The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

31 - In The Shadow You Cast - Part 1

A suicide mission.

I looked to the knight commander who was frowning.

"How many enemies?"

The guard hesitated, but showed a grimace.

"Bout' a hundred they said...."

That... wasn't too bad, right?

"How many people went to defend?"

The knight commander spoke hesitantly. There weren't that many guards in the city after all.

"...I think about 30 went... some younger men went as well..."

The knight commander looked at me and then shook his head. It was a 'do not expect anything' sort of look. There was more than thrice as many enemies... enemies that were professional soldiers... and the guards had already been attacked once today.

"Also... he said that more troops would be coming... that we would be under siege..." The guard added with hints of worry and fear showing in his eyes. Those news were the worst part of the meeting.

A siege.

We didn't have the men for something like a siege. We would have to wait for Father and the rest of the army to relieve us... actually, it would be good if they hit them in the back. If it was a siege then it should be possible. I mean, we had enough food for a while...

The man was asked to leave, and as he did the knight commander turned to me with a serious expression and knelt down to my height.

"We will send reinforcements to block the enemy from killing the people... but, you are better off to consider your sister dead."

...Those were the words he spoke, and as he did the skies seemed to darken. What was I supposed to do in that situation?

I couldn't go out after her, if she was even alive... I had to stay here... I was precious to morale and too young to go... they said...

---*---

We spent almost an hour planning out strategies and troop placement for the siege. We'd already sent off a messenger as well. Still, we were without news the situation at the battlefield south of the city... and then a roar of cheers went through the castle courtyard.

One of the knights barged into the room with a salute and then reported.

"The enemy troops south of the city was annihilated. Lady Lily and Guard Captain Gerald Whitebourough returns with 19 men, 7 of which are currently unable to continue fighting. They finished off the enemy before we arrived there."

Silence fell upon the once bustling room filled with arguments on how best to defend the castle.

Outside sounded another cheer, but it sounded distant... like it was unrelated to the tense atmosphere in the room.

"I will go see her."

I broke the silence and headed from the war room to the great hall with hurried steps.

How would I greet her? I didn't even know what was going on. My books, my teachers and my advisers had made it clear they would die... was it relief in my chest? Or something else? If Lily had been my older brother I would have been among those cheers... but she had never touched a sword before, nor a book on strategy. She had never spoken to the guards, never ridden a horse. Never faced her death directly. Was she really her? Was it an imposter?

I stepped to the front door of the throne room, which were opened by a couple of knights.

...

The cloudy skies broke with rays of sun gleaming down from the skies... and in front of me... on the top of the stairs was Lily... bathed in a ray of sunlight and facing the crowd beneath her. She was covered in blood, even her back was stained red. Her hair had curled lightly from sweat, water and drying clots of blood... The guard captain's mantle covered her small shoulders, but there in the light her existence seemed... enormous...

Her hand lifted to the sky a long sword that shone in the ray of light, and with that single movement she raised a cheer from the crowd beneath... and it hit me like a storm. A cheer it was... but it sounded wilder... like the roar of a beast...

I stood blinded by her light... while I stood stunned in the covering shadow of the castle. They couldn't see me, only her... and I realized in that second... it was as if I was standing in her shadow...

She lowered her sword and dropped it while turning in a firm and determined movement... like a general off to plan the next step of a war...

Our eyes met.

Her expression showed an unexpected exhaustion... though she'd been so filled with life just now...

She walked to me... nearly passing me when she stopped.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Eric."

I understood what she meant with those words. She wanted me to take the credit for her actions. She was pushing her sunlight onto me. She... was taking off her shoes and asking me to fill them out...

I clenched my hands tightly. There was... no way I could do that...

Thud...

I turned to the sound and found Lily fallen to the floor face first.

"Lily!"

I flipped her over in an instant... and she was covered in wounds. A couple could have been fatal if they'd been just a little deeper. Surprising amounts of the blood on her was hers.

"Call a doctor!" I screamed out as loud as I could.

She couldn't die yet. She still had so much to explain! There was no way I could fulfill the role she was trying to give me!