Chapter 30
The sun had begun to ruse before we finally got back to the cellar that we hiding in. By now we had found a total of over fifty hideouts, all jam packed with scared women and children.
I was grateful for the opportunity to have been walking because it gave me time to think and re-strategize. There were too many of them for us to congregate in the same place so Chloe and I decided to go in ranks. The teams uptown would come down from the hills only after the ones in the square; my group had driven them down to the border where the final team would be waiting.
Chloe opened the cellar door and we rejoined the group that had apparently only just woken up. It wasn’t yet time to move out though; there was still a bit more to do.
“Hey, I think you should rest before we gout again.” Chloe whispered before I could give any orders.
“There’s no time.” I whispered back. This was a war which meant that there was no time to rest or whatever else she might have had in mind. We had to be constantly moving and working towards driving those men out before they could hurt anyone else. Besides, I wasn’t tired. All I could think about was the attack planned for just a few hours away. How could she really have even suggested that? We had weapons to lift, roofs to prepare and we had to do that and much more before they were ready to begin walking. I counted on them coming to look for us and when they did we would show them why they should have left when they were given the opportunity.
“Kiara…” She urged.
“Chloe stop.” I whined. She was treating me like we were children again. “I not tired and we have an attack to carry out.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright, I need everyone to sit tight, except for my troop; we move out now.”
All the girls jumped up; ready to set out whenever we were. That was how it usually was. We usually had to be ready as needed and this was definitely no exception.
“Alright, move out.”
They all rushed out with Chloe but I stayed to give one final word.
“Be on the alert. The moment we get back we will be moving again so tie up whatever you need to and just try to get rid of the nerves.” I looked at them then my expression softened. “No matter what, we will make them leave; today we take back our kingdom.” One by one they began clapping until the whole room was filled with their cheers. I smiled but couldn’t stay very long to bask in the gratitude; we were on a mission.
Outside I found only Chloe standing out in the open and that was only because she was waiting on me. We were both supposed to hit the men that stayed just outside the place gate. They were apparently ‘guarding’ it but that would be for long.
Sneaking through the forest was made even easier because of the lack of shoes. Without them we moved with less noise. In no time we were just outside the palace with our targets in sight. Sleeping . . . how pathetic. This would almost be too easy.
---Rolan’s POV---
I hadn’t been able to get any sleep the night before. The king had gotten worst in the past few years and this time he was doing something drastic. He wouldn’t even let me explain . . .
My palms began to sweat everytime I thought about what he would have done to me and had to constantly remind myself to not think about it. There was still a chance that he wouldn’t have killed me. I still believed that he could have been reasoned with and I just needed the right words. Luckily his wife, Queen Anabella, wasn’t dead so I could always play that whole ‘couldn’t stand losing the love of my life’ card. Surely he still had a heart and I had heard rumors about him being crazy for her. He had to understand because he would have been able to put himself in the same position. It was that simple . . . but if that in itself was true then why was I still so nervous . . .? It must have been because of how unstable he had been since late.
The cold dungeon only served to make me feel worse about my situation. Every now and then there was a drip that had been driving me mad and the shouts of the other men down there unnerved me to no end.
Royalty should never have been kept down here but I couldn’t have expected any better merely for the fact that the high king didn’t care. He had stopped caring a long time ago.
When standing became a task I sat and stared at the bare walls as I tried contemplating exactly what I would have done once I was out of here. Maybe I could attack him! Force him to listen to me! Then he would kill me—wait no . . . then again he was going to kill me anyway so I might as well had. What was the worst he could have done? Kill me sooner?
Why should I have cared what he thought? Now that I had met him for myself he was an awful king. He didn’t care for the cries of his people; he simply sought to appease and it would seem that he cared more for appeasing himself more than anyone else. What happened to the great king who used to hold feasts and laugh with his realm? When I was younger I remember celebrations and dancing everywhere. Now all that happened was complaints being brought forth then the high king would simply ‘take care of them’ whichever way he saw fit. I was surprised that he didn’t see some unnecessary way of fixing the problem I had brought to him.
The creak of the gate caught my attention.
My pulse raced, I already knew who it was. They were coming for me and in only a few minutes I would be in front of ‘his majesty’.
I could hear the footsteps make their way down the hall and towards me. I hadn’t actually prepared for this moment because in my mind it wasn’t real, I thought that I would have found some way out of it but I guess not . . .
“Come with us.” One of the guards said harshly, as he flung open the cell door and pulled me out. I was tempted to tell him to be more considerate but the look on his face warned me against that. Clutching me firmly by the hand he pulled me from the room and towards what I assumed was the throne room. When we got to just outside the room I stopped suddenly. I wasn’t ready. I needed to see Kiara again. I needed to hear her voice once more and assure her that everything would be alright—I didn’t want to die like this! I should have been out with my men fighting a losing war to the end, not killed by some pompous king who thought he knew best.
The men pushed me into the room then dismissed themselves.
The king gestured for me to step forward. I took several uncertain steps forward not sure what to expect.
“Young Prince.” He said in a voice so calm that it was scary.
“Y-yes your Majesty?”
“Do you know the sound that woke me up this morning?” He asked. It was then that I realized he hadn’t been looking at me. This definitely wasn’t good.
“Uh no . . .”
“A large explosion. Do you know what it was?” I didn’t like this guessing game. Something told me that it had a bitter end and I was inclined to believe that.
“A rock . . . hitting a tree . . . ?” I was only humouring him but on the inside I was dying for him to get to the gruesome point.
“It was a fire bomb actually.” He said looking down at his fingers idly. “Such a strange thing too and you know what the worst part was—“
“Okay I can’t do this; your questions are killing me. No I don’t know what the worst part is, no I don’t know how this will affect your kingdom and no I don’t know why it was shot wherever it was shot so could you get to the point.”
His face turned red as his eyes shot over to me. If I could have swallowed my sentence I would have but it was already said and there was no taking it back. He shot up and before I knew it he was standing directly before me with blood in his eyes. Without saying a word he grabbed hold of my hair and pulled me down the hall. I couldn’t ask where we were going but I couldn’t just scramble blindly. Soon it was clear that we had gotten back to the same balcony that overlooked the south wall as yesterday. My eyes bulged wide when I saw the extent to which the wall had been demolished. The king had every right to be pissed—I could hardly find a piece of that section of the wall that was still standing! But how had it happened; there couldn’t have been that much fire power and which idiot would have been dumb enough to aim for this wall?!
“Your Majesty I—“
“A woman nearly lost her daughter!” he shouted, cutting me off. “Do you know what could have happened to that little girl if a soldier hadn’t bravely gone forward and saved her?!”
“I—“
“She could have died!”
I opened my mouth to speak again but he cut me off by pulling me from the balcony. I was pulled back to the throne room only this time the Queen was waiting inside for the king. She didn’t seem to care very much that I was there in fact it was as if she didn’t notice . . .
“How are the mother and child?” She asked him. She sat at the edge of her seat and something about her seemed off . . .
“Fine.” He answered, “Tell me Young Prince,” he said, walking back to his throne and sitting next to his queen. “What is the reason for this war again?”
Finally he was ready to listen! “Three different kingdoms have declared war on us because they want my princess and they got support from a few others.”
“A princess?” He asked, sounding rather intrigued.
“Yes, she’s my princess, I found her on the streets and I made her happy.” I said matter of factly because she was my princess and no one elses.
“Interesting.” He rose as if he had just made some decision. He snapped his fingers. “Guards I want her here before by sunset.”
“What, why?”
I didn’t want her here. He was capable of any and everything and there was no telling what he might have wanted with her. He turned to me with a wicked smile when he saw the concern in my face. I hated that look.
“Well if you had four children fighting over the same toy then the one would assume that the most logical thing to do is take away the toy am I right?”
“No!—no you’re wrong!—“
“Nonsense, tomorrow she dies.”