Interlude (part 1)

"How did it all come to be?"

Salicious asked himself in his thoughts, despairing over the scene he could see from behind his cover. 

The old man hid with his men on the two sides of an ancient passage of two rows of columns aligned across a narrow pass. Hiding in the shadows of those columns, the old man had to watch how his disciple and successor now marched at the head of a massive, noble uprising. 

"Stay down or we will shoot!" 

The royal guards lined up above the mouth of the narrow passage, holding just the perfect spot to stop any further advance. 

But Banjay continued to smile. 

Standing defiantly at the very front of the riot, he brought his hand up, stopping the march… Only to step ahead all on his lonesome, unnervingly confident no one would dare to shoot.

He was a royal cousin, after all. And not even the guards with the highest noble ranks wouldn't dare to raise their weapons against the royal blood.