My Werewolf System

Chapter 1608: Kingdom Knights and Council Secrets

The battle was over, but the quiet that followed was infinitely heavier than the clamor of clashing weapons. It was the silence of judgment.

Kai stood stiffly, feeling the cool air of late afternoon settle on his skin, a stark contrast to the boiling heat of the recent confrontation. The entire plaza, moments ago a chaotic mess of shattered stone and magical residue, had transformed into a carefully managed crime scene. A large team, easily over a dozen individuals, had descended upon the area. These were not the defeated knights, these were reinforcements, dressed in armor that shimmered with a darker, more professional polish.

The Rock Guild members, bruised and defeated, were being roughly loaded onto a specialized armored carriage, their metallic equipment clanking with every movement. The previous group of knights, their uniforms shredded and pride wounded, were carted off right alongside them.

Then, there were the four of them: Kai, Gary, Lupus, and Bluebird out front. They were flanked by a separate, smaller escort detail, three towering men whose armor was subtly, but definitively, different. They moved with an assured, almost regal presence.

Siz, the unassuming, wiry young man, had also been detained. To Kai’s surprise, he hadn’t been treated as a simple bystander, but as a key witness.

As they were marched away from the scene, past the gawking, silent locals who had finally emerged from their hiding spots, the tight perimeter of guards gave the illusion of absolute security, yet the four of them couldn’t help but talk. The sheer impossibility of escape actually made the conversation easier.

“Oh man, I’m nervous, everything is going to be okay, right?” Siz’s voice was a frantic squeak, and he kept rubbing his hands together, his eyes darting to the armored guards on either side.

Kai glanced forward. Bluebird, walking a pace ahead, looked utterly composed, his shoulders back, his expression unreadable. There were guards everywhere, their movements precise, their formation unbreakable. Escape wasn’t just unlikely; it was a guaranteed, instant failure.

“Hey, if things go wrong, or anything, we have your back,” Gary declared.

Siz stopped rubbing his hands and looked at Gary with wide, incredulous eyes. “But… didn’t you three just lose? Spectacularly? How exactly would you have my back?”

Gary clamped his mouth shut. He knew Siz was right. The defeat still stung, a raw, humiliating mark on their collective ego.

Siz, perhaps seeking comfort in details, continued in a low, conspiratorial whisper, “Do you see the guards around us right now? They’re different compared to the ones that were assessing us. You can tell by their armor’s sigil.” His eyes shone with a sort of nervous awe. “These are the Kingdom Knights. They’re knights that are stationed at the castle itself, right? They’re completely different to the ones you guys fought before. These are the elite.”

“Kingdom Knights? To protect the King?” Lupus asked, his pride momentarily eclipsed by genuine curiosity. He wondered who this King might be. Meeting a true monarch, even one that considered him a criminal, would be an undeniably neat story to tell.

Bluebird, who had been listening silently, finally spoke, his voice carrying just enough authority to cut through the noise of their marching feet. “There hasn’t been a King in the Redwing Kingdom for a while now. Times have changed. There are now just elected members that are part of the Council Room that make decisions that run the Kingdom.”

He paused, letting the information sink in, and his gaze swept over their faces, lingering slightly on Gary and Lupus. “It was a big change, and anyone who was trying to join the knights or serve the Kingdom should know that,” he finished, a cold smirk touching his lips. “Especially since I am one of those on the Council.”

Kai nudged both Lupus and Gary sharply with his elbow, a silent, urgent sign to stay quiet. The more they talked, the more likely they were to slip up about obvious things, like the governmental structure of the place they’d been operating in. It was a fascinating, and frankly concerning, piece of information.

One of the most infamous kingdoms in the land, run by a committee.

It felt strange. If they weren’t being carted off to face an unknown judgment, Kai would have actually enjoyed learning about the world’s current events and power structures. But the weight of their situation made every historical tidbit feel like a threat.

Finally, just as Siz had described, the massive structure loomed before them. They were stood in front of a giant castle, its stone walls rising high into the pale sky, imposing and solid. The main gates were colossal, made of dark, heavy iron. There were no ordinary citizens around this area; the only movement came from groups of knights patrolling the perimeter, their polished boots thudding against the stone walkways.

Not all the patrolling knights wore the stark uniform of the Kingdom Knights. Some were clad in different colored clothes, but all of them had one distinguishing feature: red colored sashes tied around their waists.

“Knights in training!” Siz gasped, his eyes sparking with the excitement of a student recognizing a textbook example. He temporarily forgot his fear.

Kai finally understood what the sashes were for, but it was strange there was only one color, red, rather than several different ones indicating different training levels. But the castle itself was the real centerpiece. The walls reached impossibly high, looking solid and well-fortified. It was a structure impressive in its own right, perhaps even more so than the modern skyscrapers they were used to seeing.

The group watched as the Rock Guild and the original knights were chartered through the main gates. Then, Siz was gently, almost respectfully, brought forward, splitting from the three of them and disappearing inside.

Bluebird gestured down a winding side path. “You three,” he said, his tone shifting from professional to mildly condescending, “are going to be in a cell for a bit.”

Instead of heading into the majestic castle, they were led around the back, following a quiet, less-traveled path for another fifteen minutes. The winding route finally opened up to a rather large, square-shaped building, utilitarian and brutalist compared to the elegance of the main castle.

Inside the building, they found a more standard-issue dungeon. More knights were visible, but here, the focus was strictly on security. The cells were standard, dark iron-cased bars, but Kai’s sharp eyes immediately noticed the faint, pale blue luminescence tracing the joints of the iron. A type of enchantment or magic had been woven into the metal to fortify them, making them much stronger than ordinary bars.

A single cell was opened, and the three of them were placed inside with a metallic clang.

“Well, this is familiar,” Gary announced, stretching out as if settling into a five-star hotel. He looked at Lupus. “Have you ever been to prison?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I have. This is my second time now.”

“Are you bragging about that?” Kai asked, leaning against the cold stone wall. “I don’t think that should be a thing you should really brag about.”

Lupus scoffed, crossing his muscular arms. “No one would dare to put me in prison.”

“But they have now,” Gary snickered, earning a murderous glare from the prideful man.

Bluebird, standing just outside the bars, observed them. “You three seem awfully calm for the situation you are in.”

Gary shrugged, meeting Bluebird’s gaze with surprising sincerity. “Well, if your investigation is as thorough as you say it is, and you knights are as just as you think they are, then everything should work out for us in the end. We’re innocent, after all. Right?”

Hearing this, Bluebird couldn’t help but smile, a genuine, almost admiring smile that made the situation feel ten times more ominous.

“I know you three probably can break out of this place,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, serious register. “But I wouldn’t advise it. Just wait here until I come back.”

*****

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