To his surprise, Twig was interrupted before he could start asking. The second in line to the throne had a painful expression on his face when he started talking. “Well. I am not very good at this, but it has to be done. I had planned to do this a while earlier, but… Hm. How cowardly of me.” Teiming stood up and left his chair. He circled around the table and stopped in front of Twig. What was this? For a brief moment Twig feared that the prince planned on killing him on the spot.

But as he hardly moved the sensation faded quickly. Then the prince dropped to his knees and bowed to Twig. “I apologize. I assume that you have managed to shake off the enslavement spell on your own. Please believe me when I tell you, that I did not plan to use such a thing on you at all.” Teiming rose and set down in the chair next to Twig. His facial expression spoke bounds of sorrow. “I have created you. It was a very hard decision, that I contemplated multiple times.”

He sighted. “I sacrificed a lot of money, time and even human lives just to create you. And even that was initially planned to form a dungeon core and not a sentient being capable of magic. I weighted that sacrifice multiple times for the benefit of our people and the kingdom. It was not an easy decision.” Twig was not sure what to think. That apology was odd, especially coming from royalty! He had not expected them to even do such a thing.

“When I created you, I consulted multiple people on how to deal with you and what I may have created by accident. Sadly, and that is my fault alone,- I am really sorry for that. -my father caught wind of my project. When he found out I had created a sentient being he ordered me to soul bind you and use the enslavement spell on you.” Twig finally snapped. “Why would you do that? Just because they tell you to? You could have undone it. Freed me!”

Teiming sighted. “Sadly not. My father is quite resourceful in that regard. There are certain rare magical stones, made from Aggratit. They track a souls current shape. When someone is linked to the stone, it shows the state of mind of the person it is linked to.” Twig glared at him. “So my soul is not only bound to you but also linked to a stone?”

Teiming shook his head. “No. The stone was linked to me when I was born. All children of our family are. You can see whether they are ill or wounded. The stone turns dark or red. You can see if they die, which makes the stone turn to dust. Or in my case: If the user is bound to another soul, the stone turns into a bright blue shining stone.”

The prince was at a loss for words for a second, then he continued. “Meaning, that if I release you from this binding, my father would know immediately. And then order me killed or imprisoned and you would be hunted and killed. If you want that I will consider doing it, but I would not advise it.” Twig was baffled. “Why would the king kill you? You are his son.”

“Hah. My father has no love for me. For quite some time I have been only prince in name to avoid scandals. You see, practicing necromancy is frowned upon, even by normal standards. But royalty that uses this form of magic or blood magic… They are feared by the population. A dark chapter in Antalias history. So I fell from favour. I wanted to regain that by creating a dungeon core… But well. I brought you into this world.” Teiming smiled at him.

“And I believe it is a good thing. If you want to, you can stay with me, work for Antalia. Help me, Twig.” His eyes shone brightly now. Twig was now able to understand why his master had done what he did. He wanted to be there for his people, gain the favour of his father back and maybe rule himself? Or he was just looking out for his own people? Twig was unsure. “If you help me win the war for Antalia, I will personally give you anything you want. Maybe we can even find a way to free you without drawing to wrath of my father upon us.”

Twig was still unsure. “So, if you were to die, you would release me from the binding to save me? And if I help you win the war, will you give me my own army? My own land?” Twig expected the prince to say no, hardly any noble would agree to give a mere servant his own troops. Hardly ever give anything to someone they feared so much that they controlled them with a soul binding and enslavement. “I will try my best to give you that, if that is what you desire. And yes, if that were to happen I think I would. If I die, you can still help us in the war afterwards. Just promise me to always help Antalia!”

Twig agreed. “Alright. I will accept you as my master, but I am not your slave and I want to be paid with favours.” Teiming beamed and reached for Twigs hands. He shook two at the same time, exited as he was. Then he turned and walked to the door. “You know, you are the most interesting thing that I have ever created. I can’t wait to see you summoning all sorts of things now. But we will talk later. First I’ve got to make my speech and then we have to go back to the capital.” Twig jumped over the table to reach the door before Teiming did.

“That could be a problem. They have a small army out there. At least several thousand people.” Teiming shrugged. “I will give them reason not to hurt us in any way with my speech. They are not fools. Only scared of war and the terrors of their past. Understandably so. My father had done a lot of terrible things back then. Don’t worry about it. Follow me and everything will be well.”

The carefree smile put Twigs mind to ease. This was a true leader. He understood to convey strength and cared for his subjects. In the future Twig wanted to be like that too. For now, he would follow. And his trump card, Matah Naht, could still offer solutions to his problems. It was time to focus more on his team, build them up to be loyal and important soldiers in his own army. And ultimately, in the best case, friends.

Teimings heart was racing. He had chosen to be honest with his creation and the fear of upsetting him had weighted on him. If Twig had chosen to be against him and rebel, the war would likely not go so well. His father was underestimating the situation more than a bit and daily there were new reports of concerning movement on the front lines. It was time to strike first. If the trolls were taken out of the equation the battle later would likely tilt in Antalias favour.

But he would not have to go to that length if his father and brother just showed more concern. They were busy ordering and controlling the nobles, yes. But that was no reason to ignore frontline talk for weeks on end just because there were sufficient defenses in place to slow the enemy down. Thousands of citizens would lose their homes just because the kingdom decided to take a laid back battle in the open, rather than to go and destroy the enemy directly at the border.

Teiming was just not a fan of these sorts of tactics. They went on the expense of the kingdom, and economy would take quite the blowback. Frowning over the current situation, Teiming stepped into the large conference hall on the fourth floor. Roughly sixty people would fit in this room, decorated with boar hides, troll teeth and all sorts of hunting trophies. It was quite old fashioned and Teiming didn’t really approve of the taste.

Nearly thirty people were already seated, waiting for him. Teiming decided to make this short. He did not want to waste another day discussing taxation or other small matters.

“Good evening. It is already getting quite late, I am sorry for recalling you all here. But there has been a important development and I have to attend a important meeting in the capital. I am well aware that this might come as a surprise, after all we were the ones seeking discussions.” Teiming looked around, spotting mostly glad faces. “Furthermore… You all are aware of the current situation. War is looming and with this comes many problems.”

The men immediately talked to each other, murmuring was heard all over the hall. “However!”, Teiming continued speaking: “Usually a province is asked to contribute and raise a small force to help. We will not do so this time, in light of recent discussions here. Last year was a hard one for the swamplands and so you all were affected. I do not wish do drain resources of a rebuilding province.”

Glad murmur was heard again, this time louder. Teiming did not like the idea of giving them too much space to act in, but he had to make sure they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Independence was what they were seeking and Antalia would never give it to them. But he could make them believe that very thing. “And I hope, that Antalia and the Nerellin can work together in the future, as allies and friends, rather than under orders.”

This time there was a silent crowd, barely containing themselves. Teiming remained calm but smiled on the inside. “We will continue talks once the war is over. If there is absolute neutrality from you then I myself will return and we have REAL discussion. I will leave Nerellin in your capable hands until then. Good day.”

Teiming then left, without further delay, causing the hall to break out in exciting chatter as soon as his group had closed the door behind them. What fools those primitive men were, they hardly questioned his intentions. If they supported the alliance of Khamur, Seirin and Markan the situation would be more than critical. Like this, they would not dare interfere. If Antalia loses, they gain independence, if Antalia wins they gain talks for independence.

Teiming had trapped them inside their own greedy goals. A few hours later all of his guards had packed their things and they left the city. Twig had summoned a small army of ravens while they were waiting apparently to scout the area and in light of his overbearing amount of mana that he had to spend. He was really a wonderful creature. “Twig, can you summon fighting monsters too?”

As the children grinned, Twig raised a small army of skeletons. They crawled out of the ground like freshly raised corpses, most of them without any weapons, some even carrying wooden clubs! Immediately Teiming took control of all six hundred and sixty of them, boosting their speed and bone density with his necromancing skills. Twig looked a little upset, but eventually shrugged.

With this ability Twig was really beyond any expectation that Teiming initially had for his experiment.

For the first time since Teiming had sacrificed those fifty slaves, he was sure that he had made the right decision.

This would save so many lives!