For the entire day, he had been kept in a dark dank cell where the unfamiliar stench of rotting sewage assaulted his nose. From the coarse sack that had been put over his head, to the painfully tight ropes that tied his hands behind his back Irathmus was raging on the inside. Every hour or so he would let out a terrible scream of anger and bang his body against the walls around him only to end up falling onto the wet cell floor.
During one of the periods in which he was calm, he wondered where he was being held. The stench of this place was too filthy to be near the castle and yet he had heard that ominous bell ringing quite loudly. He must have been quite close to the castle to hear his death bell ringing so loudly. perhaps he had been stored away inside some secret tunnel net to the sewage drains. Wherever he was it was filthy, and he would have preferred being put in a regular commoner's cell.
Irathmus got such a fright when he suddenly heard the screeching of his metal cell door scrapping against the wet stone floors. It seemed that someone was opening his cell.
"Who are you? Who are you I say!" Irathmus cried indignantly.
Without answer or pause, the other man who had opened the door stuck his fingers around Irathmus's neck and dragged the man out by his nape. Irathmus shouted and struggled viciously but to no avail. His captor was much stronger than him and pressed the tender areas of his neck making Irathmus feel quite weak.
Suddenly Irathmus was brought to a stop and fell over onto the floor after not being able to regain his balance. For a moment he lay on the slimy stone wall like a helpless grounded fish, but soon his pride came back to him and he struggled to get back up on his knees.
"Uncover his head. Cut his ropes."
Irathmus instantly froze at the voice he heard in front of him. It was unmistakably the cold serious tone of his younger brother, Alistair.
Irathmus grunted as the manservant roughly cut his ropes with a large blade and yanked the sack off his head. Even though it was night time, the moons white light that flooded the tunnel from a door-sized opening in the stone wall was bright enough to make Irathmus cringe after having his eyes covered for a day.
Through the large opening in the wall that let the moonlight in, and the sounds of the dark blue ocean crashing against the cliff beneath him stood the pitch-black menacing silhouette of the King, his blasted younger brother. Alongside him was a monster of a man. At least two meters tall as he was able to make his brother's significant height look small. Irathmus couldn't help but notice the large filthy axe the monster man was carrying.
Irathmus immediately resented the fact that they were standing while he was kneeling, so with a painful grunt, he gritted his teeth and struggled to get back on his feet.
"Make him kneel." Were the cruel words that came out of the King's mouth before the huge man beside him approached Irathmus and struck the back of Irathmus's knees painfully with the back of his heavy axe. Irathmus shrieked in pain and fell back to his knees as the jolts of pain that were rushing through his legs.
"Blasted mongrel!" Irathmus shouted furiously. The audacity this mongrel had to touch him was unbelievable.
"What is the meaning of this brother?!" He raged. "I heard the bells ringing earlier! Does this mean that you plan to let me live as you have faked my death?"
The huge man, now standing behind Irathmus let out an amused grunt as if Irathmus's words were so ridiculous they were laughable.
"Argh!" Irathmus spat out the bad taste of the dungeon from his mouth and directed his gaze at his brother's dark silhouette. "Tell me what is the meaning of this! Why did you ring the bell and make everyone think I was dead and executed?!"
"That's because you're as good as dead, bastard!" Came the dark raspy chuckle of the monstrous man behind him. Fear flooded Irathmus and out of shock he turned around and got a glimpse of the man's face that was soaked in the moonlight. The sight of a deep gruesome-looking scar from above the man's eyebrow, through his milky damaged eye, to the middle of his cheek made Irathmus revolt, even more than the smell of the dungeon. The terrible sight of the man's eye that had gone milky white due to the wound. It was terrifying, this entire experience was terrifying.
"As good as dead?" Irathmus's fury was now gone and replaced with fear. What did his brother plan for him?
Alistair stepped forward from the large opening in the wall. Allowing the moonlight to fall over his features so his brother could see him properly. The cold blueish light revealed the searing hateful amber eyes of the king as he looked down at the object of his hatred, Irathmus.
"W-what is it?" Irathmus heard himself stutter after staring into his younger brother's eyes. A kind of terrifying rage filed glare that made Irathmus repent for the first time.
"What's with this elaborate plot? If you were going to kill me why not properly execute me on the Solemn cliff and lay me to rest with our ancestors in the royal tomb?"
Irathmus felt irritated by Alistair's silence, how Alistair blatantly ignored him. Although Irathmus felt frightened he couldn't help but ask questions to try and gain some understanding as to what was going on.
"Why did you not just declare me innocent and send me back to Mannon if you didn't plan on killing me?"
Again his question was met with silence, so Irathmus asked another.
"Do you really think it was wise to give me the death sentence in the first place? As King shouldn't you be thinking of our nation's reputation... you know the other kingdoms will see my death as an opportunity, don't you? Why risk sentencing me to death?"
Alistair wordlessly turned around and looked out the arched opening in the wall down at the violent waves crashing against the rocks and the flesh-eating sea creatures below. Tonight, the wind was strong so the waves were even more ferocious.
"You are right, dear older brother... Though I find it odd for you to be worried about the Kingdom's reputation..." The disdain for Irathmus was clear and thick in the King's voice.
"For what you have done I am well within the law to execute you, furthermore, if anyone besides you had committed such crimes they would have been long gone. However, the unity of the Rosenheim family is important in keeping the vultures from trying to scavenge from us..."
"Yes! Yes! That's exactly right!" Irathmus was hopeful that his younger brother's explanation would end well for him because for the way Alistair's thoughts were coming together it seemed that Irathmus might be spared. Maybe his brother would reverse his edict and Irathmus would be allowed back into society.
"So think hard dear older brother..."
Irathmus's spirits immediately dropped after hearing the fearsome tone in the King's voice.
"What crimes could you have committed against me to make me risk our family's reputation? Surely not just you're usual insulting of me and dealings with slaves?"
Irathmus froze for a moment as a horrible realization dawned on him. His muscles clenched tightly and his jaw and eyes fixed in their positions. For a moment he was paralyzed with fear that the King had found out what Irathmus had done. But he quickly shook it off, he knew he had taken care of all the loose ends and that he had covered his tracks extremely well. There was no way at that he could have found out the truth. It would be impossible, simply impossible.
"W-what do you mean?" Irathmus asked shakily, letting his fear seep into his voice.
"I mean that if you had just insulted me and tried to keep those slaves, I would have let you live. I would have simply banished you and cut my ties with you, sent you back to whatever sepsis you crawled out of."
Irathmus knew Alistair since he was a baby, and for as long as Irathmus could remember Alistair had never had a passionate moment. Never once had he thrown a tantrum in a fit of rage when he was small and never once had he lashed out when Irathmus had been cruel to him.
No, Alistair didn't show anger in a normal way. He didn't raise his voice or throw a fit. Instead, Alistair kept the rage simmering inside of him, he used that hidden anger and rage and let it grow, cultivated it and honed it until it was something he could use. A deadly weapon of his own making to use against others.
No, Alistair doesn't get angry, he gets even.
Irathmus felt too afraid to answer back at that moment. Instead, he chose to stay quiet and hope things would work out. When the King saw that his brother had chosen to stay silent, he carried on talking.
"It had been extremely frustrating trying to locate the spy among my wife's confidants and attendants. Even under extreme stress and interrogation, none of them cracked... They all swore they hadn't been the spy, moreover, I believed them. So who among them had betrayed her trust and had told those kidnappers that she was heading South of the Kingdom to purchase some fruits? Just who? Who could it be?"
As Alistair looked down on his brother, he realised that any attachment that he might have once felt for Irathmus was now gone. Every trace of a bond had been severed. Alistair no longer considered Irathmus part of his family. As he looked down on him, all he felt was disgust at the pathetic excuse for a man he saw in front of him.
"After I had concluded that no one had leaked the information that the queen would be headed south, I was satisfied that somebody else had already known where the queen was going. This further posed a dilemma for me, as nobody besides the queen and her attendants knew where she was going, not even me..."
It was only slightly, but Alistair could see Irathmus trembling on the stone floor. He especially noticed Irathmus's hands shivering erratically while gripping his trousers. The king couldn't help but be drawn to the Royal Ring that adorned Irathmus's left-hand pinkie finger. The extremely rare and famous Lapis Lostine sea blue Jewel that was worn by the Rosenheim family.
"Honestly, I couldn't believe it..." The King's voice was soft but his anger ran deep.
This was a relatively new emotion for the King. Never in his life had he been so angry, so furious that he felt the need to strike someone. The King had always prided himself on his control over his temper, but right now control was lost to him. Alistair drew his sword in a moment of weakness and slashed it at his brother ferociously. Irathmus had been so dumbstruck that he didn't even have time to scream before he saw the sword slicing off his left hand.
After a few harrowing moments of shocking unbelievable pain, Irathmus let out a blood-curdling scream as he clutched his severed wrist and fell to the floor again.
"Make him kneel," Alistair commanded coldly. The large man who people only ever called 'Smoth', one of the kings personal guards, reached down to the Irathmus and dragged him to his knees by his neck.
"I could hardly believe it when a timid little foot servant who had been cleaning my wife's chambers that day six years ago, overheard the conversation between yourself and my wife and realised that she had to come and tell me..."
Irathmus winced and sobbed and he realised that he would not leave this forsaken cave ever. His time was up, his brother had found out that he had been the one responsible for the prince's attempted kidnapping.
"The little foot servant told me that you, dear brother, were the one who told my wife about the fruit being sold in the south. You told her that her favourite fruit was still in stock there and that if she left that night she would still be able to buy some. You! My own brother! Set her up!"
A flash of hatred flashed through the king as he pulled back his sword, ready to cut Irathmus again. This time he was able to stop himself though and he pulled his sword back to his side, realising that another blow might kill his brother when he still had things to say to him. No, he wouldn't let his temper rob him of revenge. Instead, Alistair reached to the floor and twisted the ring off Irathmus's decapitated hand, the royal blue stone that had been in the family for generations. Irathmus did not deserve it.
"You planned it all. You suggested to Verena to head South of the Kingdom that night so you could attack them. My poor innocent wife and unborn child. Tell me why Irathmus."
Irathmus was so petrified that he could not speak.
"TELL ME!" The King shouted with more malice and fury than Irathmus had ever heard from anyone.
Irathmus knew it was pointless to refute it. He got on his hand and knees and desperately crawled over to Alistair.
"Please brother! Believe me! It was never my intention to hurt them! I just sent my men to keep them at a safe house for a few days, just long enough for the Kingdom to pay a ransom for them. I instructed them to be careful and gentle! Honest, I did!" Irathmus's voice was so shrill and panicky, the complete opposite to his usual tone.
"So you did all of that for money?" Alistair couldn't hold himself back any longer and kicked Irathmus off his leg with a swift hard knock to his face.
"I heard rumours that you had run up debts in Mannon from gambling too much. To think that you would try to use my wife as ransom to earn back the money is disgusting..." as Alistair kicked his brother off him, he wondered why Iramthus had turned out to be this way. They had grown up together and had shared the same experiences and yet they were nothing alike.
"Brother, believe me, I never meant for Verena to suddenly give birth like that and I didn't mean for the prince to get lost! I just needed the ransom money, that's all!"
"If father hadn't cut me off back then, none of his would have happened. None of it! Really it is all father's fault! If I had enough money back then I wouldn't have needed to hire those mercenaries!"
"No, Irathmus. You can't blame father for your atrocities anymore!" Alistair's icy rage had returned to him as he rebuked his brother's idiocy.
"You did all of that of your own will and volition and now you will pay for it..."
The King was no ready to take out his revenge. He had heard everything he needed to. Now it was time for his older brother's end.
"Make no mistake, you will die here tonight."
Irathmus couldn't stop shaking from trauma. Like a crazed man he lurched forward towards his brother's boots and clung to them as he pleaded for mercy, all his previous pride and honour were gone in the face of fear, something that disgusted Alistair even more.
The large scar-faced man dragged Irathmus away from the King's feet and propped the duke back up on his knees again. Irathmus knew he had lost. This dark tunnel had no escape and furthermore, he knew that wherever he ran, his vengeful younger brother would find him and drag him back to this cell anyways.
"As a last mercy, I will let you choose how you want to die..."
Although he said that, there wasn't an ounce of mercy in the King's voice or tone.
"After thinking for a while I realized that your rebellion stems from the hatred of our father, yet you use his name willingly to try and wash away your sins." Alistair spat out angrily.
"Here is your choice Irathmus. You will either die from this blade, father's favourite sword, die from the favoured blade of the man you hate most in this world or fall to your death from this opening."
Suddenly, Irathmus found himself being pulled by his neck past his brother to the open arch in the wall. His head was roughly pushed forward so that he was made to look down at the terrifying sight of the black waves crashing against the jagged rocks, and the even more frightening was the sight of the carnivorous creatures thrashing against the black waves. An entire swarm of viventems seemed to be eagerly awaiting his fall. From the landscape of this area, Irathmus could tell that he was near the back of the castle and lower down than he had ever been this close to the black waters of the sea.
It was true that Irathmus hated their father and dying from his sword was a kind of humiliation that made his stomach ache, but on the other hand, nothing could be worse than falling to one's death in a sea of viventems. If he managed to survive the fall he would be eaten by those horrific creatures. No, the choice was clear, he would choose to die from his father's sword and be buried in the royal tomb with all their other family members. Furthermore, when the sunlight rose and the viventems swam back into the depths of the sea, all that would be left of his body to go into the tomb would be his bones as the viventems didn't eat bones.
"Father's sword!" He cried out. "I'll die by father's sword and be laid to rest in our family's tomb."
It didn't feel real but Irathmus had already accepted that he would die. When he had orchestrated the incident six years ago, he whispered to himself that if Alistair ever found out, he would surely die. Now that it was happening he realized that he shouldn't have joked about such a thing then.
"Fine." Was all the King said before motioning his hand to Smoth, the giant behind Irathmus.
"No-No wait!!" Irathmus screamed as he felt two huge hands give his back a hard push out of the opening in the wall and into the cold night air. Before he realized what was going on, he felt his body begin to fall. The rush of air against this back as the wind pushed against his flailing body. He had been tricked, his brother had pushed him out of the arch, soon he would hit the jagged rocks and the Black sea. This was the end.
The King waited and watched until his brother was swallowed up by a wave and the viventems swarmed around the area he had disappeared into.
Revenge, revenge was finally his.
The king had already taken care of all Irathmus's associates who were involved in what happened those six years ago. More importantly, his son and wife were back at his side. Now that the traitor was dead, he could be at peace. His family's reputation had already taken some damaged due to his son being lost in the first place and now Irathmus's death. If word got out that the whole ambush was orchestrated by Irathmus then his family's reputation would be even more damaged. This quiet revenge that nobody besides Smoth and himself knew about was the best course of action.
The king turned on his heel and slowly walked the secret tunnels all the way back to his study. Once there he would check on his son and then retire to bed with the queen.