Osa and the Orangemen
Copyright© 2025 by Osa Oladapo
Chapter 24: The Magic War, Part 10: The Fall of Pride, Pt2
Amy’s and Osa’s forces meet at the base of the palace gate just in time to see two men falling out the windows, screaming until they hit the ground and die. Looking up, they see Ekina poke her head out and wave to them before she disappears back inside. A moment later the gate begins to open, and before them stand Adunbi and nine of his men fighting nearly two dozen palace guards. Three of Adunbi’s warriors and almost a dozen guards lay dead on the ground. Amy and Osa command their forces, nearly four hundred men and women, to seize the courtyard.
In less than a minute the battle is over, and Amy and Osa are standing next to Adunbi. Amy excitedly says, “We are doing great; we’ll have this place under our control in no time.”
Adunbi is a bit winded from having to fight such overwhelming numbers for so long. “We do seem to be doing better than expected.”
Osa is a bit more confused. “We haven’t encountered a single Orangeman since we got here. I know there was a sizable number when I was here last; they were the ones who kept the servants or slaves or whatever in line. They can’t have all just disappeared.”
Adunbi says, “Then they must be waiting in an ambush someplace inside.”
Amy says, “Or maybe the Price has them with him, and they are running out some secret back door. Since you broke his scrying pool, he can’t magic his way out.”
Joining them Ekina says, “If that’s the case, then they probably set traps to make it difficult to follow them, but the front halls are clear. Most likely to allow the guards to move about freely.”
Osa says, “In either case we need to continue with caution. I don’t trust these people. They are very arrogant and manipulative.”
Amy and Osa tell their lieutenants to take their troops to sweep the building room by room, floor by floor, and when possible, take prisoners out to the courtyard. Adunbi orders his remaining men to follow him, both his sisters, and Amy as Osa leads the way in search of Prince Rindell.
It doesn’t take long before Quivina and Vulkarias’ forces have secured the city wall and gates and then join John’s forces in taking control of the city. Several minutes after Adunbi, Osa, Ekina, and Amy have entered the palace, John, Vulkarias, and Quivina enter the courtyard and receive a brief update on what happened with the four scorers from the lieutenant that was left in charge of the courtyard. When an old man with long gray hair and a beard, in white robes, holding a walking stick walks through the palace gate. Quivina informs John and Vulkarias that she helped Osa in a fight against this old man and that he is some sort of mystic. John and Vulkarias move to flank the seer while Quivina prepares her bow and takes aim.
The old seer stops and plants his staff on the ground in front of himself, then says, “It’s not too late to stop this chaos. If the dark sorceress kills the prince, even worse will be loosed on the world. The one that will follow if he is slain will be dark and merciless. We must not allow the prince to die.”
Vulkarias asks, “What are you saying, old man? Why should we believe you?”
The old man tells them, “I am a seer of things past, present, and possible futures. I have seen dark and dismal times if the prince should die this day. It is not too late to save the world, but we must not allow the dark sorceress to slay the prince.”
John says, “We don’t know where they are at; they have been in the palace for some time, and none of us have ever been in there. We can’t help you, even if we wanted to.”