A Tale From Lanoria: The Princess of Barough

Chapter 23: Agnodice Imperium

Oriana's heart was beating against her chest so loudly it was deafening. As she watched, the last line of defense she had against Tyir was breaking. The barrier had stood all day long for her. With four mages working on it tirelessly hour after hour, it was no surprise that the barrier was finally letting up with the constant abuse. 

Ragnir looked at the other mages and said, "All of you, let up. I will take over the final steps to make sure we do not damage the princess. You three, be ready for any other spells that might come our way. " 

The other mages nodded and let their beams of magic down. A couple of them already looked exhausted from the process. Oriana watched cracks begin to spider around the barrier. Instinctively, she reached for her necklace.

"Please, please, don't fail me now," Oriana whispered to the necklace.

That entire castle suddenly began to shake at its foundation. Tyir fell out of his chair and landed rather comically on his rear end. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" 

The mages all fell to the ground except for Ragnir, who grabbed onto the cell bars to brace himself. Oriana could only lie there and pray that the ground didn't give out beneath her, knowing that if she had been standing, she would have fallen to the floor just like everyone else. Once the shaking stopped, the sound of the dungeon door could be heard. Heavy armor could be heard running straight for them.

It didn't take long for an armored guard to fall to his knees in front of the Prince. His face was white as a ghost. In a cold sweat, he spoke up, saying, "Her courtmage Donovan is here, my lord!"

The prince shook his head "And? We have a number of high-ranking mages and legions of troops. One archmage isn't enough to bring down our castle."

The guard shook his head and said, "Sirona Althea is with him, Agnodice Imperium, the great white mage! She came with her white knights; we cannot hold out against a member of the imperium." The prince's face turned pale at the mention of Agnodice Imperium and her white knights.

"What did you say?" The prince whispered while he started to tremble. It was no wonder there was fear running over their faces. It was suddenly obvious who the voice on the other end of the necklace was. Sirona was a formidable force, far greater than the mages there. Oriana felt she could finally relax. She looked at her very pale captor, her own face void of color from the long day.

"What, didn't know I had friends in high places? What was I? Just a mere child and puppet?" She smirked, trying to be tough. "Who's the joke now?" Even so, Oriana was still slumped over on the floor. Her voice was full of exhaustion.

Hearing Oriana's voice made the prince snap back to reality. He just shook his head at her words, sweating at them. "How do you know the Agnodice? What is your affiliation with a member of the imperium? What the hell is going ON!?" The prince's words started off calm but quickly turned to panic.

"You better let me out right now," she growled. Oriana knew Donovan would kill Tyir the moment her mage laid eyes on the wretched prince. Tyir deserved to have it all come crashing down around him. He was responsible for killing her father and many more.

"If I can't have you, no one will! Mages, break the barrier and kill her! Make sure not even her ashes are left! If they cannot find her here, then we will be in the clear!" The prince shouted. But as he turned around, his mages were already gone, running up the staircase. "COWARDS!!!" He screamed at them.

"Sorry, my lord! But no amount of money is worth fighting someone from the imperium!" Ragnir shouted as he ran away.

Outside, Donovan stood by Sirona as they walked through the castle courtyard. Fireballs were raining down from the sky onto the castle. "I cannot believe you just cast a firestorm on the castle! Especially when I told you that you couldn't kill during the assault!" Sirona shouted at Donovan.