Beka's POV-
I was running, running as fast as I possibly could. My heart was in my throat, and sweat was dripping down my face, mixing with the rain that soaked me to the bone instantly. My hair kept sticking to my forehead, falling into my eyes and I had to keep brushing it away. I had forgotten about everything. My shoes, my basket, even Lilly. I had left them behind completely in my haste. I vaguely remember her saying that she'd go back to her house, but I was too focused on making it home to really take notice.
It was still raining heavily, when I had reached the centre square. I took the backstreets through the town, making my travel much shorter. I was running over a hill, and my home was just beyond it. The house came into view, and I came to a skidding stop across the grass.
Three of the royal guard's horses stood with their reins tied to the fence, looking anything but happy to have their soft coats wet and matted with mud. The house looked quite and uninviting. The curtains were closed tightly and the door that was usually left open to welcome the light spring breeze through the house was shit also.
Something's not right. I got over my brief hesitation, before barrelling down the hill almost tripping over the long hem of my dress. The house came closer and closer with my every bound. I reached the front door and slammed it open before running over the threshold. It was pitch-black inside the house, my gasps for air was the only thing I could hear.
"Mother...? Father..? Anybody...?" I called, breathlessly. No reply came, so I walked towards the kitchen, wanting to open the curtain, when I tripped on a long, odd shaped object on the floor. I scrambled to get up, getting a warm liquid on my hands and face. I managed to get the curtain open, and I was blinded by light from outside. I brought my hands up to shade my face, when I realized what the warm liquid on my hands was.
Blood dripped off my fingers and mixed with the beads of moisture dripping down my face. I looked down at the floor, finding the lifeless body of Mother. A bloodcurdling scream left my lips, as I fell to my knees, with half despair, and half exhaustion, beside her.
"No, no, no, Mother. You can't be dead. No, please, no." I cried, trying to shake her awake. I didn't work, and my heart felt like it was punctured by a sword, leaving the edges searing with the burning feeling of sadness. I patted down her soft hair, crying deeply. I didn't care that blood was seeping down onto my lap, or that the horrific sight of her slit throat made me feel slightly nauseous, the grief was too strong.
Somebody cleared their throat, and I looked up to the dining table, with a gasp of freight.
"Paul...?" I whispered. He was sitting at the head of the table, my father's usual seat, with tears slipping down his cheeks. Guilt and sorrow etched on his face, covered by splatters of blood. The door swung shut, and two other guards, that I didn't know, stood there expressionless, also covered in blood.
Realization hit me as I was looking at the two unknown men. It was too much blood for just one person to be dead.
"Where is the rest of my family...?"I whispered between broken sobs.
"They're all dead." On's of the unknown men said to me. The breath rushed out of me.
"I'm so sorry, Beka, I didn't want to, you have to believe me-..." Paul said standing up, pulling out a piece of paper, and taking a step towards me, before I interrupted him.
"Don't come any closer!" I snapped. "How could you? After everything we did for you and your wife. How dare you! Put the paper on the floor and go back to the table." He did as I ordered, and I crawled over to the note, and then returned to my mother's side.
The parchment was saturated from the rain, and the elegant script was smudged; hard to read. At the bottom, the note was signed and stamped by King Simon.
Was this what the royal family wanted with me? To kill my family, make me miserable, because I had broken the law? It was a petty law to begin with. I didn't understand why my family had to suffer. Maybe it was my punishment...
Understanding came over me. Paul never wanted this for my family. It's written clearly on his face. He cared for us, but to keep his job and earn money in this harsh world, he had to follow orders.
I sighed, feeling guilty that I had raises my voice at the man. "I'm sorry you had to do this, Paul. You were only following orders, but why does the King want me?" I whispered.
"I'm not sure, but don't you think it would best if you just came with us, without trouble?"
I agreed to go with the three guards. I stood leaving my mother's body where it was, smoothening out her ruffled hair, and walked over to Paul. He enveloped me into a tight hug as I cried into his crest. He rubbed circles into my back, trying as hard as he could to comfort me.
I couldn't move. I was gasping for air, as I hiccupped, so Paul, wrapped my Fathers cloak around my shoulders, pulling the hood over my head, and I hugged it to me tightly. My clothing was still saturated from the rain, so not only was I gripping the cloak for comfort, but also for warmth.
Figuring I couldn't walk, Paul picked me up, bridal style, and carried me outside, towards the horses.
It was still raining, so I ducked my head against Paul's back, when we climbed onto the horses. I could hear his low shallow breaths, as we rode through town, but the only thing that was going through my mind was the searing pain in my heart.
The burning inside of me increased, spreading through my body when I thought about my family, and it almost crippled me. Gasps of pain left my lips, as I wrapped an arm around myself. It felt like my body was about to rip in half.
I hadn't realized that my eyes were closed until, I felt a pair of hands wrap around my body, and my eye lids snapped open.
Paul looked up at me from the ground, in the stables, asking permission to take me down from the horse. I agreed, and slipped into his awaiting arms. He held me against his body, and I rested my head on his shoulder, and wrapped my legs around his waist. It's lucky that I had a small and frail build, otherwise Paul would be struggling right now, but my weight didn't seem to bother him.
No words could summon up the amount of pain that I was in. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. I felt paralysed. Trapped, almost, in my own body, trying to claw my way out, to release the heart-aching scream that was bubbling deep in the pits of my sorrow, but in another way, I felt numb. It was probably because my body was cold from my drenched clothes, but my mind was in a daze, so I couldn't determine the difference.
The rain stopped, and I raised my head weakly, looking around the hall made out of marble. I had never been in the royal palace's walls before, and I had always dreamed what it'd be like, but my head flopped back to Paul's shoulder, as he continued to walk deeper and deeper into the castle's corridors.
Approaching footsteps came towards us, but I was too tired to see who it was.
"Is that another prisoner, Paul? Let me take...this off your hands" said a masculine voice, filled with disgust.
Paul's grip on me tightened. "No, actually-"
A whistle came from, I can only assume, the unknown man, and another two pairs of footsteps came down the corridor. "Don't be daft, Paul. You're sopping wet, and you're only going to catch you death staying in those clothes. Give the girl to the guards and I'll make sure to get you warm." I was suddenly lifted out of Paul's grip, but I had no energy to fight my way out if it. I hung limply from the two new guards that had an arm each in their hands.
The unknown man, turned out to be a tall, muscular, blonde haired guard, who was holding Paul back away from me as he struggled against him.
"Paul, what is wrong with you? Stop that this instant, that's an order. Guards, take the girl to the cells." The blond haired guard said. Paul tore his eyes away from me, and looked at, who was obviously his superior, with absolute hatred.
"She is not a prisoner, Marcus. Let her go." Paul said, ignoring his orders.
Marcus laughed a deep throaty laugh. "Of course she's a prisoner. Just look at her, she's the florist daughter. She's nothing but a low life commoner who has broken the law. Now I order you to go to the Soldiers Chambers or you'll be thrown into the cells along with the girl. Do I make myself clear?" Marcus threatened.
Paul was defeated. If I wasn't so drained of energy, I may have kicked the self-absorbed Marcus where it hurts to prove to him how much of a 'low life commoner' I really could be, but every muscle fibre protested against it. He had no other choice; he had to do what was best for his family, so he gave me an agonized look before looking back at blonde guard. "Crystal." he muttered, with clamped teeth, before turning away.
I watched as his figure retreated down the hall quickly, and exhaustion took over me. My vision went black, with the drooping of my eyelids, and my head went limp, before I was dragged away to confinement.
I hadn't been out for long, my head was pounding, my eyes were stinging, my body ached, plus I was deathly cold. I pulled my father's cloak closer to me, breathing in his familiar smell that lingered in the seams. Exhaustion was making me delirious, but I was in too much pain to keep in a deep sleep. I looked around the small, dark space I was in. Three of the walls were made out of a dark coloured cinder block brick and the fourth wall was a gate made with iron metal bars that were like ice to the touch. I felt like a wild animal being caged, the space just wasn't big enough.
I didn't make a sound, because my fellow prisoners made enough noise for me. Their groans of desperation echoed off the walls.
I'm being held captive with pickpockets and murders, surely going to the Forrest wasn't worthy of this much punishment.
I didn't get to argue further with my thoughts, because the sound of the heavy wooden door down the end of the room, swung open and the booming voice of a guard, cut through the groaning of the prisoners.
"Dinner is served, you worthless maggots." he laughed, acting superior, pushing a cart through the hall, and sliding a plate of food under the gate of each cell he passed.
A small man in the cell diagonal to me groaned. I looked up at her unamused face, as she rolled her eyes. "Oh joy, Xavier, what a pleasant surprise." She said sarcastically. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle. The woman looked at me with deep blue eyes, and gave an amused smile back.
The guard, named Xavier, as the small woman had called him, reached my cell at the end of the hall, and stoped, peering in at me. I tore my eyes away from the blue eyed female, as Xavier bent down and slid the plate under the gate, making it hit me in the shin with unnecessary force. I cried out in pain.
Xavier laughed. "You better eat up, girlie. Its execution hour at sunset, you'll want to regain you strength before then." He said menacingly.
"You don't scare me, old man." I croaked. In reality, the guard was actually quite young, but I knew that calling adults old really got on their nerves.
The man's eyes narrowed, he was annoyed, just as I planned. "Oh really, I don't scare you, aye? Then what does scare you, little girl?"
"Nothing." I said confidently. "My family was possibly the most innocent people that could possibly live, but they were murdered out of cold blood, and I was the only one kept alive, for some unknown reason. So, no, you stupid man, nothing can possibly scare me, not anymore."
Xavier stood back; a glance of shock crossed his features, before his normal cocky expression crossed it again. "You, child, will be the last to be put to death, because of your smart ass comments, so you can go through the anxious waiting, so by the time you are brought outside, you will begging for death!" he screamed and stalked out of the room, angrily, and slammed the wooden door shut.
I smirked to myself, before looking down at my plate. My smirk slipped off my lips and was replaced by one of disgust. It didn't look like there was much food there, more like a grey sludge, but I did need to rebuild my strength, so I breathed through my mouth, and ate the poor excuse for food that was on my plate, trying to avoid the horrible taste.
-
When I finished eating, I sat there, my stomach protesting, while endless thoughts were going through my head.
So let's look at what's happened so far. My family were killed. My clothes are sopping wet. I'm cold. I wound up in a jail cell for doing nothing. I have a bruise on my shin, and I had to eat the grey sludge. Am I missing anything...?
Suddenly the wooden door swung open again, and Xavier's voice echoed through the room.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the sun is setting in the sky, so let the executions begin." he laughed, deceitfully, and two figures came in the room, quickly, dragging out a wailing prisoner. Xavier stood back against the wall raising his eyebrows at me smugly. I rolled my eyes.
Oh yea, and how can I forget. I'm going to die!
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Hey guys,
This chapter was dedicated to a very good friend of mine because she pratically begged for a new chapter release, so here it is. I hope you like it. I'm going to sound like a broken record but please if you have suggestion please send them to me. I'll seriously put them into consideration, because I'm running out of ideas.
Thanks for reading,
Love always,
BekaFisher,
xoxo