Royal Criminal: Chapter 4 – More than a Simple Penitent

Chapter 4 – More than a Simple Penitent

The civilians of the basement of this crumbling cathedral gather around me begging for blessings and advice, and I try to do my best to comfort them by telling them that everything is going to be okay and leading them in praying Hail Marys, a traditionally easy way to calm a person’s troubled heart and soul. It still feels strange to me that people are coming to me to comfort them, especially in this situation where I am the target and the reason why their city is destroyed. Decades ago, they probably would’ve killed me themselves though some time before that, I was a figure to look up to, a simple fisherman who was now leading people to turn against their own to bring peace to the land. Of course, my virtuous reasons for doing so were misplaced and I ended up doing more evil than good as evident by what is currently happening.

Escribar comes up to me and says, “Ahaziah, do you need anything to eat or drink? This shelter has food and drink that can last for months so don’t feel selfish about taking any.”

“I’m quite fine. Thank you, my friend. I’m sure the battle will be over soon, especially with how you’re dressed in that spiky armor,” I say.

The grey and dark armor that Escribar is dressed in is that of a capirote knight. His gauntlets have spike-like blades on their sides and his helmet mask has a snake coiled around a cross on its forehead and black spike-like tears coming from its eyes.

“The capirote knights gave it to me as a gift. I must say that I prefer having lighter armor, but this is good, especially since I can still wear my wrappings with scripture written on them underneath.”

“That’s good. Are the men ready to fight?”

“Yes, sir. We even have some of the civilians volunteering to fight.”

Again, I find myself in this situation at the command of many who wish to fight for me against my own countrymen, however, I am no traitor this time. I can see how God has moved events so that this may be the event of my redemption that wipes away my past failures. Looking over to Escribar, I see he is just as determined as I am to see this through even though I don’t see his eyes. His body language and my knowledge of his personality tell me everything I need to know.

“Our knights have brought the enemy to our location!” a watcher says.

“Just as planned,” I say as I pick up my greatsword and walk away from the civilians surrounding me.

“Ahaziah, sir, it is we who fight for you, not you for us. You can pray for our success to help, but let us do the fighting,” Escribar says.

“So be it, but if I see that you are struggling, then I’ll join in the fray.”

“Well, at that point there’d be no stopping you so I can’t argue with you on that.”

“Haha, there wouldn’t. You should know by now that there’s no arguing with me.”

“I know, but I still try so I can talk some sense into you to save your life. You are the Pope and my friend.”

“I am always glad to hear you say that which is why I must fight when given the chance. What greater love is there than for a man to lay down his life for the sake of his friends? We are two kindred souls, two betrayers given a second chance we didn’t deserve to redeem ourselves and show our loyalty to God. This is the day that the debts of the past are erased and we begin the future anew.”

Turning to the crowds surrounding us, I give them words of encouragement as well.

“To you who are also my friends, today is a glorious day whether you believe it or not. In fact, a challenging day such as this is sometimes more rewarding than a peaceful one because of the opportunity for growth that it offers. I beg you to thank God for it because, in victory or defeat, God will be glorified!”

I then begin reciting the Serpentis prayer before battle.

“Through our suffering.”

“We pay the price of sin and unite our pain with the Lord,” the people respond.

“Through our defeats.”

“We obtain what is rightfully due.”

“Through our victories.”

“The unending mercy of God is made evident.”

“We unworthy servants of God.”

“Shall give our lives to He who gave us His. Every drop of blood, tear, ache, and pain shall be our witness to the love we have for our Lord, Jesus Christ, and each other.”

“Amen!” I say with everyone.

Together with my soldiers and guards, we ascend through the rubble of the cathedral and meet our enemy outside. Around us are the wood elves and their beasts, the beastmen who the wood elves used their power over beasts to control, dark elf traitors, and traitors from other races. There’s nothing else to say to them so I simply raise my free hand to command my soldiers and guards to fight and they do with Escribar leading from the front. What proceeds is slaughter on both sides as they tear each other apart. I can’t help but recoil and pray as I watch people suffer and die for me.

The tenacity of the people of Serpentis is on full display as some fight on despite losing a leg, arm, or even both arms and continue fighting with their teeth and remaining limbs only to be killed soon after. At best, the enemy beats and cuts at them until they are barely able to stand or attempt to cut off their heads and do, but not without suffering an injury from their target or another capirote knight. Glory be to God, the fight seems to end soon after with a majority of the capirote knights injured, Escribar still standing, and the wood elves and their allies are few in number. Before Escribar and his countrymen can finish them off, the wood elves use one of their animalistic screams, and three red dragons, the size of an elephant with the necks of a giraffe appear from the ruins of the city. These dragons breathe their breaths of fire, ice, and acid at Escribar who pushes his countrymen out of danger and endures the brunt of their attack.

I can feel a cut in my heart at this sight as I lean forward and reach out as if I’m somehow trying to pull my friend out of danger with an invisible hand. The assault of the dragons thankfully ends revealing that Escribar is still standing despite his armor being mostly stripped from him and burns on his skin. He attempts to walk forward to attack but falls over instead. Running over to him, I find that the crimes tattooed into his skin are gone, and the wrappings of scripture that he wears remain untouched.

“Escribar, your crimes are erased from your body,” I relay to him.

“Then I am redeemed and my sacrifice was found acceptable to God,” he says before gripping my hand. “Thank you for bringing me to this opportunity, my friend.”

Escribar lets go of my hand seemingly dying in my arms. I can’t make sure if he’s still alive with my enemy in front of me.

“Now that you’ve felt as much pain as possible, it’s time to finally end this,” one of the wood elves says.

“You’re right. It is,” I say as I release a dark fog from my hands and mouth and become one with it just as the dragons attack me with their claws.

Their attacks pass right through me because my body becomes one with the dark fog and moves along with it as the dragons claw at it and breathe their dangerous breaths at it. Coming out of the dark fog with my sword raised, I cut off the head of one of the dragons and then use an acid spell to melt another one of them before retreating back into the fog to finish the last with a surprise attack from behind where I stab it through the heart, killing it instantly. The wood elves then use their power over the wind to blow away my dark fog and charge at me.

“Enough of these games! Justice will be served!” a wood elf says.

“It is and I will be as God commands,” I say.

I then use my acid spells from my hands to kill both the beasts and their wood elf riders. The three remaining wood elves use their wind magic to push me back and blow my own acid back at me which has no effect on my skin but also melts parts of my armor. Using my own real method of attack, I meet their charge with my own as I wildly attack the remaining wood elves with reckless abandon, caring little how many times I get hit or cut as long as I can land blows on them. One wood elf I kill by cutting off both of her legs at the same time before cutting her head off. The second wood elf that I kill is cut in half with one clean horizontal swing and then finished off with a stab through the head, and finally, kill the last by cutting off his arms and then plunging my sword through his chest.

Even after the battle is finished, I hastily look around the area for another foe to fight as my adrenaline is keeping me on edge. Now seeing that no foe remains, I take a breath and sit down on the ground now that the injuries that I’ve suffered during the battle are catching up to me. While looking around, I see a familiar face walking toward the capirote knights who are getting back up. It’s the oldest man, Evander. What’s he doing here and why is he helping everyone? I limp my way towards him as he heals Escribar with his high elf magic. As the light from his hands touches Escribar’s wounds, they disappear and are cleaned at the same time.

“Will he make it?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about your friend. He’ll survive. You should know the tenacity of the people of Serpentis by now and the power of my healing magic,” Evander says.

Despite being the oldest human being alive, Evander’s skin is as golden as a high elf who is in his thirties relative to a normal human and his voice is like that of a man in the same age range with a hint of youth in it. He smiles as he does his magic and looks up to me and continues to smile as if saying something through this action. Soon after, Escribar wakes up and struggles to get up.

He looks at both of us before saying, “Is the battle over?”

“Yes, we won and Evander here healed your wounds,” I say.

“Thank you, sir,” Escribar says.

“You’re welcome. Now, don’t go straining yourself even though you can stand. Take a long rest with your countrymen. You’ve all more than earned it.”

Escribar looks at me and I nod to him to follow Evander’s advice.

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

While Escribar walks away, Evander stops me from joining him and starts to heal my wounds.

“You need healing too, Your Holiness. I see that you’ve seen your fair share of action too,” he says.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

Evander simply gives me a friendly smile at first. “Nothing in particular. I came to see you and a friend who should be arriving at this city’s port today. If you’re thinking that I had anything to do with what these wood elves did, then you can rest assured that I didn’t. I’m not even sure why people from a race that is typically content with keeping to itself would do all of this. You should focus on giving one of those encouraging speeches that you’re famous for. The people do love hearing from you after all.”

He doesn’t seem to be lying to me, but still, I feel that something is off about his being here. After my wounds are healed, he walks off to the port where, sure enough, a damaged boat is coming in. It flies a torn-up flag of the United Kingdoms of the Americas, a red, white, and blue flag with three stars surrounding the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the center representing the kingdoms. From this distance, I see men in cracked armor, a dark elf boy, and a woman with black and red hair on the boat. I’ll have to keep an eye on these people and question them when I get a chance. They may just be informants that let Evander know about the Far West or something more.

For now, I’ll care for the wounded and those who have suffered today. Even though Escribar and I have atoned for our pasts, there is much work to be done. This long and arduous day has not so much taught me anything new, but it has reminded me that I am witness to a miracle every day that God allows me to wake up again and live anew despite my past failures, the sins I may commit during the day, and the future ones that may be yet to come as a result of my weak human nature. Such boundless mercy is why I was able to be redeemed, enjoy the few precious qualities of life, and help others do the same. I pray that God continues to bless me, all my friends, and even my enemies because if a traitor such as I can become a better person through His mercy, then anyone can.

 

The End