CHAPTER 106: RELENTLESSLY SELFLESS

"My lovely daughter," King Tharyn said as he held Nyella tightly. His voice shook with relief. "I thought I lost you. I am so sorry for what happened. I heard you were captured. You must have been so scared."

Nyella cut him off gently, lifting her chin. "I was not scared, Dad, and I am fine now. I can take care of myself. You raised a warrior, remember?"

"Yes," Tharyn said, his eyes glistening as he pulled back slightly to look at her. "Yes, I do. I remember it well. But even a warrior is still my daughter." His voice cracked.

Nyella gave him a small smile before stepping away from his arms. She turned toward King Rollo, who sat on his throne. Alongside Aeron, she walked forward and bowed deeply before him.

"Welcome back," Rollo said. "I welcome you all from this great journey. Tell me, was it successful?" He paused and looked past them as though expecting someone else to appear. "But wait... I do not see my general. Did he perhaps divert somewhere?"

At once Aeron and Nyella looked at each other in silence. The king noticed and frowned. "What is that look? Is something wrong?"

Still, they stayed quiet. He asked again, this time more firmly. "Can someone speak here? Where is General Amber?"

Aeron opened his mouth but the words would not come. Nyella saw this, and before the king could press further, she stepped forward and spoke.

"General Amber made a choice," she said. "A sacrifice... so that the dragon rider would return alive. So that we would return unharmed. He gave himself for us."

"I do not understand, Princess," Rollo said. "What do you mean? What sacrifice?"

Nyella swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak. "We were attacked in the Blacklands. Their soldiers struck us by surprise and nearly captured us. Even the dragon was chained. It was the general who freed us and gave us the chance to escape. But it cost him his own safety."

She paused, then added, "He created the space for us to leave... and at that moment, he was captured."

The hall fell silent until King Rollo suddenly rose from his throne. His voice filled with anger. "You are telling me that the general, my general, the man who was meant to lead this war, has been captured by the Blacklands? That he could already be dead?" His voice thundered through the hall. "I refuse to believe it. No, I will not believe it."

Aeron finally spoke, his voice low, trembling. "We begged him to come with us. We pleaded with him to fight his way back. But he told us to leave. He said if we stayed, they would capture all of us. He chose to remain behind."

Rollo’s gaze snapped to him, filled with disappointment. "But you were there! The dragon was there! And you still allowed them to take him? Did you even try to fight for him? Did you even attempt to save him?"

Aeron lowered his head, unable to meet his eyes. He could not answer at first. The truth was there, he had left Amber behind, and nothing could change that.

But he couldn’t remain silent. "They captured the dragon. I do not know how they did it, but they did, and they could do it again. He ordered us to leave him, he even pleaded."

The king closed his eyes and threw himself on his throne. After some silence, he said, "Because that is who he is. That is who General Amber is, relentlessly selfless."

The king looked at them again and said, "I cannot believe this. I just cannot believe this happened to General Amber. But how did it happen? How did they get the chance to take advantage of you like that? Amber knows the Blackland people and knows they are not to be trusted. It is unlike him to fall into such traps."

Aeron and Nyella looked down in shame. Then Nyella said, "It was not him. It was us."

Aeron added, "He warned us, but we did not listen."

"So I can blame you for what happened to the general?" King Rollo asked.

Then King Tharyn, who had been quiet all this while, finally spoke. "Of course, you cannot say that, Rollo. They made a mistake, yes, but they owned up to it."

Rollo replied, "But that mistake cost me the life of my general."

Tharyn said, "It was your general who made his choice, and that choice was to save them. Do not blame them for that. And you should not even say your general is dead, for all we know, they only captured him."

Rollo asked, "And what makes you think they have not killed him already, Tharyn?"

Tharyn replied, "If you captured such a general in a troubled time like this, would you kill him instead of using him to your advantage? Let us be optimistic here."

Rollo then said, "Are you saying they will try to negotiate with us?"

"That is the only reasonable thing they can do," Tharyn replied.

Rollo sighed and said, "Then we wait for their negotiations, hoping it will come."

He turned to Nyella and Aeron again and said, "That means the visit to the Blacklands was unsuccessful. What about Zeirath, did they agree to fight with us?"

Nyella said, "Zeirath was kind to us, but they refused our request. They said they had too few soldiers, which we all know is true. They are not much of fighters."

Rollo shut his eyes and said, "Not only did the journey to the south fail, it went even worse, for we lost what cannot be replaced. And here I was thinking there would be no trouble now that the dragon rider stands amongst us."

King Tharyn spoke again, this time in defence of Aeron. "Do not burden the boy too much, Rollo. He is just a boy, one who should be enjoying his youth, yet he is facing all these troubles and pressures. Take it easy on him, please."

Aeron looked at King Tharyn in surprise. Did he just defend me? he thought.