chapter 4

Cedric made his way to the dungeons which were located underneath the castle. When the Kajun empire took over the Zare and Sadem kingdoms,the Kings of both territories were taken as prisoners in the Kajun capital Dungeons. For over the last century all the rulers of defeated kingdoms have been brought to these dungeons as prisoners of war.

Not just rulers but other individuals that were deemed a threat to the safety of the kingdom were kept here which is why the border assailants were also being kept there. They were going to be requestioned in a couple of days.

Cedric had to find out if either of the two rulers were behind the attack. The assailants knew swordfighting and tried to prevent being questioned by using poison which is the way of a knight. So they were knights meaning they could only have carried out the attack with an official order from someone high ranking. Now of course the two have been in prison for year and under serious surveillance but anything was possible so he couldn't dismiss them.

He was hoping one of the kings was responsible because it would be so much easier to deal with the situation. He could simply order them to stop. However, if it were an unknown third party. That would just complicate things.

Upon reaching the dungeons the guards prepared the interrogation room where the two kings would be questioned by Cedric.

The first to be brought out to him was the King of Zare, Henry. He was a tall middle aged burly man. "Emperor Cedric Stoning." he said spitefully. "What brings you here? You want to laugh in my face about my defeat."

The king of Zare was bitter about the fact he was defeated and lost his kingdom. His army fought hard but they were the Kajun army was far much larger and stronger. King Henry found this defeat extremely humiliating.

Cedric considered that perhaps in a fit of rage after being defeated he had some how planned a rebellion attack.

"Our sea border was attacked 2 nights ago by a group of rebels. They either could have come from Sadem or Zare."

"That's what happened? So that's was what all that ruckus was about yesterday." he said referring to the men that were recently brought into the dungeon. "You think it was me?"

Cedric was analyzing King Henrys face looking for signs in his reaction to the news that would give away whether he was innocent or not. Cedric could tell if someone was lying to him. After years of training as a knight and interrogating captured enemies he could now read body language extremely well. He could identify even the most skilled of liars.

"Emperor Stoning, I'm locked in a dungeon how could I have coordinated a rebellion when your hounds are watching me at every second?" Henry explained.

"I don't know, you tell me." Cedric calmly stated. "maybe this is something you planned long before you got in prison."

"I didn't. Maybe my citizens are rebelling your invasion on their own."

"They weren't regular citizens, they were knights, so someone gave them an official order." I pointed out to him.

He took a moment before he answered.

"Then I don't know." He answered frustrated. "You disbanded my army when you took over and took my generals and commanders."

All of King Henrys reactions didn't seem out of the ordinary he didn't appear to be lying or trying to hide anything. He just seemed agitated from being in a prison cell. However, as much as Cedric trusted his own judgement for precautionary reasons he still had to consider there could be a possibilty of error on his part. Therefore Henry was still a suspect.

Cedric ordered for the guards whom were supervising in the room to take Henry out and bring in the next King. A few moments later the former king of Sadem was brought in. King David, An old scrawny short man. He had a bushy unkept beard and you could tell the dungeon life was hard on him. Of course it would be on someone who was used to a luxury life.

After defeating and taking over the Zare, Cedric then went for the Sadem kingdom. However, whilst Zare put up a fight with his army, Sadem pretty much surrendered before a battle even began. King David went to Cedric and declared he didn't want to fight and have his people lose their lives for nothing. He realized his army was no match for the powerful Kajun army and decided to just surrender.

After Cedric explained what happened.

"Whether you believe me or not it wasn't me."

" Maybe your surrender was all just a façade and you had something else planned." Cedric pushed David.

"I truly did surrender. I saw my army was no match for yours my men would die and my kingdom suffer for nothing." He exclaimed. "I know what my son did made you doubt us but truly I surrendered, in any case he paid the price for his actions." David added, pain in his voice.

When Cedric and his army went to Sadem after King David had surrendered to the kingdom to them they were met with a Sadem army that attacked them. The army was lead by Davids' son Crown Prince Khiel. Khiel disagreed with his fathers decision to surrender and wanted to fight for the kingdom. However, Khiels plan failed and he was swiftly defeated by Cedric's army, Khiel himself losing his life in the process. He was gravely wounded and his body lost among many of the fallen soldiers.

Cedric saw the desparation in the mans eyes. He felt he was also telling the truth. He was still hurt and grieving over the loss of his son.

"Emperor Cedric, this centuries war has gone on long enough. All this senseless bloodshed, it's time to move onto other things." David told him.

Cedric was aware how the his sons death had affected him and if anything happened to Aston he wouldn't know what to do.

Cedric left the dungeons unsatisfied. He hoped to learn something from the interrogations but he hadn't learned anything new.

So as Cedric feared an unknown third party was involved. He pondered as he made his way through the castle

"What a pleasant surprise." a femine voice said from ahead of him. Cedri looked up and saw a young woman whom had been moving toward the opposite direction. He recognized whoshe was then internally let out an annoyed sigh.

"I greet your majesty the emperor sun of the empire."

"Lady Selena Maurice." Cedric politely greeted "what are you doing here?"

Lady Maurice was the daughter of Duke Maurice a dukes in his council. So she would often come to the castle with him.

"I came here with my father to use the imperial library and thought I would look for the crown prince on my break."

"And why is that?" Cedric asked already knowing where this was going.

"Sometimes I see him playing here alone thought I'd find him and play with him. I know things must be difficult without a mother around."

Cedric thought she truly was a shameless woman. She's been at it for a few years now. Where she would come to the castle and conviniently bump into him whenever he was moving around. Her tactics to try to impress him were her dressing, sparking up a conversation or warming up to Aston and try to have me see her playing with him.

"That's nice of you Lady Maurice however Aston has a lesson right now

. The truth is Aston was probably hiding from her. Aston didn't enjoy her company and her approach to him rather aggressive so the hid from her. Cedric decided to conver for him.

" Oh what a shame then." She simply

Cedric knew she was strying to get his attention so he could consider her to be his empress. However, Cedric had no interest and simply ignored her attempts.

"Well I have a few things to take care off so if you'll excuse me. " Cedric told her as he began to move away.

"Of course your majesty." she replied as she watched him leave.

**

The next few days were even more upsetting for Cedric, a week had passed and there still hadn't been much progress on the rebel case. The attackers were all interrogated once again but they still wouldn't say anything even after being "tortured". What's more they hadn't found out anything about their identities.

They searched through records of both Sadem and Zare however they hadn't found anything. Usually they would find family members of the captured so that they could threaten them to confess but it was almost as if these people didn't existed. Which just didn't make sense.

An investigation was being carried out to see if the military records of both kingdoms had been tempered and files of who the assailants were removed. Sir Aaron and Duke Samuel were still carrying out their investigation on the wall.

Whilst had only been just a few days Cedric felt time was of the essence and that they needed to solve as soon as possible. He had an uneasy feeling about all this.

What appeared to be a simple rebellion gone wrong, day by day was starting to seem like something more.

The Duke Samuel and Sir Aaron noticed their emperor's irritableness. Whilst they did their

It was at times like this that Cedric reverted back to his old self, a really cold and unapproachable person.

Duke Samuel approached the Emperor and though it dangerous of him to approach him at a time he knew what he had to say to him would quickly settlr his mood. "Your majesty," he started.

"What ?" Cedric coldly asked.

Duke Samuel felt the hairs on his body stand up. He swallowed hard and managed to continue talking. "Crown Prince Aston is leaving tommorow he wants to know if you were coming with him."

After hearing this Cedrics' face softened a little bit as he thought about it. Duke Samuel knew he'd caught Cedrics interest. "Perhaps a few days away from work would do you good."