5

Raudo awakens to feel a mysterious presence in the room. He sits up in bed, the soft layers of the mattress sinking into a comfort that is strange for a knight accustomed to lying on the floor and under the most inclement rain or sun. The man's stern eyes sweep the bedroom and end on the hooded figure standing erect at the foot of the bed, a candlestick lit in her hand. Raudo's face tinges with surprise as the figure pulls back the hood, revealing the glowing mark on her forehead.

"Princess Foralena" Raudo muses, and in the next instant he throws off the sheets with a wave of his one arm, leaps from the bed with little more than woolen tights on, and drives his knee. .

Foralena closes the distance and places her soft hand on the knight's sturdy, warm shoulder.

"You don't need such formalities with me, Raudo" the princess' voice is as delicate as her touch.

Raudo remains crestfallen.

"Look at me, Raudo"

The knight raises his head. On the right side of his calm countenance, the stigmata of the dragon's fire persist, scars that however the princess does not seem to see, because in Foralena's eyes there is no repulsion, but admiration and even closer appreciation.

"Come with me to the library. I wish to show you something, but please do not ask me what it is, nor scold me for appearing under the shadows of the night. Just understand that this is important to me"

Raudo nods and respects Foralena's conditions. The knight stands up and follows the princess, who leads the way with her candlestick, through the gloom of the gray brick corridors.

Crossing a wooden door they reach the high vault of the library, a sanctuary of giant bookshelves occupied by tomes older than the kingdom, and also by novels barely half a decade old. Raudo arches an eyebrow as he notices how Foralena's favorite book section, the one where stories of noble heroes and difficult romances predominate, is especially empty. Foralena follows Raudo's gaze and immediately catches the knight's doubts. The princess places the candlestick on a wooden table and speaks with her back turned to the man.

"Father secretly ordered to move my furniture and amusements to the tower"

"Tower...?"

Foralena nods and her voice almost breaks.

"It is far away. Father spent the scarce royal coffers and hired the best architects to build it. But is it really me he wishes to confine and guard? Or is it this blood that flows through my veins?"

She looks at her wrists, at those red and blue lines that throb beneath her white, transparent skin. She faces Raudo, who looks at her with a tempered and almost alien face, something that bothers Foralena.

"Well?"

"What exactly do you want from me, princess?"

"Do you think it is acceptable for my father to give up and send me away?"

"No. But his majesty is wise and quite capable of dictating the fate of his people. So appointed by blood, so dictated by heaven"

"My father is wrong!" Foralena puts a hand to her throat, she is so used to modulating her tone of voice that it hurts to shout.

"Even if her father fails, one thing is clear to me, princess. This world began to go awry when subjects stopped listening to their kings. Now there are few monarchs left, and my kind are almost incapable of surviving with honor in this unrecognizable age. I will not be the one to continue to condemn this distorted world by contradicting my king"

Foralena lunges at Raudo's bare chest and strikes with all her might, but the knight does not even flinch. The blows become weaker with each attempt, until the princess gives up, sinks her face into Raudo's chest, and lets the tears flow.

"How can he be a king with a kingdom that dies? How can he be a king with a mark that ignores his calling? I want to go back to the past. I want the sun to be as bright as it was in my childhood. Why does everything have to be so difficult?"

Raudo watches her in total silence and without moving a muscle, because even he does not have the answers to such questions. The princess remains with her sobbing restrained for a minute, until she falls into a reflective silence and turns her face away to wipe away her tears. When she looks up, Foralena's eyes are serene and lined with calm resolution.

Raudo is surprised when the princess, with two hand movements, drops the collar of her dress, revealing her bare shoulders and the upper contours of her turgid breasts. Raudo's eyes widen and he brings his hand to her arms to stop her.

"What are you doing, princess?"

"I give you the opportunity you desire to get what my family needs, Raudo. We want a strong and noble king, one who knows and respects the traditions, and who will revive our past glory. Rarely do women like me have the opportunity to choose with whom to share our gift. But Raudo, if it is with you, I will gladly sacrifice my virginity and my mark to crown you"

Raudo hesitates, his hand lingers on Foralena, but he does not apply resistance or prevent her from leaning against him.

"I am not worthy of a throne..."

"Is anyone? We are all sinners..."

The princess brings her lips close to the knight's, but before they can melt, the library door is kicked open, startling the couple. Raudo and Foralena see the peasants enter with torches and tools that at first they thought were stained with mud, but when the fire stopped playing with the shadows and the atmosphere cleared, they realized that it was fresh, dripping blood.

Foralena screams as she notices the bundles hanging from the belt of the peasant in the center of the crowd. The dead eyes of her parents' heads return an open grimace from beyond the grave. The princess almost faints, and Raudo has to support her with his arm.

"Princess Foralena, we were looking for you" Xar says with a frown. A bead of sweat runs down his forehead as he notices Raudo. The villagers accompanying Xar take a step back as they recognize the knight. "Captain of the guard, so soon finished with Night Slash?"

Raudo is silent, his eyes glinting in restrained violence, and the wooden planks beneath his feet crack. Xar has to use all his courage to keep his composure and continue speaking.

"Never mind that" Xar points the bloody sickle he holds at him, "I know you're an honorable and loyal man, but even someone like you has to know how to make amends. Give us the princess and join our cause, then you'll be on the right side of history"

"Are you planning to take her and supplant the king you murdered?"

"What? Of course not!" Xar's expression distorts from disgust at the implication. "Our passions boiled over moments ago.... We need at least someone to set an example, and the princess is the only one left. Monarchy is an offense against freedom, and that girl represents oppression and perpetuates it. Choose, Raudo, will you defend the royal family or the families of the people?"

"I will defend the king's legacy!" Raudo's fury explodes.

"Then you will join your king! Attack!"

Two dozen hungry men and women rush towards the knight to tear him to pieces. Raudo pushes Foralena onto his back, and bends down to meet the surge. The knight's mark burns like fire in the center of Raudo's chest, and after a silvery glow covers him from head to toe, the captain appears in his full body armor, finely decorated by reliefs recounting Raudo's past exploits, the most striking piece being the shoulder pad on his remaining arm, showing the face of the dragon he impressed with courage.

Raudo strides forward, propelling himself like lightning and becoming a blurred trail. So does his arm, the side of whose hand collides with the face of the nearest peasant, plunges his nose, pops his teeth and eyes, tears his skin, crushes his skull, pulverizes the gray matter, and exits through the back of his neck to continue his course without slowing down. It spins with its arm outstretched, turning into minced meat the different bodies that get in its way.

He quickly digs in his heels and stops. All around him is a growing puddle of blood curds that a second ago were people. The blood slides down the armor as if it were waterproof, no stain remains, the armor is still shiny and beautiful as the moon.

Both Xar and Foralena, their faces splashed with red, stare at Raudo dumbfounded. Xar is the first to react, he grits his teeth and points his sickle at the knight, the mark on his hand, a handle plowing the earth, gleams. Inedible roots and stalks sprout from the planks and bricks, hardened by the curse of the swamp, but such troubles now for Xar meant a valuable weapon.

The leather-hard, thorny shoots fling themselves in dozens over Raudo, wrapping around his limbs, trunk, and head, squeezing so tightly that they would be able to crush a stone.

"This is the story of how a brave people defeated oppression!" declares Xar, taking his victory for granted.

But Raudo, with a wave of his arm, shreds the shoots as if they were paper. Before any whimper or word could come out of Xar's mouth, Raudo jumps up, catches his face, and slams him against the wall.

Pressed against the bricks, with Raudo's fingers distorting his face and a pinky shattering one of his eyes, Xar lets out a strangled curse as he tries to deliver a blow with the sickle, whose blade cracks on impact with the breastplate. The knight's fierce eyes stare at him from the slit in his helmet.

"No, Xar. This is the story of loyalty defeating treachery"

Raudo closes his hand. Xar's head sinks and the contents inside are squeezed out between Raudo's gauntlet, falling to the ground, soon joined by the faceless corpse of the peasant leader, accompanied by the decapitated heads of King Fernard IV and his queen.

Raudo straightens up and snorts. He stares quietly at the king's face for about five seconds, before turning to check on Foralena. As he faces her, the countenance beneath his helmet quivers with panic.

The princess remains kneeling, trembles, and dares not utter a word because of the curved sword that lies at her throat. Next to her is a hooded figure, her face bandages pulled down, revealing a pretty youthful face with purple eyes and hair. Titania's gaze lingers on the captain's.

"Raudo Strongchest... Do you remember me?"