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Spy reports revealed that the savages were building their massive army near the Finge boundary and they would strike the empire as soon as they were done massing up.

More disturbing is the fact that the Byzantine empire was offering to
help the Savage army by providing . .

"My lord?" A voice called from behind the King, interrupting the flow of his thought. The King immediately ascribed that voice to Wertchen, a guard from one of the Prussian states (modern day Germany).

"Go away!" The King barked.

"My lord, it is Lord Burth. . ."

"Tell him to go, I don't want to see anyone for now. Not even my daughter!"

Wertchen was not deterred. That look he has seen on Lord Burth was enough to him push on. "My lord, I think you should hear him out. He wouldn't tell me what he wants. He says it's an emergency."

"Emergency?" The King echoed in surprise. Lord Burth was a general, a war hardened man who had lived his entire life for warfare. If he called something an emergency then trouble was surely lurking.

"Send him in right away," The King ordered the guard.

In the moment that followed, Lord Burth walked in looking gloomy like a freshly widowed woman.

"Burth, what is wrong?"

"My lord, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

"Whatever it is, tell me."

"It is the treasury at Austieres. A band of robbers looted it early
this morning."

The King could not believe his ears. Yes, his aural faculty had to be malfunctioning. That treasury alone held about three quarters of the whole of Nersea's wealth. For this reason, it was always heavily
fortified with sentries. There was even a joke in Casville about the
treasury being more secure than the citadel where the King resided.
Now, thinking of that supposed safe haven being attacked by bandits made very little sense.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I went to Austieres myself. Those reports are anything but untrue,"
Lord Burth replied confidently.

The King felt crushed, like he had taken a hit from a sledgehammer
wielded by a biblical Anakite. How could this happen at the same time when his son was missing, the savages were massing and his wife was dying? God, why?

CHAPTER NINE

A gentle breeze caressed King Gavyne's calloused cheek and blew his frock coat hither and thither as he leaned over the railings of the balcony on the highest floor of the citadel. The King especially loved coming to that place. Alongside his throne
and his wife's bedroom, it was his favourite spot in his empire.

One thing that particularly appealed to King Gavyne about the place was the impressive view of Casville that it offered him. From that dizzying height, he could see the beautiful eastern landscape, the tallest trees in the forests, the snow capped mountains, the lush greenery that stretched across the west and
any other thing that caught his fancy. He could watch with
swelling pride as his army
trained or as the royal shepherds tended their mighty flock or the
gardeners tending the gardens and any other activity that he felt like watching.

Presently, King Gavyne stood at the apex of the citadel with its
aesthetic appeal completely lost on him. He simply wasn't there to
enjoy the scenery. Rather, he was there because he wanted to lose
himself in thought. Things were going awry and he could not just sit back and watch. He had to think and come up with solutions.

The first thing that bugged him was the fact that his son, his only son, had vanished from the court without trace. His servant had gone missing too. The King very well knew the kind of son he had. He rarely left the citadel and whenever he did, it was never without permission from the
crown. Now, he was gone for two
weeks and the numerous search parties that had been sent after him were still clueless concerning his whereabouts. Fat reason to worry, isn't it?

King Gavyne felt the hairs on his nape rise as he pondered on the
second thing that was giving him sleepless nights. It was the news
that a large portion of the scattered tribes of wild people that lived outside the empire of Nersea had found a common leader in the famous warlord, Jiarchinn, who had promised them
that he would not rest until Nersea is brought down on her knees.

A merry christmas indeed. . .

This is so very well written. Well done sir.

Dyoungstar:
Please pardon me, I have series of programs to anchor this period, I'll be updating on Monday.


Sorry for keeping you all.

*Waiting. . .

faithgokz:
Well done Tee, keep up the good work. And sorry for all those bans you got

You eh? I been dey vex for you.

But it's okay. Thank you : ).

Marcus is the adventurous teenage warrior who leaves his family in the praire in search of the fame and glory that comes with knighthood. His undying love for adventure brings him in contact with the deadliest of beasts (the Negirrel) and the prettiest of damsels (Helena). What will be his fate in the story?

Malzene D'Aubriere is not the most likable character in the story. He is a pagan, an outcast and not the finest of men. However if Sir Millicent and his perfidious machinations are to be thwarted, Malzene D'Aubriere and his powers will surely be needed.

N.B: This is not exactly the recapitulation that BabieGhagha requested, but I'm sure it will serve the purpose of reminding us who's who in the story to the point we are.

Perfidy (Book #1 in the LORK series).

It is a age of castles and towers, of emperors and kings, of knights and warriors, of lords and barons, of ladies and maidens and of magic and sorcery.

For the past three decades, Casville had enjoyed its somewhat precarious position as the most prosperous city in the Nersean empire. Now it seems as though the wheels of fortune had turned against it as it now faces severe attacks from within and without. Will it succeed it in fending off these peace threatening attacks or will it crumble under their intensity?

Sir Millicent is undoubtably the most popular member of the distinguished royal family because of his heart melting good looks and his unmatchable fighting finesse. He returns to Casville after eight years of supposed incarceration, after which it becomes clear (not to the ordinary eye though) that he has a completely different mission from the one he pledged to carry out as a knight of the realm. Will he succeed (along with his cohorts ; Lady Suzannah, Lord Bradeigh and Finn) in his aspirations to usurp his uncle, Gavyne as the ruler of the vast Nersean empire?

Prince Galleine is the lovestruck heir to the Casvillean throne who leaves his land (together with Sirs Claude and Harding) to find his kidnapped paramour, Melissa. In the process of doing that, he lands in big trouble. Will he be able to extract himself from the big m*ss he's found himself in time to save his lover and more importantly, his land from destruction?

Fatalveli:
Abeg update more, ur story sweet die

The next update will be posted tomorrow. Thanks sir.

kingphilip:
hope we'll b seeing more of u

Certainly sir.

BabieGhagha:
The man of d year is bak!.welldone vantee.i hope u dnt get banned again.can u pls summarise d story for those of us dat hv lost track on dis story. thanks..*waiting patiently for d next update

Lol @Man of the year. I'm not Phyno na.

@Bolded. I was planning on dropping something akin to a summary before I updated yesterday, but I was afraid it was going to be hidden. I'll go dig it out and drop it asap.

mariemummy:
Thanks i just saw it. Thank you for the explanation. More intellectual strength i pray for thee.

Thanks ma'am.

Therock5555:
Anything that has actions, death and bloodshed in it always sends my blood boiling in excitement, vantee baba, you be sabi boi

The Rock my oga!

How it gladdens my heart to see you here. You are a perpetual boost to my morale.

Thank you sir.

donPhill:
...we re here and ll keep our tab crossed here. Nice update boss....i couldn't comment yesterday cos i got a minor accident, bt it's all good now!
Cant wait to see d help d prince and his knights ll get to defeat their enemies

@I hope it wasn't very serious. Take care sir.

We will see if the Prince and his knights will escape this one.

lexaydfg:
pls ride on with ur story.
weldone sir

Thank you sir.

Fatalveli:
'Sahmmbisserh'. You mean sambisa huh

In a way, yes .

kingphilip:
great one boss
continue the gud work

.

Thank you sir.

mariemummy:
*jumps into thread* ahhhhhh Sir Vantee is back. Thank God those trying periods are over. Though you didnt mention mua. Ita alright. Yeah noticed the typos. I have a question pla, maybe i missed it somewhere

How did Lady Suz and her cohorts know that it was Marcus that was in sir Maxime attire?

Merry Christmas

How can I forget to mention you, one of the most active commentators on this thread? I dey craze neh? I did mention you. Maybe you missed it somehow, it happens sometimes.

@bolded. I don't know too oh. Maybe it's because Lady Sue is a powerful sorceress and she'd discovered the fact about Sir Maxime's true identity just as she had found out Sir Millicent's plans to overthrow the King without him telling her..

The same to you ma'am.

Easy4reel:
something makes u apy wen u realise dat d boss is back!

Lol. Thanks boss.

iphex:
Hmmm

What is that sir?

BabieGhagha:
pls dnt abandon dis story.biko!.i really can't wait 4 continuity

I have no intention of abandoning the story. The story is back on track.

lexaydfg:
V.T ar u done wf ds story, its bin a while u update

Through with the story ke? No o. There are more chapters left than you can imagine.

donPhill:
vantee....we re in gr8 suspense....help us out

Ayaf updated sir. I hope you'll enjoy the new installment.

stuff46:
vantee i swea ds is really really awesome

Thank you sir .

Whew! Finally broke this jinx. I can spot a few typos up there, but I cannot modify them else I'll get banned and the post will get hidden immediately.

I have to thank everyone that stood by me in those trying times. I really appreciate your efforts.

Tags: Easy4reel, BabieGhagha, Oluwafunmilayo95, stuff46, marian17, mariemummy, Kizzykeziah, kingphillip, Kennybix, Dsparker, lexayfdg, donphill, iphex, emarkson, faithgokz, tovot, iebanehita, Larrysun, therock5555, nick16, buccal, haydot95, aydesmond and others whose username I cannot remember as I type this.
Thank you all.

The four rebels rushed towards the three knights, goaded on by their leader's rebuke. But they were not prepared for what they met as the Knights counterattacked them ferociously. After a lot of serious whacking, slashing, plunging, hacking and the likes, the knights overcame the rebels.

"Bravo," Dunstan clapped his hands. "I really underestimated you. Especially you, the Prince. You are not the sissy I thought. I like that."

"Show me Melissa now or I will LIKE you to join your men on the floor and in hell," The Prince said through gritted teeth. He was obviously galled by Dunstan's annoying use of like and his despicable mannerism. His tone suggested that if other man did not comply, he would promptly take his head off.

Dunstan laughed mirthlessly. "You are so impatient to see her? Okay then. Look over there, that's where she is."

Prince Galleine promptly turned in the direction that Dunstan pointed to him and saw something that shocked him beyond measure. There were over two hundred men standing on the slope of the mountain with more than half of them being archers.

"Do you see, my friend, that I'm the one in control here?"

The Prince wiped the beads of perspiration that was beginning to cascade down his forehead with the sleeve of his fur coat. "What do you want?"

"You . . . I want you," Dunstan replied with a wide grin slapped on his face.





To be continued. . .

***
"Look!" Sir Claude, the Frank, yelled suddenly, taking his companions, Sir Harding and Prince Galleine completely by surprise.

"Look what?" Prince Galleine asked.

"Over there," Sir Claude replied, pointing out the eight rebels coming down the mountain to his companions.

"I can't see Melissa," The Prince said as he trained his eyes on the
approaching party. He had to admit he was feeling edgy. Too edgy for his liking.

"Don't worry sire. Everything will be fine," Sir Harding assured him.

"Oh please, don't tell me that," Prince Galleine said. "The last time you said something to that effect, we all ended being flattened by some crazy beast."

Inspite of the huge tension in the air, Sirs Harding and Claude had the heart to laugh at the Prince's caustic joke. Presently, the rebel party got to the plain of Sahmmbisserh where the Prince and his companions waited for them on horseback.

"You came early. That's good. I like punctual people," Dunstan, the long haired leader of the troop said with a crooked smile on his grossly disfigured face.

"Where is she?" The Prince barked his question.

"You want us to start business immediately? I like that."
Dunstan said in jest. "Where is the money?"

Prince Galleine signed to Sir Claude and the knight quickly went to retrieve a bagful of Ciblis from among the supplies.

"This is it," The Prince said, opening the bag and letting two
gold coin drop unto his hands.

Dunstan's eyes shone with greed. "Are you sure it's not fake?"

"Of course, it's not," Prince Galleine replied, handing him a coin as proof.

"Okay, it's not fake. I like that," Dunstan remarked.

Then he turned to his men. "Okay boys, he has shown us the money, now show him the girl."

Neither the Prince nor his two companions could have anticipated what happened next as the all rebels, save Dunstan, unsheathed their sword and charged at the Knights.

"I knew it. B*stards!" The Prince yelled as he pulled out his own sword and ran forward to meet his adversaries.

Dunstan stared in horror as the Prince beheaded the first rebel that came his way. Sir Harding toed the same path by burying his sword in the head of another rebel. Sir Claude was no less lethal with his sword as he fended off an attack from a rebel and promptly plunged his double edged sword in the rebel's groin.

"Why the hell are you holding back? Kill them, you fo*ols!" Dunstan yelled at the remaining four rebels.

"What do we do about him?" Sir Millicent asked his cohorts.

"I will suggest that we send the phantoms to destroy him,"
Lord Bradeigh offered.

"Good idea," Sir Millicent said. "Do we all agree?"

"Yes," Finn and Lady Suzannah answered in unison.

"Good," The Svelte knight said.
"This meeting is adjourned."

"Why? We haven't delibrated on the time to strike," Lord Bradeigh reminded him.

"We can't strike until we are sure that Galleine and Marcus are out of the way," Sir Millicent explained.

Lord Bradeigh nodded in acceptance and then he rose to his feet, unsheathed his sword and raised it in the air.

"To the fall of the current empire and the rise of a new one."

"Aye!"

"The bulk of the army is tied up at the Rhodes frontier and Tremor is
under our control, so I think Finn is right," Lady Suzannah opined.

"What about the other knights? Sir Tremor is not the only knight,"
Lord Bradeigh countered. "Sir Sylvain, for example, is just as deadly as Sir Tremor."

"I'm still of the opinion that the other Knights will be easier to
deal with since Tremor is out of the way," Lady Suzannah maintained.

"Okay, I will suggest we block the army with half of Lord Bradeigh's
men, the remaining half will attack the army garrisons across the empire, then Finn's troops will deal with the Knights of the realm," Sir Millicent said. "Do we all agree?"

Lord Bradeigh and Finn gave consent, but Lady Suzannah did not, yet.

"What about my phantoms?" She asked.

"They will do the bulk of the job. They will attack the citadel and
once they win it, our aim is achieved."

"Sounds easy. Far too easy," Lord Bradeigh remarked.

"It should be that easy if we can manage to nullify the few threats we have before we kickstart our plans."

"Threats?" Lord Bradeigh repeated.

"Yes, we do have threats," Sir Millicent replied.

"One that readily comes to mind is the Prince."

"I have sent a Negirrel to take him out, he can't escape death," Lady
Suzannah announced.

"Even if he does, he will fall into my men's hands. They have laid a
trap for him through his girlfriend," Finn added.

"That's good. Then another one is Malzene D'Aubriere. I heard he is a
great sorcerer who likes to throw himself into the mix when least
expected," Sir Millicent opined.

Lady Suzannah sniggered. "If Malzene is a great sorcerer, then what am I? Sorcery itself? See,
I know Malzene very well. He is only a magician, a petty one at that. He is unworthy of the title sorcerer. If he tries any thing silly, I will break into him half with a twerk of my finger."

She continued. "The only one person I consider as a threat to us is that boy that played Sir Maxime at the recent tournament. He is the only one that is capable of distrupting our laid down plans."

***
Sir Millicent held the gazes of the three pairs of eyes in front of
him as he stood motionlessly in the middle of the crypt, the underground room under Lady Suzannah's chamber. He saw one thing in all of them - anticipation.
His people were anxious to hear him out.

"I called this meeting for us to discuss the various plans and
strategies we are going to employ in achieving our cause, our noble
cause," Sir Millicent said in his characteristic melliflous voice. "I
would like us to first discuss the strength of our underground army. Finn?"

The burly, clean shaven man eased to his feet. "The total number of men I have gathered in our Cevout stronghold is a little shy of three thousand and I'm very sure we have enough weaponry and supplies to last us the war."

"Three thousand rebels? That's very good. Lord Bradeigh?"

"Sir Millicent, I must tell you are more loved in this land than you
can imagine."

Sir Millicent chuckled. "Why do you say that?"

"Every noble that I talked to was ready to join our cause. They all
promised to give us the men in the capacity. From the look of things, we should be able to get twelve thousand well trained men."

"Awesome!" Sir Millicent exclaimed. "What about weapons?"

"We are already smuggling them in from the East."

"Excellent! Lady Sue?"

"I have five thousand and five hundred battle ready, immortal
soldires," She drawled.

"Immortals?" Lord Bradeigh and Finn echoed in surprise.

"Yes," Lady Suzannah said with a lofty smile. "I'ld prefer to have the called phantoms."

"Um. Are they completely servile?" Lord Bradeigh inquired.

"Don't worry. I have them under control," Lady Suzannah assured him.

"Okay, so we have around twenty thousand men. That's far greater than I initially envisaged," Sir Millicent said. "Now that we have analysed our strength. Let's talk about the strength of
our enemy."

"Nothing to talk about. The King has nobody, save the handful of men guarding the citadel," Finn offered.

"No, that's not true." Lord Bradeigh protested. "We have the Knights of the Realm under Sir Tremor to deal with and also the real army of the empire."

"Are you okay?"

Marcus looked up sharply and saw Malzene looming over him. Marcus had been too deep in thought to hear the other man open the door and walk up to him.

"I... I am fine. When did you come?"

"Just now," Malzene replied. "You had a nightmare. Right?"

"Er - yes, how did you know that?"

"I heard you scream," Malzene disclosed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Marcus nodded and then proceeded to recount the dream in detail to Malzene, who listened with rapt attention.

"Hmm," Malzene sighed as soon as Marcus finished. "This dream is
recurrent. Right?"

"Yes."

"Good. It is a message from the gods."

"A message?"

"Yes. They want you to prepare yourself because there are tough times ahead."

Here we go again, Marcus thought.

Malzene continued. "The dream is a proof that the Negirrel will return for another attack. This time it will be far stronger and deadlier than the first time. I told you that before. Didn't I?"

"Yes. What about Helena?"

"You will soon be reunited with her. . ."

"And what?" Marcus pressed on.

"And nothing."

"Will she be safe?"

"I really can't say. Maybe the next dream you'll have will make things clearer," Malzene confessed.

"Are you not a clairvoyant? Can't you look into the future and tell me what you see?"

"You need to understand, boy, that a seer, no matter how powerful, cannot see what the gods have witheld from him. In this case, the gods have shown me nothing."

"But you just told me a part of the future."

"I didn't see it myself. I merely interpreted your dream."

Marcus nodded in resignation. For perhaps the first time in his life, he
regretted leaving his simple life with his brothers in the praire for
this place. He had been attracted by the glitz and glamour of
knighthood. Now he truly realised that not all that glisters is gold.

"Don't be hard on yourself son," Malzene adviced, as if he had read
Marcus' mind. May he had. "You actually did the right thing abandoning the life of mediocrity in the praire to come here. You are destined for greatness. Never forget that."

(Enters thread panting heavily)

Okay, Merry xmas to you all (although there is nothing merry about the christmas until I start seeing you gifts ).

Okay, I'm giving this thing another trial. If you are seeing this then it means the update has not been hidden like the previous ones I attempted.


CHAPTER EIGHT
"Give it to me," The witch commanded in a pleading voice. Does that even make any sense? Well, that was how it registered in Marcus' foggy head as he stared with blurry eyes at the terrifying figure before him.

The witch had a ghostly white, feline face with her hair a la Gorgon Medusa. Her mouth was bloodied and the red liquid constanly dripped from the corners of her black cavernous
mouth onto her white flowing
robe.

Without her directly mentioning it, Marcus knew she was talking about his soul. How he came about that knowledge, even he did not understand. "No, I won't."

"Come on. I will give you fame, glory, power, wealth and everything you so desire if only you give this one thing I want."

"No!"

The Witch was fast losing patience. "What else do you want? I'll make you third in command in the new empire after myself and the emperor. . ."

"Don't do it, Marcus. Don't," A gentle, mellifluous voice came from beside him.

Marcus cocked his head to see who had spoken and he was shocked to see who it was; Helena. She tied to a stake just
like himself. Half her face was lacerated while the other half
remained as beautiful as he
remembered it.

"Helena! Why. . . How. . What happened?" Marcus spewed his question, wondering what she was doing there and why he had not noticed her presence before then.

"Just don't accept anything she says. She is evil," Helena warned him.

"What do you say young man?" The witch demanded.

"I'm not selling my soul. Not for any price."

The witch stamped her foot angrily on the floor. "I knew you wouldn't agree, silly boy. Very well, the both of you will die for this foolishness."

"Negirrel!" The Witch howled, exposing her brown canine teeth and her blood red serpentine tongue in the process. The monstrous creature immediately appeared from the blue.

"Kill them!" The witch pronounced with venom.

The Negirrel charged at them, baring its deadly fang as it came closer and closer.

"Noooooooooo!" Marcus and Helena screamed in unison.

Marcus woke up with a violent jerk. He sat up on the bed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He took a few moments to get his bearing after which he buried his face in his palm and ruminated on the dream.

The dream was not a very strange one. It was the same dream he had always had for as long as he could remember. But what was indeed strange was the fact that
whenever the gods chose to plague him with that nightmare, there were always additions. The laceration on Helena's face and the attack by the Negirrel were the latest additions.