Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"Today a cheater like you will be put to justice." 

Wrik's face darkened, and he gritted his teeth and chose not to continue. There was nothing he could say that change this golden armoured guy's mindset. But not everyone was like them in the group. 

"Who are you calling a cheater, you bastard?" Jacob yelled towards the golden armoured man. "You and your daddy Scythe are the cheaters. You guys even played amount yourself to trap us here. Do you have no shame?" 

"I won't waste a breath on a group of cheaters," Harth commented, and waited for the others to appear.

Jacob was about to curse more, but Wrik stopped him, showing an arm. Michelle was similarly angry, and she was showing it on her face, but did not try anything now. Others were just as angry as Jacob, but most of them did not show it. They all knew who was the one who cheated on the test, yet this guy appeared out of nowhere and accused them of something like this. There was no way they would not be angry. 

If only they were not a disadvantage, they might have gorged the teeth of this fella.

"Don't get worked up now," Wrik whispered to everyone. "Be calm. We will do as we rehearsed." 

"But can we do it against so many?" Jacob asked, but everyone had the same question in mind.

"All we can do now is tweak the plan more. If we fail even there, then we'll just have to give up," Wrik said and then moved, whispering something in the ears of Tanya and Dairyl.

The two of them tensed up, hearing everything. 

"Can you do it?" he asked.

"I think I can," Tanya whispered back, and looked at Dairyl. She was not the only one needed for the job. Dairyl was just as important, or maybe more.

"I should be able to, but it would take time, and if they suspect something," the gentle-looking maiden said, hesitating. 

Wrik nodded. "I will catch the attention of the important fellas, and with Tanya's mist, it would be possible," he whispered back.

All the others in the group looked curious, but they did not ask, as there was an enemy among their numbers, even though bound.

They waited in the mist and another large group appeared and this group held Scythe in the middle. Their numbers were about four hundred. Most looked like professional soldiers and more impressive than the ones commended by Harth. Though Scythe did not look the commander type.

Even among the group of soldiers, Scythe stood out with the dark clothes and yin-yang mask. He looked quite solitary among the group. Anyone could tell from his way of presenting himself indicated, he did not care less about the people behind him. But when he saw Ben among the group, his movement seemed smoothened by a little or it could be just nothing.

Wrik was seeing Scythe for the first time and he was more than what Wrik had heard in the rumours. With his discerning gaze Wrik saw, the one was as impressive as the rumours, but he was not impressed. With some play, deceit and rumours, he could do the same as well. 

Apart from the masked fellow, Kevin and Byul were just behind him. Similarly shackled like Ben while Kevin had more wounds, bruises all over, though most of them were old. He was looking down with his head bowed more than ninety degrees, while Byul was far better, with only a little pale face. She looked at her friends and companions with an apologetic look. 

Scythe said nothing, and a silence descended on the place. He was looking carefully at the individual who captured Bin. 

"Scythe," Wrik said among the silence. "I want to exchange hostages with you. Your right-hand man and our flag for my two friends. If you agree, we can go on with this."

The masked guy looked and tilted his head a little towards Wrik, showing he had listened, but he said nothing.

In between, almost nobody noticed the mist closer to Dairyl rose by a little, though it was still in the limit of sight.

"Is that a yes or no?" Wrik asked. 

"I don't think I can choose any of them," Scythe said in the filtered tone. And stood silently in front of the crowd. 

"What does that mean?" Wrik arched his brow. 

"It means it was already out of his hand. Gosh! It did not look for you guys," Ben said, with an expression of not glee or nor sorrow either. He appeared to be a little angry, though he hid it with his next words. "Looks like there is no chance for you guys now. I felt sorry for you guys, especially for the cute girls. Hope you get a safe way out of it."

"Shut up," Fraser shouted and Ben did shut up.

Just as Ben said it, things were not looking good for them and the few folks appeared after that only made it worse. 

Over a dozen people appeared in the middle of the crowd. The correct way to say would be that they were teleported here. But they were not participants. Their dress and way of presenting themselves represented they were the upper authority of the test. Few of them were elderly, few were in their late prime or in the middle of their Prime. All of them were clad in white and black.

Wrik recognised one of them. Harakatz, the manager of the sanctuary they had stayed at. Now he had a cold, scowling expression on. But the one who stood up most was the elderly figure leading. 

"I welcome the Honourable Judge and all the inquisitors to bring justice to the test," Harth said, bowing his head with deep respect. 

Scythe said nothing, and neither did anyone of Wrik's party. They only bowed slightly, knowing whatever was going to happen would not go their way. 

Everyone was showing ugly scowl at the men of uniform. They all know who should be the one convicted here, and who should be judged, but that person was their golden son. How could they convict him? In the end, they would be the scapegoat.

"So what's the issue here?" the elderly man who was addressed as the judge of the test opened his mouth to Harth. "Who has the arrogance to cheat on the test? Did they think nothing of the Maha? Nothing of the Council?"

"Honourable Judge," Harth continued, gesturing to the party of Wrik. "These are the people who cheated the test of Maha. The leader is that youth with long hair. He called himself, Salvation, yet done so many heinous things from murder to rape. And every one of them did a similarly heinous thing."

Veins on Wrik's forehead and temples bulged up. He ground his teeth and stayed silent. 

"I told you something like this would happen," Ben said, sighing. 

"Really, they do look quite innocent, though," the judge said. Every word he said radiated dignity, even though it was just deceit. "But an oldman like me is not very good at judging youths nowadays." 

The judge looked at all the other inquisitors behind him and asked. "What do the other inquisitors think?"

"I think they should be put up as an example and brought to the prison of Sakh'Dai," One of the inquisitors said with an amusing look and stern voice. "So that none of the future generations would have the gall to cheat in the test of Maha."

The judge nodded and looked at the others, who said similar words. Some did say the Prison of Sakhai was a little heavy for the crime. A few abstain from saying a word. In the end, the only one who remained was Harakatz. 

"What do you think, Harakatz?" The judge asked the last person remaining.

Harakatz's eyes were cold and hot air was coming off his nostrils. He was having such anger after a long time. In his youth, he was known for his fiery personality and overbearing nature, but he had changed that after a lot of lessons. Yet today, seeing such a scene, his tamed anger rose again. He gritted his teeth and said, "Will my intervention change anything?"

The judge frowned, looking at the inquisitor. He delivered a message to him that only he could hear. [Don't try anything you would regret, Harakatz. You are in a good position now, only a single mistake here will change everything.] 

[Your words do not frighten me, Judge Nikier] Harakat transferred. He only feared that he could do nothing for the innocents here. He hated the feeling, but he had orders. Orders from someone he owes his life to. [Just don't take it far. They were all kids, intelligent and talented kids, don't make them hate the Omega council.]

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So, Fraser is not Scythe, but it would have been a good plot twist, XD. What do you guys think?

Next Chapter: Winter Queen.

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Check out: CHAOS CYCLE: THE EYE OF GENESIS. 

You will like it if you liked Broken Tower so far.