Chapter 10 - A Night at the Ball

The dark streets of the Kingdom lit up with the most luminous lanterns as the Ball began! The wealthiest and most influential people of the Kingdom have arrived, indulging themselves with the finest wine and the most succulent food.

Purple silk and silver linen decorated the place to give the site a regal vibe. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, except for William. Ever since he entered the area, all he heard was useless information about the current politics. While gossips bombarded William's ears, his eyes were busy scanning the place. He looked far and wide to anyone that might pique his interest. He arrived at the second floor of the Ball to get a better view. There, he saw three people that stood out amongst the crowd: a rowdy and drunk Duke Lenato, a very upbeat and lively Rolfe, and a woman in a red dress all at Rolfe's side.

The allure of this woman is fascinating. Her beauty and grace have encaptured everyone in the room, including William. The moment she entered the room, all eyes averted to her.

"Focus, William. Remember why we are here," he told himself as he steeled himself. 

As he regains his composure, William focuses on Lenato to see if he can see valuable anything on him. While Lenato is gleefully dancing with his friends, William catches a glimpse of what letter with a red marking of a leaf on it. A leaf marking can mean a report about the recent attack on his tea shipment.

He put on his warm and inviting face to blend in with the crowd. William carefully threads across the floor to steal from the drunk Lenato. 

William has the chance to avenge Eldric right here. He slowly approached Lenato, the man he overheard paying his way to make Eldric fight Rolfe. William knows Lenato had something to do with Eldric's death. He wanted to beat him in front of everyone and make him confess his crimes. His thoughts become darker the more he dwells on his emotions. Vengence is so near.

But Eldric wouldn't want this from William. He is not a killer. William just wanted to be a knight. And in his moment of weakness, he swallowed his pride and anger and focused. 

"That's right, William. Focus." He says to himself as he finally gets to Lenato. William was about to snatch the letter from Lenato's pocket when the band began to play. The loud music put Lenato lift his spirits. He began to jump and threw his hand into the air. 

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to our humble abode." Lenato greeted his guest and began to welcome them into their Ball. He then signals the band to play to start the music for their guest to dance.

Frustrated from his near victory, William backed off away from Lenato to pick his next chance. With Lenato flailing around, there is no way that he would get the letter from him. William was about to move away from Lenato, but he was pushed closer to him by the gleeful crowd rushing to dance on the floor.

The frenzied crowd started to dance and began to create a huge commotion. Lenato tried to dance with them, but he was too drunk and tripped only to fall into the hands of the nearest man who caught him, William.

"Hoho! Rolfe! I am so sorry! Your old man is too drunk! Come help me to my quarters, will you?" Lenato says as he mistakes William for his son.

William smiled and took Lenato on his shoulder. A year since Eldric's death, this might be the only chance he got to get near Lenato. Finally, destiny is at his side. William helped Lenato on his feet and guided him to his room.

The guards are none the wiser too. When the guards asked where William was taking Lenato, Lenato swayed them away to let them pass as he was drunk and just wanted to get some rest in his quarters. And the guards would assume that William is one of their servants or Rolfe's knights.

William opened the door to Lenato's room and helped him on his chair. The room was a window outside overlooking the warehouse. At the end of the room is a table scattered with books about the different knights of the Order. And on the wall beside is a tapestry of newspaper about Eldric's death.

Lenato turned his head and looked at what he thought his son and asked what is his drive to be a knight. William kept up with the facade and replied what young boys at his age would answer "To Protect who we love."

"Good. Keep it near at your heart." Lenato replied as he grabbed another cup of wine in his cellar. 

"For me, son, it was pride. At your age, I challenged myself to be the best. I was good at being a knight but never enjoyed doing so. Until I met Eldric." 

William began to use his Sense to help him read the things on the tapestry while keeping his ears to Lenato's story.

"He was better at me in every way, and my pride never wavered. He and We developed a rivalry over the years, and despite it, we held it each with respect. But everything changed when he decided to found Tarwood. I became a Duke to spite him that I am better running towns, but it didn't bother him. He became stagnant and was content on the life he had." 

Lenato tone shifted with grief and regret. He couldn't fight his emotions and let a tear shed from his eyes. 

Lenato pointed at the tapestry of notes. "I used everything to get more information regarding his death. To this day, I cannot answer the simple question: who killed him."

William didn't know that Lenato held Eldric in high regard. But what he just said shocked him. Lenato, don't know what happened?!

"My son, the only thing I wanted to do is better him. On the day of the Grand Tournament, I paid the arena to fix the next match between you and Eldric, but sadly that never came to pass." Lenato says as he raises his cup to the air.

"This is to you, Eldric!" Then he drank the whole cup and passed out from being too drunk.

"I was wrong about you too, Lenato," William said as he shook his head. He took a second look at the clues and found three names that Lenato suspected but had no clues to prove it: 

George Frosthold was defeated on the very same day that Eldric died. With his alchemic skills, he might poison Eldric.

The King might still hold a grudge against Eldric after asking his daughter for marriage. The King can easily send in his best soldier to kill Eldric.

The Inquisitor. The Inquisitor's agents are harsh and quick to condemn the innocent to their blade. Eldric, on the other hand, is all about the due process of the law. Over the years, they clashed at the Royal Court, and is believe they grew to hate each other. This could push the Inquisitor to seize the opportunity and kill Eldric finally.

After all this time, he was hounding the wrong person. William took the letter from Lenato's pocket and began to read its content.

He was right; it was the report from their last shipment. The guards observed that the bandits were well trained and equipped. Even with five guards and two knights, the bandit met them with an overwhelming force. And to make it worse, the guards and the knights who survived the attack are left at the hospital with heavy fever, coughing, and rashes appearing all over their skin.

Before he could process what he read, an explosion at the warehouse sent shockwaves across the Ball. The guards and the knights of the Ball began to gather at the area to investigate the commotion. The guards outside Lenato's room began to run towards the door to secure their Duke.

"Damn, looks like that's my queue!" William returned the letter to Lenato's pocket and hurried to escape via the window. But he was stopped in his tracks as he heard the footsteps outside of their room begin to fall silent, followed by a clash of swords and then a loud thud. It was so quick that William didn't hear the guards yelling for help. Instead, they fell with a whimper.

The door swung open with the arrival of a figure clad in all red clothing, a long scarf, and a white mask that bears the symbol of red "i" across it. The figure holds a rapier, and even from a distance, William can smell the strong scent of chamomille on the figure. 

The figure quickly dots her eyes on Lenato's chest. The figure lunged at and aimed for a decisive strike, but William quickly grabbed Lenato's chair and dragged him away from his inevitable death. 

William grabbed the nearest candelabra to deflect the barrage of stings from the figure. William tried to disarm him, but the figure caught on quickly and evaded his counter. William thought of overpowering him, but the enemy was quick on their feet. Always on the move and managed to slip some cuts to William's arms when dodging.  

Even if William activated his Sense, William's body couldn't react on time. Attack after attack, he cannot get thru the enemy's defense. And the more William tries, the more he cuts and stabs he gets. 

During the fight, William activated his Sense found a weakness he could exploit! He detected a faint moan whenever the assailant leaped and landed with his left foot. Then the figure would take a few seconds of pause before moving again. 

"Maybe one of the guards manage to hit him in the leg or waist," William mutters to himself as he gets ready to finish this. 

William throws the candelabra in the figure's way and forces him to leap and land with his left foot. As expected, the figure stumbled and took a short pause. But it was enough time for William to charge and grab the figure in his arms. He threw themselves out of the room and back to the hallway.

The figure kicked William in the shin, breaking free from his grasp. He twirled around and landed a few meters away from William. He lunges at the downed William to pierce his skull. The figure had enough and intended to deal with the interloper before killing Lenato.

At the last moment, Rolfe arrived and threw a shield between William's head and the blade, saving William from death.

Heavy stomps of rage follow Rolfe every step he takes towards the figure. Rolfe sees all guards dead, and the assassin is just a few meters away from his father's room.

"Rolfe, this one is after your father!" William says as he recovers from the attack. He grabs Rolfe's shield and the nearest sword from the dead guard.

Rolfe finds William familiar but can't recall where or when he met William before. But that can wait. Right now, they need to work together to defeat the red figure. William and Rolfe have their breathings synchronized and share the same stance. Without saying a word, the two took formation. 

Without skipping a beat, they jive in their attack in perfect unison. William takes the lead and charges with the shield while Rolfe dodges and attacks the assassin's blind spot. In one instance, Rolfe was in a pinch. William shifted his weight concentrate on defending Rolfe. 

The assassin then tried to concentrate on William. He figures that Rolfe will go down quickly if he breaks William first. But Rolfe noticed what the figure was doing and adapted to his tactic. Rolfe jumped in front of the attack and began to take offense from William. 

The figure might not know it, but this is how the Knights trained their page from the beginning of their training. Coordinated attacks that quickly shift from offense to defense are the perfect way to deal with any enemy they encounter. Thus, most knights travel in pairs, or some have their page or squire learn these moves to perform this incredible feat.

They finally have the figure cornered! Panting from exhaustion, he looked around for an exit but could not find any. He is at the mercy of William and Rolfe. If he makes a sudden move, he is sure to be killed. But beneath that mask, the figure smiles as his backup arrives. 

Another figure clad in the same manner as the red one draws behind Willaim and Rolfe. This figure donned its outfit in green and had a white mask with an "X" mark in its middle. He draws two arrows and fires them upon the two.

William Sense began to pick up a sudden air shift behind him. He turns just in time to block the arrows with Rolfe's shield. 

"There's two of them now!" William shouts as he prepares to block the next barrage of arrows.

"Damn it! You take that green one. I'll handle this one." Rolfe says as he 

the red figure grabbed a sword from the dead guard beside him and intended to continue their attack. 

"Who are you?! What do you want from my father?!" Rolfe demands the figure in red.

The mutter any word didn't answer any word but motioned to slice one's neck. This notion infuriates Rolfe to no end. He broke formation and began to attack with all his might to defend his father.

While William blocks the arrows from the green one, he feels something hot. The building begins to burn! He looked below to his feet and smoked from the floor began to rise.

"Rolfe! We need to deal with them now and save your father, or else we burn!" William yells as the green figure slowly approach him with his saber.