Risky feast

Iris listened in excitement, grinning broadly as she nodded to the beat of the song. She later joined her father, singing along with all of her might, letting the music take over her. Her father taught her the song when she was just a wee little girl. It has been her inspiration and motivation. Right now her soul was being transformed and transported to an infinite world of endless positivity, by this magnificent song. It all got interrupted by a call from the house.

"Honey!" called out her mother, Isabel from the house.

"He's busy!" answered Iris. She wanted the song to continue. She hoped it wouldn't end.

"Tell him it's urgent!" replied her mother.

"Your mother needs me, got to go answer her," said O'Neil, dropping the stringed instrument on the ground.

"Don't be long," said Iris.

"I won't be," he replied, as he trudged up the slope to the house.

When he got there, he went to the store room where his wife was, and saw her struggling to lift a large and heavy brass vessel that had fallen from the shelf it was kept. Isabel was trying to stand it up straight, to stop the spilling of the olive oil that it contained.

"Thank goodness you're here," she said, as she pulled hard on the handle of the bulky vessel, grunting with the effort. He speedily eased her off her burden, and muscled the vessel up, placing it back upon the shelf.

"You shouldn't be stressing yourself," he said to her.

"I had to. This is the last oil left for us, you know," she said.

"I know, but it doesn't worth stressing this beautiful body of yours," he said. Isabel was still kneeling on the floor. O'Neil let out his arm and helped her up to her feet.

"Looks like I've been missing out on all the fun," whispered Isabel to her husband's ear, placing her slender hands on his broad chest. He took her close enough by her waist and hugged her, smooching her forehead.

"I guess our daughter has gained most of the attention for quite a while," said O'Neil.

"Mmhmm," replied Isabel.

He lowered his head so that his lips could meet hers. They kissed for quite a long time.

"What's been bothering you?" he asked, with a whisper to her ear.

"I'm worried about you and our daughter," she said, " De voe has captured other members of the supreme and you're the only one left. He's imprisoned your niece too".

"I'm going to get her out of there soon," said O'Neil.

"I don't want your life to be endangered, I don't want either of you taken away from me," she said.

" Don't bother yourself, De voe's men wouldn't even dare to set foot on this place. No one is taking me, or Iris anywhere away from you,' he said, cuddling her tight.

"Where is Iris?" asked Isabel.

"By the shore," replied O'Neil.

Glancing at the window, something his eyes caught sight of, made him fringe.

"Oh no," he muttered. He left Isabel and came closer to the window.

" What's that?" asked Isabel, worried about the instant change in the mood of her husband. She came close to the window side where he stood, frozen by whatever his eyes saw. He saw two men standing before Iris. They were both putting on silver helmets, which were De voe's men's typical signature dressing. They were definitely his men.

"Oh my god, what do they want?" asked Isabel. She got so worried.

"I don't know. Stay here," said O'Neil to Isabel. He proceeded outside to meet them.

Iris ran towards her father when she saw him coming.

"My father is here, you two might want to take to your heels," said Isabel to the men, breathing heavily. She was more arrogant now.

"What do you want?" asked O'Neil.

"Our extreme leader, master De voe, requests your presence in the castle," announced one of them.

O'Neil let out a sigh.

"And what makes you both think that I would blindly accept the offer of an invitation to the residence of a mass murderer such as De voe?" asked O'Neil.

"It's a friendly feast," replied the other man.

"That's shit!" exclaimed Iris, "De voe is a bloody liar, and he wouldn't succeed in his beddings of tricking my father to run headlong into death," she added. She felt her father won't listen to them.

"I'll come with you two, but I'm gonna need you to empty yourselves of all your weapons before I do," said O'Neil.

Iris was a bit confused by what she just heard her father say. She wasn't sure she heard him clearly. The men brought out daggers, swords, rapiers, and other weapons they were armed with. They kept all of them on the ground.

"We're ready?" asked one of the men.

"Seriously father, you're not going to fall for this, are you?" asked Iris.

O'Neil turned to his daughter and said to her,

"Don't worry about me Iris, I have a plan".

Irises eyes were already clouded in tears.

"No father, please don't go away," she begged.

"Tell your mother that I'll be back soon," said O'Neil, Marching along with the men to their horses.

"I'm coming with you," said Iris, plodding behind.

"Stay back Iris," warned O'Neil, "It's too dangerous". But she wouldn't stop coming.

"Just stay back okay!" he shouted.

"No...! Come back!" she screamed. She watched three of them mount on their horses. Relentlessly, she chased them for a long distance till she couldn't catch up with them any longer. She came to a stop, panting hard, and watched them gallop into the distance. She raced back to the house immediately, stumping into the door, and breathing heavily.

"Mother! Mother!" she called.

"Father's gone. He followed De voe's men mother, he..."

"Calm down Iris, I saw everything that happened," replied her mother, Isabel.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go after them," said Iris.

"We are not leaving this house, Iris. He warned me to remain here, and so should you," replied her mother.

"Seriously mother, are you going to leave father to run into his death?" asked Iris, suddenly surprised by her mother's words.

"Hay look at me," said Isabel to her daughter, "Your father isn't running into his death, he's not going to die," she added.

When O'Neil and the two guards arrived at the gates of the castle, they defended from their horses and walked into the courtyard. He was led afterward, up a long stairs to a large hall adorned with golden wares and two large thrones, one occupied by De voe, and the other left vacant. De voe was wearing a magnificent apparel.

"Leave the room," he ordered the guards that stood at every corner.

" You are highly welcomed to my grand abode my brother," greeted De voe.

O'Neil was a bit perplexed by the manner in which he was addressed by De voe. He recalled when they were both still friends, they addressed each other as 'brother', he wondered why De voe would address him in that manner now. He knew De voe was very Claver, he definitely had something up his sleeves.

"Don't just stand there, have a sit and ease those limbs off the stress of the long ride," said De voe, with a look of concern.

"Fine by me, I'll stand," insisted O'Neil.

"Fine, if you insist," said De voe.

"It's been quite a long time though. Honestly, I wouldn't believe it if I were told that you'd one day darken my door once more; thanks for honoring my invitation," said De voe.

He continued,

"As you've seen, my men didn't come to you with violence, that is to show that this is a friendly feast".

O'Neil later sat down on the chair beside him. There was no point in standing, he needed to reserve some energy for any emergency situation. On the table before him were assorted kinds of foods. Stuffed chicken, beef, pork, fruits and vegetables, and whine.

"I know that feeling O'Neil, you've hit rock bottom. I mean, the mighty O'Neil couldn't even save his niece from being imprisoned. Day after day you've been wallowing about in self-pity like a wounded lion, lost in an endless loop of failure".

"I understood that you couldn't get the job done, so I had to take control," said De voe.

O'Neil got a bit infuriated about what De voe was blabbering, but he tried his best to control his temper.

"I want you to see I'm doing the right thing. They don't see it, but at least you should understand," said De voe.

O'Neil had heard enough.

"Don't say that, haven't you done enough already?" asked O'Neil.

" You've already done more harm than there has ever been before. You've disrespected these people, you even imprisoned an elite member of the supreme for nothing, subjecting the poor man to hard labor. Stop it, this isn't you!" yelled O'Neil. He seemed to have heard enough already. He didn't mind if there were any repercussions. He really was angry.

"This is me brother, this has always been me. They see this as a reign of terror, as genocide. But I call it mercy," said De voe.

" Don't you see for yourself, I'm making this place a perfect world. Less crime, orderliness, and unity. That's my plan," said De voe.

"Just cut the chase, and go straight to the point. Why did you call me here?" asked O'Neil.

"I need a man O'Neil, a diligent and honest man. I want you to be that man," stated De voe.