The Princess's Secret [completed]

19: Into The Woods.

Herschel.

Belts were tightened, swords sharpened and returned to their scabbords. Shields were gathered and helmets donned. Hershel tried to keep his breathing deep and steady, but nothing could stop the pounding of his heart. He glanced around at the other men.

Most of the warriors were silent, except for a few apprentice's, who were nervously making small talk. Herschel hadn’t been able to stomach food this morning, the churning overwhelming. He was about to fight the men he once fought alongside.

His old master would be there for sure, and he knew they would all be after him over all else. They would want revenge. Blood. He glanced over to his new master. Darian was watching him.

“Don’t think about it.”

“How can I not? They want to kill me.” He kept his as voice indifferent as he could, but knew his master had caught the near-panic beneath his words.

“They want to kill us all. Think instead of the villagers, the ones they killed, the ones who lost their homes to these men. We do this for them, and for the King.”

“Yes sir.” Herschel glanced over to where Caspian and The Three were getting ready. They were speaking in low tones, obviously figuring out what they were going to do.

It seemed strange, the king coming into combat with them, but he supposed that was his duty.

“You ready?” Darian’s voice pulled his thoughts back into the present.

“Yes sir.”

“Come on.” Herschel followed his master out of the weaponry and to where the stable boys held the reins of the knights’ horses. He admired the armor the animals wore, made of metal plates and chainmail.

The warriors mounted up and formed up, awaiting their King, who appeared accompanied by The Three. They mounted, then Caspian turned to address them.

“Knights of Rayndra, today we will end the attacks on our border. Today, we will restore peace to the kingdom. But I want you to be cautious, although King Thaddias has offered assistance, do not blindly follow his men. Remember, his knights are not of us. Work together with them, but remember where your allegiance lies.” Something about the King’s tone made Herschel uneasy.

There was a pause as Caspian scanned their faces. “You men have my trust, otherwise I would not agree to this. Remember those we fight for.” He glanced at Isidro, who nodded to him, turning to the men.

“Lets go.” Isidro ordered, leading the way.

The snow crunched loudly beneath the horses’ hooves. The towns’ people watched and cheered loudly as they went by, joyfull that the King was going to destroy their attackers. They hardly seemed to notice the nervousness of the troops. How could they, they knew little of battle.

Herschel still remembered the first time he’d seen a man lose a limb. They had attacked a village, and some of the villagers fought back, wounding one of the other traine’s. The wound had gotten infected, so the physician had no choice but to cut off the leg.

He, and several other barbarians had held the man down while the physician cut through the flesh, then sawed through the bone. Then they had dipped the stump into molten steel to seal the wound. The image was perminantly etched in his mind.

“What’s wrong?”

Herschel blinked, realizing he’d shuddered. “Nothing, sir.” He answered his master after a moment. There was no need to bring such thoughts to the minds of the other knights at a time like this. But Darian’s expression told him the older warrior had a pretty good idea what he was thinking of.

He pretended not to notice the watchful gaze of his master and focused on the trail…

*    *   *

Caspian.

S

o the king has decided to make an appearence. He was surprised, he’d heard that Thaddias rarely went with his soldiers anywhere anymore. Caspian could sense the coming of a crumbling kingdom.

It wasn’t that he particularly disliked the man, but they certainly didn’t see eye to eye. The main reason they hadn’t battled each other was because of the peace treaty signed by each king of the four kingdoms on the island. The treaty was made when they needed each other to help fight off pirates that tried to overrun them nearly two years ago.

The pirates rarely attacked now, but the four kingdoms were partners in trade at this point, the other two also had become close friends of the old king beforehand. So keeping the treaty seemed like a good idea. Until now.

Caspian pushed the thought from his mind. He would keep the peace, even if only to spare his people from death. Thaddias’s army far outnumbered them.

“King Thaddias, I see you decided to join us.” Caspian greeted, careful to sound polite.

“I am here soley for details of the plan, I have business to attend to elsewhere.” Somehow the words sounded like he was being snobbed, but he ignored the irritation and simply nodded, turning to the map which one of his men had hung on the outer wall of the guard tower.

They had agreed to meet up here, along the border. Caspian had felt too uneasy to allow the men into Rayndra any further than that.

“Okay, so this is where we are now.” Caspian pointed at a spot on the map. “And this-” He pointed to a spot about three miles away. “-is our primary target. We believe the barbarians giving us the most trouble are holed up there, but there’s a catch; They have a castle.”

He watched as some of the men shifted unhappily. Sieges on castles had often been known to take months before someone emerged victorious. “Thanks to some information from one of our spies-” Actually it was Herschel, but they didn’t need the details. “-we know of several secret entrances into the fort.”

He continued, explaining each that they planned to use in great detail. Then he split the entrances up, dividing them between his men and Thaddias’s men. “We will both assign teams of our men to storm each entrance. We will take the castle from the inside out.”

Caspian turned to Thaddias, who nodded in agreement. “Sounds fine.” He motioned his commander. “Split the men accordingly, you know your orders.” The king turned back to Caspian. “Now I must be off, I have other duties to attend to.” With that, the king turned his horse and disappeared into the bushes.

Caspian turned to find his men staring in shock. They find Thaddias’s actions surprising. “Come on, men. Get into your groups.” He ordered, turning to The Three.

“I do not like this, it seems too easy, too simple.” Isidro shifted in his saddle.

“I agree. Have you given my personal instructions to each team leader?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Good. Then we must watch, and wait.” Caspian said quietly before turning back to check on Thaddias’s men. The commander nodded, telling him they were ready. “Follow me.” Caspian ordered the men, leading the way into the darkness of No-Man’s-Land...

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