The Final Battle

Chapter 17

The Final Battle

Chapter 17

"Ty! Vash! Wake up! Wake up!" Came a voice yelling from outside their chamber door early the following morning.

Ty rubbed his eyes as Qualen quickly rushed in, his thoughts still lingering on his recent conversation with Cassia As Ty rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed, he was met with Qualen rushing in the door, not expecting the sudden arrival so early. "What is the matter, Qualen?"

"Get dressed!" She began, looking over at Vash get out of bed and then back over at Ty. "Cassia is missing!"

Ty quickly threw on his clothes and boots, following Qualen as he ran down the halls towards Cassia's chambers, still in a state of disbelief and shock by what had just happened Torches still lit the castle halls, as he followed his friend behind the castle guard in a frantic rush to get to Cassia's chambers Ty could not help but feel nervous about the whole situation, as there were an endless amount of possibilities about where she had gone and what could have happened to her. His nerves were on overload as he considered all the different scenarios, the most worrying of which was the possibility that something had happened to her because of the conversation they had had the night before. He tried to stop thinking of worst case scenarios, but that was almost impossible as he continued to race through the halls behind Qualen.

When they reached her chambers, Ty didn't hesitate to burst through the doors but was only met with an empty room. "What happened?" He had then asked, turning around to face Qualen and Vash.

"She is not here. But, there is a note..." Qualen responded, walking over to the nightstand, picking up the note, and handing it to Ty.

Please forgive me.
This is what I need to do.
Do not follow me.

"What does this mean?" Ty asked after reading it out loud. The note was written in her handwriting but did not seem written in a way that would be expected from her normal, formal manner of communication. It was a short note, leaving a message that was as straightforward as the tone of the writing itself.

Qualen bit her lip as she read the note. She knew deep down that this was no simple message to be taken at face value, that there were deeper implications to what she was reading. The fact that Cassia even felt the need to send this note was enough to make her cringe at the thought of what she was going through."Camus Miclotov." Everyone turned to look at her. "Before we left Alexandria, Camus offered her the ultimatum of marrying him to spare the deaths of her people he threatened to kill every day he has to wait for her answer."

"Why would she decide such an action to take!?" Ty spoke, looking at Qualen, feeling an overwhelming sense of desperation and confusion as he asked this very question, looking to her and Vash for any answers.

"People are dying, Ty! The moment she became Queen, her kingdom was overtaken by Mortimus! There was nothing she could do but flee here. Now Lord Dilston did not give her a definite assurance of aid so Her Highness is in faith that Camus will keep his word and spare Alexandria if she marries him! She has exhausted her options..." Qualen snapped with a worried look on her face. "You weren't here. You didn't know what she had to go through during the past six months. I could see the pain in her eyes almost every day..."

Ty looked away, ashamed for making Qualen crack under the pressure of emotional pain that, some of it, was caused by him. They were all surfing from their emotional battles and his outburst had only added to the grief that was weighing against her. "Qualen... I... I'm sorry... I should have not..."

"We will go after her then." Vash then spoke up, breaking the tension in the room. "No question about it. She is your Queen and Camus is too perilous and manipulative to keep promises."