The lords resolve

The town didn't put up much of a fight. It was to be expected for a small fishing community, but what made Lord Jasper Gallant angry was that his commanding officer standing before him was telling him that they could not find the children.

"I'm sorry my lord, my soldiers have looked everywhere." The officer spoke, trying his best to sound calm.

"Then you should have trained them better. No decent soldier would have let a few petty words get under their skin. Unlike yours.", the lord snarled.

"Lord Gallant. I can assure these are my best men!"

"Then I fear for my kingdom. You and your men are clearly not suitable for this job".

"My Lord, perhaps… the sightings were incorrect?" The officer flinched, realizing too late he had said the wrong thing as Lord Gallant in a flash brought a knife up to the officer's neck drawing a drop of blood.

"YOU DARE SUGGEST THAT I DID NOT SEE WHAT I MOST CLEARLY SAW!?" He screamed.

"No. No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me. I wasn't thinking straight".

"Have you ever!? You assured me that taking my brother's kingdom and his children prisoners would be and, I quote, ‘a piece of cake’. Yet here we are running around like headless chickens looking for them!" Jasper glared at the officer ferociously taking away any semblance of authority from the man. Unable to answer, the officer looked down in defeat.

"You are clearly too incompetent for this task at hand", he let's go removing the knife from the man's throat. "You are stripped of all your titles and will be an ordinary soldier in my ranks".

The now former officer looked up in shock. "My Lord? I… I must protest. My skills are better suited for…"

"For what exactly? Making me look like a fool on the global stage!? Losing a couple of untrained children? Letting your soldiers get so easily angered by the words of ONE dragon?" The officer froze, unable to come up with an answer. "Right. Now leave before I deliver a harsher punishment."

After a moment's hesitation the officer reluctantly left the tent with their tail between their legs. Jasper shouted in frustration kicking his chair over and left soon after heading towards the prisoners tent.

The guards gave him a small nod as he reached the entrance and opened it for him. Inside the tent was a small cage with one prisoner inside. It was too small to stand up in or to lay down. The occupant was forced to constantly squat with their hands chained to the ground with little clothing. The floor was sticky with their dried blood and the many wounds they had were left untreated with infections festering in them. Jasper approached the cage stopping just short of the bars. "Where did you send them, brother?" Silence was the only response he got. "Do not make me torture you again." Again, no response.

With a roll of his eyes, Jasper grabbed a blue mana crystal from a chest and placed it into a receptacle on the cage. It glowed and ice began to form around the cage, the temperature plummeted inside the tent. Frederick started to shiver but he remained tight-lipped.

"Tell me where you sent them", Jasper snarled but once again Frederick stayed silent. Jasper slammed his fist onto the top of the cage, "Where did you tell them to go!?" Again, nothing.

Jasper stepped away from the cage. The temperature got so cold that he started to shiver a little too but he would be damned if he would let his brother see that. Clearly brute force on him wasn't going to work. He needed to go about this from a different angle. Get him to talk somehow. After some thinking he had an idea.

"How did she die?" Jasper whispered. There was silence between them for a long time but then there was a slight jangle of chains.

"There was a complication during labour." Frederick sadly said. "A hemorrhage. The midwives did their best to stop the bleeding but she lost too much. She died two hours after giving birth. We buried her back at her home. It was what she wanted." Frederick wiped away a tear doing his best to keep himself composed.

"Why did you do it?" Jasper said, looking over at Frederick for a response. "Why did you take her from me?"

Frederick turned to him slightly, "You know why."

"I want to hear it from you."

Frederick turned towards Jasper as much as he could, "You never deserved her."

"She was promised to me, not you"

"That doesn't mean that you deserved her."

"Cassandra was mine!" Jasper shouted, facing Frederick. "She was mine to have, not yours!"

"You think that's how it works? You never let her do anything other than serve you in the bedroom and smile at glamorous events made for you"

"I was… am the Lord of Gallantra. The people need to be reminded of that"

"No, they need to be reminded why they should care for you. Not through fear and glamour but through trust and care"

Jasper laughed. "Care for the peasants? They should be serving us. It is their purpose in life"

"Treat them with respect and they willfully serve you. Trust me it makes it a lot easier for keeping order"

"Order? Pampering your peasants brings order? I never heard such nonsense in my life".

Frederick snorted and turned away. "I see that nearly 20 years of being dead hasn't changed you at all."

Jasper walked towards the cage. "Oh but it has, brother. Living as a slave for over a decade has made me realize that power is everything in this world. Without it you are nothing"

"So that's what happened to you when you fell off that bridge"

"When you pushed me off after stabbing me you mean. What kind of a brother does that?"

"One that was protecting his family"

"That you stole from ME!" Jasper shouted, slamming his fist onto the bars, making the cage shake. The two stared at each other intensely, their breaths visible in the cold air.

Eventually Jasper backed away. "You're not much use in here to protect them anyway. That guardian won't be able to protect them forever. I will find them"

Frederick coughed out a laugh. “Not likely. I heard from your guards that he went into that forest. With all those monsters in there you'll probably piss your pants again in fright”

Jasper slammed a fist against the cage and shouted, “I will send as many men in there as it takes to grab those kids and drag them out by their ankles to watch them…” he then stopped. His fierce expression relaxed. “He took them to the forest”.

Frederick's smile vanished.

“Yes. The crystal canyon lies beyond that.” It was now Jasper's turn to smile. “You sent them to Jacob. Didn't you?”

Frederick didn't respond but the fear in his eyes was all too clear for Jasper making him chuckle.

“Of all the places you send them to, was there?” He turned away laughing. “Here I am thinking you sent them to a stronghold deep in some cave that requires an enchantment or something to open but you just sent them to your heir's manor?”

Frederick wanted to protest but he knew saying anything would only confirm what was true. He looked down in defeat.

“Well, this makes things a lot easier for me”, Jasper said, turning back to face Frederick. “You'll be pleased to hear this. We are going to wait for your kids' arrival”.

Fear shot through Frederick as he tried to stand up, the chains digging deep into his wrists. “Don't hurt them! Your beef is with me and not them. Kill me and let them go!”

“Oh I intend to kill you brother but I can't let your kids live,” Jasper responded. He almost sounded sad. Almost. “But you see, if I let them live, they have a claim to my throne. In time they will challenge me and try to take the throne away from me again by military force. Hasn't this kingdom already seen enough bloodshed? Don't you think it's better to kill them now before more of your peasants die?”

Jasper crouched down to be eye level with his brother. He gave a compassionate smile. “Don't worry. I'll make sure you stay alive until then. Barely, anyway”.

He then turned to exit the tent, leaving the mana crystal in the cage. “I heard it's going to be cold tonight. Best preserve what body heat you have left.” Upon his exit his guards were waiting.

“When do we move out my lord?” One asked.

“In the morning. Send the message out. We have a lot to prepare for.”

Inside the tent, Frederick began crying as he curled up into a fetal position. His children were now heading into a trap, and he helped create it. “Forgive me”.

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This is an cold commission I got from  LittleBadWolf

Big thanks to  enigma530 for checking the spelling and grammar

Jasper and Frederick belong to me