The Union 97 A Night of Confusion

With sword in hand, Ivan turned his head from side to side. After hearing the scout's grave report, he rallied all the men he could find and rushed to direction the scout pointed to.

But the scene only bore darkness. The soldiers in the vicinity were even asleep.

He searched for the scout to clarify the report. The scout was gone.

"Where is the scout?" he asked Skall and Braun beside him.

The two men also searched for the scout. The man was truly gone as if he didn't exist in the first place.

"He's gone" Braun said.

"Maybe it was a false alarm?" Skall commented. The prince was also ready for the battle and he had nearly a cohort of Wismarines at his back.

Ivan eyed the soldiers whose tents were in the area. They were just waking up.

"Hey, you!" he demanded the soldiers' attention. "Have you seen the enemies?"

The soldiers looked at each other.

"No Your Highness. We were sleeping until you arrived. Are we under attack?" one of them, probably a Centurion, said.

His eyebrows met. He was shaken when he heard that Timothy was attacking. But standing here in darkness with a few thousand soldiers at his back made him look like a fool.

"Sir!"

He looked to the direction of the voice. Another man on horseback approached them. The soldier saluted.

"A mutiny sir. There is a mutiny in the eastern part of the camp!"

He didn't waste a single second and rushed to the eastern part of the camp. A mutiny is worse than an attack.

But when they arrived, the same thing greeted them – a peaceful camp. There were no riots, not even a single cry of rebellion. The soldiers in the part of camp all had a surprised look on their faces.

By now, he had managed to rally maybe a fourth of his forces and he truly looked like a fool. The men will surely gossip tomorrow on how he destroyed their rest. They will laugh at him for getting worked up for nothing.

He looked for the scout who tricked him but the soldier was missing again.

"They are playing tricks on you" Skall's voice sounded. "Punish them Ivan. In Wismar, we don't let mere soldiers play tricks like these. Show them that you are not a person to be messed with"

"Sir!"

The same scene was repeated, a scout riding towards them. As expected, the scout saluted and reported another grave news.

But unlike before, he was now agitated after being humiliated. He grabbed the soldier's neck and pinned him on the ground.

"What games are you playing at? Why in Ashkara's name are you doing this to me? I am your Prince!"

The soldier's eyes became watery. "Sir, I'm not playing games with you. We are under attack! Believe me. I searched all over the camp for you."

He pulled the soldier's hair and forced an eye contact with him. "If you are lying, I will personally cut your tongue!"

He didn't wait to hear for the soldier's reply and stood up. "Let's go!" he shouted an order to the men.

Unlike before, they didn't rush and took their time. He kept his eye on the scout the whole time.

But when they arrived, he realized that the scout was telling the truth. Hundreds of tents were burning and the soldiers were busy putting out the fire.

"What happened!?" he demanded answer from one of the soldiers.

The soldier put down a pail of water and clumsily saluted. "They… they came out from the darkness sir. They were fast and we didn't have time to react. The next thing we know our tents were torched and they were gone"

"Dammit!" he pulled the turban he was wearing. He was about to throw it on the ground when he remembered that Skall was watching. He just clenched his fist and put the turban in his pocket.

But it seems the night won't give him respite. Five new scouts approached him almost simultaneously. They reported attacks from five different locations.

His head was starting to hurt. The two earlier reports were false but the last one wasn't. As he looked at the five scouts, he found it hard to decide who among them were telling the truth.

"What should we do Skall?" he asked.

It took Skall a while to reply. "I think we should just divide our forces. We can afford to be divided anyway."

He agreed with Skall almost immediately. He was about to give the orders when Braun butted in.

"Where is that woman? The woman the two of you have been hiding from His Majesty?"

"You mean Sylvie?" he asked to confirm. There was only one woman in the camp and it was the deranged woman he had been using to spy on Erik. "I don't know and I don't care. I think she's doing her thing. Probably in Erik's cell or something"

"Erik!" Braun almost shouted Erik's name. "Your Highness, I think this is a ploy by Timothy to rescue Erik. He's confusing us to mask their true intention which is to rescue Erik. And the woman you call Sylvie is helping them!"

"We don't have time for your conspiracies Braun. Sylvie is crazily angry at the Vanadians. She wouldn't help Erik just like that. We really don't have time. We must go now!" he said.

"No!" someone voiced in opposition. He thought that it was Braun again but he noticed that the voice belonged to Skall. He looked at Skall and saw that the Prince was thinking about something.

"Ivan, I think he's right. I've been thinking about Erik's escape the other day. I still don't understand how he got the key. At first I thought that some guards were sympathetic towards him. But what the Baron said makes more sense. It's her Ivan. I think she betrayed us."

Ivan also realized the truth. They had been so immersed in the idea that Sylvie was nothing but a crazy woman that they trusted her. "But we can't ignore the attacks."

"Yes we can't. You must go and defend the camp while I take most of our cavalry to ensure that Erik is still in his cell."

"Right." He nodded as a sign of agreement. "May Ashkara be with you brother."

********************************************************************************

Sylvie was trembling a little when she entered the tent that housed Erik's cell. She tried to hide her anxiousness to the guards outside the tent and it seemed that she was successful somehow.

After making sure that she was out of the guards' vision, she ran to the cell. Erik stood up and met her. He noticed her shaking.

"Are you scared?" he asked.

She tried to smile and hid her fear. She needs to act brave for him. She must prioritize his escape over her own.

"What are you talking about? I'm not scared. In fact, this is fun! You don't have to worry Erik. I will get us out of here."

He reached towards her and held her cheek. "You are lying. You're scared aren't you?"

The way he looked at her made her admit the truth. She was scared. She knew that Skall and Ivan would kill her if their escape was botched. After Erik promised her that he would take her to Greenwater and away from all the violence and brutality of the war, she became more reluctant to die. When she was still spying on Lucia, all she wanted was to extract her revenge against the Royal Family of Vanadis. But now she realized that there was more to life than petty revenge.

Basking in the tenderness of Erik's hand, she closed her eyes and nodded.

She then felt him hold her arm and pulled her closer. With the iron bars in between, he embraced her.

This was the first time Sylvie was embraced by someone other than her family. She never expected that such warmth could exist in this world. She felt safe and secured and the thought of the danger she will soon face was lost in her mind.

"I'm glad I met a crazy bitch like you." He said next to her ears. "I'm happy, so happy that I wanted to cry. For the past months, you kept me sane. You became someone I can't do without. Thank you Sylvie."

She was speechless. She was a talkative person but she was speechless. She noticed that what he said was also true to her. She was glad that Ivan ordered her to spy on him. For the past months, he helped her become sane and he had become someone indispensable to her.

She smiled and rubbed her forehead against his. "Timothy should arrive soon. Remember your promise to me Erik. It's been a while since I last saw the ocean."

She then heard the entrance of the tent flap from behind. While she did say that Timothy will arrive soon, she did not expect that he will arrive this soon. Also she did not hear the fighting outside. But she wasn't complaining. At long last, they could leave this place.

She turned around but was shocked. It wasn't Timothy. It was Skall and he was clad in armor.

Chapter end