Chapter 40: A Difficult Decision

“Julian? What are you doing here?”

“I am here because I have missed you.”

“Do not use that cheap trick of a lie on me.”

“Fine. I want your goddess magic.”

“Wait, how do you know?”

“I have always known. I did my research on you. The Great Silva of the Desert being blessed by the goddess.”

“No one besides my closest friends, my family, and the Guild King know and it explains why you asked him to marry me. I should have known this was the real reason as to why you wanted to marry me. Then that means the Guild King has betrayed me and he is…,” Silva said, putting the pieces together.

“Yes, the Guild King is dead. You are smarter than you look.”

“That is your first mistake.”

“Enough of this small talk. Give me your goddess magic or I will kill your friends in front of you right now.”

“Are you serious right now? This is not something I could just give away. The goddesses choose the person to grant their magic.”

“IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!”

“I can see why you were not chosen. Your attitude problem and your power hungry trip automatically disqualifies you, so sorry.”

“Either you come with me to be married and willingly give me your magic or I will kill this little friend of yours. Bring out the prisoner.”

In less than a minute, Alice brings the prisoner out and placed in front of Lord Julian. It took a minute to understand what was going on and realize the prisoner was Julius. He was not in the best shape she had ever seen him in a long time. This made her cry tears that she never knew she had. It seemed strange for her since they really aren’t close, but he will always be her friend.

“Julius?!” Silva said in shock and disgust.

“Silva, I am sorry.”

“Julius, it is fine. I should never have gotten you involved.”

“It is fine. I am happy to help.”

“Be quiet.” Lord Julian said.

In a second he stabs Julian in the back and he falls to the ground.

Silva felt the pain as well making it hard for her to stay standing up and fell to the ground as well.

“I see, even though you are a goddess, you are also tied to the human souls. You can also feel their pain when they are close to death,” Lord Julius hypothesized in his theory. “Good, now bring out the rest of our guests.”

“Yes, Lord Julian,” Frank said, as he walked away to where they were holding the others.

“What do you want with me?” Silva asked almost in tears.

“Just wait.”

A few minutes later, Frank comes back to Lord Julius’s side with their newfound prisoners. Already feeling so much pain from Julian, Silva rubs away the tears in her eyes, shocked to see the rest of her friends were right alongside their captors.

“Terrance!” Silva shouted.

“I am sorry Silva, they caught us by surprise,” Terrance said feeling a little weak.

“My Goddess. I am sorry you were all dragged into this,” Silva apologized with a second wave of tears coming pouring down.

“Never thought a great goddess like yourself would actually be human. When I met you, you never showed a hint of emotion. So, how about we test that theory even more?”

Without giving any signal, Alice and Frank begin attacking Silva’s friends in front of her and she is helpless to do anything to save them. Lord Julian notices Silva turns away every time she sees Terrance suffering and connects the two already.

“Oh, I take it you two are lovers, even though you’re promised to me. I never thought you would even love anyone, in that case,” Lord Julian said, as he tortures Terrance again.

Terrance screamed in pain, but tries as hard as he can to hide this pain. This only made Silva cry even worse from the pain of her loved ones and had no choice to make a tough decision.

“Stop, please. I will do what you ask,” Silva pleads, hoping to save her friend.

“Good. I knew you would do anything to save your lover and friends. Now come and be my bride, as you willingly forfeit your goddess magic to me,” Lord Julian declares.

“Very well, I will marry you only with one condition,” Silva said, ready to negotiate.

“I am listening.”

“Free Julius and my friends from your prison guards and let them go free without your dogs hunting them down. If I catch you breaking your word then this deal is off,” Silva gave her terms.

“You have my word, they will not be hunted and safely released as of now, release them,” Lord Julian agreed to her terms.

“Thank you, please let me say goodbye to everyone before we leave,” Silva requested.

“Very well, you have ten minutes,” Lord Julian said, turning the other way.

“Thank you,” Silva said as she walked to her friends.

“Mommy, please don’t go, we need you,” Greer and Grace said together.

“I have to go. I know we just reunited for a short while, but I promise we will be together again soon. Stay with Auntie Raquel, she will take care of you. Now come here and give me a hug,” Silva said in tears, losing her girls again.

“Mommy,” the girls said as they were crying in her arms.

“Raquel, please look after them for me,” Silva asked her best friend.

“I will, I promise. You are doing something for others for a change, I respect that,” Raquel said kindly.

“Don’t stay with that jerk,” Lisa pleads.

“I have no choice. I cannot let you guys take the fall for me,” Silva said, hugging Lisa.

“My lady, please do not do this,” Seth pleaded.

“I will be fine, please take care of yourself and the others,” Silva said, hugging Seth.

“I will, I promise,” Seth agreed.

“Rajah, take care of my girls,” she said as she whispered to Rajah.

“Yes, my lady, of course,” Rajah said kindly.

“Silva, we will rescue you, I promise,” Rufus said kindly.

“I know you will,” Silva said, slipping Rufus a piece of paper.

“Right,” Rufus said, feeling the paper in his hand.

“Scout, please take care, I will see you later,” Silva said, hugging her.

Saying her good-byes to her friends and her daughters might have been painful and hurting her inside, but what was going to hurt the most was saying good-bye to the man she truly loves.

“Terrance, I love you and always will, please take care of yourself and my girls,” Silva said as she was hugging him and planting a small kiss on his cheek.

Terrance touching that spot on his cheek whispers, “I love you too.”

Silva walks away just before placing a cherry blossom in his hand to remember her by.

Silva rejoins Lord Julius’s group accepting her faith. Frank, his henchmen, comes to her side and places magical suppressing handcuffs on her arms, so she wouldn’t try anything stupid to make her escape. Silva did not care what happened to her at this point since she saved her friends from death and will make sure they stay safe.

Lord Julius, already acting possessive with her, guides her to the other end of the port and puts her into his ship. Which turns out to be a four horse drawn carriage covered in gold to over compensate for his ego.

With this cruel departure of Silva, most are still in shock while others make quick recoveries of what they have faced.

“What was Silva thinking? Why would she go with that jerk?” Lisa asked, sounding hysterical.

“She did it to save our lives dumb-dumb,” Rufus said while calling Lisa a name.

“Yeah, I know, but look what she did to Terrance and her daughters. They are heart broken,” Lisa pointed out the obvious.

“Cool it you idiot. I already got an answer to all of our problems,” Rufus showed the piece of paper Silva managed to slip to him.

“What is that?” Lisa asked.

“It is where she is headed and how to save her,” Rufus explains.

“Let me see that,” Lisa said, snatching it from Rufus.

“Sure,” Rufus said, handing it to her.

“Looks like this is a map to our guild hall and a list of other guilds that might help us to save her. It even seems there is a map to sneak past security to speak with the Guild King,” Lisa said reading it through.

“Right, isn't the Guild King dead?” Raquel asked.

“We are not sure of that. Maybe it was a lie Lord Julius made up to get Silva on her side,” Lisa thought out loud.

“In any case, we have to find out for ourselves to see if the Guild King really is dead. At the same time, we have to save Silva,” Raqual said, coming up with a plan.

“We will help guide you to the fastest routes to get to the guild halls,” Greer offered, recovering from losing her mom.

“Thank you my sweet dear,” Raquel said, hugging her niece.

“I cannot believe she has this guild on the list,” Lisa said, reading the piece of paper again.

“Yes, well, she always has this piece of paper with her in case she needs help from the guilds,” Rufus explains.

“Right, now I get it. Anyways, let’s see how Terrance and the others are doing,” Lisa said walking over to the others with Rufus.

“So, how are you two holding up?” Rufus asked.

“Thanks to Julian’s healing magic, it could have been worse for both of us,” Terrance explained examining his wounds.

“That is great. How is Julius?” Lisa asked.

“He seems to be fine. He will need some time to recover from all his wounds. It is a good thing he has healing magic flowing in his veins or it would have been worse for him. I can tell he is a bit down about Silva giving herself up to save us,” Terrance explains.

“Hum…Well he better recover it fast, because we are going to save Silva,” Lisa remarks.

“Count me in. Lord Julian the jackass will pay what he did to Scout and Silva,” Julian said, and it seems like he recovered.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Terrance said following their lead.

“Good to have you back. Now let’s go,” Lisa said, seemingly taking charge.

The gang might have lost a friend, but it is time for them to step up and save her before it is too late.

Silva in the carriage with Lord Julian could only show a sour face to him, but could not handle the silence.

“Should I ask where we are going or should I force it out of you?” Silva asked.

“We are going to the capital,” Julian said kindly.

“Why are we going there? The Guild King is going to be there. He will kill you for kidnapping me,” Silva said, pissed off.

“Let me make two things clear for you, one my uncle the Guild King is dead and there is already a new Guild King eager to take his place and second we are going to the capital to be married in front of the whole world. It is going to be the highlight of the year. Also, if you do not obey, I will kill your entire family,” Lord Julian threatens.

“My family is coming, why?”

“I believe they should witness this special event and they did sell you out by revealing all their secrets to me.”

“Fine, I will do whatever you ask.”

Silva decides not to speak again but to view the scenery during this adventure ride.