Years I’ve been king never once did I ever consider one of my closest generals to betray me. But the last ambush to the crawler’s territory proved otherwise.
I was out of my mind, ready to ransack the palace walls to find the reason. Among the three none, I believed would ever do such a thing. Or so I thought.
*****
I left Basilea with her pet dragon, Brontes, along with Justus by her side. The elf was not there when the plan was formed therefore he could not be the leak. Basilea was safe for now while I hunt for the traitor among us.
“I was with Titus, Osirus, and Bharat. You know I trust them with my life, I still couldn’t believe that one of them was capable of doing such a thing.” I looked at Magnus, I knew it wasn’t him. He wasn’t even in the vicinity. That was why I convened with him trying to figure out who it might be.
Magnus looked good, I was happy that his were-witch lover was able to give him what he needs, and strangely Savaric too. He didn’t have to say it, his demeanor says it all. He was not infatuated with me anymore, the way he looked at me was different. The longing was not there anymore.
“You should consider all three,”
“Even Titus?”
“Even me, if I was in the area, if I were you I’d be watching me also. So yes, even Titus.” I couldn’t believe the younger man would accuse his mentor, but he was trained by the best. And the best wouldn’t let his judgment be diluted by personal feelings towards the subjects. Titus was one of the three that was there when we strategized our plan. The plan failed.
Magnus pointed out more, giving me his input before we parted to continue to talk to the three generals and approached them with our subtle questions.
I was on my way to the courtyard to speak to one of them when I overheard whispering behind one of the pillars of the royal court. I decided to hide and continue listening in on the conversation.
“I saw you, I saw how one of them talked back at you. You even speak their language.” It was Justus, I recognized his deep voice and accent from anywhere.
“So? you couldn’t possibly hear what he said to me.” It was Titus, damn it, Magnus was right. It could be anyone.
“You forgot that I’m an elf, I have excellent hearing. That means you helped them kill Sabina. You helped them into the secret passage.” The disgust in Justus’ voice was obvious, but Titus just laugh it off.
“He would never believe you, I have no reason to betray The King. But you? You’re new and I can spin this off easily.”
The next thing I heard was a swooshing sound and a deep painful grunt, from there I knew something bad had happened.
“Titus! Stop!” I intervened seconds too late. It was Titus’ hand that was holding the dagger, stabbing Justus deep into his lower abdomen.
“My king, he’s the one! the traitor,” Titus tried to guilt the elf, he didn’t know that I was listening to their conversation.
“GUARDS!” I called out and two male guards were quick to my front. “Take Titus to his room and guard him, he’s not to be let out until I give the order.” My voice was stern and the guards didn’t even hesitate.
Titus looked at me in disbelief, “My king, what are you doing? you needed me. You can’t do this,” his resistance fades as the guards forced him to his chamber and Justus’s grunts pulled my attention back to the elven warrior who was also my harem.
“Come on, I heard you earlier. We should get you to Gaelan. I can’t pull the dagger out, I don’t want to accidentally cut any vital organs.” Justus was groaning louder with each step that we took, he was slowly bleeding as we move along the hallway to get to the healer’s chamber.
“Titus,” Justus tried to talk before he winced from the pain, but the elf continued saying, “I heard one of the crawlers talking to him, they know him, you gotta believe me.” His hand grabbed my arm, as he tried to get me to listen to him.
“I will look into it, you need to get yourself healed. What I do know, Titus should not take matters into his own hands. He should not stab you in the first place.”
“I’ll be fine, I’ll heal… You need to take care of him… We need to know his plans if he had… contingency because now that… Basilea is… back with us. We need to protect her.” He paused and panted his words, but he got his message across and I nodded. Didn’t want to say anything back, didn’t want to make him talk more. I need him to save his energy because he was not out of danger yet.
I told our healer to take care of Justus and placed another guard to shadow him before I paced to my chamber hoping Basilea was there then mentally reminding myself to get another guard to shadow her too.
Half an hour later I talked to Basilea, arranged her guards, and moved on to meet with Osirus and Bharat to talk about Titus before placing him in the dungeon once he was found guilty. I just need him to confess.
Turns out we needed to push harder than we thought. The older general kept on telling us that Justus was the guilty one and that he had nothing to hide. “I can’t believe you’d even doubted me, my king, I’ve been with you the longest. You’d think I’m capable of such a thing?”
“Honestly, Titus, at this stage I just don’t know anymore.” I slumped my back to the wall in his sitting area by the door. “I didn’t even know that you speak crawlies.”
I knew it was him, I needed him to confess, I needed it to end. Having Basilea targeted was one thing but having someone from my side to aid them was another. I was fueled with disbelief, anger, and disappointment. I was ready to rough him up when Magnus entered the room. From there I send Bharat and Osirus to wait outside the sitting area, with the door open. Both generals were still to be witnesses, once Titus confesses.
“Titus,”
“Magnus, you’re… you’re really back.”
“Why?”
“Wh… what?” Titus staggered in his stance, he was ready to hug Magnus, the general miss him. I could see it in his eyes.
“Don’t lie to me, I heard that you hurt the elven warrior, he was stabbed with your dagger. I saw it. Just tell me the truth, why?”
I kept quiet as I let Magnus try to get through to his mentor. Those two were always close, they were never lovers, but Titus had cared for Magnus deeply. Had been since forever and Magnus returns his affection by following every word the man said to him. Titus had trained Magnus to be one of the best generals I ever had.
“Fuck this, that elf, he was given, another harem from the southern kingdom. I couldn’t care for it to matter. But then he started training, fuck Magnus, I can’t have the elf replace you! Not you… I thought you left. I let them in, those stupid crawlers were supposed to kill the elf.”
That was all it took, I had the guards secure Titus but not before Magnus kissed his forehead and hugged him.
“I’m not staying if only you’d wait. I’m better now. I love someone and I’m going back with him.” Titus didn’t dare look up, his eyes darted downward. He looked ashamed of himself, but the man did love Magnus like his own.
“Took him to the dungeon he will wait for his sentence there.” I don’t know if I was ready to sentence him to death for betrayal, but I will have to, at some stage. It would be expected of me.