"Don't you want to put this on? Even your... friend can," the elven woman threw two purple hoods in front of Caden.
"By all the Saints! They are inviting us to the dark cult! Ye! Yes! Yes!"
"No!" Caden interrupted Tom's cheering.
"But why?" Tom asked sadly.
"Yes, brother, why?" Stephan asked.
"I'm not joining the murderers," Caden said.
"So you better join those who tortured you?" Stephan said, gesturing his head toward the warden's complex.
"No... I won't join anyone," Caden replied.
"So you won't be of any use for us anymore…" the elven woman said, trying to draw her sword, but the man in the purple hood stopped her. "No," he said in a low voice. "If he doesn't want, we won't force him. We're not the wardens, after all."
"Um... fine. Merill, let's go!" the elven woman called, and Merill walked towards her.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Caden grabbed his hand.
"The agreement must be fulfilled, Cade. I'm sorry..." Merill said in a sad voice and slipped out of Caden's hand.
"Wait! I want to go with you!" Caden changed his mind.
"Do you want to come... with us, or do you want to come with us?" Stephan asked.
"Um... I don't get it," Caden replied.
"He meant if you want to join them or just go with them," Tom explained.
"Do not crawl into my head, kid..." Stephan said with an eerily calm voice, and Tom has shaken by fear, probably out of what Stephan thought on after.
"I just want to go with you," Caden said.
"That won't be possible because..." the elven woman said, and the man in the purple hood stopped her again.
"But certainly, Caden, you can come with us."
"What? But, sir..." the elven woman replied.
"And why not, Cassandra? We can't refuse the dark mage," the man smiled.
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Of course. The only mage I can't use my power against," the man said.
"What? The guy is... you're... what?" Tom turned around in confusion.
"Of course!" the man with the purple hood exclaimed.
"Can I come too?" Tom asked.
"Um... telepath would be of use, so come on," the man said. Tom was pleased and went with them.
They all went to horses not far from the place and left. Stephan, Cassandra, Caden, Merill, man in purple hood and Tom.
"So that's your brother?" Merill reached Caden.
"Yes," Caden sighed.
"And don't you want to tell me something?" Caden added.
"Oh... when the hunters dragged you out, I followed them and met these guys. At first, I thought I'm dead. But then they offered to help me set you free," Merill explained.
"And for what?"
"Well... now I have to help them... free their people," Merill replied.
"So now you're going to attack more schools of magic?" Caden asked.
"I do not know, perhaps."
"Sorry I got you into this…" Caden apologized.
"You would do the same," Merill smiled.
"So... now we're going to the cult's hideout?" Tom appeared next to them.
"We don't know where they lead us, Tom," Caden said.
After a few hours of trotting, they reached the entrance to the underground, they hid the horses in the forest and entered.
They walked down the corridor and reached the large round hall. In the background, a magician was sitting on a throne in front of them. Stephan and a man in a purple hood took their seats by his side. Mages were standing around in the circle.
"Ahh... Mormir, you brought him to me! Greetings to you, Caden, welcome to the cult!" the man called out and stood up from the throne.
"How do you know my name?" Caden asked grudgingly.
"Well... Stephan told me."
"Sir...?" Stephan turned to him blankly.
"It is not important! The main thing is that we're finally..." the man continued, but Caden didn't notice, he was concentrating on something else.
"Those eyes... those eyes, I saw them somewhere..." Caden thought and shouted, "You killed my and Stephan's father!"
"W-what?" the man replied in confusion.
"Stephan, it's him! Why are you still standing next to him?!" Caden shouted.
"Cade I... this man was more of a family to me than you and father ever were," Stephan replied.
"But he killed our father, don't you understand?!" Caden continued.
"I'm sorry, Caden. For me, it was just someone who threw me over to the wardens," Stephan finished.
"How can you... You! I don't care who you are, you will die now!" Caden called.
"Caden, calm down. Do you really want to stop this whole thing? Do you want to end our fight for freedom?!" the man shouted.
"I don't care about anything now!" Caden drew his sword, and everyone in the room repeated his step.
"Enough! You're brave, Caden, your... father would be proud of you. We will fight," the man decided.
"But, sir, you can't..." Stephan disagreed.
"We all have to pay for our sins, Stephan, at least I will die by your brother's hand, and not in some warden's torture chamber."
"Caden, don't do this..." Stephan stammered.
"Yeah! You're crazy, Caden, you can't destroy the cult! Wardens will shut us back to those complexes!" Tom added.
Neither Caden nor the man responded to them. They both stood up and drew their swords. The duel was honourable, to Caden's surprise. No kicks, punches, just a pure duel of two swords. Caden won after an exhausting battle. The man lay on the ground and waited devotedly for Caden's sword to stab him in his chest.
Caden looked around. There was a mixture of anger, sadness, and desire to stop Caden in the eyes of the cult followers, but something prevented them from doing so. Maybe it was their honour, or their master's. Stephan stared helplessly at Caden's sword with tears in his eyes. Caden took a deep breath... and dropped his sword.
"Sir!" Stephan and Cassandra immediately approached their master and tried to help him.
"Leave me alone! I can stand up by myself!" the man stood up. "Why did you spare me?"
"I can't do it to my brother," Caden replied.
The man smiled slightly.
"Sir, you need a rest," Cassandra said.
"No. I fulfil my promises, Cassandra. We're going to save your people," the man replied, and all his followers prepared to the move.
"I... thank you, Caden," Stephan put his hand on Caden's shoulder.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Caden asked confusedly.
"To free the dark elves, Caden," Merill replied.
"I... I'll go with you!" Caden joined them.
"What? Wait! Don't leave me here!" Tom ran after them.
"By all the Saints, how many mages are there?" Caden stepped out of the entrance and saw the mages gathering in the valley. There were at least sixty.
The man blew a horn and some of the mages separated.
"Where did they go?" Caden asked.
"We are not fools, Caden, the march of so many people would be noticed by the whole Empire. We must, therefore, split up," Stephan explained.
"Today we will end the oppression and abuse of the dark elves! And tomorrow the real war for the independence of the mages will begin!" the cult leader raised his staff, which was followed by a war cry and a clash of weapons from all sides. It's the man who Caden fought with. Then they all mounted their horses and set off.
After an hour of movement, the war standard of the wardens appeared on the hill in front of them.
"Halt!" the cult leader called.
Several wardens with rifles and cannons came up the hill.
"These are the warden's soldiers. Their snoopers had to sniff us out faster than we expected," Stephan informed them.
"Sir, they're going to shoot!" Cassandra called.
"Get ready to fire!" was heard from the hill.
The cult leader jumped off the horse as the shout, "Fire!" was heard.477Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3hoBkqOv2
