King Xavier stood watching the soldiers before him when he felt Mia come to stand beside him. In her presence, he took a breath of confidence. She should have been with him all along, but Kim cried for her, and she told him she needed to feed him. He wanted to stay with her while she attended to their son, but she told him to go and not keep the soldiers and elders waiting.

They were marching to the shore to welcome the ship from Foth, and having calculated the numbers and the strength a single ship would come with, they chose a hundred of the king's men to aid in the subjugation of the enemy's ship.

Their numbers made Xavier feel a little confident. If there were at most 100 soldiers on board, then Wahala didn't need to attack with their full strength. With that, he dismissed Ace with a mission to Shelled this morning after learning of their plans to crown a king within themselves.

He couldn't do it himself because of his health and the task. Usually, this act of rebellion would be met with a force of violence, but he couldn't afford that now.

Ace seemed capable of doing what was needed, and he assured himself of that. Ace would focus on bringing the allegiance of the eastern region back to the king, and he would concentrate on conquering the small ship from Foth.

Edward was away in Soule, Ace in Shelled, Alpha Koz in Kame, and Sir Valerio in Lurds. These were Wahala's greatest weapons, but this battle had to happen. They will hear of their victories when they return to the capital.

"I wish I could come along," Mia said after silently looking at the assembled king's men.

Xavier turned to her, and a smile came on his pale, weary face. "I would love to have you by my side, but you must remain, for the boys' sake."

"I look forward to your return, then." She took his hand in hers. He quickly squeezed on it for courage before releasing it. "I would kiss you, but I will do that when you return." She told him as a form of motivation.

"I will kiss you." He said it with confidence and turned to look at the soldiers.

Sir Alex called into formation the king's men, and they answered his call. Xavier released Mia's hand and moved to stand before them, and together they headed out. He glanced at Mia one last time and found her eyes still on him.

They left the palace and headed for the shore, which took half an hour, according to their calculations.

They arrived at shore in time to find the ship still on the sea, looking to be not less than ten minutes away from shore. They assembled in their formation and waited over ten minutes for the ship to come to shore, but it stayed in the same position, just swaying to and fro on the cold, wavy sea.

"The ship is not moving, my king." Sir Alex said, coming over to confirm Xavier's very thought.

"I see that; why is that, though?" he asked.

"I don't know," Alex replied.

"Find the guards on the shore."

"They are gone," Alex answered.

"Tell the king's men to stand on their guards; we may not be alone." He gave clear instructions, as he felt many things were out of place. "Send in men, analyse the ship, and let us know what we are up against," he said.

"Stay alert, warriors!" Alex said, raising his voice to the men, and they responded immediately. "You six, come with me." He said that, and six men stepped out of the formation to stand beside him. "My king, we will look at the ship."

"Good, I am coming with." He answered.

Sir Alex's eyes widened at his response, but he didn't give him time to speak because he stepped forward.

Together, they headed out, and putting off their armour, they launched into the sea, swimming to meet up with the stagnant ship to see what was wrong with it. It was a blatant bait, but it didn't matter; they needed to know what it was.

Xavier knew he shouldn't be stressing himself in his condition, but a lot had been put into this day, and everything should be given to it.

They came to the ship, and Xavier, Alex, and the six others got on board to see what was up with the ship. It was empty, which did not make sense.

How could it be empty if it made it to Wahala? It made no sense, and Xavier was still thinking when Alex's voice called to him.

"My king, you need to see this." He hurried over to where he heard the voice, and there he found a few men tied to silver chains struggling on the ground.

"These are the guards of the shores." Alex's words settled on him, and he realised that, though the ship did not touch shore, the men who came on it did. "I think the soldiers from Foth captured and brought them here."

"They hoped we would find them," Xavier said, becoming suspicious about everything. "Why?"

Alex and the other king's men moved to the guards on the ground, pulled them up to sit down, and helped them remove the gag from their mouths.

"You have to leave, my king!" one guard said, with eyes filled with fear and horror. "This ship is going to explode!"

He didn't get to finish before Sir Alex ran forward to shield Xavier, and in the exact second, the ship exploded, throwing them all into a disoriented state.

Everything felt hazy, and his ear rang painfully at the sound of the explosion. Xavier couldn't tell how long everything stayed that way before his head came to the sea's surface. He blinks a few times and turns around to find the ship on fire. The only ones who knew what had happened on shore were now dead, and there was no telling what was coming.

He swam to shore, wet and tired, with his mind filled with many questions. This ship was from Foth; he knew that, but what was their aim?

Was it to lure them out? What then? What was the endgame here?

"My king, are you hurt?" He heard Carl, the second commander of the king's men, ask, running over to him.

He shook his head; if Alex hadn't moved to action when he did, then he would have been badly hurt. "I'm not hurt. Find Sir Alex." He said to them.

The second commander, Sir Carl, led the search team out, and they dove into the sea in search of Sir Alex and the four other king's men.

Of the seven king's men, including Alex, who headed into the ship with him, he saw only one: Duncan.

He stayed at the shore, not willing to move, until he heard from the search team that had headed into the sea to look for the king's men.

After half an hour of searching, there was nothing. The search team returned to shore, all with a look of disappointment in their eyes.

"Well?" Xavier asked impatiently, despite already knowing what their answer would be.

"I am sorry, my king; there is no sign of them. We will keep looking for them, but we suggest you return to the palace."

Xavier didn't want to leave, but with everything his body had taken today, he knew that was the best option. He couldn't be made into the focus, not with six of the men still missing. So, he left with a few men while the rest stood on shore, keeping watch in case of an attack.

He returned to the palace and found Mia in the same spot she had stood when he headed out a few hours ago.

She promised to wait for him, and that was what she did. Her eyes grew happy at seeing him, and she hurried down the stairs and towards him.

However, the closer she came, the less happy and worried she became. She could see the look on his face; it was probably a look of failure and defeat, and she feared for the worse.

"Xavier," she said, reaching where he was and placing her hands on his cold face. "What happened?"

"There was no soldier of Foth on the ship when we arrived. Sir Alex, Ian, Logan, Willo, Avil, and Crane are still lost at sea. I-" he tried to form words, but he failed to, and he realised he was still trapped in what happened on the ship.

As if knowing what he needed the most right now, she pulled him into a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her as her warmth brought back life into him.

He didn't want to let go of it.