There was knock on the door to Jacobs room, where all of the friends were congregated. They were waiting for news that Eve had woken up and come out of her rooms.

“Come in,” Jacob called to the door. A page walked in with an excited look on his childish face.

“Ladies, Sirs,” the page said nodding to the rooms occupants. “The lady that you requested I tell you when she leaves…”

“Yes?” Paiden urged.

“Well she’s left, Sir.”

“Where?” The friends asked in unison.

“She ran out to the stables where Lord Andréus was saddling his horse.

The Lord quickly got on his horse, leaving his things, and the Lady followed him. There are rumors of sittings of them in the chapels. They say that she was in a fit of rage and she was going to take her revenge upon the Lord André.”

The friends rushed through the door, as they spat a thank you to the boy. They raced to the stables, and were out of the castle grounds in minutes. It didn’t take them long to find the exact temple that Eve and André had gone to, for André was still mounting his horse when they arrived. His clothes were in a tatter and his hair was ruffled. Blood was splattered on his clothing and a knife he was sheathing presently, was drenched with blood-red liquid. The friends all derived a conclusion before the villain even saw them coming. When André did notice them, he quickly unsheathed his blood-drenched sword and prepared for battle. Naomi and Ellie both saw the blood trickling onto the streets out of the temple door; they dismounted and ran to see what was amiss. Paiden and Jacob got off their horses and walked slowly towards André, their swords flashing in the reflective light of the unyielding sun.

“You needn’t worry about Eve, dear friends—she is already dead,” André assured, with a menacing grin.

“In that case, you have a murder to be punished for,” Jacob exclaimed.

“No, wrong you are—two murders to be punished for. William died by the power of my sword also.”

“Then you will die by my sword,” Paiden declared.

“Ha, very funny, but you’re welcome to try.”

“I think I will,” Paiden said, and rushed at him, with Jacob right behind him.

Paiden ran headlong into André, with his sword raised above his head, in a triumphant-looking but ultimately clumsy and useless move. A scream came from inside the temple, as Naomi and Ellie found Eve’s lifeless body. The scream powered Paiden to drive on into the villain and pin him against a wall.

Lord Andréus pleaded for mercy, but death was his fate, and he could not escape it. Paiden’s sword slit his chest without pity, and Paiden could only think of his friends, of whom this villain murdered. André laughed his last breaths of life out of him, and insanity consumed him. Death was his fate, and he could not escape it.