CHAPTER THREE

MAN OR BEAST?

Elliot’s sword was made of a kind of steel that could slay any creature, demon or spirit, the sword was given to him by his guardian who was directed to get him the best of the best weapons, Elliot knew how to fight with daggers, knives and even his bare fists, the sword contained magical essence that made it never rust or age, it dries up any liquid that is stained on it within seconds so there was no need for Elliot to clean his sword by himself. Elliot was a cold hearted warrior that was trained by his guardian to never spare the enemy or even pity the weak but Elliot still had a soft heart to women and children so he swore to never kill any of the aforementioned without a proper reason or resolve, his sword could never be broken by brute force or by any spell, it was pure just like the heart of its wielder.

Elliot was never one to let other people do his work for him so whenever there was a report about any monster or irregular murder report; Elliot was quick to pick up his sword and take two of his best men with him to investigate or to avert the danger, the stories of his good deeds went round the kingdoms and it got to the ears of  the king of Briggs which incited his curiosity about the strength of the son of his adversary that his daughter was supposed to get married to, emperor Constantine called upon his advisor to give him consultation about his dilemma that had been pondering Constantine’s mind.

“The great emperor, I am honored to be in thy presence… how may I be of use to you?” the advisor said when he was in face of Constantine who had been lost in his thoughts, he waved the advisor to a seat close to his throne chair.

“You are welcome, O wise one… tell me if I am being foolish for allowing that stupid king a few extra years to complete the truce” Constantine said in a voice that made the advisor aware of the despair that the emperor was going through.

“You are not being foolish” the advisor waited for the emperor to calm down before he spoke again, this was a matter that could not be rushed.

“You think so?” Constantine asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“Yes, I do think so but what I would call such an action is being overly merciful, not everybody deserves mercy” the advisor told the emperor in a low tone as if there was somebody else in the room with them.

“You think that I shouldn’t have given him more time?”.

“No, I did not say that. What I meant was that you should have given him a limited time… like just a year so that he would be able to prepare himself well towards the great event” the advisor watched the way the emperor paced up and down the room in thought.

“Tell me more” Constantine said looking more intrigued by the words of the advisor who was a psychotic thinker.

“I feel like the king of Mytigon came to ask for more time because he wanted to have more kingdoms on his side when he strikes again, he is gathering help so that he can take you out with one fell swoop” the picture that the advisor painted in Constantine’s head was connecting the dots of doubt that was lingering over the mind of the emperor.

“You are heading somewhere” the emperor encouraged him to speak and he did so without restraint.

“Think about it; the kingdom of Mytigon had only increased in size and recently they expanded their territory much larger than before, all of this monopoly is scary because if they are larger in size then we are at a big disadvantage, the truce will be all we have left and even that is still delayed till this point even though your daughter is already ripe for marriage, so the king of Mytigon has no reason to continue delaying this for anything longer than a year” the emperor remained silent after such a speech from his advisor, the advisor rested his voice and he sat back in his chair to say the words that made Constantine to panic reasonably.

“Time is a harmless concept but can become a weapon in the hands of the one that knows how to make good use of his opportunities, don’t underestimate the opponent and most especially his son who led the charge against the fourth largest capital in all the region and he succeeded without losing any of his soldiers” the reaction that the emperor gave was one of surprise and shock, it was quite impossible to believe that a person that is barely a full grown man could have pulled off such a feat without any magical help.

“How is that even possible? That city is heavily guarded and the power levels of their knights are A ranks all down to their foot soldiers, Mytigon doesn’t have such a strong military power to overpower them so easily…” Constantine was trying to wrap his mind around the unbelievable story that he was listening to.

“I tell you no lie, the eye witnesses and the townsfolks says that it was only ten men that entered into the main palace area and only one came out and that was the prince himself with blood stains all over his body and armor except his sword which was glinting bright like a ray of light, the person that your daughter is supposed to get married to is a fearless warrior” the advisor spoke with so much admiration in his voice, he had been amazed by the story when he had first heard it.

“That boy is not ordinary, nobody can believe such a thing to be possible if it wasn’t for the eyewitnesses and for the fact that the fourth capital is now actually under the control of Mytigon…” Constantine lamented to himself, it was beginning to dawn on him the difference in strength between the two kingdoms... Briggs was no match for Mytigon at this point.

“Man or a beast? I don’t care what he is but we need to make sure that the conditions stated in the truce are met as soon as possible before they come up with a plan that might wipe out our kingdom from the face of the earth, the truce still binds the two kingdoms together so we need to make sure that we make the first move before them” the advisor was almost going hysterics but the emperor was more interested in the powers of the prince of Mytigon.

‘Man or a beast?’ the question replayed itself in his mind over and over again.