Temple Sword

Chapter 179 Reunion

1322, Saint Andrew's Month (November)
Timisoara, Hungary
-

It was just after noon, but the whole city had already been plunged into darkness like evening.The sun hid behind the gloomy clouds, and Antar Barto, who was leading his horse towards the castle stables, felt that hope had disappeared with the sun.

He's spent most of his life searching for happiness and trying to see everything on the bright side, but he can't remember the last time he felt happy.

Then it dawned on him that it was a year and a half ago, the day the King himself had come to his home in Dubica and summoned him again to join the war.

Everything seemed perfect that day, the spring had given them a good harvest, and he was working the fields with his hardworking farmers.

He saw his son strong and healthy, and he looked at his wife with a passion that never cooled.It was a beautiful spring day full of hope and chasing dreams.

Then Charles arrives with his hundred cavalry, and suddenly everything falls apart.

In fact, he felt that since then, his daily life was like a continuation of a never-ending nightmare from which he could not wake up.

In this nightmare, his ten years of hard work, his prosperous estate, became a looted ruin, his servants and farmers became victims of massacres, and his wife and son disappeared like ghosts.After all this time, he still hasn't found any trace of them!
If any of them were still alive, they should have crossed paths and bumped into each other long ago, wouldn't they have come to Timisoara to find him, just as fate brought the miller to him It is the same?

It didn't surprise Antares that he hadn't been able to find Mikolaj, the ex-housekeeper must have fled far away, and the mercenary army flying the black flag might have left Hungary long ago, too.

But the absence of Agnes and Elay for so long can only mean one thing to him, and he's becoming more and more certain...

As dire as the assumption is, Antal is slowly coming to terms with the fact that he has lost everyone he loved.

Without a word, without expression, he tied the horse in the stable and began to wash the horse's back. He suddenly felt nothing but a cold emptiness deep inside.

His heart is no longer tearing, his stomach is no longer convulsing, his throat is no longer choked, and all the tears he has been hiding seem to have dried up.

He is empty and indifferent, without any emotion, and only thinks about one thing: revenge, the more cruel the bloody moon, the better, he doesn't care what happens after that.

As the knight was lost in his darkest thoughts, a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

"Do you need any help, my lord?"

Antal immediately raised his head and turned away, for a moment he couldn't believe his eyes.The person standing in front of him was very familiar to him. Although his face was more vicissitudes, the eye circles were bigger, and the beard was thicker, the knight was sure who it was.

"Varos?" he asked incredulously, "It's impossible..."

"It is me, my lord," the captain of the manor's guard smiled sadly, "forgive me that your unfaithful servant failed to protect your territory."

"What are you talking about?" Antal approached him, "I know you have been holding on to the city wall, and you never gave up until the end. The miller survived, and he told me everything, you are like a real hero Fight, but there are too many enemies..."

Varos stood before his master with tears in his eyes, and Antal still stared at him in amazement, as if seeing a ghost.

"But the miller also said that everyone died there except him," Antal frowned and whispered, "all the adults, then you...how...?"

"I saved the hostess, just at—"

"What did you say?" Antal interrupted Varos, his eyes widening, his heart beating wildly in his chest again, and he realized that neither his hopes nor his feelings were dead yet. "Did you save Agnes?"

"She survived, my lord," said Varos hastily. "Your wife is alive and well, and she has been, by the Queen's kindness, since we arrived in Timisoara on the last day of All Saints' month." Your room is waiting for you..."

-

The heavy door was slammed open, and Agnes, who was sitting by the bed, raised her head, just like Antar who was in front of the threshold, motionless.For a moment, they looked at each other without saying a word, as if refusing to believe that what they saw was reality.

Then they thawed out of stunned stupor and rushed toward each other with snow-melting passion, then boiled together in kisses, hugs and tears, though they still couldn't find any words that fit.

They just sobbed there, like two stupid children, and Antar held Agnes tightly in his arms, as if never wanting to let go.They wept and hugged in silence for a long time before mustering enough strength to speak.

They told each other of all that had happened since Antal left the manor, and the knight briefly summarized the Battle of the Highlands, and the abandoned house at Chalokoz, and then the ruined manor, and the dreadful heap of corpses there, This made Agnes cry again.

The knight then recounted his increasingly desperate search for someone and how he returned to the king, punished as his bodyguard, and accompanied him south to Croatia.

Antal didn't mention Laszlo at all, and he didn't want to mention what Lakfei had done. He couldn't digest these things himself, and he didn't want his wife to be frightened again.

Agnes told almost verbatim what Antal had heard from the miller a year before, from the siege of the manor until the few defenders had retreated to the house, but what happened after that to the knights All new stories.

"We locked ourselves in completely, blocked the doors and windows, and set up barricades." Agnes recalled that even after all this time, he still had difficulty controlling his anxiety.

"We thought the house would last a long time and the thieves couldn't break through the stakes, but we were afraid that they would set fire to the house, and that even if they didn't do anything, sooner or later we would run out of water and food.

Bograka took me aside and said we should send the children into a secret tunnel while there was still food and water, and the three of them, small and agile, could escape their attackers under cover of night and reach the royal palace.

I asked them to wait for you and me in Timisoara, even if we failed to reach the king's city, they still have the king.But it seems that they never managed to get here..."

"I don't understand," Antal said in a dull voice, "why don't you go with them?"

"I sprained my ankle on the way back," Agnes explained, "and I was afraid I'd drag them down, I was too slow.

A few hours later, Varos and Bograka persuaded me to flee, no matter how far I could limping, no matter how painful each step was, it seemed a better option than waiting to die.

Outside the door, Mikolaj and his mercenaries kept shouting at us, threatening us with increasingly brutal things.

Varos and his few remaining guards tried to break out at an unexpected moment, and even if they failed, they would attract attention and buy time for those who fled.

The others also thought that they had been hiding long enough, and we all knew that no reinforcements would come, so we all agreed.

Varoth's fighting spirit infected us all, and our dear good servant insisted that I escape before they broke through, but I couldn't get far alone, so Bograka came with me.

Varos promised to escort us to the exit and say goodbye to his wife there, but..."

Agnes didn't finish his sentence, and his voice trailed off, but Antal knew exactly what happened to Varos before saying goodbye to his wife.

"But as soon as we got down into the tunnel," Agnes continued, "the others closed the entrance behind us. They blocked the plank, and you know it's impossible to open it in the tunnel.

Varos was so angry that he kept banging on the bottom of the planks and screaming like hell for them to let him go back, but the men didn't...they loved him too much to let him die.

So they rushed out without us, to distract Mikolai...to save us..."

The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and was silent for a while.She then said that although they were moving slowly, they had no trouble and they made it all the way to Timisoara.

There they failed to find Ire, Antal, or the King, and Agnes started to get hot-headed like her husband, and Varos and Bograka tried to bring her back to her senses, but she didn't listen.After recovering from her foot injury, she set off to find her only child.

Although they had neither horses nor enough money, they set off at last.For more than a year, they traveled the entire kingdom on foot, their bodies became more and more exhausted, their clothes became more and more tattered, and they almost became beggars later on.

They would have starved to death if Varos hadn't known how to build forest huts, steal birds' eggs, fish with sharpened sticks, hunt with spears, or work as coolies in towns, villages, or farms for food.

Varos was their true guardian, and along with Bograka he followed their mistress faithfully, and by the end, Agnes also realized that all she was doing was in vain.

According to Agnes, they have also been to all the places that Antares went through when they were looking for her and Ire, just at a completely different time, they took the same road, but for such a long time, they both unfortunately avoided each other.

"We returned to Timisoara with the last of our strength, Queen Elizabeth was very kind to us, she was a kind lady." Agnes finished her story. "She immediately let me move into your residence and provided the three of us with new clothes and plenty of food.

Bograka and Varos were placed in the servants' quarters until they recovered physically and mentally.Bograka helped in the kitchen, and Varos had other tasks, but the queen did not allow him to watch on the city walls.

She said that if he miraculously survived to this day, she did not want anything to happen to the captain of Antar Bator before meeting his master. "

"You've all been through terrible things," Antar said, holding his wife's hands, sitting on the bed, turning around, looking deeply into her eyes,

"I thought these horrible things had taken away my feelings and I would never be able to live happily or do any good, but now we all have new opportunities and hope."

"Antal..." Agnes sighed, but the knight didn't seem to hear her.

"Maybe we won't be able to go back inside the walls of the manor again," he said excitedly, "but we can build a new future together, and the manor may be too much of a dream for a knight like me, nine We've been working on it for years, but fate tells us maybe we should be fighting for something smaller."

"Antal..." Agnes spoke again, with sadness hidden in her voice, but Antal still did not allow her to interrupt her fiery thoughts.

"I have made a firm vow to Charlie, because I have realized that I cannot turn my back or escape my fate, and that my hand is for a sword and not a scythe.

But that only means I have to stay with the king and not go south to work the fields, but, Agnes, Charlie will be back in the heart of the kingdom soon!The royal capital will be moved to Visegrad!
It's a beautiful place where we can have our own house.Varos and Bograka can be with us for the rest of their lives, and that's the least we can do for them.

Soon Simon will be back from Transylvania too, and I think he'll be a good steward.Maybe we won't be able to build our own estate again, but... I think we can be happy. "

"Antal," Agnes shook her head, "you've always been a big dreamer..."

"You are crying," said the knight in astonishment, "why are you crying?"

"Antal, we will never be happy, never be the same again..."

Antal couldn't answer, he just looked at his wife with a confused, sad look, and a lump started to form in his throat.

"Why do you say that?" he moaned under his breath. "I know you like living in the manor, but believe me, this city..."

"It has nothing to do with the estate," Agnes plucked up the courage to say what she was determined to tell her husband, and it was the most difficult opening she had ever said in half her life. child. Because... he is dead, Antal.

Why are you looking at me with such surprise?You must have figured it out yourself, otherwise why didn't you look for him anymore?Our son is dead.He died, like Sepuk and Corta.

And it's all our fault, this endless pain is our punishment, because we are sinners.don't you understand

I can no longer be a part of your dream, even under the protection of the king, we cannot live happily in Visegrad, because we are punished by beings greater than all the kings of the earthly world..."

The world around Antal began to spin, and he let go of his wife's hands, and the woman moved away from him, shame on her face.

"Agnes, I..." Antal wanted to say something, but his dry throat was almost speechless, "I don't understand, I... what is... why did you say...?"

"Antal, I can no longer be your wife." Agnes stood up, bowed her head, and tears began to fall to the ground.

"I want you to take me as soon as possible to Margaret Island, to the Dominican convent where I was a novice. There I will take my lifelong vows and confess for the rest of my life."

(End of this chapter)