guess every one is feeling just a little bit of guilt"

'that's good'

i said quietly

"what?"

'nothing, so what time do you think you're daughter will be back, surely she isn't going to let you set all this up on your own'

I said pointing at all the crates of apples surrounding us, the woman replied with a wry smile

"why do you ask, do you want to see what my daughter looks like"

'pardon?'

she didn't seem to hear me as she continued

"you know it's too bad, you're a handsome young lad yourself but that girl has heart solidly on that third Don something about wanting a brave and handsome man of justice to sweep her off her feet"

I managed to avoid glancing back at my companions who were trying very hard to conceal their laughter as the woman prattled on

"something about giving him her favour as he went out to fight evil, she'd stay up late at night pining at the moon while he shout for my lady love as he charged into battle with a silver sword"

Damien had stopped all pretention and was actually laughing at this point, he only stopped when I turned back to say

'you know this could also apply to the you from when we first met'

that shut him up real quick

"but I keep telling her where on earth are you going to find someone like that it's not like you can find a Don by simply walking down the stre...."

she didn't finish that sentence as she turned around at the sound of a basket falling to the ground, my eyes followed her gaze coming face to face with a group of girls who's ages averaged around 16 and in their middle was a pretty girl with the same ashen brown hair as the woman next to me

"ohh Cammie"

said the vendor

"come meet,.... ehm, I'm sorry I never got your name"

I turned to her lowering my head a little as I said

'it's Kalen madam no last name'

"hmm, Kalen, like the third Don"

I suppressed a smile as I said

'unlikely, you wouldn't meet Don's walking down the street now would you?'

"you're on a horse"

Felix chimed in from behind me, I turned to him with a unammused gaze which he avoided

'anyway, I really should be going by now madam.....'

"Burlow"

she said with a friendly smile

'thank you for the apples Madam Burlow'

I said before kicking my horse at the sides to get it to move, I reached Cammie and stopped long enough to give a short bow and a little smile as I said the words

'Miss Cammie'

the girl who had previously been standing with her mouth agape gave an awkward smile with a blush on her cheeks, as soon as I was out of sight my acute hearing picked up the commotion that was surely a result of Cammie berating her mother, a slight smile played at my lips before instantly disappearing, I now had an idea of the true details of what's been going on

'that calmed me down a bit, but I'm still angry'

I could feel my party all except Felix and Damien shrink back at those words

'Let's go pay that lieing fuck a visit'

i said as I galloped full speed into the flashiest district in the city and the home of that gold covered fuck.