The War (All Chapters + Synopsis)

Chapter 5.3 - Katlyn

"How could you let this happen?" Lauria shouts at me once we are out of range of the throne room. "I thought you were supposed to be friends!"

"I won't hear this from you of all people. You joined him to protect your people, I had to let this happen to protect my family," I explain. "Ilena ordered me to do it..."

"You don't know?" Lauria mutters to herself, stepping back from me.

"What don't I know?" I ask, I feel the fear creep up on me.

"You had a little brother and your mother right, they're the only ones left?" She asks, and I can see the guilt written plain as day on her face. "Akti right?"

"What about it, what did you do?" I demand of the girl, I can hear the blood rushing past my ears.

"Nothing, I did nothing and now... Carber had Akti razed to the ground. Your family's gone Katlyn," Lauria explains and I feel the whole world fall silent. "I didn't stop it even though I could've, it's in my duchy I should've stopped him. I'm.... I'm sorry."

I step away from her and stumble into the wall behind me. I feel the tears start and sink to the floor. I clench my mouth shut and stare up to the sky. I became a soldier to honor my father, sister, and older brother. I joined so that my little brother wouldn't have to. To protect him, but it was all for naught. He's dead, and so is my mother, and I should've been there, not betraying everyone and everything I've ever loved or stood for.

I don't remember walking to my new rooms. I don't remember breaking everything in sight. Everything becomes a blur as I wallow in grief. I stare at the ceiling, and watch as the shadows vanish with the dawn. I get up and try to go about as usual. I attend the executions, keeping my expression stone-cold.

I attend councils and meetings all through the day, my mind and heart numb to everything that happens. The next morning I wake up to the sounds of thunder clapping and a storm breaking loud and violent. I thank Nero the god of water, and Aeras the god of air for this storm to drown out my sorrows. I thank the gods for making the world dark and grey to share my grief with the rest of the world. I pray to Sko, to the goddess of darkness and death, to bring my family peace in the next world.

The first meeting of today is a war council, so I dredge up the courage to face the man who ordered the deaths of my mother and brother. I know he can tell something's wrong with me, because he watches me with his cold, amber-colored, eyes.

"How many soldiers do we have currently?" Carber asks me, and I almost don't catch the question.

"413,000 combat ready troops," I answer hastily, looking at the papers in front of me. All of them are charts and tables and counts drawn up by Ilena only a week ago. Our soldiers were last counted when everything was still alright. When Lues was king, when I still had family alive.

"How long would it take to get them all onto the western side of Spero?" He inquires of our new head of internal affairs.

The traitor king's son straightens up and purses his irritatingly perfect and plump lips. "A few days at least, about a month at most," the boy answers incorrectly.

"Weeks at minimum, that number is split between all the duchies, we'd still have to bring them all together," I correct the newly minted prince. "Your highness, with all due respect you should remove your feet from the table."

"How dare you try and tell me what to do!" The boy shouts at me, jumping up, small pebbles rising with him.

"Sergio, sit down and do as the general says," Carber scolds his son. "Please excuse the boy, he's never been properly tutored in the arts of proper behavior, a result of my late wife's coddling."