Age Of The Red Demons

The Clouds of War

"When the sun dies, the moon shall wake

In the moonshine, we all shall play

Oh bravest knight, we trust your blade

You'll draw your knife, and keep us safe"

The voices of the little children as they sang their own lines from the songs of the moon was such a melody to behold. They jumped in the moonlight and danced in circles, holding each other through the night breeze.

It was a cold breeze that night, and it became colder as the two horses galloped past the children.

The prince had returned. And with him came a news that would strike the royal council at their hearts.

The king had returned to Meredith a few days earlier before Daerys, and he was waiting in the royal palace.

The two men rode on, towards the royal palace. Since they left away from the end of the world, they had barely stopped for a rest and they had not said much to each other. But in their hearts, they thought of all kinds of things.

The man they encountered. Was he the red king? He was a beast in human form, a demon on two legs, yet he was not as strong as Zathryon should be. Did he lose his strength somehow?

None of the two men could make up an answer as they entered into the premises of the royal court, but whatever the explanation, they knew one thing for sure - a beast roams in Albane!

After they alighted from astride their horses, the prince went in first.

As he approached the entrance of the throne room, he saw that his father was seated on his throne. The royal throne lay straight ahead from the entrance of the throne room such that anyone who came in would see it first as long as they looked straight upwards; the throne was higher than everything else, thus it was called the high throne.

When the prince entered his father's presence, there was nobody else with the king asides the royal guardians. He closed the door of the throne room which was normally left open.

King Morrys lifted his gaze to find his son walking towards him.

Daerys greeted his father, and spoke of his journey. Where he went, why he journeyed there, and the things that occurred. After he concluded his many stories, King Morrys did not buy any of it.

"What is this you tell me?" The king demanded, "Is this the way you wish to get away with going against my orders?"

"No father, I mean what I say," the prince explained, "it was a man, with claws and fangs. He might be the red one".

"What would you know of the red one? You think he would let you live?" King Morrys smirked.

"My blood father, my blood". The prince moved forward and showed the king his bitten neck, "he could not contain it".

The king examined the neck. It had two spots, fiercely deep spots, and it was alien a bite.

"How do you explain this, father?" Daerys asked of his father as fire burned in his eyes. "Or that?"

Just as he said the last word, the door of the throne room sprang open, and walked in Smaragdus with a sack clutched in his both arms. He released the content before the king and alas, it was a dead boar, with strange wounds on its body and a similar bite on its neck.

The king rose from the high throne and observed the animal himself.

"Do you believe me now?" Daerys asked, as the king stared in despair at the bite on the neck of the poor beast. It was the same two dots on the prince's neck.

"It is as you say," the king said at last, "Zathryon is at work here." He walked back to his throne, "but how did he get to the end of the world from the cave of shadows?" He asked aloud to no one.

Daerys replied, "whatever he has done, it has made him weak. Now is our chance to destroy him!"

"Forever".

King Morrys found sense in his words, but did not take them to heart. "The kings have agreed that I bring in a wizard, and I have sent for him". He sat back in his throne. "I shall await his arrival". The king declared and dismissed the men.

As they exited the throne room, the prince gave an order to Smaragdus. "Send men to Maeve. Let them report every strange event to me".

The two men departed. And the prince went straight to the royal library. He did not understand why the king had hesitated there, so he intended to know everything about Zathryon. Everything history had recorded about him.

Princess Daella was coming back from the library. She had been there for the same purpose. Since the people now see her as the harbinger of calamity, she wanted to know how great a calamity she had brought upon the lands.

Two maids were with her. Cynthy, her most preferred maid to which she discussed her troubles, and one other servant. When they met Daerys, they walked past him.

"Do you not miss me, sister? I have been at those gates for so long". Daerys stopped and looked back at his sister.

"I would rather you never returned, your majesty?" She replied sarcastically.

Daerys scoffed, then he began to walk behind her.

"Why are you following me?"

"Me? I'm not following you. Why would I? I'm only following Cynthy".

"Me?!" Cynthy exclaimed, "Why would your highness follow me?"

"Yes," Daerys said, "did you not write that letter to me? 'The moon has waned and my heart has waxed... When shall my eyes again embrace your sight..." Daerys smiled as he recited the contents of the letter with a fuelled passion.

"Cynthy would write nothing of such". Daella interrupted and walked even faster.

"Why don't you ask her?" He then faced Cynthy who kept her gaze down. "She even wrote in the end, 'I love you'." He put his hand on his chest emphatically as he said those last words.

"The maids know their place. None would dare write a note professing love to a member of the royal family. It could mean death." There was a cold sensation in Daella's voice as she turned her head briefly at Cynthy.

But Daerys would not stop. "Oh! The things we do for love. Crazy things, my princess. No one would understand this better than you, Daella".

By this time, they were at the gates of the female quarters. Daella stopped and turned around. "You can't pass through these gates even if you are the prince, or you will have the palace maids call you a pervert. I believe you were going somewhere before, so leave us and be on your way".

She then made to enter.

"He is coming back", Daerys said.

Hearing this, Daella stopped again and Daerys continued, " 'the clouds of war have come upon us, and the four lands will have to come together in these dark times'. Those are his words."

After a short wait, Daella walked in at last, reminiscing her brother's words.