AUTHOR'S POV
The sand soldiers effortlessly crafted a travois using two branches of cottonwood poles polishedly fixed on the stallion. Carefully, Jac and Atrius placed Stellan on the hide that was stretched and bound with the roots. Atrius held onto Helena's personal belongings, while Jacomus kept his faith that they made a wise decision. They were both given food, and water too. Jac refused vehemently, but Atrius wholeheartedly accepted and ate every last bite of the sweetened ball-like doughs and chugs of their refreshing water in brown leather waterskin pouches. Shortly, torches were lit and passed around. Not too long, their journey to the sands began.
Mago rode the stallion that pulls Stellan's travois, while Jac and Atrius chose to walk alongside Stellan. Stellan's deep sleep was never disrupted by their bumpy course. The rest of the sand soldiers aboard their horses, surrounding them in a defensive formation. Fulfilling their duty, they slayed every creature that appears and comes forth. At first, it was warranted and decent… and then eventually, it became disturbingly gruesome. Almost an overkill, as if it is only for a purpose to showoff. Jac have always been bothered, almost anxious to even walk closely beside a sand solider. On the other hand, Atrius kept calm. His eyes on the path, and back to Helena once in a while.
The mid morning skies started to clear as they get farther from the forests of Nether. Its green lush loses its allure from being vibrant to downright dried up spectrum of autumn shades. Every step closer to Vierme did not just feel warmer but also felt wrong for Jac. His worries gnawed him at the sound of the clops of the horses' hooves, the low sneers of the sand soldiers around them, Atrius' slow whistle tunes, and Mago's menacing glances. He has gone more conscious where the wind blows. The warmer and parched it gets, the more he fidgets with his fingers. Sooner, they passed by lesser trees, quieter routes with much brighter skies. He just hoped he'd see Gallanthe or any other Hesam knights to come along their way… or at least a patrolling crusader with zooming stallions. 'Where are you guys…', he thought.
Looking around closely, the dark healer never made it in this part of the kingdom… yet, Jacomus wondered why such place is utterly forsaken. Broken arrows, stuck on trees. Arrow-filled quivers left on the dirt. A couple of bloodied bows hanging on tree branches. For a while now, his instincts kept him troubled, giving him too much lines on his forehead.
The spongy forest floor gradually transitioned to a dull, sandy soil. Not later, they finally reached the dry mountain wall dividing the two kingdoms. He squinted up the sunny sky, and raised his palm at the sun hitting his face. Looking left to right, not one archer was seen stationed there alive too. As they head towards the tunnels to Vierme, Mago suddenly stopped.
"Prepare to enter the sands!", Mago ordered as the sand soldiers jumped off their horses. They covered their heads using a scarf, with only their eyes shown. Mago tossed his to Atrius. "It will be instantly scorching beyond the tunnels. The sands will get into your face".
Without any word, Atrius decided to give the scarf to Stellan instead. He gently covered her pale face, showing only her closed eyes. Mago stifled a huff witnessing Atrius care for the princess. "We'll have to carry her in, and we'll walk with the horses from here", Mago uttered, dismounting the stallion. As he land on his feet, a small dagger fell on the ground from his pocket. "Hydrate first! I don't want anyone getting dried up like a prune on our way home!", he ordered, as he cast a skeptical eye at Jac before walking away to find water.
Jac observed how Atrius neatly secure the scarf around Stellan's head. At this point, he wonders how things would turn out if they were both not here for Helena. Moments later, he flinched seeing smears of bright red blood on the scarf. From then, he couldn't help but give in to the darker shade of his thoughts. "I have been thinking… if she dies, will it be Stellan or.. Helena?". Atrius didn't say a word. Such thought never brooded over his mind.
"Think about it..", Jac continued, wiping off the dripping sweat on the sides of his head in the sweltering heat. "Practically, she's a soul traveler. I remember her saying about her powers taking over the body, and the other soul just vanish. I mean if she dies now, will Stellan be the one to die? Or Helena, because she's the one in the body?", Jac's curiosity completely kills Atrius' mood.
"You've been thinking so much. You're just tired. Don't let the heat get into your head", Atrius tried to keep his cool in the midst of the warmer breeze blowing. However, it did bothered him a little. Especially coming from Jac who usually doesn't mull over things.
"Prince Atrius, one moment please?", Mago excused Atrius for a private conversation. Putting down Helena's belongings and securing her staff along side of her in the travois, Atrius followed Mago right at the mouth of the tunnel. "I do not want war on my tail. It is best that someone who's trusted by Nether, stays and informs the palace that the princess is seeking immediate treatments with us" .
The dead calm by the tunnels made Jac overhear what Mago just said. "I'm not going anywhere", he glared brazenly at Mago with one brow up. He knew right away what he meant exactly.
"There's got to be another way", Atrius ought for them not to be separated. He knew that Jac wouldn't agree to the new arrangement Mago's insisting.
"I'm afraid not… The princess shall be reported missing and for all we know, once they find out that she's in Vierme without understanding the right reasons… Nether will not think twice to burn Alhambra down. We don't want that to happen, do we?", Mago stood by his proposal unfazed.
War isn't too bad, Jac thought. If things go south in Vierme, which he believed will, Nether will plow their way out. "Heh. War?!", Jac's brows arched in a skeptical arch before storming into Mago who quickly got on his nerves. "Is this part of your schemes? What exactly is your plan with Helena?", he grabbed Mago by his neck and furiously pushed him against the rough mountain wall.
"Jac!", Atrius' eyes widened as Jac completely looses his temper.
"My plan is to help… without being misjudged that could ignite a war", Mago tiptoed with his narrowed slits. He held Jac's hand, whose grip around his neck his getting tighter. Blood pooled in his head turning his face red. With his back pushed against the wall, he groaned at the sharp edges poking his rear. "Besides, me helping the princess.. costs Prince Atrius alone. I have.. nothing more to ask".
Atrius held Jac's arm, disagreeable to his violent reactions. "We do not bite the hand that feeds us", he said.
"I'm no one's dog", Jac remained unpertrubed, letting his resentment smolder him whole. Tightening his grasp on Mago, his fury roared even greater when the archmage set his eyes on Atrius. What triggered him more is when Atrius started to plead for Mago after that shared eye gaze. Once again, the puppeteer is stringing his marionette.
"Jac! Please!", Atrius persuades Jacomus, pulling his rigid arm. "For Helena".
All of a sudden, Jac released Mago's neck. If it wasn't for Helena's name, he would've snapped it easily like a twig.
Mago dropped on the ground, gasping for air. "Paladins.. don't scare me", Mago reached for a rune from his pocket, raised his hand to halt the sand soldiers who just arrived in the scene.
"Jacomus!!", Atrius called, with eyes sharp. Mago stopped hearing that tone. "As the royal prince of Vierme, I shall take charge of Princess Helena. Your service is no longer required".
Jac's eyes ran from Atrius' head to foot, thinking that it was some kind of a joke. From the very beginning, the vast gap between the prince of Vierme and the lowly commoner like him never really mattered. They treasured moments of simple joys, long conversations, shared uncomfortable beds under the stars and even prison cells. No status in life meddled between the bond of friendship that they built.
Not until today.
Seeing his friend darting his gaze in an assertive stance with sand soldiers lined behind him, Jac felt small. No friend turn their backs when things get hard or confusing. He have always thought that betrayal doesn't come from enemies. They come from the people he trust the most. Something that he have been gone through before. And here again, now. It is happening all over again.
Jac felt a heavy load was dropped on his chest. He couldn't understand why Atrius doesn't see the deception on Mago's face. And now, his dear old friend is willing to tear the friendship that they built over hardships and time. "So we will come to that?? Really??", Jac clenched his jaw, staring straight right into Atrius' cold eyes.
"You gave me no choice", Atrius decided to cease from idly turning a blind eye. He thinks that Jac's stubborness only delays the treatment that Helena urgently needs. And if there's a villain in this very moment, it's Jac.
Inwardly, Jac is seething. He left no words. Speechless as he slowly back up reaching for the dagger Mago dropped, he kept his eyes on Atrius. He buried his foot under the sand, slipping the dagger over his instep. "Then, as a knight of Nether, with a vow to protect the royals, I will fight until my last breath for Princess Helena!!", he kicked high up, reaching for the dagger in the air and firing his aura on its blade.
"Take him down", Atrius commanded, as all six sand soldiers drew their scimitars, surrounding Jac. Sparing no time, they swiftly moved like the wind, interchangeably lunging their curved swords. Timely, Jac parried with the two swordsmen which threw off their scimitars. He took a hit on his arm making a small cut on his skin. Then, Jac immediately grabbed a handful of soil and threw it at their faces, blinding at least the other two sand soldiers. With an overwhelming advantage, the sand soldiers were flailing wildly in uncoordinated attacks. Surely, it gave him a clear path to run off to. Fighting multiple enemies in a swordfight head on wouldn't give him victory. Thinking hard for a strategy to survive a death match, Jac recalled the bow he saw earlier as he trail the slopes.
"See that Mago?", Atrius whispered, breathing shakily as he watch Jac fled and fight for his life. "The heavens might be trembling in an outrage right now. That's most loyal and realest friend I had in a long time".
"You made the right choice", Mago placed his hands on his back with a fixed dull expression, staring into the distance.
"I better have ".