Lord Theodore's Favorite Ritual
Chapter 179: Breaching The Dungeons Gate.

Chapter 179: Breaching The Dungeons Gate.

Night.

Royal Dungeons.

Critic Citadel, Critic-Ishire.

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

Alone in the darkness, she clung to the flickering flame of hope, praying for the day when she would feel the warmth of her husband’s embrace once more. But for now, all she could do was wait, her heart heavy with the weight of betrayal and longing.

She heard a shuffle suddenly and then there was a thud, she should’ve been frightened or screaming right then but it was white.

The illusion in the human mind is that evil doesn’t come in white but evil is of different colors, shapes and sizes, you just have to be unlucky.

The creature that landed in her dungeon room was white and small but she couldn’t trust anything.

The creature shook its body as if to remove dirt off its body. She frowned.

"Red?"

Purr.

"Oh my God, Red whatever are you doing here?" Her eyes were wide as she got to her feet she stretched out a palm to it and it climbed in with a purr.

She sat back with a sigh, her palm absentmindedly rubbing her new company.

"Do you know if it is safe?" she whispered a question.

Silence, the cat doesn’t respond, couldn’t respond.

"Certainly, it cannot be safe" Lydia answered herself in a mumble.

"Your sacrifice would not go unrewarded" she promised the soft bundle.

As the silence stretched and exhaustion started to lace her entire being, she hadn’t taken a nap, not dinner or lunch, she couldn’t read and now sleep. "I do not want to spend the night here" she confessed, her voice soft and laced with sadness.

Moments passed and Red suddenly jumped out of her arm, Lydia startled from the capable sleep that had pulled her into its embrace.

Meow.

Her eyes widened as she felt the emptiness of Reds’ departure. "Whatever are you doing?" she yelled in a whisper.

"Red?"

And suddenly, noise, a bit of chaos and then silence. She heard it, Theodore was here for her. She could feel it.

Her lord husband has come to save her.

"Theodore!" she squealed, her heart pounding ten times faster than it ever did.

He was coming to get her, she would be free soon.

But at what cost?

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Night.

Critic Citadel, Critic-Ishire.

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

As the moon hung low in the night sky, casting an eerie glow upon the towering walls of the castle, the lord of Critic Arley gathered his resolve.

Theodore, clad in armor that gleamed dully in the moonlight, his breaths came quick and heavy, a testament to the weight of his mission.

His heart pounded with a mixture of fear and determination as he led his small band of loyal men towards the imposing gates of the fortress.

The conversation he had with Conan before he headed here reminded him of their past lives, Conan would always follow him and they were similar conversations surfacing, it was a deja vu for him.

Earlier Conan had asked they trust the king and follow the right procedures.

"Over my dead body would I let my wife, my noble woman, my Gooseberry to sleep one night in the dungeon whilst I sit comfortably somewhere waiting for those who know nothing about our journey punish her" he held Conan’s eyes as he enunciated, "Over my dead body!"

"I already took too long," he mumbled, his chest heavy with guilt.

"She might want her innocence reclaimed and her name cleared. Theodore turned to him with a glare.

"Fuck the royal court" he spat. Conan blinked before watching him heave. "Fuck Salvadore!"

This could be him only when pushed to the wall and he felt that right now.

"Fuck the citadel, I am going for Lydia and you either follow me or ready the carriage" he marched ahead, his sword ready on him to attack the castle.

"I never ready the carriage, Theodore" Conan grumbled.

Theodore had meant for Conan to leave but he had not a single patience to explain, his friend either followed or he would do it alone. Save his wife.

With each step, the lord’s mind churned with a tumult of emotions.

Anguish clawed at Theodores’ heart, knowing his beloved wife, Lydia, languished within the cold confines of the castle walls, accused of a crime she did not commit. A crime she could never commit.

Suddenly, Fury burned hot in his veins, fueled by the injustice of her wrongful arrest and the betrayal of those who dared accuse her.

How dare they? But he couldn’t focus on that now.

So, amidst the storm of emotions, a fierce determination blazed within Theodore’s soul.

He was not just a nobleman, but the brother of the King himself, and he would stop at nothing to see justice served and his wife restored to him after he had her.

With each heartbeat, his resolve hardened like tempered steel, driving him forward into the heart of the enemy’s stronghold.

He had told her that this was the enemy’s den. Their territory and they would never accept her but she was persuasive. Now here they were.

Beside him, walked his two steadfast companions, their faces grim beneath the shadow of their helmets, mirrored his determination. Tom and Conan.

With swords drawn and hearts aflame with loyalty, they stood as a bulwark against the tide of royal guards that awaited them within the castle’s walls.

"Open the gates" Conan advised but the guards only gazed at tem, stupidly. They had already been in the castle grounds but the area was sparse and they had to prepare but now they seem to be restricted from going into the gravy castle where Theodore was now sure his wife was being kept.

"Open the damn gates" Theodore bellowed.

Tom unconsciously started to grin. ’They would breached the gates, and the clash of steel will ring out like a clarion call to arms, echoing through the courtyard in a symphony of defiance. So then Theodore would fight with a ferocity born of desperation, his blows raining down upon his adversaries with relentless fury. Anything to get his wife back. Because each strike would be a declaration of his unwavering love for his wife, a testament to the depths of his devotion. And amidst the chaos of battle, in the middle of the clash of swords and the cries of men, Theodore would press forward, his heart a beacon of hope amidst the darkness.

For within the depths of the castle, his wife awaited him, her faith unwavering, her spirit unbroken. And though the odds were stacked against them, the Duke would not falter, for he knew that love was the strongest weapon of all and he would get back his wife with force and determination and of course with hsi loyal companions, soon to be knight Tom and sir Conan.’

But this whole imagination of Toms’ was shattered into pieces because the gates were swung open the second lord Theodore said four simple words. Open the damn gates. Tom couldn’t believe his eyes but his feet didn’t lag behind as he rushed after Theodore and his right hand man.

"The keys?" Theodore asked the dungeon ward they met next but the ward was a bit uncultured because his words were. "You can talk to her over the bars’’

Theodore smirked. "Conan?" he invited.

And the guard was down suddenly, The knight had struck the audacious guard with the handle of his sword, the sword was still very much encased in the sheath Helena had gifted him and it sent the guard for blank.

"Tom, search him for the keys," Conan instructed.

With a quick nod, Tom bent and started to search through the guards body. "Found it" he announced.

"Now we are unable to ask him where she is locked up" Conan said as a realization struck him, if the guard is out cold and they didn’t want to alert the King by asking the guard by the gates so they would have to do the searching themselves.

"We are splitting,’’ Theodore announced after grabbing the keys from the young man.

Conan shrugged. "I am sure you will find her first"

"If any of you do, take her to the carriage, we are leaving immediately" Theodore announced. He was getting his wife and she would never have to be in this premises again, whatever it may have been that Salvadore needed him for, he destroyed it by not being helpful.

Now, what do we have here?