The Sword Of A Princess

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The whole world begun to slow, one of the Western knights managed to cut a gash into Lionel's arm, he groaned out in pain then let out a growl hitting his sword across the knights chest. The other three knights attacked, one kicking Lionel in the wound he held in the lower stomach. I let out another cry.

"Lionel!" I sobbed, tears blurring my vision, the dried blood around my eye burning it again. The knight was forced to his knees, his sword knocked from his hands. One of the knights held Lionel's hair, Lionel clawing at the knights hand. I thrashed harder as another knight lifted his sword to Lionel's throat. I kept seeing Arthurs body behind him lying on the ground, unmoving.

"Please no! No!" I roared out through my burning dry throat. I was going to lose both of them. Arthur was gone. Now Lionel. My Lionel. I couldn't protect him, nor could they me. And it was all my fault. Why wasn't I stronger? Lionel had trained me my entire life for this battle, for this war and here we were being slaughtered. A traitor holding back the last hope we had. The future King of the South dead. I was being captured and taken further into the West where who knows what will happen. Maybe that's why I had never pictured my future. I didn't have one.

"Kalanai." My head shot up to the black-haired knight, his hand held out in front of him palm faced down. My eyes shot back to Lionel and the knights holding him with a dagger to his throat. The man welding the weapon lowered the blade and my heart lunged out of my throat. They weren't going to kill him. Not yet.

"Bring him. He could be of some use." The knight continued. The war raged on behind the knights tying Lionel up like me. His eyes met mine and I saw the struggle across his face. What use did they want for Lionel. Why did they want me?

"Yes Sir." The knight who the black-haired man called Kalanai tucked his weapon away, fisting his hands instead.

"Athena." Lionel breathed out, wincing from the wound to his stomach.

My jaw hung as a gasp came from my mouth, watching as Kalanai threw a punch at the knights head, one hit knocking him out. I looked back at the war as my body begun moving along the sandy ground again, Lionel being dragged along side me. Everyone was still fighting as the sky slowly darkened and we would be lost to the desert.

I rolled my head over to Lionel, his arms were tied up like mine, his chin tucked to his chest as he was dragged unconscious. Blood seeped out of his lower stomach, leaving a spotted trail on the ground. Sand stuck onto the wet wound, he was either going to bleed out or die of infection.

"He is going to bleed out. Please." I begged looking up at the black-haired knight, knowing he was the one in charge here. The Western knight scoffed looking down at Lionel and me, then to the knight behind him.

"Shut her up." He ordered to another knight walking behind him near my feet. My eyes snapped up to the knight seeing him pull out a cloth from his pockets. I wriggled against the grip on my arm as the knight stuffed the cloth into my mouth making me gag. I cried out in protest, trying any last moves but I was only greeted with a blade to my throat. I started to cry. Lionel was wounded, bleeding out and we had been captured by our enemies. I was a failure as a knight. The man who was my husband was dead. So many others gone. It was all over now.

"Is that one of them? Over there!" One of the Western knights called out pointing out towards the South. I lifted my head to see through the others legs. Rising to his feet in the distance was a small figure who had noticed us.

Sika. It was Sika.

"Kill him." The black-haired knight grumbled out as we continued on. I screamed out, my voice muffled by the cloth stuffed into my mouth. They were going to attack Sika, the youngest Ashmore Prince. He had trained with his brothers growing up and only just became a knight before my wedding. I knew Sika could fight, but not against a group of Western knights. Not against their strength in numbers.