"Please be alive. Please be alive." Kari muttered to herself as she dodged around another log.
Kari leaped over a log as the tree line was starting to clear.
"Dear god, be alive." Kari's eyes got wide as Sanna's dark hair was covering her face. "Oh god, please be ALIVE!"
Kari tossed her bow to the side as she dropped to her knees taking in Sanna's body. "Wake up!"
Kari placed her fingers on Sanna's neck but there wasn't movement. "Oh no, Sanna."
She dropped her head down to Sanna's chest as there was silence. "Sanna, wake up, just wake up!"
Kari balled her hands up as she sat them down on Sanna's chest as hard as she could.
"Wake the fuck up!" Kari's voice cracked as she hit Sanna again.
Kari backed away from her body as her hands were now shaking. "No, no, this can't be happening."
"HELP, SOMEONE COME HELP ME!"
Kari's head snapped around as the figure moved from the right side of the field waving his arms.
Kari slowly got up from the ground as her bow was on the other side of Sanna's body.
"Please come help me! She isn't breathing!"
Kari shook her head as Sanna was motionless herself on the ground, "I can't leave her body."
"Seriously, come fucking help me!" He shouted again as he vanished over the horizon.
Kari wiped her eyes as she ran off after the guy leaving her bow next to Sanna's lifeless body.
Back at the compound, Maddox pushed the little horse around that was placed on top of the map. He stopped then pushed the horse again.
"You want a moment with the toys?"
Maddox rolled his eyes as Maverick walked into the room with an apple to his lips. "What do you want?"
"Listen, I know we were never on the same page but the fact that I stayed around for the past 8 years means you can't fucking come at me."
"I will do whatever I want to do at this point. I'm fighting to keep my father's legacy alive. I'm fighting to keep my family's name alive!"
Maverick smiled back at him, "You don't think I don't understand that?"
Maddox glared back at him, "I don't wanna talk about that."
Maverick nodded his head back at Maddox as he saw the new placement of the incoming forces, "I didn't know they were getting closer."
"She keeps pushing them every day. One of the spotters told me that about 8 of our fishing villages are gone. They hung the people in the trees and left their heads on poles."
"The fuck, who does that?" Maverick asked him as he backed away from the table.
Maddox shook his head back at Maverick. "You don't know how this makes us look. I mean I'm trying to control something that isn't mine. This wasn't my job growing up. This was up to Solomon to follow our father and prepare for the throne. I was out running in the fields with the other kids. I never sat down with my father and trained. I never did this."
Maverick glanced over at Maddox as it was finally hitting him.
Maddox never had this connection to his father. This was all up to Solomon.
This was all up to his older brother that was now gone.
Maddox looked away from him as the room door was thrown open.
"We just got news of another village under attack." The guard looked at Maverick then over at Maddox.
"Wait, right now?" Maverick asked him back.
"I sent a few riders out to take the raiders that were there."
Maddox turned around glaring at the guard, "You did what?"
"We need to protect our people."
"You sent our guys into a trap?" Maddox snorted at him as his knuckles started to turn white.
Maverick shook his head back at the young guard, "Get back to your station and watch the fields."
The young guard just watched Maverick as Maddox slammed his fist down on the table knocking over the little horse.
"GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE YOUR HEAD IS UP ON A FUCKING POST!"
Maverick's brow went up as he was taken aback by what just escaped Maddox's lips.
Maddox glared over at Maverick as he saw the expression on Maverick's face, "What?"
"I don't think threatening the last of the guards will help."
"My brother is missing. My sister just vanished from the castle and now I'm standing here with you complaining about what my life has become."
Maverick nodded his head back at Maddox, "You want a drink?"
"I need a few." Maddox said back to him.
"You lost your sister?"
"Hey look Dallas is here." Maverick rolled his eyes as he turned away from the door.
Maddox shook his head as Dallas walked toward him, "I don't need this today."
"Your sister, the only person that we need to protect is gone. You don't understand how bad this is!"
Maddox grabbed the back of her head as he slammed her face down on the table. "She is moving her forces down faster than ever. She is pushing harder than I can rebuild a force. I have no choice but to worry about the people in my borders. Do you fucking understand that?"
Maverick stepped toward Maddox as Dallas was flinching under the pain, "Ease up Maddox."
Maddox stepped back as Dallas kept her head down. "I know what is going on Dallas. I fucking know what is going on."
Dallas nodded her head as she walked out of the room holding on to her face.
Maverick glanced over at Maddox, "I know you are stressed but killing one of our best fighters is not really that smart."
Maddox shook his head back at Maverick, "Just shut up."
Maverick rested against the table as Maddox picked up the little horse from the ground, "You wanna ride out and see the village?"
"I can't, I need to stay here."
"You need to see what she is doing. You need to see what they are facing."
"I'm guessing you are gonna say that a good king would do that."
"No, a smart man would see what we are facing. A king would have already declared war."
Maddox nodded his head back at Maverick as they went out of the room.
At the burning village a few miles west of the safety of the palace grounds, Maddox pulled back on the horse to slow down.
Maverick slipped off the brown horse as the bodies of the fallen had already been cut from the trees. "Kill them and chop off their heads, that isn't right."
Maddox bent down as a little doll's arm was sticking up through the ash. "There were children here."
"I really didn't want you to know about that." Maverick mumbled back to him.
"Who can do that to a kid?" Maddox glanced over his shoulder as Maverick was holding a dress that belonged to an infant.
Maverick rolled the dress up as he pushed it into his jacket, "Listen, we know who did it. Maybe we need to try something else."
"Try what?"
Maverick bit down on his bottom lip when a small cry echoed around them.
Maddox's head snapped up as the small cry engulfed them. "Do you hear that?"
"Which way is that coming from?" Maverick asked him as he stepped away from the burning rubble.
Maddox pointed to the left, "I think over here but I'm not sure. The sound is going around the field."
"Go left, I will go right." Maverick jumped over a log as he took off after the crying.
Maddox stepped over something when it crunched under his foot. His eyes trailed away from it as he saw the skull just inches to the right of whatever he stepped on.
He kept moving as the cries were getting louder.
Maddox stopped at the tree line as the little guy was holding a hand. Maddox took another step as he saw the gruesome sight of the little boy's mother.
"Hey little guy, you doing ok?"
The little boy pointed at his mother then cried once more.
"How about you come with me and I will get her some help." Maddox picked up the little boy as Maddox's heart busted into a thousand pieces as the little boy's hand slipped out of the grasp of his mother's.
Maverick ran over to Maddox as Maddox tossed his head back to the mother.
"Help her." Maddox said back to Maverick as he went back to his horse.
Maverick walked around the tree as his head fell as he knew that the mother was still alive but in such pain that it was not fair to her or the child.
Maddox placed the child in his arms as Maverick walked over to them, "We should head back and discuss our next plan."
"Plan about what?" Maverick asked him back as he climbed up on the horse.
"War." Maddox finally said the one word that sent chills down Maverick's back.
Maverick didn't answer him as he just nodded his head.
Maddox pulled to the side as the horse followed his orders and started walking away from the village.
Maverick glanced back at Maddox as the child was curled up in his arms still crying about what he was seeing. "You know he wasn't the first."
"And I'm about to make sure that it never happens to another child. No one should have to live without their parents." Maddox said back to Maverick as the sun was starting to set in front of them.
Maverick nodded his head as Maddox walked ahead of him.
A few miles north of Maddox and Maverick, Kari reached the top of the hill where she saw the guy bent over a woman.
"She won't breathe, she just won't breathe."
Kari put her hand on her hip as her blade was the only protection she had at this point.
Kari dropped her hand as she stepped around the guy to see who was on the ground.
"They shot her. I mean he fucking shot her. I don't understand what is going on. I don't get this." The guy cried as he pushed his hands on the wound but blood was still seeping through his fingers. "Please don't leave me."
Kari looked back at him, "You came with her?"
"What, what are you talking about?"
"Do you know her?"
"Yes, I mean kinda. I don't know!"
Kari narrowed her eyes as she saw it. His jaw bone, his eyes, the cheekbones. "Holy fuck, you are back."
"Who is back? What are you talking about?"
"You were killed, they killed you." Kari stepped back from him as his hands pushed harder on the wound.
"WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"Kingston."
Kari's eyes darted up as Sanna's voice broke the craziness that was racing through her mind.
He shook his head, "No, I'm not him."
"Yea, because if you were back then that means something else." Kari said collapsing to her knees.
"Just help me save her. She is dying if she isn't already."
Kari looked up at Sanna, "I can't help her. I wasn't trained to help people. I was trained to kill."
Sanna stepped forward as the blood was now dripping to the ground. "That much blood will kill her in minutes."
"Sanna, we have to." Kari glanced back at her.
"I don't know if we can."
"If we don't then she will die."
Sanna stepped toward the body, "You know none of us have talked since that night she told us that she was gone. That Isabel and Bridget were behind everything. We all looked at her like she was fucking crazy."
Kari's eyes fall down to the body. "We told her to leave because Isabel said that McKenzie had attacked her resulting in the death of the baby."
Sanna shook her head, "Pick her up, we don't have much time."
The guy looked back at her, "Where are we going?"
"We gonna go see a witch." Kari glanced over at Sanna as the clouds above them started to turn stormy once more.