Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 11.2: The Great Shuffle

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RAY VAN CAMARO

When my unit and I, accompanied by Old Man Marcel, arrived at the Capital, we stopped at a post office so I could write a letter back to Gilead. To my surprise, there was a letter waiting for me.

"Are you sure this is for us?" I asked the post office worker.

The worker read the envelope. "It says, to Colonel Ray Van Camaro. That's you, is it not?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Then it means it's for you." The worker shoved the letter into my chest. "Take it. I've got work to do."

The letter was from Ilias.

Dear Colonel,

How was the trip back to the Capital? I bet you and the others are exhausted and itching to go home. You have a mountain of evidence against John so I don't doubt your ability to beat him in court. I heard his family is strong and wealthy, but I don't think that's enough for him to beat you. Just hurry up and come back.

Anyways, let's move on to why I wrote this letter. I had been thinking of the leviathan recently—I don't know if you learned the news on the road, but the white whale has been identified as the legendary leviathan known as Moby Dick. Everyone is still surprised something so dangerous taught itself jynx.

You said before that if I had any ideas on defeating it, I should tell King Arthureus. I still think both sides of the country should attack it together, but you said before that this isn't possible because there is no way for us to contact each other. I may have thought of something. Instead of going around, over, or through Headrig's Pass, why not go under it? Digging earth is easier than cutting stone after all, though the digging might attract the wyrms dwelling in the nearby mountains.

Sincerely yours, Ilias

PS: Hi! This is Jaime, I just wanted to say hello! Bring two more swords, I want to carry three!

"What does the letter say?" Kaiser asked.

"It's just Ilias being Ilias—and Jaime goofing off behind him."

After dropping off our luggage at the Green Dragon, we made our way to the dungeons underneath the Iron Keep to show where John was going to be staying.

If this was the first day we had him in chains, he would be babbling but he'd learned that he couldn't talk his way out of any situation with us.

The giant door to the throne room was guarded by two soldiers who wouldn't let us through. We just wanted to let King Arthureus know about the trial as him attending would boost morale. However, the guards were insistent that we should come back tomorrow as the king had apparently just written and signed a hundred letters and was finishing up a meeting with his council.

One of the Royal Guards approached us. Half of his face had been burnt and what remained seemed like it was melting off. This memorable visage belonged only to Wrath.

"What's this?" Wrath asked, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword.

"Ser—" one of the guards whimpered before being interrupted.