To Love, Once Again

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

BOOOM!

Several knights heave their shoulders against the heavy oak door. The doors were tightly shut, making them have to open it by force. When it finally it opens, wood creaking in protest against the repeated abuse, the knights quickly go on the move. Tramping in with swords at the ready for any resistance. There wasn't any. Soon afterwards, from inside the brightly lit mansions in the capital, the sounds of women crying and men yelling and protest ring out.

"Darling! Darling!"

A inebriated nobleman, blood trickling out of his nose, gets dragged out of his home as the whores that had been entertaining him scream out in fear. The whores with heavy makeup cry out but don't follow the knights out the door, trying to see what was going on.

"I've done no wrong!" The man cries out, though his eyes were not focused and his words were slurred.

"Kneel!" Heavy armored hands push down as arms lash out in a drunken struggle.

Unfurling the scroll that contains his orders with a thwapping sound, the head knight of his group in charge of this noble's house pronounces King Lucien's decree.

"In the name of the King, King Lucien Alexandros Thedea of Thornmere, you are arrested for suspected crimes of embezzlement and high treason against the Crown."

Grim-faced servants stream out of the mansion, observing their masters being escorted out of their homes by force. They stand as silent observers, not interfering with the knights at all. There was no loyalty there. The servants had known what was coming. Had hoped for it even, to be freed from the tyranny of their masters. It wasn't an easy life to serve, yet they'd done it to put food on their family's table.

Similar scenes like this were happening all over the capital. Many noblemen, young and old, were brought out in the midst of whatever vice they indulged in at night. More often than not, they were in various states of undress and inebriation. Most seemed to have been celebrating late into the night, not yet understanding the depth of the troubles that they'd brought upon themselves.

Their women and children were allowed to stay in their homes for now, but the Head of each household was dragged out, their suspected crimes read to them, and taken away.

Those were the fools, the ones that continued to live their lavish lifestyles thinking that their King was still the uncaring, battle hungry monster that he'd been.

After all, Lucien had done his best to keep the news of Sera's return from leaking out of the castle. Security in the castle was tight. Though not as tight as he preferred.

The nature of the nobles themselves had worked for him this night, in combination with the element of surprise. Nobles were a selfish breed. They looked out only for themselves, so the ones who knew of Sera's return wouldn't be willing to share the information so easily.

Only those with 'special connections', spies in the castle, would be able to know that she was back, and he knew they'd been watching and waiting to see his reaction.

How they must have sighed with relief to see him treating her like a servant. Yet now the farce was over. The moment he'd had the 2 noblewomen who had hurt his Sera arrested, someone was bound to find out.

Lucien wanted to punch himself for believing that they would give him some time to prepare for their counterattack. He hadn't expected them to move so quickly, trying to assassinate him the very night he'd declared Sera as his Queen once again.

"My King, we've discovered a secret cellar."

Lucien stood in the foyer of Lord Norwood's town mansion, overseeing the knight's proceedings with a lazy hand on the hilt of his sword. The knights had broken down locked doors to find an empty mansion. Only the half-eaten food in the servant's kitchens, the disarray in the Lord's bedrooms and still-lit lamps showed proof of people having just left. Many shelves were empty, gold candelabras and crystal knick-knacks, grey spots where paintings had hung on the wall, and even the floral drapes were missing in some areas.

All the signs pointed towards one thing.

The servants had robbed Lord Norwood's home after he had left in a great hurry.

"Any sign of Lord Norwood hiding here?" Lucien asks, loosening his grip on the sword at his hip.

"No, My King."

Lucien's jaw ticks. So that rat had scurried away then. But where to?

"Lead me to the secret room."

"Yes, Sire. Right this way." The knight leads him towards the study, pointing towards a hatch ingeniously hidden under the large desk that looked very similar to Lucien's own desk in the castle.

It had taken several knights working together to push the desk to the side, revealing a discolored square in the thick carpet. Lord Norwood's desk had an empty drawer to the side, large enough to fit a grown man inside it, and that was what he had been using to secretly enter this room.

The door buried deeply in the carpet was locked shut. Many men had taken turns trying to open it by pulling the handle open, to no avail.

"Here, I have a solution for a door that won't open." Lucien speaks in a no-nonsense manner, making the red-faced knight that strained with bulging muscles to pull open the door move to the side.

CRASH!

Lucien kicks down on the thick wood of the hatch in the floor, breaking it open.

The other men hold back their sighs. Yes, they were fully-grown, battle-hardened, harshly trained men. But that wouldn't put them on the same level as their King. Only their King would be able to break open a door that thick with just one kick. It was impossible of him to ask them to do the same.

A cool draft floats up from the open hole in the door, revealing just how deep the cellar had been built. The cooler the air, the deeper it was in the ground. Often, cellars such as these would be used to store expensive wines and ice to be used for cool drinks in the summer.

Digging such a large room like this underground in keeping it a secret until now was a feat.

Lucien steps down, hunching his body over to descend the rough stone steps. He held out his sword in front of him to check for traps.

There were none.

"Send me a lamp!" Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouts up. Soon, other knights follow after him with lamps to light up the cellar room.

The room was just as large as the cellar above it. Many crates and boxes lay stacked atop each other, opened to reveal priceless artworks that Lucien's mother had collected and valuable wines nestled in straw wrapping.

Those weren't the only things.

"As we suspected." Lucien picks up a rich white fur, still unprocessed into an article to wear. There were many more around him, the coats of rabbits, ferrets, foxes. Exotic coats lay at the top of the piles stacked in a secret room connected to the Lord's study.

But it was the snow white coats that caught Lucien's attention. These coats belonged to a species of snow cat only found in the Azark lands. Though some tradesmen went between the lands of Thornmere and Azark after the Great War, to amass this amount was impossible.

"Holt." Lucien calls for his third-in-command, after Icaros. He was a great beast of a man, almost as tall as Lucien, muscled and with deep laugh wrinkles around his eyes.

"My King?" Saluting Lucien, Holt awaits his orders.

Dropping the fur back atop the pile, Lucien speaks.

"Track down his servants, and find what things he'd taken with him when he left. "

"Right away." Holt stoops low to ascend the stone stairs.

Lucien pretty much knew where his prey had escaped to. Lord Norwood had betrayed his country. He'd fled to the Azarks.

"Don't forget to send Gaer to me once he arrives here."

"Yes, My King"