Along with the soldiers Tania, Lerna and Tabit hurried to the battlefield. Through her mind link, Tania had already inford Eltanin that they were heading to the field.
'Why?' Eltanin sounded angry and desperate. 'This is not a safe place to be.'
'There is so huge misunderstanding and you should stop the battle right now!'
'Misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?' Eltanin sounded confused.
'I will be there in less than half an hour. Can you stall the battle?' Tania's urgency was palpable.
'I can't stop it, but I can slow it down. Though I can see King Mintaka only a few ters away from !'
'Do whatever you want to, but wait before making any big decision!'
'Can you tell what is going on?' Eltanin growled.
'I can, but like this. Trust , Elty. This is big!' She severed the mind link and asked the coachman of the carriage to go faster.
Eltanin was utterly confused when Tania said all that. In the midst of a battle with Orion, she asked him to slow down. But why? From the corner of his eye he saw Rigel. He was attacked by a dozen soldiers and he was fighting with all of them on his own. In order to help, Eltanin rushed his horse to his friend and together they slew the soldiers within a few seconds.
Rigel's eyes traversed to his father who was swinging his sword against the Draka soldiers. "I am going to et him!" Rigel shouted to Eltanin over the noise of tal clanking, soldiers grunting, horses neighing and n getting thwacked by spears or arrows.
"Wait! There is sothing very urgent that I have to convey to you." Eltanin stopped him.
"There is nothing urgent about going and eting my father! He betrayed and he betrayed you as his ally. I have no idea what is going on with him!" Rigel was too angered to be stopped.
"But Rigel--"
Rigel didn't hear another word from Eltanin as he dashed his horse towards his father, slaying Orion soldiers in the way who were protecting Mintaka. When he was only a few ters away, Mintaka looked at him, his eyes full of fury.
"Have you co to kill , Rigel?" he growled. "Now that you are with your enemy?"
Rigel clenched his jaws as he gripped hard the hilt of his sword. "I don't want to kill you father," he growled back. "I have no idea what is so wrong about accepting Lerna! We can stop all this nonsense and go back to normal."
"Lerna stopped mattering so ti back, Rigel!" Mintaka barked. "Now it is between you and !"
Rigel was dumbstruck.
"You want the kingdom of Orion?" Mintaka spat. "You should have asked . I would have given it to you. Presented it to you"
"Father!" Rigel shouted. "When did I ever ask you to give the kingdom? It was Miessa who wanted it. She was the one who wanted to snatch it from you, not . It was Okab who wanted to grab the kingdom from you. Can't you see it even now? He cheated and stabbed when we were coming to fight. For God's sake, are you so blind?"
Mintaka closed his eyes. Right now he couldn't even tell to his son that it was his mother who fucked up badly and now he was fighting for her honor. All he wanted was Rigel to challenge him. He just wanted to die honorably and not shafully. He hoped that the secret of his wife's shaful act didn't co out. His wife had done sothing so drastic; he had no words. But she was his wife. He had claid her and he had vowed to fight for her and be with her. He was going to do that.
When he opened his eyes, the world faded around him as his focus went to his son. "Co on, Rigel. If you want the throne, you have to challenge and then kill !"
Rigel's chest was heaving in and out, not because of all the movent across the battlefield, but because of his anger towards his father. He dismounted his horse and then said, "I would like to challenge you for the throne!"
Mintaka let out a humorless laugh. He too dismounted his horse. Swinging his sword in front of his hand, he walked towards his son. "May the best win!" he scoffed.
Rigel dipped his chin and lunged at him. Mintaka was ready. Their swords t midair as they looked at each other with pure rage. "Father, to be honest, I wanted you to rule the kingdom forever. Why are we fighting internally when a larger war is looming over us?"
They circled each other, withdrawing their swords. "It's no ti to talk sentintal, Rigel!" Mintaka growled. "I want to see that sword of yours sing on the battlefield. You have challenged , so fight !"
With a ferocious snarl, Rigel charged at his father and they started attacking each other. Rigel was surprised to see that his father was matching all his movents. However, he was slowly getting tired. At the end of fifteen minutes, Mintaka gave way. Tired as hell, he planted his sword in the blood-soaked oil and knelt down with his head hung low.
He looked up at Rigel through his mangled hair on his face and said, "I accept defeat. Kill and free ."
Rigel's throat bobbed as pain burned through him. He didn't want to do that. He stopped his sword midair.
"If you won't kill Rigel, I will kill myself. So if you want to die honorably, kill . This way, your claim to the throne is going to be stronger and ruthless."
"No father!" Rigel rasped, bringing his sword down. "I can't do it!"
"You have to, Rigel!" Mintaka goaded. "I can't live in sha for the rest of my life. If you are a warrior enough, you will plunge that sword in !"
Suddenly, a loud voice pierced the field. "Noooo Rigel!" It was Tabit. She was running towards them, dodging every soldier in the way.
When Mintaka saw her running towards them, he grabbed Rigel's sword and plunged it into his heart.
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