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Description

"The king has summoned me to his throne room. The siege was over. The orcs ran away after they could not get through capital’s walls, thanks to my great military skills. I could obliterate orcs my way, if only Lothar and Gavinrad did not step in my way."

Roderyk Sutton - The Defender of the Crown got to the throne room, where were royal guards and advisors, the King on his throne, Gavinrad and Lothar... The king while sitting, looked like he was... in deep thought. Defender of the Crown knelt before his king.

“I am at your service, my Liege.” Defender started, awaiting his praise. The king stopped his deep thinking but still did not look at his subject directly.

“Your service... your service was always at your disposal... That is true. But was this always unreliable?” king Llane said, as much to the Defender as to himself. Everyone gathered were in awkward silence. Defender was starting to think that something was not right, so he continued.

“The orcs were defeated. They lost many warriors and ran away like cowards they really are. If you could, my Liege, let me to lead out remaining knights to their territory, we could...” the Defender said but king interrupted him.

“Let YOU? The orcs were defeated NOT by your defense, but by Lothar and Gavinrad’s improvisation.” king said, his voice was getting more angry. Lothar and Gavinrad stood up awkwardly. The Defender started to get angry as well, while looking at these knights. But the King continued. “If that could be called the victory...” the king said with a venom in his voice.

“But my Liege, despite suffering many losses, we saved the kingdom and...” the Defender started, to be interrupted again.

“Take that helmet off, while you talk to me!” the King ordered. The Defender obeyed and took off his helmet. Not many saw the Defender’s face for he preferred his face to be covered.

“So, you were the one who captured and brought here a traitorous conjurer before the attack? Hmm?” the King changed unexpectedly a topic. Roderyk was confused by this change of subject.

“Yes, my Liege, he was in a league with invaders. Despicable scum. And I believe he would tell something more if I could question him personally.” Roderyk said. But that only made the King looked at his subject. There was no deny now. The king was furious.

“Questioned? So you still do not know...” the King asked with a trembling voice. Now Roderyk was curious.

“My liege, of what?” Roderyk asked, but then the King charged at his subject and grabbed him by his clothes. The King’s appearance was now truly horrifying. He was shaking, his hair were at every side. His maddened eyes and face were red. He then started foaming at the mouth. Roderyk was so much terrified that he did nothing. He could do nothing. Roderyk always thought that the king was too humble, too kindly to act like that. His kingdom’s symbol was a lion, but Roderyk thought that was just a symbol. Now the King looked like a furious lion, whose cubs were gone.

“Your prisoner, during the siege and under your nose killed my guards and kidnapped my son, my boy, Varian!!!” king LLane yelled or roared like a lion, to his subject. His saliva was all over the Defender’s face, which was full of horror. Then the King started to shake the Defender, like a bully to his smaller victim, while cursing and spreading more saliva.

“Llane...” Lothar wanted to say something. Unlike others, whose faces were full of savage and cruel triumph, Lothar’s face was sad and full of compassion. But Llane roared with his angry look at Lothar to silence him. At first his champion was shocked as well by his closest friend’s change. But then he continued, because could not stand bullying...

“The Defender of the Crown did what he could to protect us. We were all too busy fighting with orcs.” Lothar said, while king’s hands were getting dangerously closer to the Defender’s throat...

“Is that so, Anduin? When you were gone for what, over 20 months, during your absence he and anyone else could not stop the invaders. And now he not only almost lost our kingdom to those monsters, but let my son being kidnapped. You were right back then... he was not ready nor worthy to be my Defender.” the King said. Those words hurt the Defender more than any hit from the sword, while his anger towards Lothar was only growing, who was in awkward silence again, now feeling ashamed.

“I've given everything I have to you. To this kingdom.” Roderyk said in his defense.

“YOU... HAVE... FAILED... TO DEFEND... THIS KINGDOM!!!” the King yelled in return, robbing the Defender the last of his pride.

“Llane, just give him a chance... to repair his mistake.” Lothar pleaded.

“How?! My son is gone!!! Kidnapped!!! Maybe even tortured and dead by now!!! By those monsters!!!” the King shouted.

“Eee, your Majesty. If I may... it’s quite premature to say that prince Varian is dead. The kidnapper belonged to our order once. Although he rejected our organization, he can still be sensed by us.” High Conjurer Morbul said, one of the leaders of his order, who unlike others, stayed in the capital.

“What do you mean?” the King asked with a curiosity.

“At first, can we discuss it without... too many ears?” conjurer requested. The King agreed to that and he ordered all guards and advisors to leave. Only Roderyk, Lothar, Gavinrad, the King and the Conjurer remained.

“This is a secret that only the highest members of our order know. Every lower member has a magical mark in case that member could... gone rogue.” Morbul said.

“Then how did you not respond to Tor'Morr's treachery sooner?” Lothar asked.

“Because we value privacy above all else. It is for those who are proven to be traitors, not to spy every member without a reason. We are cautious, but we value privacy as well.” Morbul answered, quite offended by that question.

“So you can locate him?” the King asked, now with desperate voice with all his fury gone.

“Yes, but his body is corrupted by demon magic inside him. The trail can be disrupted.” Morbul said.

“But this is better than nothing, right?” Gavinrad said.

“I believe so.” Morbul agreed.

“How come I did not know about this?” the King asked, now offended.

“My king... many things about our order we keep a secret for the sake of everyone. You already have enough to worry about. I only told this because the prince's disappearance threatens both the present and future of our kingdom.” Morbul said. Finally the King relented.

“Hmpf. Fine. Just... find my boy. I... would rather fight alone the whole Horde than tell Varian's mother what the orcs can do to him." the King begged, resigned and almost with tears.

"Of course. But I will need a help of a knight." Morbul said. Then the King focused on the Defender, who began to tremble again.

"You will go with him to locate my boy. Bring him back alive. If you fail... you might as well not return to my kingdom." Llane threatened with a quiet tone.

"Llane... I will go with him to help him." Lothar proposed.

"No, Anduin. You are needed here, and so as Gavinrad. And as you said. He must repair his mistake." Llane refused.

"I would rather die than fail you again, my Liege. The prince will return here safely." Roderyk assured his king.

"Good. Now go. All of you. And no one disturbs me for the rest of this day. My wife needs me right now." Llane said. Lothar then went to the Defender.

"I... wish I could go with you, Sutton." Lothar said.

"So you could make me look bad in front of everyone? I would rather die than suffer a humility because of you again." Roderyk thought with nothing but hate and spite but said only "Do not worry, Lothar, as the King said, my fault, my responsibility. The prince will be saved.". He put his helmet on, which covered perfectly his face, now full of anger, contempt and venom. All this was not focused not on the King, but poor Lothar, who defended him earlier but did not believe him... ever. The Defender left then to prepare himself for his journey. Lothar did not move however.

"May Light watch over you, my friend." Lothar said to the Defender of the Crown, despite not being a religious man.

Description

"The king has summoned me to his throne room. The siege was over. The orcs ran away after they could not get through capital’s walls, thanks to my great military skills. I could obliterate orcs my way, if only Lothar and Gavinrad did not step in my way."

Roderyk Sutton - The Defender of the Crown got to the throne room, where were royal guards and advisors, the King on his throne, Gavinrad and Lothar... The king while sitting, looked like he was... in deep thought. Defender of the Crown knelt before his king.

“I am at your service, my Liege.” Defender started, awaiting his praise. The king stopped his deep thinking but still did not look at his subject directly.

“Your service... your service was always at your disposal... That is true. But was this always unreliable?” king Llane said, as much to the Defender as to himself. Everyone gathered were in awkward silence. Defender was starting to think that something was not right, so he continued.

“The orcs were defeated. They lost many warriors and ran away like cowards they really are. If you could, my Liege, let me to lead out remaining knights to their territory, we could...” the Defender said but king interrupted him.

“Let YOU? The orcs were defeated NOT by your defense, but by Lothar and Gavinrad’s improvisation.” king said, his voice was getting more angry. Lothar and Gavinrad stood up awkwardly. The Defender started to get angry as well, while looking at these knights. But the King continued. “If that could be called the victory...” the king said with a venom in his voice.

“But my Liege, despite suffering many losses, we saved the kingdom and...” the Defender started, to be interrupted again.

“Take that helmet off, while you talk to me!” the King ordered. The Defender obeyed and took off his helmet. Not many saw the Defender’s face for he preferred his face to be covered.

“So, you were the one who captured and brought here a traitorous conjurer before the attack? Hmm?” the King changed unexpectedly a topic. Roderyk was confused by this change of subject.

“Yes, my Liege, he was in a league with invaders. Despicable scum. And I believe he would tell something more if I could question him personally.” Roderyk said. But that only made the King looked at his subject. There was no deny now. The king was furious.

“Questioned? So you still do not know...” the King asked with a trembling voice. Now Roderyk was curious.

“My liege, of what?” Roderyk asked, but then the King charged at his subject and grabbed him by his clothes. The King’s appearance was now truly horrifying. He was shaking, his hair were at every side. His maddened eyes and face were red. He then started foaming at the mouth. Roderyk was so much terrified that he did nothing. He could do nothing. Roderyk always thought that the king was too humble, too kindly to act like that. His kingdom’s symbol was a lion, but Roderyk thought that was just a symbol. Now the King looked like a furious lion, whose cubs were gone.

“Your prisoner, during the siege and under your nose killed my guards and kidnapped my son, my boy, Varian!!!” king LLane yelled or roared like a lion, to his subject. His saliva was all over the Defender’s face, which was full of horror. Then the King started to shake the Defender, like a bully to his smaller victim, while cursing and spreading more saliva.

“Llane...” Lothar wanted to say something. Unlike others, whose faces were full of savage and cruel triumph, Lothar’s face was sad and full of compassion. But Llane roared with his angry look at Lothar to silence him. At first his champion was shocked as well by his closest friend’s change. But then he continued, because could not stand bullying...

“The Defender of the Crown did what he could to protect us. We were all too busy fighting with orcs.” Lothar said, while king’s hands were getting dangerously closer to the Defender’s throat...

“Is that so, Anduin? When you were gone for what, over 20 months, during your absence he and anyone else could not stop the invaders. And now he not only almost lost our kingdom to those monsters, but let my son being kidnapped. You were right back then... he was not ready nor worthy to be my Defender.” the King said. Those words hurt the Defender more than any hit from the sword, while his anger towards Lothar was only growing, who was in awkward silence again, now feeling ashamed.

“I've given everything I have to you. To this kingdom.” Roderyk said in his defense.

“YOU... HAVE... FAILED... TO DEFEND... THIS KINGDOM!!!” the King yelled in return, robbing the Defender the last of his pride.

“Llane, just give him a chance... to repair his mistake.” Lothar pleaded.

“How?! My son is gone!!! Kidnapped!!! Maybe even tortured and dead by now!!! By those monsters!!!” the King shouted.

“Eee, your Majesty. If I may... it’s quite premature to say that prince Varian is dead. The kidnapper belonged to our order once. Although he rejected our organization, he can still be sensed by us.” High Conjurer Morbul said, one of the leaders of his order, who unlike others, stayed in the capital.

“What do you mean?” the King asked with a curiosity.

“At first, can we discuss it without... too many ears?” conjurer requested. The King agreed to that and he ordered all guards and advisors to leave. Only Roderyk, Lothar, Gavinrad, the King and the Conjurer remained.

“This is a secret that only the highest members of our order know. Every lower member has a magical mark in case that member could... gone rogue.” Morbul said.

“Then how did you not respond to Tor'Morr's treachery sooner?” Lothar asked.

“Because we value privacy above all else. It is for those who are proven to be traitors, not to spy every member without a reason. We are cautious, but we value privacy as well.” Morbul answered, quite offended by that question.

“So you can locate him?” the King asked, now with desperate voice with all his fury gone.

“Yes, but his body is corrupted by demon magic inside him. The trail can be disrupted.” Morbul said.

“But this is better than nothing, right?” Gavinrad said.

“I believe so.” Morbul agreed.

“How come I did not know about this?” the King asked, now offended.

“My king... many things about our order we keep a secret for the sake of everyone. You already have enough to worry about. I only told this because the prince's disappearance threatens both the present and future of our kingdom.” Morbul said. Finally the King relented.

“Hmpf. Fine. Just... find my boy. I... would rather fight alone the whole Horde than tell Varian's mother what the orcs can do to him." the King begged, resigned and almost with tears.

"Of course. But I will need a help of a knight." Morbul said. Then the King focused on the Defender, who began to tremble again.

"You will go with him to locate my boy. Bring him back alive. If you fail... you might as well not return to my kingdom." Llane threatened with a quiet tone.

"Llane... I will go with him to help him." Lothar proposed.

"No, Anduin. You are needed here, and so as Gavinrad. And as you said. He must repair his mistake." Llane refused.

"I would rather die than fail you again, my Liege. The prince will return here safely." Roderyk assured his king.

"Good. Now go. All of you. And no one disturbs me for the rest of this day. My wife needs me right now." Llane said. Lothar then went to the Defender.

"I... wish I could go with you, Sutton." Lothar said.

"So you could make me look bad in front of everyone? I would rather die than suffer a humility because of you again." Roderyk thought with nothing but hate and spite but said only "Do not worry, Lothar, as the King said, my fault, my responsibility. The prince will be saved.". He put his helmet on, which covered perfectly his face, now full of anger, contempt and venom. All this was not focused not on the King, but poor Lothar, who defended him earlier but did not believe him... ever. The Defender left then to prepare himself for his journey. Lothar did not move however.

"May Light watch over you, my friend." Lothar said to the Defender of the Crown, despite not being a religious man.