The Sage of Einar

Chapter 117 - A Keepsake For The Emperor

In a small camp near the wall of Danevirke, a knight whose armor was bruised and covered in blood.

Interrupted the tranquility of the place when, ignoring the orders to stop, continued riding until they reached a tent which was guarded by two spearmen.

Which upon seeing the knight who seemed to have escaped from the battlefront, held their spears and pointed at the stranger who was about to get off the horse.

When the knight got off his horse, they took off her helmet revealing long blond hair, but what caught everyone's attention was the face with fine features which showed signs of fatigue.

The woman then approached the two guards and looked at them seriously "I am Adelaide, the bastard daughter of Emperor Ludovico.

I want to go in to see Commander Gautier ask for help because my father was attacked. "

The soldiers upon hearing the woman's words recalled the news about the female knight, but they never thought that it was the bastard daughter of the emperor.

So they stopped pointing their spears at her and let her into the commander's tent since they didn't want to have problems with the imperial family.

When Adelaide entered the tent, she was met by Duke Gautier, who was sitting in a simple chair looking at some scrolls.

Raising his hand and not seeing the person who had entered, he moved his hand to indicate to leave.

"How many times do I have to say not to bother me when I'm reading the reports from the front of ..."

The duke interrupted his words when he raised his head to see a woman he immediately recognized.

"Princess Adelaide, what happened to you, and why do you seem hurt ...

Where is the emperor, did something happen? "

Princess Adelaide looked seriously at the Duke "We were attacked on the way, they were less than us but they were well prepared.

They knew we would go that way, I could only survive because of the sacrifice of one of the knights who covered my retreat.

I do not know if my father is still alive, but I am sure of something and that is that someone reported our movements, but they should not have been my brothers.

Well, they don't have the courage to kill my father right now, unless they've gone mad or found a good alliance to bear the consequences.

Either way, I need you to help me get my father back, no matter if he's dead or still alive.

His body has to return to Pariisi because the future of the empire will be decided upon him. "

Gautier got up from his chair and rubbed his nose "Princess, I cannot leave the camp because my duty to God and the empire is to prevent those pagans from leaving their walls and destroying our land.

But I can send my son Paul with four thousand armed soldiers to search for the emperor, as long as the culprits are found. "

Gautier walked to a small chest from where he took out a small leather backpack that had some papyri inside.

Placing them on the table, he opened them and showed them to Adelaide. "These are the names of the only messengers who knew where the emperor would go.

I will torture them in order to know if they are the culprits, although my instinct tells me that the problem lies with the new duke.

According to reports from some spies, the duke's son learned that his father was wounded but did not send help, and in the end, he ended up dying at the hands of some Danish bandits.

But that's not all. In the capital of the duchy, there was a slave revolt where all the possible heirs of the duchy died.

Now with the attack on your father, I think everything is starting to make sense ... "

Looking seriously at the princess, Duke Gautier took a deep breath.

"If by the grace of the lord your father is alive, bring him directly to the camp and do not go anywhere near the capital of the duchy.

Right now we are very far from Paris and we are isolated between an enemy and a possible traitor.

Fortunately, the troops of the Duchy of Dithmarschen are under our orders, I will speak with the counts and other nobles so that they are placed in the front line.

That way, even if they reveal themselves, their end will be miserable and they won't harm the rest of the army. "

In the morning, in the Anders camp, Emperor Ludovico was waking up with the first rays of the sun.

The first thing he could feel was the pain in his hand and ear, so he could only scream a little while trying to keep calm from the pain.

Anders who was resting on some furs managed to hear the noise of the emperor so he got up and stretched his arms, feeling completely renewed after having slept like a baby.

When he came out of his tent, the first thing he could feel was the warm sun, which only caused him to breathe deeply and he would stand still for a few minutes.

Feeling that he was already warm enough from the sunlight, Anders started walking to the remains of the campfire that had been there last night.

Among the ashes he found them a completely charred arm of the emperor, so he took it and walked where he was.

Ludovico was not paying attention to his surroundings because the pain kept him in a semi-conscious state.

He felt someone gently hit on his face, so he raised his face and watched as the culprit of his condition offered him a long and black thing.

"You should eat emperor, maybe it is not meat prepared with many spices and dipped in honey.

But it was made with love, so you should eat something otherwise you will die before you get your revenge and we don't want that to happen, do we? "

Ludovico wanted to refuse, however, his body did not think the same because yesterday he had lost a lot of blood and added to the vomiting caused by vertigo.

He began to bite into the burned meat no matter where it came from, although the taste was quite bitter due to the fact that it was completely burned.

Each bite left in that meat gives him a feeling of tranquility because it could alleviate the hunger he had.

Anders, who was maliciously smiling, took his time to feed the emperor as if it were a dog or his wolf Fenrir.

When the emperor felt that his hunger had disappeared, he watched in horror as some bones protruded from the burned flesh.

At that moment, he could only laugh because he realized that he had been eating the meat from his hand.

Anders who heard the emperor's laugh patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm very glad that you loved the food, I personally took care of cooking it, although as you can see it burned a bit if not to say that it ended up completely charred.

But you are already a big man, I don't think you complain about having a bit of coal in your stomach; it is also your arm so everything you lost returned to your body.

It's a shame that I'm going to have to use the bones for something else, but I'd be happy to give them to you so that you can eat them ... "

Anderson that moment was interrupted due to Fritz riding into the camp while screaming.

"We have to get out of this place quickly because I could see that a great army was approaching in the distance. Prepare your things and someone wakes up Anders!"

Anders who heard everything looked at the emperor with a smile.

"I suppose that you people have come looking for you so you will stop being my problem, but before we part ways, the emperor let me give you your memory."

Ludovico who was angry looked as that man walked towards a small shelter. After a while, the man came out carrying a necklace in his hands.

As that man got closer, Ludovico looked at the necklace hanging from his five fingers, so gritting his teeth he tried to keep calm.

"This is the craft that is yesterday, I hope you love it as it has your five fingers for you to remember.

But before I have to run from this damn place, I want you to know that the person who did all this was Queen Malene.

As for my name, just tell me Anders, a normal berserker in this land plagued by war and death.

I hope we meet again emperor and remember someone of his allies sold their information. As a parting gift, I will leave the scrolls that I found in my little refuge.

Maybe I can find the culprit, as for me… "

Anders spread his hands and pointed to where the sun was rising "I think I will travel with my people to the Western Isles.

From what I have been able to hear, the kingdoms in that place are too chaotic, a perfect place for slags like us to survive and increase their strength.

Who knows, maybe in the future we will meet you as emperor and as a simple king of some area abandoned by the hand of any God.

It was a pleasure to have met him emperor and remember everything he told you and please survive. It would be a real shame if you died at this very moment. "

After saying those words Anders began to run towards one of the horses that he had stolen and placing in it the few things he had, he began to ride with his group of warriors.

All with the intention of being able to get out of that cursed place before the emperor's troops could catch them.

As he watched as he was left behind, the emperor lowered his head and began to tremble due to the helplessness he was feeling.

But despite that, he shouted towards the dawn "I will take revenge Anders, I will finish with this garbage and I will go looking for you even if I have to burn everything in my path.

It does not matter that you hide in a cave, in a ship, in a kingdom, as long as Emperor Louis I lives, I will look for you so that I can kill you with my own hands.

I swear on behalf of our lord. "