Chapter 24 Grandpa is not an old man

Adira Blade sat on the throne in the palace comfortably, she had two guards beside her on intermediate equipment, one on the left and the other on the right. And right by her side was Chris Blade, one of the seven Spears of Kingsland, and her uncle. "The first thing I'll be doing as new Queen, is cleaning up your mess. That means finding my useless half brother and those two other fugitives you let escape." She stared down at Festus, former king of Curtis, he was on one knee, his head bowed in fear.

"One thing my father says is always tie up loose ends. If you kill the Wolf, kill the cub too or it may come back for its pound of flesh." She slowly stood up from her throne and walked down to Festus still on his knee too afraid to lift his head.

"But recently he seems to want to break that rule. What do you think of this uncle?" She asked Chris as she stood beside Festus causing him to be more afraid.

"Your father is king. If he wants the boy back alive then he will get the young boy back alive." Chris answered calmly. Adira did not look pleased. "You should also remember that your father said if he proves too difficult to handle you are permitted to end him."

Adira smiled, "very well then, send a small squad, maybe 15 or 20 with good equipment. Equipment with active and passive skills. I heard my brother is touched by the gods. Let's see how true that is."

.....

Before they left grandpa Calydon told Ajax to get the villagers into their homes,

Iris, Levi and Kara arrived to the place where the soldiers were, they stood behind grandpa Calydon, Pete and Nora. There were 15 soldiers all in good equipment. They looked intimidating compared to grandpa Calydon. He walked up to to the men and introduced himself with his usual happy smile.

"Hello young men, welcome to my village, I'm the village head. Who are you and where are you from."

The man who appeared to be the leader stepped forward and said "We are from Curtis which is now under the jurisdiction of Kingsland. We are searching for three fugitives 2 males, 1 female, If you cooperate with our search there will be no trouble."

Grandpa Calydon spoke with confidence "I sincerely assure you. There is no one here that I don't know. We are an independent village and are under no one's jurisdiction. I kindly ask you to leave. " The leader pointed toward one of his men "We have someone here who is able to identify them. Like I said, they are fugitives, they escaped our grasp while trying to flee the city."

Kara started to panic, but Levi held her hand and looked her in the eyesurgery to reassure her. He gently tapped Iris who was beside him causing Iris to turn his head.

"Iris, we did not think this through. We should have stayed hidden." Iris shook his head "You're the one who wanted to come," he replied causing Levi to frown, "you were the one planning to rush out here without thinking,"

"Well did I ask you to come with me? I told you stay inside with Kara,"

"Ooooh and leave you to do something stupid"

"Will you both shut up" Pete and Nora said at the same time.

While they spoke one of the soldiers noticed. It was the one the leader pointed at earlier. If any of the trio had payed attention, they would recognise him. He was the one that Iris faced when passing on a message when they were attacked at the Creek. He recognised them. He walked up to the leader and spoke into his ear while pointing at Iris. Grandpa Calydon noticed this and he gripped his sword tighter. When the soldiers was done speaking to the leader he stepped back.

The leader stepped forward and drew his sword, "Old man, In the name of king Steven Blade lord of the seven kingdoms I order you to step aside." Grandpa Calydon laughed out loud causing everyone to be quiet and stare at him. "Lord of the seven kingdoms you say, I haven't heard a good joke in a while." he said with a few light chuckles in between. The soldier was infuriated "you dare mock the name of the king."

"Your king. Not mine." He responded in a much more serious tone. "Leave my village the ones you want are my children. They sought refuge in my village running from the tyranny of your king. They are mine to protect. Now leave."

The leader beckoned on his men, and they moved forward together. "Apprehend the three to the right. You will pay for mocking our king old man." Calydon sighed. The leader stepped back allowing his men to move forward.

Iris stepped in front of Levi and Kara, while Pete and Nora prepared their weapons. Two soldiers ran forward, sword in hand ready to fight. Calydon took a stance, raised his great sword with both hands and swung horizontally at both soldiers, the reach of the sword was great and both men attempted to block the attack, but the moment their sword came in contact with his they were blasted away landed several feet away causing the rest of the guards to stop moving.

Both Iris, Levi and Kara had expressions of shock, "What grade is that sword?" Iris asked.

"It's not just the sword Iris, the power behind the swing," Levi interjected,

"The sword must give him an increase in strength then" Iris replied, but Levi still had a baffled expression, "something just tells me it's more than just an increase in strength."

"Step back kids I'm going to have a little stretch." Grandpa Calydon spoke while swinging his sword several times in a flashy manner.

Pete and Nora smiled, "come on he's going to use some of the sword's skills. Let's move back." They started to run until they were at least 15 feet away.

The leader of the soldiers got angry, "you think you're so tough old man. Men get ready to attack".

Grandpa Calydon held his sword with both hands upside down. When the soldiers got close, he lifted the sword and stabbed it into the ground. The air seemed to get colder, ice spread from the sword all around and froze the men where they stood. The ice spread up heir boots almost past their shins. The men were shocked they began to panic. They hit the ice with their swords attempting break it. Grandpa Calydon walked slowly and without care towards the soldiers. The leader was the first to break out of the ice, he looked very angry. He placed his feet on the ground and ... jumped, with an amazing burst of speed he reached grandpa Calydon, while still in the air he made vertical slash down on grandpa Calydon's head. But with great precision and reaction grandpa Calydon stepped stepped aside avoiding the slash. The leader landed on the ground causing minor cracks to appear, his sword was stuck in the ground, but with great force he pulled it out causing g dirt to fly out, he took a swing at grandpa Calydon, but he quickly jumped backwards only to see another soldier behind him making a horizontal slash aiming to cut him in two, he quickly put his sword behind him and blocked the hit. He jumped up avoiding two slashes from his left and right side, he spread both legs apart and kicked the two soldiers in theIris heads sending them flying. He landed and ducked under a slash from another soldier. He raised his hand and grabbed onto the neck of the soldier and placed him in front of him using him as a meat shield. He quickly turned and blocked a deadly strike to the neck from the leader by putting his meat shield in front of him. With a slit throat the soldier grabbed his neck and grandpa let him go throwing him to the leader. He raised his leg avoiding another sword strike from another soldier. With great speed and strength he stomped down hard on the soldier's hand and a snap was heard. The guard screamed in pain, grandpa Calydon lifted his foot again and kicked the soldier in the head causing his neck to snap silencing him forever. He turned and blocked another hit with his sword, and with that single contact, frost from his sword spread to the soldier's sword, and with great speed the ice spread to the his hands, he screamed as he tried to move but his forearms fell to the floor and shattered, and with another swing he was decapitated. As his head fell from his body ice spread over it.

The rest of the soldiers took a few steps back contemplating on wether to continue or abandon this mission.

"You all seemed to have been well trained on how to draw the energy from your beast armour. It would have been deadlier if you could use the elemental powers of the beast."

This caused the leader to get even angrier, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? BRING ME THE OLD MAN'S HEAD OR I WILL HAVE YOURS IN HIS PLACE."

The soldiers all ran forward. Grandpa Calydon sighed, "very well." As they got closer, grandpa Calydon took a stance, legs spread apart, the sword held with both hands by his right, it's tip facing down. He took in a deep breath, and the area around him seem to get colder, even his breath was misty. He lifted his hands swung upwards, and as he did ice spread out from the sword, from the ground where he stood, to more than 30 feet away, there was a jagged ice hill about 15 feet tall. If you look closer you would find 12 soldiers in running motion all totally frozen.