The Lonely Warrior Queen

{Chapter 99}

This was a maze.

I sighed and kept my hands around the hilt of my sword before stepping forward. For a few moments, I simply walked and walked. Silence was the only thing that lingered. And then when I took a sharp turn, I heard strange noises.

My head snapped in that direction. It was from the right side. I slowly moved toward where the sounds were coming from. When I reached the end, I almost jumped at the voice.

"Arrived sooner than expected." 

At one instance, I pulled out my sword and pointed it towards the voice. It turned out to be a man, sitting on top of a grain bag. The noises that I heard were him sharpening his knives. And as I expected, the child had been kept here.

The little boy had been tied up and gagged. Even if there was no light source except the windows paned with glass, I could see his teary eyes.

"You're horrible, I hope you remember that," I told out loud, ignoring the fact that I was supposed to act mute.

"What did you expect, Your Grace?" the man's scar on his eyebrow became more pronounced as he raised them. "Men aren't kind."

"You'll see that women aren't either," I studied my steps, holding my sword firmly. "And you have no guarantee that I am the Queen."

"You had to hide your face, that's proof enough," the man laughed, sharpening his knives even louder. "And we asked for a Queen. And we have one,"

I sighed deeply before approaching a different tactic. "You'll be caught and killed for a man who doesn't even care for you,"

"Who said we worked for someone?"

That sparked the fire of doubts in my head. He's trying to play you just as I was trying to do.

"We had counted on your maternal instinct," He scoffed and stopped grinding his knives against each other. "And it worked. You fell for our trap. No, you intentionally fell for our trap."

"Glad you're smart," I retorted. "Give me the child. Now."

"And what if I don't?" He questioned. "In turn..." he moved back and pulled the little boy from behind, placing him on his lap. "I'll truly let him go,"

I knitted my eyebrows as I watched the man cut off the ropes and cloth that kept the boy silent. He began whimpering as soon as it was done.

"Fly away, little one," the man chuckled. "Your savior is here."

I ignored the response, my eyes trained on the boy. He was looking at me with such fear that I almost lost my sanity. Too little. Too innocent. And a perfect hostage for wicked schemes. Just like my child.

"Off you go," the man nudged the boy. "Or do you want to be skinned?"

"Come over here, Elias," I called him out. "I'll take you to your mother. I promise you,"

After a moment of hesitation, the boy slid away from the lap of the man but before he could step closer to her, the man had caught him and held a knife up his throat. My heart jumped as the boy screamed in fear.

"Such a sweet and soft little boy, aren't you, Elias?" he chimed, squeezing the boy's face and running a dagger on it. I could see a thin line of red forming on the face.

"Stop it!" I shouted, unable to look. But I had to. "If you're man enough, fight me! Why must you take it out on innocent children?"

"Like yours?..." he breathed, his eyes questioning. "The one you lost. The one you mourned. You'll never see your first child again. It's all your fault. And if this one dies too, it will be all on you,"