Swan Princess: Rise of the Forbidden Arts chap14

Chapter 13

"Come on ladies!" the Drill Instructor shouted as he lead his regiment around the track. "Keep up the pace! I've seen more effort in my grandmother!"

It had been well over a month since the new soldiers came to training. And progress had improved by quite a lot. The regiments were in better shape and they're combat techniques had improved three times since they had arrived. The horses had arrived earlier than expected so the Cavalry was able to practice riding around and fighting on horseback. The Archer regiments were doing excellent as they continued to hit their targets. And even if they didn't, their arrows were close enough that it was considered a fatal blow. The Infantry regiments were doing much better than before. The main reason behind this was because a certain black and white bird decided to help teach some martial arts that he had learned. At first, everyone thought this was a joke. But when Puffin was able to bring three men down within a minute, no one even considered thinking against the bird teaching them, though it did feel weird for them at times. Right now, Puffin was teaching them a bit of Judo.

"Alright," Puffin said to the regiment in front of him, "Now take your arm under your partner's and use his weight to flip him over you, but make sure to keep his arm in your grip. Like so." He then demonstrated the move and his unwilling partner, Jean-Bob, taking his arms and throwing his over his shoulder while still holding onto his arms. Jean-bob landed on the other side of Puffin with a loud thud. The frog then looked up at Puffin with the intent to kill.

"You are so going to pay for this," Jean-bob said. Puffin just shrugged and smirked.

"Got to demonstrate somehow, right?" he replied. He then looked up to the regiment of soldiers attempting to copy the same movement the he just did, many managing to accomplish it without flaw. Puffin looked up at the magnifying glass that Rothbart created to enhance his image so that all the soldiers could see him. "Works like a charm Rothbart."

Puffin then heard wings flapping behind him and turned around to see Whizzer fly his way. Once Whizzer landed, Puffin let Jean-Bob up so he could face his fellow bird friend completely.

"Situation Report?" Puffin asked. Whizzer saluted.

"Everything is clear from above," he said. "No sign of any enemies near the castle so far." Puffin nodded.

"Good. I will be sure to report this to Rothbart and king Jacob. Keep an eye out in in the meantime."

Yes sir!" Whizzer saluted again before taking off once again. Whizzer had been Puffin's scout for the past month to check the surrounding areas around the castle for any signs of the enemy. Fortunately none have be spotted. Puffin wasn't expecting there to be until the birth of the new royal baby, but he wanted to keep things on the safe side. Puffin had asked this of Whizzer when the training of the new army first started, but he was expecting Whizzer to turn it down. However, Whizzer gladly agreed to it without hesitation. He explained that he wanted to do whatever it takes to protect his new family after they took him in after the situation with Zelda. Puffin wasn't expecting this, but wasn't complaining either. He was actually touched by Whizzer's words. When he mentioned this to Odette, she wanted to express her appreciation to Whizzer. And thanks to the hormones of pregnancy, she almost choked Whizzer to death in a tight hug and was crying tears of joy. Puffin laughed at the memory. He was about to return to the soldiers in front of him when he suddenly felt his legs being swept underneath him and landed on his stomach. Within the next three seconds, he found himself in a hogtied position with his wings and legs tide up behind his back. Puffin looked up behind him to see a green frog standing above him.

"And this, recruits," Jean-Bob said in a smug voice, "is how to bring down your opponent, or in this case an annoying parrot, and restrain him. And this also shows you to never be distracted and remain focused." Puffin could hear the snickering of the soldiers and glared up at Jean-Bob.

"Very funny Jean-Bob," he said. "But you do realize, of course, that this means war right?" Jean-Bob just smirked and leaned down.

"You started it," he replied before walking off in the other direction, leaving a very angry Puffin struggling against the ropes and calling out to Jean-Bob to let him go.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the training fields Jacob and Rothbart were watching the soldiers training as they have been since they began, making sure that everything was going well and that there were no accidents. Sometimes they would join in on the training to keep themselves in good shape, and to pass the time. But right now they were just watching from on top of the large platform. Rothbart looked across the fields and noticed that someone wasn't there, again. He smiled at this before turning to Jacob.

"It seems that our dear little prince isn't around again today," he said. Jacob looked at him with a raised eyebrow and looked towards the direction Rothbart was referring to before smiling himself.

"Odette's probably giving him a hard time over something small again." He finished his statement with a small laugh. Rothbart laughed as well as he shook his head.

"I'm least it's not our problem," he said. "Not even I would want to be around when she's having one of her fits." They shared another laugh.

"I Don't think even Sargon himself would want to be around that." They were laughing so hard that they almost didn't hear the sound of hooves approaching them from behind. They both turned around to see a tired looking Prince climbing down from his horse and slowly began to walk towards them. Jacob and Rothbart smirked at one another before heading down to meet Derek halfway. Once they were close enough, they could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes.

"Trouble in paradise?" Rothbart asked. Derek tried to glare at the enchanter but was too tired to keep it up.

"She kept me up half the night saying that I take up most the bed. So I scooted over to give her some more room, but then she started going off on me saying that i don't want to be near her. I didn't know what to do. She then apologized and we finally got some sleep. Then she woke me up early and started yelling at me for snoring too loud."

"You snore?" Jacob asked, close to tears from holding in his laughter.

"Apparently!" Derek shouted. He then let out a big sigh and looked down at the ground. "I don't know if I can handle anymore of this without it killing me first. What do I do?" He looked up hoping to have an answer. What he got, however, were two red faces of Rothbart and Jacob trying so hard, but failing, to keep their snickers under control. Derek gave them another tired glare before they both finally burst out laughing. They were laughing so hard that Rothbart had to place his hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over while Jacob wrapped his arms around his stomach. This caused Derek glare harder as his face grew red with embarrassment.

"This is not funny!" he shouted at them. But it only made Jacob and Rothbart laugh some more. They were finally able to calm down after a few minutes with Derek still glaring at them. After gaining control of himself, Jacob stood up completely to look at the troubled prince.

"I'm sorry my boy," he apologized. "But this is the price of becoming a father. Putting up with the mother." Derek sighed again.

"What happened to that sweet angel that I married?" he asked tiredly. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Jacob smiling down at him.

"She's still there, my boy," he said. "It's hormones from the pregnancy. She'll be back to normal when the baby gets here. You should have seen your mother when she was pregnant with you." Derek chuckled a little until he noticed the dark look on Rothbart's face.

"Was she that bad?" he asked as he heard Jacob laugh.

"Let's just say that Odette doesn't even compare to your mother," Jacob said.

"She almost strangled me just for saying she looked pleasant!" Rothbart shouted. Jacob laughed even louder.

"At least you said something nice," he said. "Dmitri was almost suffered a painful death because he said something stupid." This peaked Derek's interest.

"What did he say to her?" he asked. Both Jacob and Rothbart turned their attention back to Derek, Jacob with a smirk on his face.

"Your mother was six months pregnant with you," Jacob said, "and was still very emotional. And you know how your mother feels about her looks. So she asked Dmitri if she looked fat to him."

"Of course your father said no," Rothbart added. "But he also said that she look a little big." By this time Jacob was trying real hard, but failing, to keep his laughter under control. He actually almost fell over from laughing.

"She-she spent the whole morning chasing him around the castle with a sword." Now Rothbart was joining Jacob in laughing at the memory.

"I guess you got your bad choice of words from your father," Rothbart said between laughs. Both Jacob and him spent the next five minutes laughing and holding each other up while Derek just watched on in wonder. He just found out something new about his father and was quite happy with it. He didn't even care they they were making fun of him as well. Plus he realized he didn't have to deal with something like that from Odette. Which reminded him of something.

"Hey Rothbart," he called out, but then realized they he and Jacob were now dying on the ground. Derek sighed and decided to wait until they were finished. Once they managed to regain their composure he tried again.

"Rothbart!" Derek called again. Rothbart slowly picked himself off the ground as he wiped tears out of his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I also forgot to mention that Odette wants to spend the day with you today." This caught Rothbart by surprise. He had been there for a little over a month and he had never had any opportunity to spend any time with his goddaughter. Mainly due to the fact that he felt uneasy about being around her after all the pain he had caused her. He knew she had forgiven him, but he still felt horrible about it. Now she was actually asking to spend the day with him? He didn't know what to say his mind was such a bank. Jacob seemed to notice this and came to his rescue.

"Really?" he asked. "She's never asked that before." Derek shrugged.

"She figure you guys were too busy training the army to spend time with her," he replied. Jacob and Rothbart, who had finally recovered, narrowed their eyes a little at this.

"Of course not," Rothbart said. "We're never too busy to spend time with her." Derek rose an eyebrow as a smile appeared on his face.

"So that means your going to take her offer?" he asked. Rothbart's eyes widened as he realized what he said. But it was too late to back down now. He took a deep breath before answering.

"O-of course," he said. "I would love to spend the day with my goddaughter." Derek's smile turned into a smirk.

"Good. She's your problem for the day." Rothbart narrowed his eyes at him as Jacob let out a little snicker.

"Where is she now?" Jacob asked. Derek pointed at the castle behind him with his thumb.

"She's in the dinning room eating breakfast," he answered. "You don't want to know what she asked for." He finished his sentence with a shudder.

"That bad, huh?" Jacob asked. Derek nodded.

"Yeah." He turned back to Rothbart. "So are you going or not?" Rothbart shook his head quickly as he realized he was suppose to leave now.

"Oh yes. Of course." Then Rothbart did something he hadn't done in a long time; he transformed into his Great Animal form, receiving gasps and startled mutters from the soldiers around them. With that, Rothbart spread his larges wings and took off towards the castle. Derek and Jacob watched him as he flew across the sky.

"I haven't seen him in that form since I last fought him," Derek said. Jacob nodded.

"It has been a long time," he replied. "Only now it will hopefully be seen as a good sign rather than bad." He then patted Derek on the back.

"Come on Mr. 'What-else-is-there?'. We've got a lot f work to do." Derek glared at Jacob as they headed towards the combat training area.

"Will no one ever let that go?!"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Odette was in the dining hall just as Derek said she would. She, personally, wasn't having the best morning. She woke up with morning sickness again and went off on Derek for snoring. She knew he didn't really snore but she was just in a bad mood. But then Derek made her feel better by saying that he would do something special for her. He told her he planned Rothbart and her to spend the day together. She was happy about this because she had wanted to get to know Rothbart better now that she knew he was her godfather. After that Derek left to bring Rothbart while she went down to eat breakfast. She about finished with her breakfast, pickled eggs and beets dipped in peanut butter with a side of sausages, when Bridgette walked up to her.

"Odette want more?" she asked. Odette smiled down at her.

"No thank you Bridgette," she said. "I'm fine." Bridgette nodded and proceeded to leave the room. Once Bridgette had left the window opened suddenly, causing Odette to jump. But when she saw the Great Animal just outside the window, instead of screaming, a wide grin spread across her face. She finished her last few bites of her breakfast and stood up to meet Rothbart, who had now just transformed back to his normal self. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug, which he gladly returned.

"I'm so glad you could come," she said. "I have really been looking forward to spending the day with you." Rothbart smiled down at her.

"As have I, my dear," he replied. "You are looking very beautiful today." Odette smiled at the complement.

"Thank you. I'm so glad Derek made these arrangements." Rothbart raised an eyebrow.

"Arrangements?" he asked. Odette nodded.

"Yes. He said that you and him planned for us to spend the day together today." Rothbart's eyebrows narrowed a bit as a small smirk began to show on his face.

"Oh he did did he?" he said.

I see what that little bugger did now, he thought to himself as Odette was nodded.

"So what are we going to do today?" she asked and Rothbart could have sworn that she was acting like a little girl.

Must be the pregnancy.

"Well," he said. "I was mainly hoping to learn you. There's still so much I don't know." Odette smiled up at him.

"Alright," she agreed. "But in return you have to tell me all about the adventures you and my father had."

"Deal." With that, Rothbart reached out his arm and Odette gladly took it as they walked out of the room and through the castle halls. They were both quiet for a while, mainly because neither knew who should start or what to start with. So they just continued on through the castle enjoying each others company. Rothbart was enjoying the silence, only because he needed to think of what to talk about. he had been wanting to spend some time with his goddaughter for a long time, ever since she had been born. But other things needed to be done before he could do that. He actually wasn't sure he would ever be able to do that. And when Derek told him to Odette wanted to spend the day with him, he spent the entire way to the castle thinking of how to spend that day. But now that he was here with Odette, his mind was a complete blank. Odette, on the other hand, had no trouble of what to talk about. She had everything planned out for the day even before Derek told her that she was spending the day with Rothbart. She just didn't know when that day would arrive. They were now heading outside of the front doors when Odette finally decided to break the silence.

"So what would you like to know first?" Odette asked. Rothbart thought about this for a moment.

"Well," he said, "let's start with simple things. What's your favorite color, food, and activity that you like to do?" Odette giggled a little bit.

"That's easy enough." She paused for a moment to think about her favorite things. "I really don't have a specific favorite food really, but if I had to pick one, it wold most likely be strawberries. My least favorite food is anchovies." She made a squinting face to show her distaste for them, which caused Rothbart to chuckle at her.

"My favorite colors are blue like the night sky and orange like a sunset. And my favorite activity horse riding, although reading would be my next choice. My favorite books to read are the ones about romance. I just love to read those kinds of books. My favorite music is mainly the kind you can dance to. Sometime when I hear Rogers' orchestra playing from my room, I like to get up and dance around the room." As Rothbart listened to Odette, only one though came to his mind.

"You sound so much like you're mother," he said. That caught Odette off guard. She quickly looked up at the Enchanter.

"You knew my mother?" she asked. Rothbart raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," he replied. "I told you that I was the one that introduce your father to her, remember?" Odette thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"What was she like?" she asked. "Father like to talk about her much. It was always to painful for him." They both stopped near a bench and sat down. Rothbart let out a sigh before looking down at the floor.

"That's understandable," he said. "He loved her very much. I don't think that a husband could love his wife more than he loved your mother."

"What was she like?" Odette asked. Rothbart smiled at her.

"You look just like her, Beautiful beyond compare." Rothbart then looked up towards the sky. "She was the kindest and gentlest women anyone could every meet. She spent many days helping the citizens of the kingdom. Taking care of orphans and helping the sick. She would even rip pieces of her dress to bandage a wound. She went out of her way to make people's lives better. Much like you do know as I've been told." Odette smiled at his words and waited for him to continue.

"I met her when I was a kid, around twelve I think. William, Jacob and I were racing our horses near the edge of the kingdom. William and Jacob were ahead of when I decided to take a shortcut through the woods. I knew the area like the back of my hand at that time. I was in the middle of the woods when I started to hear crying. I looked around to find what was causing it when I found her, a little girl, no more than ten, on the ground crying. My first thought was that she was lost in the woods. So I climbed off my horse and slowly walked over to her. She must have heard me coming because she quickly turned around thinking I was a monster. When she saw that I wasn't she calmed down a bit. I asked her if she was alright and she told me that she was indeed lost. I told her that I would gladly help her find her way home. She was very happy to hear that.

"I helped her climb onto my horse while I stayed on the ground and lead the way out. As I lead the horse out of the woods, your mother and I had a nice conversation, mainly to keep her calm. She told me her name and I told her mine. She even told me she was a princess from a small kingdom. I was about to bow to her when she told me that I was the hero and that I shouldn't bow to anyone. And that's when I first found her to be a kind angel. Once we finally reached the edge of the forest, we found a group of guards that had been searching for her. They offered me a reward but I refused. But before we said our farewells, Cassandra asked if we would ever see each other again. Of course I said yes and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. After she departed I went back to find Jacob and Willy.

"Every month or so, your mother and I would meet up at the same forest to play. She would take me to her kingdom and I would take her to Willy's. We would have so much fun together." Rothbart laughed at the memories of him and Cassandra. Odette listened to every word that Rothbart said and could picture it in her head as if she was there. A small girl lost in the would and suddenly finds a friend. It was almost like a romantic story from one of her books. And a thought struck her as she looked at the happy smile on Rothbart's face.

"Did you love her?" she asked. Rothbart didn't even look at her or say anything to answer her question, the answer was in his eyes. He only nodded once.

"Yes," he said. "I loved her dearly. But I knew it wouldn't be appropriate for a peasant to have a relationship with a princess. Especially with the father she had." Odette raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Rothbart had a stern look.

"Her father was always bent on tradition. He wasn't even fond of the friendship I had with her and even tried to convince her to let me go. She refused of course and that caused a few problem between them. But he did love your mother very much and allowed our friendship to continue soon after. So Cassandra and I could continue to be friends. But I knew in her heart that she longed for love. I knew that I couldn't be the one to give it to her. So I decided, after almost two years of knowing her, to introduce her to your father."

"Really?" Odette asked. "You gave up your love so she could be happy?" Rothbart nodded.

"It was one of the hardest things I had to do," he said. "But I knew it was right. And so did you father." Rothbart saw the look of confusion on her face and continued.

"After a few years of your parents being together, Willy found out that I loved your mother long before he did and decided to 'make things right' as he liked to put it. He wanted me to be his children's godfather." Odette smiled at the knowledge of her father's selflessness.

"He really was a great man," she commented. Rothbart nodded in agreement.

"He was one of my best friends. We actually met when I was eight."

"What happened?" Odette was excited to hear the story of how he met her father.

"I was an orphan in Willy's kingdom just struggling to survive. And one day, a group of older kids came up to me and started throwing things at me. I was a good fighter even then but they had me outnumber four to one. I knew I couldn't beat them so I ran away, but they thought it fun to chase me. I ran away into an ally hoping to escape but it was a dead end. I was trapped as they started to advance upon me. I almost thought I was done for when one of them was suddenly hit on the head with a rock. Everyone one looked at the entrance of the ally and there stood William.

"He was brave, and an idiot, even then because he launched himself at my attackers before they knew what was going on. I couldn't let him fight them off on his own so I jump right in the middle of it as well. I still, to this day, don't know how we were able to be them, but we did. Once those kids ran off I thanked William and asked why he helped me. All your father said was that he couldn't let a citizen of his Kingdom get hurt to a bunch of trouble maker without him having anything to say about it. And ever since then me and your father have been the best of friends."

Odette was smiling as she listened to Rothbart. She never realized that this man, one who she had been told was evil, was one of the most kind and caring beings she had ever met. She almost felt bad about hating him for all those years. But then again, she was suppose to think that way of him, for her own protection. But still, he had done so much for her and she never knew about any of it. Learning all of this now made her feel better about everything.

"But enough about my past," Rothbart said. "Tell me more about yours. I wasn't there for most of it." Odette looked up for a moment as she began to think of what events to tell him about.

"Not much to tell really," she said. "I mainly spent my life putting up with Derek and his shenanigans. I use to always ask myself why my father wanted me to marry him." Rothbart chuckled at this.

"You're father meant well. At least he gave you a choice in the matter." Odette scoffed, but still kept her smile.

"It didn't feel like it most of the time. All he would tell me was to at give Derek a chance." Rothbart paused for a moment.

"I will admit that your father was stubborn on a few things. It was his dream to have his and Dmitri's kingdoms to unite. So he might have put a little more pressure on you than he should have. But it all turned out good in the end didn't it?" Odette couldn't help the slight giggle that escaped her lips as she looked up at her castle.

"Yes," she said. "Yes it did." She looked over at Rothbart again.

"What made you decide this castle to be your lair?" Rothbart wasn't expecting that question as he raised and eyebrow and looked up at the castle as well.

"I don't know really," he admitted. "It was one of the first places I found after your father and I arranged for me to be banished. I needed to find a place to hide, but also for Sargon to find me. I was his godfather as well at the time and we felt it would be easier for him to trust me. And I thought we were going to start talking about you." Odette had a feeling that Rothbart was trying to avoid talking about his time with Sargon.

Had his time there really been that bad? she asked herself. But she thought it best not to press the matter so she smiled at him.

"Yes," she said. "But as I said, there really isn't much to tell."

"Oh come now," Rothbart said. "Surely in the thirteen years of you two at each other's throats you would have had to had some moment that neither one of you could forget?" Odette decided to humor him and think of anything that she could have done to Derek over the years, or vice versa. She thought long and hard before something finally did occur to her.

"Well," she said with a smile, "I did use to talk Derek into playing dress-up when we were younger." She immediately got a reaction as Rothbart began to laugh.

"You got him to play dress-up? Willingly?" he asked. Odette giggled herself and nodded.

"Yeah, almost every day." Rothbart laughed even harder. he calmed himself after a while so he could speak.

"It's one thing to be force to do it," he said between breaths, "but to do it willingly? That's just to rich. What did you make him dress up as?" Odette almost laughed at the things she got him to dress up as.

"I once got him to dress up as a horse for me to ride while we played." Rothbart laughed even harder like he did this morning.

"A horse?" Odette giggled some more as she nodded.

"And I once got him and Bromley to carry me around Uberta's castle." Now they were both laugh wholeheartedly at her story. It took them at least a minute to calm down.

"What else did you do?" Rothbart asked.

"Well as we got older, I would always beat them in cards," Odette explained. "Not once were they able to beat me. I always played my cards right, but I still don't know if it was either because I was luck, or they were just really bad at playing." Rothbart let out one last chuckle.

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Your mother was always good at cards too. Not one of us were able to beat her. The only one who ever got close was Uberta." Odette smiled after finding out she had another thing in common with her mother.

"I guess I have my mother's luck then," she said. Rothbart nodded.

"I guess you do." He then leaned back on the bench. "Although I think you'll have a hard time beating me now. My skills with cards have improved tremendously." Odette raised an eyebrow as a smirk grew on her face.

"Is that a challenge?" Rothbart gave a smirk of his own.

"Maybe." Odette then quickly stood up from the bench.

"Fine," she said, "We'll play a few games and well see who the real master is." Rothbart stood at his full height to challenge her.

"You're on." Odette's smirk grew wider. She then turned around and began making her way inside. Rothbart looked at her curiously.

"Wait," he said, "you mean now?" Odette looked back at him with a sly grin.

"Of course," she answered. "I want to see the look on your face when I beat you as soon as possible." With that, Odette continued to make her way inside the castle. Rothbart smiled as he shook his head before following her lead. He soon caught up with her and offered his arm. Odette looked at him for a moment before shaking her head and accepting. She knew he was just trying to be a gentleman. After all, he was her godfather. They continued to walk through the halls when they rounded a corner and suddenly caught sight of Uberta.

"Hello Uberta," Odette greeted to her mother-in-law. Uberta smiled at her.

"Hello dear," she greeted as well. Rothbart decided to greet Uberta as well.

"Good morning Uberta," he said. The former queen didn't even acknowledge his presence as she continued to talk to Odette.

"So where are you off to dear?" she asked.

"Rothbart and I were going to play a game of cards. I wanted to see if he's even a challenge." Rothbart looked down at her.

"Oh, so we're playing that game are we?" Odette giggled as Uberta rolled her eyes.

"Well have fun dear." With that, Uberta started walking in the opposite direction, but not without giving Rothbart one last dirty look. But that was it for Rothbart. After over a month of living there, receiving nothing but dirty looks and nasty comments from Uberta almost every day, he had finally reached his breaking point. He was sick and tired of receiving abuse from her for something he obviously didn't know about. But today he was going to speak his mind.

"Uberta!" He shouted, louder than he intended, which caused Odette to jump a little. Uberta turned around and glared at Rothbart.

"What?" she hissed, causing Rothbart to narrow his eyes even more as he let go of Odette and took a step closer to Uberta. Odette could feel the tension in the air as the two stared each other down. She wanted to speak up but was a little nervous to, for fear that whatever anger was there would be turned on her.

"What is your problem?" he said. "I've been here for over a month and all I've received from you were nothing but dirty looks and snide comments. I don't know why you're mad at me, but if you have something to say, please say it." Uberta continued to glare at Rothbart for a moment more.

"I have nothing to say to you," she replied. She then started to walk away again, but Rothbart wasn't going to let her get off that easy. He casted a spell with made a light, almost invisible, see-through purple wall to appear right in front of Uberta, which she instantly walked right into. Uberta rubbed her forehead as she turned around to glare daggers at the enchanter.

"I want an answer Uberta," Rothbart said in a low, but harsh, tone. Uberta was silent for a moment as she looked at Rothbart with a hard glare. She then turned so her body was facing him completely.

"I hate you," she said. "It's as simple as that." Rothbart didn't like the answer he got so he pressed further.

"Why do you hate me then?" Uberta scoffed.

"After everything you've done? How could I not hate you?" Rothbart practically growled at her.

"I told you that everything I did, I did to protect Odette. I regret everything I've done and would have done things differently if there was another way."

"Like killing William?"

"I had no choice! Sargon was watching me! What else could I do?!"

"You could have faked it! Made it look like you killed him!" Their voices had been growing louder and louder as the argument went on. Odette was starting to get really nervous and neither Rothbart nor Uberta seemed to notice. She had no idea what to do to stop them arguing.

"Do you really believe that would have fooled Sargon?! He would have just killed him himself just to make sure he was dead! I had to let William die!"

"Just like Dmitri?!" Rothbart was caught completely off guard by that remark. He wasn't expecting her to say that. Was this that was bothering her. Realizing this Rothbart's anger shot up even more.

"Are you serious?!" he shouted very loudly. "Is that what's been bothering you?!"

"What's going on?!" shouted a voice from the other side of the hall. Odette seemed to be the only one to notice it as she was the only one to turn in the direction of the new voice. There she saw Jacob and Rogers running down the hall towards them.

"Odette are you al-"

BAM!

Jacob didn't even get to finish his sentence as he and Rogers ran straight into Rothbart's invisible wall. The sudden impact almost knocked them both unconscious, Rogers actually being knocked clean out. Jacob stood up dizzily and rubbed his aching head.

"What is going on here?" Jacob said, looking from Odette to Rothbart to Uberta.

"Uberta that was over twenty years ago! There was nothing I could have done!"

"You could have worked harder!" Uberta shouted back. "You could have worked Harder so you could have done something to save him!"

"Odette what's going on?" Jacob shouted. Odette, who was now panicking, had moved away from the two arguing and stood near Jacob.

"I don't know," she said. "Rothbart and I were spending the day together when we walked passed Uberta and they started arguing." Jacob could hear the panic in her voice and see tears starting to form in her eyes. In her emotional state, this was not something she needed to be around. He immediately turned to the arguing two.

"Rothbart! Uberta!" he called as he pounded on the conjured wall. "Stop this at once!" But neither one seemed to pay him any mind as they continued to argue.

"There was nothing I could do!" Rothbart shouted. "It takes years to properly learn the Forbidden Arts and I only had a few months! Sargon's forces were getting closer and time was running out! I couldn't have worked any harder! And even if I did, Sargon was far more experienced at it than I was! How did you expect me to do?!"

"More than what you did!" Uberta responded. "But you just let him die! You let the all die!" That was it for Odette. She couldn't take any more of this. She ran as fast as she could passed them in the direction of her room with her hand covering her face as she cried her way there. Everyone looked at her she she turned a corner towards her room. When she was out of sight, Rothbart and Uberta glared at each other once more.

"Now see what you've done?!" they both shouted in unison.

"This is all your fault!" Uberta shouted.

"My fault?!" Rothbart questioned. "This was all your fault!"

"It was both your fault!" Jacob shouted. Rothbart and Uberta looked at him as if he was insane. They were about to speak about Jacob didn't give them the chance. "You two are behaving like immature children. Odette is in a very emotional state and she doesn't need to be around this type of behavior. Now lower this wall Rothbart." Though he didn't want to, Rothbart did as he was told and lowered the wall. Jacob then stepped closer to them.

"Now," he said, "If you both don't mind, I have to go check on Odette thanks to you two. You can settle you're argument later." With that, He walked off in the direction Odette took towards her room. Once he was gone, Rothbart and Uberta glared at each other one more time before looking away and crossing their arms. The hall way was silent and the only thing that was hears was...

"I want the pink dress mommy," said an unconscious Rogers.