Mikal

Nordenland - Castle of Nordenvania

His mother was dead.

She had been dead all along. And he didn't even know.

Mikal cried, wrapping his arms and wings around himself as grief consumed his heart. Heavy sobs racked his body, and his anguished moans rang within the cell.

He did not know how long he had been in this cell. And he did not care. He did not even care to get out of here, because his mother was not there. He only buried his face against his knees and continued to cry. Until the door finally turned open. Mikal looked up at once towards his visitor, and he held his breath for a moment.

Vilfred. It was Vilfred!

Mikal gasped out, relief washing over him as he finally saw his brother, and he knelt on all fours, looking up straight into Vilfred's green eyes.

"Oh Vilfred," Mikal sobbed, his voice laden with longing and agony and reproach. "Why... haven't you told me? Why haven't you told me... about mother?"

"So you found out?" Vilfred said in an unusual coldness while Mikal continued to cry. "Well, that's exactly why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want to put up with the headache of having to watch you cry like a girl."

"What?" Mikal looked up at Vilfred in shock.

"You heard me."

"What's happening Vilfred?" Mikal asked between his sobs. "Why... why are you doing this? First breaking our agreement with William... and risking my life. Then branding me a traitor and dragging me all the way from Vausterland in chains... without even trying to listen to me. And now you're –"

"Shh you're talking too much. I really don't have time for your whining." Vilfred scoffed.

Mikal looked up at Vilfred for a long moment of stunned silence, his chest heaving with voiceless sobs.

"I am only here to tell you that you are being tried tomorrow for committing high treason –"

"No!" Mikal cried out at once, his heart sinking to the ground, his whole body trembling. "You can't do this. You can't accuse me of something I never did."

"Yes I can!" Vilfred shouted. "It is the only way I can finally kill you without fail."

"Wh...What?" Mikal's single eye widened, while a cold chill crept through his body.

"Oh, just how stupid can you be?" Vilfred snapped. "Can't you see? You should have been dead long before we marched for Grytia the first time. But I have made the stupid mistake of hiring a stupid whore and a useless assassin rather than kill you myself."

Mikal stared blankly at Vilfred, but he couldn't see anything. Everything around him turned to a blur, and his insides churned with dread as Vilfred's words rang within his ears. No, this was definitely just a bad dream. He couldn't really be hearing these words coming out of Vilfred's lips. No...

And it started to dawn on him.

Mikal recalled images of a red haired human slave, Daria, coming into his room in the middle of the night, hiding a knife beneath her clothes. And a black clad assassin, probably none other than Brad, chasing him during battle, before striking him with a near fatal blow.

"Even when I broke our agreement with William, leaving you at the mercy of our enemy, you still managed to squirm your way back here alive," Vilfred continued.

"Why?" Mikal barely found his voice as he knelt closer to the floor, holding his shaking hand beneath his chest.

"Why?" Vilfred growled. "Because you took everything away from me!"

There were many things Mikal wanted to say. Many, many things... But he couldn't speak. He couldn't even think. His mind was frozen, his heart shattered beyond repair, his soul completely drained. Terrible hollowness filled his body, sucking the life out of him. He couldn't breathe. Tears flowed endlessly down his cheeks, while his single eye remained opened wide in shock, not particularly looking at something specific. Because he couldn't even see.

He couldn't even hear Vilfred as he continued to speak, his voice distant and distorted. And shortly after, he could vaguely hear the sound of Vilfred's thudding footsteps as he walked away, followed by the creak of the cell door opening before it was slammed shut.

Left alone once more in the dark, Mikal knelt down further unto the floor, until his cheek touched the cold stone. His body shook with voiceless sobs as images of gentle green eyes started to flash within his mind. His brother's gentle green eyes.

Of all the people in the world, it was Vilfred, his dear brother, his most beloved brother. It was Vilfred who betrayed him. Not Bernard. Not Hilda. Not even William or Tristan. But Vilfred. The only person he had ever trusted, more than anyone. The only person he had ever loved, more than anything.

Never in his wildest imaginations would he have doubted that Vilfred had sent Daria and Brad to kill him. It had never crossed Mikal's mind that Vilfred was betraying him. Not even when Vilfred broke his agreement with William. Mikal hadn't doubted Vilfred for a moment. Not even when Vilfred branded him a traitor without listening to him, and dragged him in chains for weeks.

Mikal had thought of all the possibilities, all the excuses, all the reasons that could have led Vilfred to do such a thing. Except for the fact that he was betraying him.

And yet Mikal was not angry at Vilfred. No, the tremendous amount of pain he felt was far greater than any feelings of anger or revenge. His heart was far too filled with agony that numbed every other part of him. If Vilfred wanted to kill him, then Mikal would let him kill him. He was far too dragged down by anguish that he didn't really wish to fight back. Oh he even longed for death. Perhaps that was the only way he could be free of his pain.

***

Mikal knelt in the middle of the great hall amid a large crowd of Northern Lords and nobles. He recognized each and every face around him, each and every face that had once regarded him with respect. Each and every face that had longed for a mere nod of his approval, or a mere glimpse of recognition in his eyes. But they now they stood around him, no more awe in their expressions, no more longing, no more respect. Faces filled with contempt and disdain. Of hatred and disgust.

"Mikal Nordstrom," Vilfred started speaking, and Mikal's body started shaking despite his will. "You are accused of committing high treason, and conspiring with our enemy to overthrow Lord Frederik and claim Grytia for King William of Vausterland. You have betrayed your own people and provided misleading information about our enemy's forces, which led to our defeat and the loss of Grytia. Do you deny these charges?"

Mikal only looked up at Vilfred, his single eye full of hurt and silent rage. But he could not speak. What could he say anyway? Vilfred would not listen to him. Because Vilfred wanted him dead, whether he denied those charges or not.

"I thought not," Vilfred said when Mikal remained silent. "As punishment for your crimes, I Vilfred Nordstrom, sentence you to die."

Low side whispers filled the hall, and Mikal felt all the blood rush from his face. Knowing that his brother wanted to kill him was something, but hearing him declare his death sentence out before the whole world to witness was something else.

Two guards stepped in to secure him in place, holding down his chained arms and wings. Vilfred approached Mikal and unsheathed his sword, the metal blade gleaming before his face.

"Do you have any last words?" Vilfred asked.

Mikal took in a ragged breath and he looked up at Vilfred, his single eye brimmed with tears.

"I am not a traitor!" Mikal cried, his voice breaking, his tears betraying him. For a fleeting moment he saw a flickering emotion in Vilfred's green eyes, and he looked up at his brother, silently pleading for mercy. Vilfred's face tensed, his lips twitched, and his eyebrows drew closer.

"Brother..." Mikal whispered hopefully, and the next moment, Vilfred took one step backward and sheathed his sword.

Loud clamor filled the hall, and sudden protests broke, with Hilda taking the lead.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she snapped at Vilfred. "Kill that bastard!" Hilda took out her own dagger and stomped towards them. "If you can't do it I'll kill him myself."

"Wait Hilda," Vilfred stopped her calmly, taking the dagger out of her hand. "Killing is not always the best option," Vilfred frowned as he turned around towards the angry crowd.

"Please, calm down My Lords, and fear not. I am not letting my traitor brother go unpunished. On the contrary. I have only decided to give him a punishment far worse than death," Vilfred announced. "What good is death to a traitor? A traitor deserves to suffer, not die in peace!"

The next moment he snatched Mikal's mask off his face and tossed it to the floor, revealing his scar. Loud whispers and gasps followed, before Vilfred grabbed Mikal's jaw and turned his face up towards him.

Mikal's heart raced madly as Vilfred looked straight into his single eye, holding Hilda's dagger right before his face. He lightly traced the tip off its blade along his scar and sneered.

"What a shame. You're not as pretty as you used to be," Vilfred taunted, and Mikal's heart only pounded harder. "I can help you fix that. See? If I make a matching scar on the other side, and take out the remaining eye –"

"No!" Mikal cried out, his whole body convulsing as he struggled to free himself from the guards.

"Hold him down!" Vilfred commanded, and more guards came to restrain him.

"No! Vilfred, please! Just kill me!" Mikal begged, and the side whispers within the hall only grew louder.

"Vilfred, don't do this," Hilda stepped in, a frown of disapproval on her face. "He's right. Just kill him."

"Hilda dear, are you asking me to show mercy for this traitor?"

"I am not asking for mercy or any shit. I just want him dead," Hilda scowled.

"He will be as good as dead anyway," Vilfred said as he turned back to Mikal, grabbing him by the hair.

"Vilfred no," Mikal could barely whisper, his single eye widening in horror as he stared up pleadingly at Vilfred. "Please don't. Please, brother..."

But Vilfred did not listen, and he only closed the dagger towards Mikal's face. Mikal's heart sank, and his entire soul shook with terror. His limbs twisted involuntarily while four guards held him down. Two sturdy hands grabbed his head, securing it further. Guttural cries started rising deep within his throat, uncontrollable sounds that he himself had never heard before.

His growls grew hoarser as cold steel touched his skin, drowning out Hilda's protests and the crowd's whispers. He screamed as the sharp blade dug into his left brow, terrible pain slicing through his flesh. He screamed and screamed, as the dagger slowly and mercilessly slid further down his brow, slicing him, and he had no power to stop it. No matter how hard he tried to move, he remained pinned in place as if bound by a dark spell inside a confining gargoyle.

A sudden shrill scream escaped his throat as the brutal blade dug deep into his left eye, burning him with excruciating pain and cursing him with eternal darkness. His whole body shuddered and his insides churned with terrible dread. And he continued to scream as thick blood trickled down his left cheek, burning his skin along with the sharp blade that trailed further down, cutting through his flesh to match the scar on the right side of his face.

***

Darkness enveloped him, along with the raw scent of earth and wood, and the shrill sound of deathlike silence. His shaking hands searched through the dirt beneath him as he blindly and aimlessly crawled his way through the dark. He turned and started at every snapping sound of breaking twigs or crunching leaves. His body trembled with cold, his guts churned with fear, and incoherent whimpers escaped him, mirrored by the coos and hoots of night creatures.

He had been discarded in the middle of the haunted Eastern woods. He was completely alone. And he could not see.

Wings suddenly flapped above him, and he gasped out in alarm, kneeling low to the ground as he closed his own wings around himself. A raven's cry followed, and he warily raised his head up towards the sound, even when he knew he could not see it. The raven cried again, before it flapped its wings and took off flying away, leaving Mikal alone once more, engulfed in never ending darkness.

************

I have nothing to say this time. Or perhaps it's time to confess that Mikal had always been my favorite character, and I am very sad.

Anyway, if you like this chapter, don't forget to leave a comment and vote!