Chapter 14

"Nazland- Nazland-!"

"What? What happened? Have my people... have they been killed? How is my son?!" Pollux rushed forward and started shaking Jasafir.

"Nazland has won the battle! Count Mastiff lays dead on the field! His head now decorates the entrance to Ler clan's war camp! Right Hand, Gerrod T. Dradir lead a force of three hundred Tenli noblemen and warriors down from Linshir and lead the battle, personally taking Count Mastiffs' head!" Jasafir regained his breath.

Suddenly, Pollux's eyes went wide and he let go of Jasafir.

"Son! Are you okay?! What's wrong?!" Pollux rushed over to a blood-soaked Jilnas. Touching him all over he looked for wounds, but all of them bad already been bandaged.

Despite him not having any serious injuries, Jilnas was pale. He looked at Avizasi.

She had a terrible feeling rise in the pit of her stomach. She'd seen those eyes before.

"General Dradir ...he..." Jilnas hung his head and tears soaked the ground.

Avizasi's gaze darkened, "Is he dead?"

Janlis trembled and slowly spoke, "General Dradir led the attack. His plan played out nearly perfectly. They chased him into the woods. We decimated them. But then he vanished from the line. When he appeared next it was with Count Mastiffs head on his blade. But he... an arrow... he was shot through the heart..."

Avizasi closed her eyes and said nothing. Her breathing quickened.

Count Azifirat saw this and stepped in solemnly speaking, "Then, for his victory and in recognition of his achievements we will put up a statue-"

"...he's in critical condition right now." Jilnas' voice shattered the atmosphere in the room, "He's been in a coma for the last day. He's coming in and out of life as we speak."

"He was shot through the heart and still breathes?!" Kriza shouted in shock, "Monster!"

Avizasi froze and her eyes were frozen solid as she stared at Jilnas, "Pollux, educate your son on how to deliver news for the future. Count Azifirat, send reinforcement to Nazland immediately as well as our best doctor. Hamtyr, Kriza, mobilize your clans and their connections in the east and west to give aid to the starving Tenli people."

Everyone looked at her in shock.

"NOW!"

"Yes, Highness!" They immediately began moving.

She was left alone in the assembly hall within seconds.

She leaned back on her throne, 'I never noticed but... I can see the stars clearly from here...'

Sparkling. Beautiful. The stars light shone through the quiet assembly hall. Avizasi smiled and a single glistening tear fell from her face against her own will.

'Jilnas... I will personally instruct him on how to deliver news...' She gripped her throne as hundreds of thoughts passed her mind until finally, the tension left her, '...please survive this, Gerrod. I need you.'

--

Nazland. Two days later.

It's been three days since Count Mastiffs defeat and the eradication of the threat to Shokan's supply lines.

Count Locost, Baron Ylarl, Baron Fitzmark and several others nobles of Tenli volunteered to cross all over Shokan and speak with the Tenli lords of what was happening as well as to escort their children back to them.

Kriza and Hamtyr mobilized their clans and sent aid straight to the Tenli lords whose territories laid in the mountains behind or around them, thus gaining the favor of those lords within a day and their weapons for help in the war effort.

On the second day, the children which were being sent on the fastest horses arrived to their homes. The journey which would normally take eight days from one end of the kingdom to the other only took two days.

After their children arrived the lords of Tenli and their people completely accepted that they'd lost the war and capitulated.

Especially after the news of the battle at Nazland where both Shokan and Tenli worked together to destroy the infamous Mastiff Heavy Lancers.

A sense of unity spread through Tenli and Shokan like never before.

It was once a trade relationship. Then, they were forced into war. And now, they fight together.

Feeling the history and knowing their wrong deeds, Tenli couldn't deny that Shokan had saved them despite what happened. They also couldn't deny their debt to Shokan, and especially to Queen Avizasi and her Right hand, Gerrod.

With Count Mastiff, the most powerful of the independence faction dead, and his army lost, the independence faction began capitulating though, several pockets of resistance still remained it was negligible at best.

In Nazland.

Gerrod sat slowly eating some watery foods. The royal doctors had told him the day prior when he woke up that he couldn't eat solid foods yet since they weren't sure exactly what was going on with him.

'My heart isn't on that side...' Gerrod wanted to say this but held back, '...better not to tell my enemies where my heart is.'

Because of this, the doctors took every precaution with him and hardly let him stand up out of bed let alone do anything.

Gerrod froze. Pain shot out from his chest. It had been happening since he woke up. Powerful surges of aura shooting through his body from where the arrow struck.

He was tempted to simply rip the arrow out of his chest but the doctors told him he absolutely couldn't do that.

"It's a miracle that your alive with an arrow through your heart! What if you take it out and it finishes killing you? Absolutely not." They had said seriously while holding his arm back as best they could.

Gerrod only relented because he remembered what Avizasi had told the doctors long ago when she first met him, "I'll kill your whole bloodlines.. or something was it?"

So he relented. But he couldn't take the burning pain anymore.

He'd decided. He would tear it out today. Looking around carefully he grabbed the arrow.

"ARGH-!" He forced the noise from his body to stop. His nose scrunched up in pain. He gripped it tightly.

He took a single painfully deep breath.

"How is my Right hand-" Avizasi walked in casually with her royal garb looking regal, many servants following around her.

Gerrod ripped the arrow out of his chest with a single powerful pull. His eyes widened in pain and he saw her so he tried to say, 'What are you looking at shrimp?' But what came out was, "ARGH!!!!"

"What are you doing?!" She rushed forward putting her hand over his bleeding chest cavity, "Get the doctors! NOW!"

"Yes!" The servants rushed off like ants at the behest of their queen, without question.

Gerrod fell back on the bed with a smile on his face, "That feels so much ...better..."

He let go of his breath. His chest didn't hurt. His body did shatter from the pain.

Avizasi put both her hands over the hole and put all her weight to bear in pressing it down, "Why would you do that?! You want to die or something?!"

Gerrod could feel the heavy armor she had on under her dress and frowned, "H..heavy..."

"HMPH!" She pressed down even harder and he grunted in pain.

'I'm not hurt from the wound, but from you!' Gerrod grabbed her arms tightly and pulled her, "Stop... hurts..."

"What are you-?!"

"Uhm... We- we'll leave." Redhead and the crew opened the tent with terrified eyes but then went red instantly.

"Master...you're a man of many talents." Blackhair nodded but kept his eyes on the ceiling of the tent.

"A prince and a princess?" Weirdiris looked at him strangely, "Man of many talents indeed..."

Shakylegs simply looked too shocked to speak. His face went red and he turned around grabbing Weirdiris and making him do the same.

Redhead caught the hint and pulled Blackhair to turn around.

"Uhm... we'll leave you to uhm... bye!" Redhead dashed off.

"You're surprisingly innocent...! ACK!" Blackhair's voice echo'd in the distance followed by what sounded like Redhead grunting and the others laughing then Blackhair getting hit.

Gerrod rolled his eyes, "Ignore those... idiots..?"

Her face was fully red while looking at him and in that moment he felt dazed, 'I can see how she can look sixteen if it's like this, finally acting her own age, eh?'

WHACK!

"ARGH!!! What are you doing to a dying man?! You witch! Inhuman!" He shrieked after she whacked him right on the arrow wound.

"Hmph! You attacked me first!" She flipped her hair and sat beside him glancing at his wound sneakily, "...how is it?"

"In pain!" Gerrod snapped at her but quickly settled down after seeing the genuine worry in her eyes, "Haaa ...I'll be fine. My heart isn't on the left side."

"What?" Her eyes widened like quals eggs.

He took her hand. She struggled. He didn't care.

He put her hand on the right side of his chest and she stopped struggling. Instead, her mouth opened slightly, "You... you're really a monster, you know that?"

Gerrod rolled his eyes and let her go, "I am not a monster-"

"Highness! We have brought the doctors!" The servants burst in just then with a group of doctors.

She immediately took her hand back and glared at the servants and doctors with a stare that said, 'Speak of it if you're feeling brave.'

"I'm fine." Gerrod sighed and sat up.

"Don't do that-" A doctor raised his hand.

Gerrod tore off the bandages over his body. The doctors paled and wanted to rush forward but they couldn't be rude in front of the Queen.

Their eyes went wide as they saw his body. The wounds around the rest of him had healed completely. And the actual arrow wound had already begun closing despite there being a hole.

"You- your... monster... ah!" The doctors looked horrified as they stared at him one even leaked out a voice unknowingly.

Avizasi smiled from ear to ear and gestured to them, "See! They think so too!"

Gerrod snorted and after a cursory check on his body, they left.

"I'm not a monster." Gerrod sighed cooly.

"You are." She shrugged.

"I'm not."

"You definitely are."

"Haa...."