(continuing from chapter 20)

——————

Johann, confused, asked, "wait, Sir England is here?" He knew that England was near the area since he overheard some Prussian soldiers going to him to find Saxon, that's how he found him, but he did not know that England was told to leave.

Then he thought of an idea, "could we find a way to sneak out of this room, and find out more about what was happening? Despite our age, we should know what is happening, since it might affect us too."

M:   "No, we shouldn't," Mandara said firmly, "if Father has a guard stationed here then he clearly thinks that we could be in danger, we should just stay and wait for him to come back."

"Why do you always have to follow the rules," Derogan grumbled, "you need to learn to have fun."

"And you need to learn to stop being so arrogant," Mandara retorted, "when you become king you can't just-"

"Oh shut up about that!" Derogan shouted, "you know I don't want to be king, and you know I hate it when people talk about it, so shut up!"

Mandara threw up his arms in exasperation and stomped away to his bed again, sitting so he was facing away from his brother.

With Mandara out of the way, Derogan looked at the window and smiled.

"How heavy are you," he asked Johann, "because I could carry you out of the window onto a nearby balcony."

N:   Johann walked towards the window, hoping not to get dragged into their argument, and said, "I'm not that heavy," he peered over the windowsill and continued, "and I would appreciate it if you did not drop me while we get to the balcony.

He looked back as he saw Derogan getting ready to carry him, and asked, "So you don't want to be king?"

M:   Derogan growled in his throat, "I don't, and I don't like talking about it either, so please drop the subject."

Without another word, Derogan hopped out the window and caught himself mid-air. He turned around to Johann and made sure he had a firm grip on the kid before pulling him out. Since humans were heavier than winged countries because they don't have hollow bones, Derogan underestimated Johann's weight and they dropped in the air. The teen held Johann tighter and flapped his wings as fast as they could to go higher.

When he couldn't gain any more air, Derogan instead tried to aim for a balcony that was below them. He flapped and flapped until he couldn't flap anymore, then the two fell the rest of the way onto the balcony. They were close enough to not be injured, but Derogan was strained so badly that his body went limp and he was huffing on the floor, too tired to move.

N:   Johann nodded as he reached for Derogan and left the window, but he did not expect the drop, so he muttered, "nein, nein, nein," until they crashed onto the balcony. When he landed, the impact knocked the air out of him, and he stayed on his back until he could breathe properly again. Getting up unsteadily, he went to check on Derogan, and whispered in case anyone was near, "are you ok?"

He noticed some movement inside from where they were, and he noticed it was a knight patrolling, so he quickly hid from view, and hoped that the knight did not see them.

M:   The knight didn't notice them, which was good because Derogan didn't have the energy to hide and was still lying on the floor in plain sight. The teen had done this before with Mandara before he learned to fly, but he didn't expect the weight difference between his brother and Johann.

After a few minutes of trying to regain energy, Derogan sat up and shakily leaned on his hand for support, his wings still splayed out and limp from the strain put on them.

N:   Johann saw Derogan struggle, so he came out of his hiding place, looking both ways before he did, and rushed to Derogan's side. "I guess that I am heavier than I look," he joked before stretching out a hand, "let me help you up."

Gently pulling him up, he placed the prince's arm on his shoulder and used his own arm to support the rest of him. When he made sure they could go, he asked, "where to now to get answers, since you know best? To your father, a random soldier, or the dungeons?"

M:   "J-just give me a minute," Derogan said, trying to make his legs stop shaking.

After another few minutes to regain his composure, Derogan was able to stand on his own and raise his wings off of the floor. He dusted himself off and put a hand to his chin as he thought about it.

"I think the dungeons," he eventually decided, "I'm sure Father doesn't want us to figure anything out so he and the knights won't even say anything if we ask. Thankfully, I know every nook and cranny of this castle so I know how to get there without being spotted, so all you have to do is stay quiet and follow me, ok."

N:   Johann nodded, and quietly, followed Derogan as they headed towards the dungeon. While they did, despite that he should have expected it, he was amazed at how well the young country was able to sneak themselves to different places, discovering new areas that he did not see before in his tour.

While they journeyed, Johann thought about what question he should ask England, hopefully one that did not fall into the 'you're not old enough to understand yet' category, and he was so deep into his thoughts that he didn't realize that arrived at their destination.

M:   Getting into the main dungeon was no problem as the basement door was never guarded, even when there were prisoners. The separate doors to the different parts of the dungeons were usually guarded, but it was pretty late so the guards were either sleeping or absent.

Derogan didn't know which area England was in so he checked every place with a sleeping guard. He found the French soldiers and a few Mandorian prisoners, but no English.

"Huh, maybe they aren't here after all," he whispered to Johann. Little did he realize that he should have checked the one area that wasn't guarded.

N:   England was not fully asleep, shifting his position in the bed so that he wouldn't press against his wounds. While they were sneaking around, England slightly lifted his head and spotted them, and was confused as to why they were there.

He got up after giving up on trying to sleep, walked up to the bars, and tapped on them, loud enough to get their attention but quiet enough to not disturb others. Johann heard it, turned, and saw England, so he tapped on Derogan's shoulder and pointed at the older country.

When they got closer, England whispered, "why are you two here?"

M:    "So we could ask the same thing about you," Derogan whispered back, "Father had a knight come to guard us and he let it slip that you were captured. He wouldn't tell us anything else so we snuck out to find out more. So why are you here, I thought you left days ago?"

The teen looked around and saw other English soldiers in the other cells, they were all asleep but he could see that they all were injured on some part of their bodies.

Derogan turned back to England, "d-did you attack us?"

N:   "I attacked, your father retaliated," he gestured to the soldiers in the cells around him, "however, what you see here are all the people left of the camp." He crouched down so that he was at the same level as the boys and sighed, "I admit, I shouldn't have attacked, but when your father is the head of insurgents, it is quite infuriating."

He faced Johann and examined him, he has never seen him before so he asked, "who are you?"

Johann jolted, not expecting that England would talk to him, and replied, "my name is Johann."

"Ah, guessing from your name and accent, I presume that you are Prussian-"

"I'm not Prussian; I'm Saxon," he growled, despite not liking Saxon, he refused to be called Prussian.

"Pardon me," England raised his hands in surrender, "sorry for making that assumption, and I am sorry for what my father did in Saxony." Johann lowered his head when the place was mentioned.

M:   Derogan's eyes flicked between England and Johann, all he knew was that Johann lost his home and family. He did already know that Johann must have been Saxon from when he said that Saxon represented his people, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

"What happened in Saxony," he asked, "Sir Saxon never said anything about that-"

Derogan stopped when he started putting the pieces together, so many nations have been after Saxon; French, English, Prussian; what if they were after him for the same reason. The teen's eyes widened in horror as the realization hit him like a bomb, but this couldn't be true, it just couldn't.

'"N-no, he wouldn't," Derogan denied, "there must be a mistake, the only person cruel enough to do that is Prussia."

N:   "Rumour has it that Saxon was fighting against Prussia while the king tried to get the land, and Saxon was not going to give up that easily. Then there was a ceasefire between them, and Saxon went to Prussia to discuss something, an ultimatum perhaps. No one knows what it was, but then," he glanced at Johann, "he attacked his own people."

He saw that Derogan was still in denial, so he explained, "my father has a thing where he would act differently around children, be kinder, and despite attacking his people, he refused to hurt the children," he lowered his head, "which is even worse; thereby creating orphans."

Johann has been deadly silent while England was talking, he was having flashbacks to when Prussian knights came and took his parents from him to Saxon, never to return. He tapped on Derogan's shoulder and muttered, "B-bitte, can we go b-back?"

M:   Derogan was frozen in place, still unable to believe what was said, he thought he could trust Saxon, that Saxon was a friend, guess he was wrong.

When Johann asked to leave, Derogan looked at him with new understanding In his eyes, as well as a hint of sadness. "Yes, we can go now," he said, then turned to England, "thank you for telling us everything, I will keep this in mind for the remainder of Saxon's stay, trenmear."

Derogan led Johann away, wrapping a wing around him to comfort him, all the while wondering how he was going to explain this to Mandara and Mandoria.

Unfortunately, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't see a knight guarding the stairwell.

"Hey, what are you two doing down here, you're supposed to be in your room," he said.

N:   Johann's head jolted when he heard the voice, and not thinking straight, he ran. He dodged the knight, and kept on running, wanting to run away from the conversation that just happened.

His running reminded him of when he ran from Saxony, clutching to the sword that his father left in the house, and escaping from Saxony. He was not paying attention to where he was going, and he did not know where the princes' room was, so he ran to the one place he definitely remembers: the stables.

When he arrived there, he slowed down until he arrived at a large pile of hay, slumped onto the pile, and hugged his legs. He tightly closed his eyes, trying to forget everything as he quietly sobbed.

M:   "Johann wait," Derogan shouted, he tried to run after him but the knight blocked his way.

"Oh no you don't, you have some explaining to do," he said sternly, grabbing the prince's arm.

"Let me go, he will get lost on his own," Derogan demanded, struggling against the knight, "JOHANN!"

——————

In the stables, Star Dust was having a midnight snack on her oats, she noticed some movement and perked up her head. She watched as Johann ran over to the hay pile and sat down to start crying.

Despite not being as smart as Silver Streak, she did have enough brainpower to open the latch to her stall and walk over to Johann, softly butting her nose against his back to see if he was ok.

N:   When Johann felt Star Dust, he smiled a bit, happy that he wasn't alone. He turned around and stroked her muzzle, and asked, "would I ever feel better?" He did not expect an answer, but he didn't mind, as he continued to stroke her muzzle. Eventually, he got exhausted, tired from the events of the day, and slept right there in the hay.

——————

Saxon was lightly sleeping when he jolted up after he heard the shout. He ran out of his room, and quickly checked on Anglo, who was fast asleep, and followed the source of the shout.

He headed straight into the dungeon and was surprised to see a knight holding on to Derogan, who was struggling to break free, so he asked them, "where is Johann, and why are you here?"

M:   "Wouldn't you like to know, you murderer," Derogan barked, "want to finish the job you started in Saxony!?"

The knight was dumbfounded by what Derogan said, giving the teen the opportunity to break free and run after Johann. He ran for a while, trying to find the kid before he got himself lost.

Eventually, he ended up barrelling into Mandoria, who had come to see what the shout was too, and was knocked to the ground.

"Derogan, what are you doing out here, you're supposed to be in your room," he said, helping up his son.

Derogan quickly explained what happened, he knew he was going to get in trouble but right now all that mattered was telling his father the truth about Saxon and finding Johann. Once he accomplished goal #1, he ran off to continue searching for Johann, leaving an extremely confused king behind.

——————

When Johann fell asleep, Star Dust lay down and lay her head next to him, like he was a little foal that needed a safe, warm place to sleep and escape from this cruel and unforgiving world.

N:   Saxon was momentarily in shock, as he didn't expect those words to be uttered from Derogan's mouth, and as soon as the prince left, he guessed who could have told him. Angry, he marched past the knight and beelined towards England, who was sitting on his bed, and realized what he did.

When he reached England's cell, Saxon slammed on the bars, not caring about the other prisoners, "why did you have to say anything about Saxony? He is still a kid."

"I told him because I understand how he felt, as I have been in his position before," replied England, staring at his fuming father, "for adults to believe you are too young to know about something they want to know; it is infuriating." He got up and walked so that he faced his father, so that the only thing between them was the bars, "Let me ask you, Faeder, why did you kill all of those people?"

"I didn't want to -"

"That is not an answer," England persisted, "let me repeat the question: why did you kill your people in Saxony?"

Saxon, his body shaking, replied, "I was made to -"

"That is still not an answer. Why did -"

"Because of Anglo," Saxon shouted, his fists turning white from gripping the bars too tightly, "because that bastard said that if I did not test if I still control the land, he would challenge Anglo to an aerial duel, and kill him." The last words hit him like a brick, he let go of the bars and knelt down on the ground. Tears started to form in his eyes as he muttered, "I couldn't lose the only person who anchors me, who keeps me sane," he looked up to England, "I can't lose your father."

England, seeing that he has broken his father, knelt so that he could talk to him. When he heard what Prussia demanded, he immediately wanted to go and kill him for threatening to kill his father, but he stopped to think again. He said, "you talk about losing someone close to you, close to us, yet you took away the loved ones of many others, of your own people," he placed his hand on Saxon's shoulder, "could you live with that?"

"What can I say," weakly chuckled Saxon, though England heard the guilt in his voice, "for I am Saxon, the head of insurgents, and the selfish entity."

M:   Derogan ran throughout the castle, he searched every room, hallway, and corridor but still couldn't find him. Mandoria had also joined the search and had some servants help too, he was still wondering about everything his son told him and really wanted to confront Saxon about it, but he knew that Johann was more important right now.

Mandara had long since fallen asleep since it was so late, but he let Silver Streak outside before he did, which meant she was the one who found Johann and Star Dust snuggled together in the hay.

Not knowing what to do, the raven flew over to Anglo's window and started tapping on it to get his attention.

N:   Anglo only mildly heard the tapping, so he initially ignored it; however, when it started to get on his nerves, he got out of bed, and walked toward the window, although he was shocked to see Silver at the window. He quickly opened it to allow her in and asked why she was there.

When she explained, he quickly left the room and followed her to the stables, worried for Johann's safety, but when he arrived, he smiled to see the bond between the mare and the boy. As he approached the kid, Star Dust opened an eye, and noticing Anglo getting too close, started to be protective of Johann, so Anglo had to convince her that he was not a threat. Gently lifting the boy, he carried him back inside the castle, with Silver flying near him, and made his way towards the princes' room.

As he journeyed, Johann woke up and was confused as to why he was in the arms of Anglo. Slightly disoriented, he started to hold onto Anglo tighter, and he asked, "where am I?"

Anglo looked down and replied, "you are in the castle, my boy, and I am taking you back to the princes' bedroom, where you were supposed to be." He noticed that his eyes were red and puffy, so he inquired, "were you crying?"

Johann, not wanting to answer the question, closed his eyes and remained quiet as Anglo carried him, and as the country turned the corner, he bumped into Mandoria.

M:  Mandoria was initially confused that Anglo was awake, but he looked down at Johann and a sigh of pure relief escaped his lips.

"Oh thank the spirits, we were looking everywhere for him," he said, "Where was he, did he sneak into your room?"

Silver Streak answered for Anglo, Mandoria's smile faded a little and he sighed again.

"The poor child," he said as he took Johann out of Anglo's arms into his own, "Derogan told me that they snuck out when they heard England was here. He apparently told my son what happened in Saxony, and I guess Johann couldn't handle reliving all that.

He looked up at Anglo, "thank you for finding him, I can take it from here now." he turned and began to walk away, but stopped to ask one more thing, "Why did he do it, all those people depended on him, yet he betrayed them, why?"

N:   "Sometimes, Saxon cannot think straight, especially when it comes to family," he sighed as he remembered what Saxon told him, "Prussia supposedly told Saxon that he would go and do what he did, or he would challenge me to an aerial duel, and knowing Prussia, he would have probably killed me. But that still doesn't justify what he did."

He looked at Johann, peaceful in Mandoria's arms, and said, "it is hard not to be affected by Saxon one way or another, and because of him, the boy is carrying so much grief, and still so young," he shook his head, "Saxon shouldn't have chosen that choice; I hate it when he does something because of me."

He bid the king a goodnight, turned, and left to go to his room, where he went into bed, feeling guilty that he may have caused the death of Johann's parents.

M:   Mandoria watched him go for a bit, then looked down at the sleeping child in his arms. He could only imagine the horrors he witnessed, and he probably didn't know why Saxon betrayed him.

"Is this what is awaiting me," he asked himself as he walked, "Is this what my sons will go through when Prussia challenges me?"

It wasn't a matter of IF Prussia comes, it is when. Mandoria knows the German will come, and he knows he will die by his hands, but he doesn't know what will happen to Mandara and Derogan, will they be spared or killed, and would they be old enough to fend for themselves?

Mandoria shook his head, he shouldn't be thinking about that now, he should be caring for the little boy in his arms, as well as the other two in the castle. He found Derogan and told him that Anglo found Johann and what Anglo said about Saxon. The teen was silent as he thought of the reasoning, but as he gazed at Johann he decided it wasn't good enough to excuse what happened to the kid.

Mandoria had to nod in agreement but said nothing more, simply sending Derogan to bed and making his way to his own bedroom. He lay Johann down in his bed and tucked him, and once he was finally safe, the king slumped down on an armchair in the room and slept there, making sure the kid wasn't alone, ever again.

N:   "Well, I think I have learned my lesson," England claimed as he stood up straight, which Saxon soon followed suit, "you're a terrible person, probably as bad as Prussia, and you think that you can make an excuse, but you can't. Live with it." He looked around to see that they had developed a small audience, so he suggested, "just go, Faeder, and remember that your actions have consequences."

Saxon nodded, not knowing what to say, and started to walk away, but he faced back and said, "you sound like Anglo when you speak like that." England simply shrugged and replied, "I learned from the best."

He trudged back to his room, wary to avoid any knights as he guessed that they knew what he did, so he avoided any large areas. When he entered his room, he did not care about removing his shoes and just laid down and stared up into the ceiling, believing that there could be a greater similarity between Prussia and himself. After a couple of minutes, he shut his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.