Chapter 143

A feminine uproar compelled Jehaule's hand to reach for his sword hilt. He knew sharpness of his blade was for only for his mental peace. Guards behind him did not even bother drawing their swords out.

Last night he had got to know how unimportant his weapons were infront of sorcery. He could not remember when he had been scared like then last time.

Several hours had passed since the mother – daughter had annihilated the castle. Still he could not wrap his head around the things he had seen. Invisible forces had knocked them on the wall at night. Jehaule had seen the pink light around him through his closed eyelids.

When he had opened his eyes, interior of the castle resembled to a pig shed. He had thought he would never be able to hear anything again as his eardrums had taken a great toll. His ears were still ringing and a guard with him had already gone deaf.

He was the only one who did not get intimidated by those screams.

Jehaule squinted to his left and saw a guard with dented armor stepping backwards. Those who didn’t do it had trembling feet. After another yell of a more matured voice, he could hear the guards shaking.

"Can we take another path?" a scared guard said.

"Are you a new recruit?" Jehaule asked.

"No."

"Or fear has blinded you so much that you don’t even remember this is the only way to king's chamber?"

"Now there is another way too." a different guard intervened, "Had seen a hold on the wall of our late queen's room."

Jehaule's pupils magnified.

The guard knew the answer before Jehaule could ask, "Her fresco is destroyed, I am afraid."

"With me." Jehaule dashed.

His impatient feet led the guards through the exact archway despite of those roars. He somehow had grown trust on Maester's abilities. Not knowingly, he planted the same seed of trust in minds of insecure guards with him.

Maester Rudolph had held the mother – daughter for long. He could trust him for this occasion. And he expected the same with the supposed vigorous palace guards.

Jehaule encountered some hasting men in red robes. He would not have acknowledged their existence if he hadn’t seen reins in their hands. Jehaule stopped them, "Hasn’t Prince Tudor left already?"

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"Carriages are about to set off."

"Without these?" Jehaule pointed to the leather straps dangling in their hands.

"We are carrying supplies for our prince."

"Go." He let those people run again.

As Jehaule and the guards sauntered through the archway, they got a clear idea about the damage the palace had endured. Jehaule struggled to find any door which was intact on its hinges.

Nothing were in order inside those chambers too.

He paused to see a group of servants trying to put things back together but the broken antiques had only one place to be in – waste baskets.A servant stopped sweeping glass shards out of the room, seeing the guards carrying on their observation. Jehaule moved aside, making way for him to push the dirt out of the room. The servant's actions were visibly full of indolence.

Jehaule didn’t scream at him to move his hands faster for the destruction was too much for the squires to repair. He would have considered it a success if the palace was cleaned by next week.

His group left the archway, creating slight murmurs. Those gossips became inaudible when they reached to the staircase. On its back, a statue of Late Henry Lacroix stood upright without its head.

The queen's arm was missing and her face had become unrecognizable with black burns on every inch of it.

Jehaule found Henry's head in the corner without a nose. He did not find queen's arm though. He did not waste his time seeking for it either. Instead, his attention gravitated towards a broken portion of railing.

"Pity on those stone mason." Jehaule said, "This palace is incomplete without these statues."

"Commander." A guard came from nowhere.

Jehaule didn’t wonder why he hadn’t heard his tramps.

"What?" Jehaule said.

"They're here."

"Who?"

"Bloudkast and Saer."

"What the fuck are you doing here then? Go and guard the king."

"They are in throne room with King Lacroix."

Jehaule's hand reached for his sword.

"Let Maester Rudolph know about this situation." He said, running with the soldiers.