The Clan of Outcasts [Season 3]

Part 36: "Redoubled"

The White Castle (North)

Edri shivered as she ducked into the last and deepest corner of the dungeon. She dug out the key ring she'd lifted from the soldier who had killed the royally-appointed jailer, and turned it in the lock.

"Commander!" Gasped a hoarse voice in the back, and Sir Monte staggered forward through the despondent knot of soldiers, hand shaking as he raised it in salute.

Edri nodded as she backed aside and let the men surge out of the cell.

"The Realm needs you," she said. "Your king needs you! Arm yourselves and step up to defend this kingdom!"

Hearing her invoke the name of their home, and coupled with the sounds of battle outside invigorated the soldiers, and they charged toward the armory with loud shouts.

Edri noted the surge of twining roots peeling away from the gap in the dungeon wall—Javira had freed her brother. She stepped through the rubble with sword drawn, ready to plunge into the nearest skirmish...

She was met with absolute silence.

The newly-released soldiers stopped and looked around, hesitant and confused.

Edri walked over to where Zayra and Beren stood, similarly mystified.

"What happened?" she asked.

Beren shook his head. "I don't know! We were fighting our way into the castle, trying to get rid of as many crows and soldiers as we could, but in the next moment, we were fighting nobody!"

Risyn, Jaran, Azelie, and Lizeth emerged from the collapsed wall into the main wing of the castle.

"Empty!" Azelie declared, squinting at all the towers. "There isn't a single living member of Mallory's forces anywhere!"

"I don't get it!" Jaran muttered. "Where did they go?"

Damaris clenched his fist to extinguish a fireball with a grin on his face. "Is that it, then?" he asked. "Did we win?"

Zayra frowned. "This doesn't feel like a win..." she muttered.

Just then, the soldiers all gathered to one side, eyes focused on their commander. When Jaran approached them, the knights backed away out of deference. The King stopped before Sir Roger and dropped to one knee, bowing his head.

Several soldiers gasped, and a murmur rippled through the crowd. The knights bowed to the King, not the other way around!

"Lord Juros," said Jaran in the stunned silence. "We are honored by your incarnate presence."

At the name, every other person in the courtyard immediately dropped to one knee as well.

Edri watched Sir Roger's face, saw his approval of Jaran's acknowledgement, and her own knees buckled. Juros! The famed all-powerful ruler of the celestial domain! Not just among the numbers of knights serving the castle, but under her jurisdiction! Every time she gave an order, every time she ran a drill and brooked no insubordination—she had been drilling and giving orders to HIM!

Velora stared at the bearded soldier, suddenly recalling how the last time she'd seen him was when they were chasing down an escaped Raedyn... and the way Raedyn disappeared and reappeared so suddenly...

She looked at her newest recruit. "So... when you said you'd seen him—"

Raedyn nodded, his entire body tense. "That is the man who took me away, and told me who he really was! I've been trying to tell you this whole time!"

Sir Roger laid a hand on Jaran's shoulder. "Stand, my liege," he said. When Jaran did so, and looked him in the eye, he asked, "How was it that you knew me? I have concealed myself since long before you were born."