Robin dispatched the second soldier with a swift kick to the back of his knee that sent him crumpling.
“Took you long enough,” she said, breathing hard.
“You are welcome,” Ian replied.
The castle guard took a few steps back into the courtyard, staring at Ian as he advanced toward them, Sol’s army behind him.
“He is a traitor!” Zimri called out from directly above Ian, on the wall over the gate. “Do not stand down.”
But these were not the same men who had been at the beach under Zimri; these were guardsmen who reported to Onric. They held their swords and shields at the ready, looking from Ian up to Zimri.
“Hold your attack!” Onric stepped out of the castle entrance across from Ian. His sword drawn, he looked out over the courtyard. His eyes found Ian instantly, and for a moment they stared at each other. Aden and Erich stepped out from behind him.
Ian gave his brother a single, brief nod.
Onric dropped his chin, breaking their eye contact. The pain on his face was evident. He knew what this could cost. He stepped forward quickly, dropping down the steps that led fromthe great hall into the courtyard. Both the Chendas soldiers and the castle guard parted for him and his brothers.
“The guard is under my command, Prince Onric,” Zimri said from above.
“But not this castle,” Ian said. He let those words hang in the air as Onric, Aden, and Erich reached him. The four brothers, standing together.
Onric turned around to face his men. They had fallen back into formation, but their faces betrayed their confusion. They were unsure whom they were defending the castle from.
Ian saw the way that Onric braced his shoulders as he looked out across the faces of his men before he started to speak.
He was about to ask a unified group to split into two. To ask his men—his friends—to step away from their fellow comrades, to choose their loyalty to the royal family, and to fight against the very men they had trained with.
“Now, Onric,” Ian said, his voice low. He knew what this moment was costing Onric, but they did not have time to deliberate.
Onric lifted his sword, throwing his head back. “Ian is my king!” He stepped backward, moving closer to Ian and Sol’s army while still facing his own men. “For Frederich! For Iseldis! For justice! All who are with me, join me!”
The strong formation of guards stood united for one more breath. Then chaos erupted. Several men raised their swords, echoing Onric’s cry of “For Frederich! For Iseldis!” as they ran forward to join Onric at the head of Sol’s army.
The remaining guard members looked back and forth in confusion. But, true to their training, they also instantly moved closer together to fill the open holes that their comrades had left.
“Archers!” Zimri cried from his vantage point above them all.
Ian did not have to look up to know that the line of archers along the wall had turned around, aiming their arrows inside the castle. At Onric.
Ian turned to Sol, looking for someone with a shield.
The archers had hesitated, perhaps unsure if they should follow Zimri’s order to kill their own captain. Their moment of hesitation was enough time for Liam and Rigelt to rush forward, covering Onric’s head with their wooden shields.
Ian stepped forward, putting himself in front of Onric to speak to the splintered soldiers. Gareth had not yet shown his face. He had likely been caught off guard by the speed of their assault and needed time to don his armor. Ian planned to use every second of that time to prevent bloodshed.
“Soldiers of Iseldis,” Ian cried. “I am not here to fight you. I have trained beside you, bled beside you. I am not your enemy. Gareth has lied to us all. I am here for him and him alone.”
“Do not listen to him,” Zimri said. His voice carried along the wall, and Ian saw him descending the staircase. Several of the soldiers from Chendas and Iseldis moved to stand with him. “I am your commander. I speak for King Gareth.”
“Where is Gareth?” Ian asked, sweeping his arm across the courtyard. “What kind of man sits inside a stolen castle while sending others out to protect? That is no king. That is a coward. I am here to lead you. I will not ask you to raise your swords against your own brothers. I am asking you to put them down.”
The Iseldan guardsmen looked at each other, confused. Several more of them stepped forward to join Onric behind Ian.
“Yet you call on them to fight for you?” Gareth’s voice bellowed out over the courtyard. “A man who has betrayed his father and his people.”
Ian looked up.
Gareth stood on a balcony that jutted out over the doors of the great hall.
