Strange Bedfellows

The five members of the king's guard around Kalus all hesitated to obey King Tyso's order to kill him, as he guessed they would.

"You know what Tyso will do." He said to them, leaving his sword in a purely defensive stance to be non-threatening. "And you all know you'll stand before Illuminar one day to give an account for your actions here today."

They shifted uncomfortably.

"What are you waiting for? He drew on the king's guard; kill him." Tyso ordered again.

"What will you tell Illuminar on that day?" Kalus asked, ignoring Tyso and turning his gaze on the rest of the king's guard. "Knowing what you allowed to happen here today, how will you face the God of Light? How will you look your wives and children in the eye?"

Several of them glanced at each other, grimaces on their faces.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?!" Tyso thundered.

"What if it was your wife, or your daughter, up there now?" Kalus asked. "Kill me if you wish, but do the right thing; save her."

The five members of the King's guard who were guarding Kalus hesitated another moment. Several of them glanced at each other, as if unsure what to do. Then, it finally happened.

One of them lowered his sword.

The rest followed suit.

"Traitors!" Tyso yelled, the shock evident in his voice. "King's guard to me, kill the traitors!"

Only a half-dozen of them moved. Notably, none of them had ever served under Kalus. The rest turned to face Tyso.

Kalus almost ordered Tyso to let Lyra go, but he seemed to have forgotten her for the moment. Reminding him would make him aware of a very helpless hostage without a shred of protection. No, this needed to be handled delicately.

"King's guard, stand down." Kalus barked.

Even the six men who had looked ready to follow Tyso wavered slightly.

"It's time to choose." Kalus said calmly. "You can choose to follow a king who cowardly left your brothers-in-arms to die in those woods and follow him into wickedness for which you must answer to Illuminar, or you can choose to fight such evil. Make your choice now."

And with that, Kalus strode forward towards the king, raising his sword.

No one stopped him.

No one defended the king.

The king backpedaled, drawing his own sword as he did so. He had only taken a single step before he whipped his sword out, pointing it directly at Lyra, mere inches from her unprotected body.

Kalus stopped.

King Tyso was standing on the platform on which the throne rested and Lyra was still tied by her hands to the throne. There was only a foot or two between the king and Lyra's butt, which thanks to how she'd been tied was still in the air as the ash blonde looked over her shoulder, glaring murder at the king. He was mostly facing her, but his attention was entirely on Kalus. Kalus himself had stopped just slightly out of measure; too far to hit the king where he was. He'd need to take a full step to reach him, and the king could run Lyra through before Kalus could get close enough to defend her.

"Don't take a single step or I'll gut her like a pig." Tyso said, real fear in his eyes for the first time in a long time. Kalus had to admit that it was satisfying to see.

"Do that, and you'll wish you had used the blade on yourself." Kalus said, subtly shifting his posture so he could leap forward at a moment's notice. He doubted that Tyso noticed; he rarely used his sword anymore and had never been particularly proficient in the first place.

King Tyso sneered and opened his mouth to speak, but never got a chance.

Lyra acted.

Apparently, concealed by her dress, she had picked up her one foot completely and she chose that moment to 'horse kick' King Tyso right in the crotch.

He doubled over, stumbling backwards momentarily as he screamed at her. "You fucking bitch!" He drew his sword back for a thrust that would run her through, but her kick had pushed him far enough away that Kalus now had his chance.

He moved.

He wasn't even aware of deciding to move, he just moved faster than he ever had in his life. He leapt forward that last little bit to bring his own sword into range, swinging it down as he did towards the king's bent-over form.

Slice.

He felt only a slight shock in his hand as his blade passed through King Tyso's neck. Still, he didn't let up on the force, powering through the neck to also cut off the king's sword arm.

"Oww!" Lyra hissed in pain as the tip of the sword pierced through her dress and into her side, but thankfully barely an inch of the sword penetrated before it ran out of momentum and clattered to the floor. The wound would be painful, but not life-threatening.

Lyra was safe.

Shara was safe.

Kalus breathed a sigh of relief and said a silent word of thanks to Illuminar. He hurried over to his second wife, set his sword on the ground, drew a small utility knife from his belt, and used it to cut the bonds which held her to the chair. She flung her arms around his neck the moment she was free, thankfully avoiding the utility knife.

"You love me just as much as you love Shara." She whispered.

"Aye." He replied, holding her with one hand and applying pressure to her wound with the other.

She winced.

"I love you enough to ensure that this gets attended to before infection sets in." He said.

"Let me help." Queen Hylea said from where she was, holding her daughter. "I have some small skill with healing magic, enough for such a shallow wound at least. Let me heal her."

"Here, pour this over the wound first." Another voice said. It was King Bracken, and he was looking nearly a decade younger with relief on his face. He was holding what looked to be a bottle of very expensive Elven fire whiskey.

"Thank you." Kalus said to the king as he took the bottle, then he turned to Lyra. "Lay on your side over there with the wound up. I'm sorry, but this will hurt."

He had indicated a spot far enough away that the blood draining from Tyso's dead body wouldn't be in the way. The ash blonde did as instructed, then clenched her teeth. Kalus used his utility knife to slice her dress slightly further to get better access.

"I'll hold the wound open while you pour." The queen volunteered, doing just that.

Lyra sucked in her breath sharply in response, but didn't try to stop her. Kalus poured a little of the alcohol into the wound. Lyra's entire body tensed up and she let out a strangled groan, but she didn't move. He almost smiled; that girl was tough.

"I'll take it from here." The queen said when he was done pouring. She put her hands over the wound, closed her eyes, and began to work.

Knowing that Lyra was in good hands, Kalus stood to find Shara. The princess was standing just behind him watching the ash blonde intently. There was still a bit of blood on her cheek, though it was smeared and it looked like the queen had healed that scrape as well.

It took a moment for Shara to look away from Lyra, but her eyes found his when she did. She looked at him for a moment, then rushed forward and threw her arms around his chest, grasping him more tightly than she had ever done before.

"You're okay." She breathed.

"We're okay." He said as he wrapped his arms around her small, trembling frame. She relaxed into him, almost seeming to melt as she held to him fiercely.

King Bracken cleared his throat.

Shara gave Kalus an extra tight squeeze, then let go and rushed to her father.

"Oof." He grunted as she held onto him, his affection for his daughter plain to see.

"I was so worried father."

"I'm alright child." He said with a smile as he hugged her back.

He was old enough to be her grandfather, owing to the fact that he'd already been middle-aged when he'd married her mother. There was no denying the affection between them though. Kalus would've liked to participate further in the happy reunions, but there was business that needed tending to.

He turned to the captain of the king's guard. "Captain."

"Commander." The other man said with a frown. "You seem to have put the king's guard in a rather precarious position."

"Aye Aurelius, I'm afraid I have." Kalus nodded to the man. "Much depends on what you do next."

Aurelius took a deep breath. "Aye, you're not wrong. There are still twelve thousand soldiers out there. Your legion will have no problem with what happened here, but that still leaves seven thousand soldiers without a king."

"The chain of command would fall to Marcellus next." Kalus grimaced. "He's the most senior commander."

"He's no better than Tyso was, and arguably worse." The guard captain said. "I've not sworn allegiance to him and I would not."

King Bracken cleared his throat. However, it wasn't a confident sound to announce his presence. For lack of a better term, it seemed 'mousey'. He was asking to be noticed, not making his presence known. The difference between the two was subtle, but profound.

When King Bracken spoke, his tone also lacked confidence. "If you are looking for a king, given your actions here today I would more than happily accept you into my service."

Aurelius turned his head -- not his whole body, but just his head -- to look at King Bracken. "No offense intended, but I would not want to be in your service."

"Why?"

"You are -- for lack of a better term -- a weak king." Aurelius replied, stating it as a fact without malice. "It's much of the reason your army failed so miserably in this campaign. I don't doubt your honor, nor that you're a good man. However, that doesn't make you a good king."

King Bracken looked down and didn't disagree.

Kalus felt bad for him; sometimes the truth hurt.

"Have you considered vying for a crown commander?" The captain of the king's guard asked. "Most of the men would support you and I might count myself among them."

Kalus shook his head. "No, I would not seek a crown."

"Then what would you seek?" King Bracken asked. "You have done an invaluable service to me, my family, and my country even, preventing atrocities too horrible to consider. The cities you were left in charge of sing your praises, and word of your protection of the people here in the capital has already reached my ears. What would you seek? If it's within my power, I will grant it."

Kalus looked at the old king, then at his very patriotic first wife before scrutinizing King Bracken. "If you would have me, I would ask that -- once this situation with Tyso's army has been solved -- I would ask that you accept me as a citizen of Timarou."

Shara's mouth fell open.

Lyra's followed suit.

King Bracken and Queen Hylea stared at him, as did Aurelius.

"Why?" Shara finally managed to get out.

"Two reasons." Kalus said. "First, though less importantly, I swore loyalty to a man who's now dead, and thus find myself without sworn loyalty to any country." He then glanced at Lyra, but fixed his gaze on Shara. "More importantly, both of my wives have felt conflicted being married to a man of one country while being patriots of another. I seek to remove that impediment." He smiled at them both.

"You..." Shara's mouth was still open. "You'd do that for me? For us?"

"I would." He replied, then turned to King Bracken. "If you would allow it."

"You have captured the heart of my only daughter while fighting for another country, a feat I would never have believed possible had I not seen it with my own eyes." The king replied. "None but the best of men could accomplish this. I will make it official the moment you believe it prudent."

"Thank you." Kalus nodded respectfully to the man, then turned back to the guard captain. "There's still the matter of how to deal with Tyso's army."

"The Milarians are the key." Aurelius replied.

"Agreed." Kalus nodded

"I'm sorry, Millarians?" Shara asked. "Who are they?"

"One of the higher ranks of leaders in the army." Kalus explained. "Ten men is a squad, ten squads is a century, which is commanded by a centurion. Ten centuries is a mille, or a thousand men, and is commanded by a Millarian. There are six Millarians in a Legion, so a legion is six thousand men. A commander like myself commands a legion."

"We started with five legions, so there were originally thirty Millarians." Aurelius added. "Though a few have died on the campaign."

"Titus is a Millarian, as are the rest of my inner circle except Kyselius." Kalus said, then he smiled. "The other Millarians along with the other commanders are the key, and I have a plan."

"My castle is still occupied." King Bracken pointed out.

Kalus tapped his finger on his belt as he considered this. "We'll rotate the guard." He looked at Aurelius. "If you would allow it, would some of your men be willing to act as messengers for this? No one would question orders delivered by a king's guard, and the men in the castle might well believe that King Tyso allowed them to serve only half shift if the idea is presented correctly. That would allow men from my legion to take positions in the castle. Once it is ours, we can release and rearm the Timarian soldiers who Tyso imprisoned."

"Aye, I'll allow it." Aurelius gave him a nod of respect and smiled. "Leave it to Commander Kalus to come up with a plan to take a castle without bloodshed. There are only three centuries in the castle at present; the remainder left once it was secured."

Kalus smiled. "If one of the king's guard will alert my herald, he'll ensure that my centurions Octavian, Pernilus, and Asikan are at the castle within the hour. They are the best of men."

"It will be done, but what about afterwards?" The guard captain asked.

Kalus grinned. "As I said, I have a plan."