Chapter 54

“And just what are you doing down here…?” Doron couldn’t help but ask as he looked at the restrained knight in front of them. The commander’s face was broken and bloody and his knee was visibly bent.

“Accidently found out some things the King didn’t like…” Owen replied with a grunt as he tried to pull himself up, before falling back against the wall. “There’s no time now, more guards will be coming and most of my men have been replaced or moved elsewhere, so we need to get going.

Maria started towards him until Doron’s hand caught her shoulder. “And why should we trust you?” This whole thing’s been your King’s fucked up plan, right? Why should we believe this isn’t part of it?”

Owen went silent, “I want to stop the King, I’ll do anything to help you get to your friend if it helps that. I don’t have anything other than that.”

Maria thought for a moment before leaning down to free the man as she unlocked the heavy chains on him. She focused on the power still within her body and channeled a small portion of it into the Commander. There was a snap as the broken bones shifted back into place and the wounds closed.

“Thank you…” The Knight Commander said as he rubbed his wrists, testing his leg quickly before leading the way out. “The King had these dungeons built after the Shard Chamber was found. We’ve got to cross most of the Castle to get back there so we’re going to have to move fast.”

“I don’t care about the Shard,” Maria cut in, “I need to get to Tirr.”

“They’ll be in the same place…” Owen replied as they ran. They got out of the dungeon pausing only to make sure the way was clear before breaking out into a quick jog again as the moved across the castle. Alarm bells soon sounded from behind them and began to ring across the castle.

“Why?” Maria asked, remembering the vision of Tirr she’d had and the pain he seemed to be in..

“The King is planning to join with the Shard,”

“So, he wants to be a Shard User?” Doron replied

“No, He doesn’t want just a piece of the Shard, he wants all of it, and he’s going to use that god of yours to do it.”

“Just a scratch from that thing was enough to burn people to ash… Now he wants to jump into the thing?” Doron growled.

“But you,” Owen nodded to Maria, “and the Child, already proved you can help the process. He’s using Tirr to help him survive it.”

“Is he insane?”

“I don’t know, things have been changing ever since the Shard showed up. He’s started spending more and more time down there, keeping secrets from me. He became almost obsessed with creating as many Shard users as possible to help defeat Lutel. He even hid requests for peace talks that they had sent.”

Maria remembered the way Tirr reacted the first time he saw the shard… “Something’s wrong with him?”

“When we first started experimenting with it… We found Shard users changed after the joining. Becoming more aggressive, arrogant, hostile. Originally some of the few that did survive went mad and had to be killed.”

“When we started telling volunteers to take smaller pieces the worse cases disappeared. The change affects everyone differently, but we thought it was only a problem with people who went through the joining. It’s only recently I’ve thought it might just affect anyone who gets near it…”

“And what?” Doron asked angrily, “That’s your excuse for why he tried to have our village burned down?”

“I don’t know,” Owen said not looking back as he ran. “I only just found out about that when I happened upon him and Monter talking. That's why I was in that dungeon in the first place. He didn’t like the way I was arguing with him…. What I do know, is that the King I knew would never have done any of this.”

Doron snorted and was about to reply when they heard the clamor of armor as Monter’s knights appeared, yelling and charging as they spotted the escapees.

Without even stopping, Maria grabbed a nearby statue from the side of the corridor and swung it fiercely, letting go as it hurled towards the oncoming group. It crashed into them, sending them flying as the heavy stone struck them.

Owen and Doron both looked at the girl in shock as she panted, “I don’t care about any of that right now. I’m getting Tirr out of here…” She said before breaking into a run again.

They shared a look before following. Maria led the way using the remaining strength she had to break through those that tried to stop them. She tore through them, leaving a wake of unconscious men and women behind her. But she could feel the Blessing she had stored burning fast and knew she didn’t have long.

As they approached the last hall that led to the old dungeon, they found the way guarded even worse than they had thought. Maria was forced to stop as over a dozen Shard Users, all people her and Tirr had helped survive the process, blocked the way. Along with more of Monter’s Knights, the force was more than Maria thought she could handle as her strength continued to fade.

A voice called out from behind the fighters as a figure came out from the entrance to the old dungeon. “I bet you regret siding with those filthy siblings of mine, now don’t you?” Nile said as he stood behind the small army in front of him…

Within the Shard Chamber Tirr stood with his head down as the King’s men finished. He could feel the itch of the Shard on his skin as he thought about how he’d ended up like this.

“Is everything ready Aimon?” The King asked the man impatiently.

“We’ve prepared everything we could your Majesty but…”

“It's fine then,” The King chuckled as he looked at where Tirr stood, “He’ll do most of the work, won’t you Tirr? Because if something does happen to me your friends are going to be the next ones to go.”

Tirr could only grit his teeth and nod. His anger had long since turned into regret and despair and finally resolution. He should have trusted Maria when he had the chance, now the least he could do was work to keep her and Doron alive.

“Come, Tirr, it’s time to start…” Torn said as he started to approach the crimson Shard…