Picture of Alexandra Daddario as Elysia Scott! =)) Note: Elysia doesn't look like this when she's in training though. This side of Elysia is shown only when she's in her 'daughter of the Royal Adviser' mode. =))))
And thank you MickeyFoster for the wonderful picture!
The Bleeding Heart
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 10
Elysia stood there, almost frozen in her spot. It took her five seconds to regain her senses and to load her bow. She aimed at the Arian knights and shot. The one who delivered the attack on Will did not see that coming. One moment he was grinning at the blow on Orion’s prince, then he was struck by an arrow at the small of his back. He let out a groan before falling on the ground, face first. Dead. And before Elysia could fire again,Ardenhad already begun attacking. Blood spattered across the field asArdenleft his opponents with large, gaping gashes. Four fell off their horses almost immediately, dead – two being shot down by Elysia, leaving eight more ready to strike.
But Elysia could no longer backArdenup as someone attacked her from behind, making her fall off her horse. She scrambled to get on her feet but her bow was far from her and her arrows were scattered amongst the leaves. The protection for her head was also blown off. An Arian knight grinned sinisterly at her as he got down from his horse and Elysia found herself gripping the hilt of her sword.
“Damn,” Elysia thought. “This might be the death of me.”
The knight she was facing was almost thrice her size and she felt a gulp run down her throat. She licked her lips and her brain thought furiously of tactics she could use to win against the man. Her bow and arrows was no longer an asset unless she could get a hold of them at that moment. She had to use her sword. She tried to remember Keith’s moves on their last practice and Franchesca’s advices to her in her swordsmanship.
The man lunged forward but Elysia dodged him with a step to the right. The knight was angered by this and continued to attack straight-on, but Elysia evaded the attacks the same way as she avoided the first one.
Elysia grinned to herself, “Blockhead.”
This guy might be strong but he wasn’t so smart. When he finally realized that Elysia was trying to tire him out, he let out a growl. Elysia’s eyes widened for a second before raising her sword just in time to intercept her opponent’s attack that was going straight for her head.
Her knees were buckling from the pressure and she thought grimly that this guy had too much strength in his system. She groaned as he was able to make her lose the grip on her sword. Elysia sat there helplessly and as she was so sure that she was going to die in the next few seconds, Legion suddenly came to the rescue. A distinct ‘neigh’ was heard from him before he raised his legs up and trampled Elysia’s opponent with his hooves. Elysia gave her loyal horse a grateful look before finishing the Arian off with a stab to his heart. He had been unconscious after the severe horse trampling and Elysia cringed as she heard the man’s groans before he convulsed and finally went still.
She took the sword out of his heart in a flash with no remorse or guilt in her heart. She didn’t like killing nor the act of it but she was trained to do this. She mumbled a short prayer on his behalf before picking up her bow and what was left of her arrows.
She felt a stinging pain and realized that her shoulder had a deep gash. She cursed under her breath, and tore a piece of cloth from under her left spaulder, wrapping it tightly. Elysia felt the high pressure she was applying to herself and winced in pain.
She glanced at her enemy’s horse and decided to leave it be. She then climbed on Legion and ran to Arden’s aid. He’d need it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ok, so bring me up to speed,”Adriansat down on the chair behind Gwyneth’s desk, his hands clasped together like a good student would’ve done. Gwyneth stood there by the black board which was a few feet across the desk and Eugenie leaned on the bookshelf beside the desk, arms crossed.
“Wow,” Gwyneth held a piece of chalk in her hands. “For the first time, you’re actually the one sitting behind the desk.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Eugenie shrugged andAdriangave her a hard look.
“I’m not enjoying this, mind you,”Adrianpursed his lips. “I just don’t have the choice in the moment.”
“More like you’re jealous because I finally got the lead on this one,” Gwyneth smiled tauntingly.
“Ditto!” Eugenie called from her place andAdrianglared at her again but Eugenie gave him a shrug.
“Ha!” Gwyneth stuck her tongue out. “Eugenie’s on my side! Family beats friends! Blood is thicker than water!”
“Anything else?”Adrianasked her, bored. He had his head resting on a hand.
“No,” Gwyneth laughed. “I’ve had my fun.”
“Glad to be a part of it,”Adriansaid dryly. He then caught Eugenie’s eye who was covering her mouth in a poor attempt to stop her laughter. “Don’t you dare mock me in this state.”
“It’s just so hard to ignore,” Eugenie was in a fit of giggles. “I do a-apologize.”
“You see, it’s karma,” Gwyneth explained, directing the statement to Eugenie. “He’s such a know-it-all and show-off that the spirits decided that it’s best to punish him with what he deserved.”
“Agreed,” Eugenie nodded furiously. “Definitely.”
“OKAY!”Adrianexaggerated. “How in heaven’s name did we go from Orion’s state to the karma you both couldn’t wait to hit me?”
Eugenie and Gwyneth shared a look before laughing hard again. Adriangave them both hard looks until Gwyneth wiped the tears off her eyes, “Alright, alright, we’ll sober up.”
Adriansighed, “Okay, so what’s this ‘secret research thing’ all about?”
“First, this is very confidential,” Gwyneth held a finger up. “So, you can’t tell anybody, not even the princess whom we all know you love.”
“N-no,”Adrianstammered, flaming up. “Stop it and please just get on with it.”
“Ok, so through means which I am not going to tell you,” Gwyneth said.
“Ahem,” Eugenie coughed. “Eavesdropped, *cough* *cough*”
Gwyneth threw a glare at Eugenie’s direction, “Anyway, I found out about a prophecy which is really creepy.”
“What’s creepy?”Adrianasked. “The prophecy itself or the fact that there is a prophecy?”
“The prophecy itself,” Gwyneth arched an eyebrow. “And so with that said, I went to Head Scholar Bale for you know, guidance or approval or something.”
“And his reaction was?”Adrianprompted.
“He, well, it’s confusing, really,” Gwyneth mused.
“Confusing how?” Eugenie asked.
“Well, he knew there was a prophecy,” Gwyneth pointed out. “But it seemed as if he didn’t want me to find out about it just yet.”
“Wait a minute,” Eugenie held a hand up. “You’re saying that he knew what we’re supposed to find? And yet he couldn’t do the actual research himself? That’s just bull.”
“Yeah,” Gwyneth shrugged. “Well, it’s not like we could do anything about it.”
“Agreed,”Adriannodded, crossing his arms. “So since we’ve settled that there’s a creepy prophecy and that the head scholar seems to know what’s supposed to happen, what’s the next step?”
“For some reason,” Gwyneth had a solemn look on her face. “I had a feeling that if we were to research about anything else, we’d just get lost. And so, I think our best bet is to do some groundwork on Rosaria Fauste.”
“The queen?”Adrianseemed taken aback.
“Yeah, cause I don’t think she’s all that innocent as what everyone else perceived her to be.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keith didn’t know what happened.
They were fighting, and his side was drastically losing. Frankly, he wouldn’t be surprise if this was the last battle he was going to face. He had no chance of survival and the only thing he could do was prolong death. There were only four of them left on the battlefield. And from the corner of his eye, another man went down. That’s three.
Suddenly, an Arian galloped over, yelling, “Retreat!”
Everyone froze. Retreat?
“But – ” someone objected from Aria. But it looked like he thought better of it since he shut his mouth. Every other Arian looked at one another before climbing onto their horses and riding off.
Keith was breathing unevenly, slamming his back against a tree before slumping down, putting his head between his knees as he tried to regain back his breath and energy. The two others were panting and almost immediately dropped their swords. One removed his helmet, blood trickling down his mouth and he wiped it off before spitting blood on the grass.
“What the hell was that all about?” the other said breathlessly. “That was – god, I thought we were dead back there.”
“We need to go back to Orion now,” Keith told them and the two nodded. “You two look for anyone who’s still breathing here and tend to them and then gather the surviving archers on the hilltop, help them if they’re still under attack and then head back home afterwards. I’ll go check on the prince…I don’t know if…”
He clenched his fist, not wanting to finish that sentence.
The two nodded, “Sir, you go, we’ll do our best here.”
“Alright,” Keith climbed aboard his horse. “You go on ahead, make sure the injured get medical treatment. If they attack again…”
“We know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She’s Elysia Scott’s friend and roommate, Veronica de Roquefort,”Adriantold Gwyneth and Eugenie who were trailing behind him as they headed to the knights' quarters. “You guys do know who Elysia Scott is, right?”
“She’s Royal Adviser Llionel Scott and Lady Thalia Scott’s daughter who became a knight after the war ended five years ago,” Eugenie said flatly as if she memorized the line from a book.
“Yes,”Adriannodded. “One of the rare lady knights and also a good friend of mine. Now, we all know that Second Lieutenant de Roquefort was sent to Aria as part of the peace envoys and was also the only one sent back here after Queen Rosaria’s death to serve as messenger and witness to the whole situation.”
“That’s probably because she was the only female among the envoys,” Eugenie sneered and shook her head. “Men and their gender issues.”
“I’ll say,” Gwyneth agreed, rolling her eyes.
“Alright,”Adrianstopped in front of a small cabin, looking through a list of the cabins and their occupants. “Cabin 37. Elysia Scott, Veronica de Roquefort and Franchesca Bradley.”
He then knocked on the door and after some time, a woman’s voice answered, “Who’s there?”
“This is Adrian Levi from the Royal Scholars’ Academy with Eugenie Rennes and Gwyneth Markham, also from the Royal Scholars’ Academy,”Adrianintroduced.
A woman in her early twenties with brown hair tied up in a high ponytail and catlike, chocolate brown eyes revealed herself to the three. “From the Royal Scholars’ Academy?” she said. She was in her armor, sweating. She must have just finished training.
“We are looking for Veronica de Roquefort?”Adriansaid and the girl tensed up.
“Why are you looking for her?” A voice chimed in as she appeared into view. She had golden hair and brown eyes and was also wearing her armor.
“We have some questions,”Adriansaid simply. “We want to know what happened in Aria.”
“Why?” the blond girl asked.
“We’re doing some research for the king.”
The blond studied Adrian, Eugenie and Gwyneth before glancing at her friend. She nodded, “Alright. I’m Veronica de Roquefort and this is Franchesca Bradley.”
“Adrian Levi,”Adrianheld out a hand to her and she took it.
“I’m Gwyneth Markham,” Gwyneth introduced, also holding out her hand warmly to which Veronica received. Eugenie then followed, “Eugenie Rennes,” and shook the knight’s hand.
“Please, come in,” Veronica invited. When the three were inside, she asked, “So, what do you want to know exactly?”
“If you don’t mind,” Gwyneth started. “We’d like to hear how Queen Rosaria died.”
“Every single detail that you could remember, if you will,”Adriansaid.
Veronica sighed, leaning against the wooden closet as Franchesca sat at the edge of her bed.
“There were thirty of us peace envoys sent to Aria, more or less. When we arrived, everything seemed fine. King Edric and Queen Rosaria were great people and truth be told, I never expected them to be that kind or hospitable to us. Even Prince Eric and Princess Athena welcomed us. As what was stated in King Theodore’s contract, we were to mingle with the citizens and the royal family seemed to have no problem with that. Well, some people still hated our asses – pardon my language. They spit or cursed us but some were actually really forgiving. The day went well, honestly. But then…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Shit,” Keith cursed as he took in what was happening.
Ardenwas taking on three at a time on his feet, his helmet thrown away. His waist had a gash and Keith was surprised that he could take them on for this long. Prince William was on his knees, pressing a bloodied hand on the lower right of his torso, struggling to hold onto his sword’s hilt as it blocked an Arian’s attack. Elysia’s helmet was nowhere to be seen either and her hair flowed freely behind her. Parts of her fauld had been torn, exposing a piece of her flesh. She had been targeted by two men and Keith observed that her bow and arrows were also gone. She must have spent it all. She wouldn’t be using her sword if she had arrows.
Keith’s mind told himself he must rescue the prince first as that was his priority and so he charged and beheaded William’s attacker quite brutally. The prince looked up at him in terror but his eyes showed relief when he met Keith’s face but his heart was unsettling as that was his first time to see a man – enemy or not – beheaded barbarically. He then grunted, pressing harder onto his wound.
Keith turned his attention to Elysia, his next priority. He froze when an enemy was able to pierce her through her right chest. Keith couldn’t think. “No!” he exclaimed as rage ruptured within him and he found himself assaulting her two assailants.
One Arian, his chest Keith pierced his sword into before pulling it out. The other, the one who pierced Elysia’s chest was shocked as his comrade was killed before him and for the first time in the Arian’s life, he’s never become so scared. He knew nothing could change Keith Raleigh’s state of mind. He was in a rampage and fear was the last thing that the Arian thought of as Keith pierced his heart with his bloodied sword.
He fell to the ground, his pupils dilated, moving to the back of his head and his eyes became a blank white.
“K-Keith…” Keith heard Elysia’s groan as she knelt down before falling to the ground. Elysia felt something like salty metal and realized blood was trickling from her mouth.
Arden and the three other Arians froze and stopped in their duel and althoughArdenwas jarred at seeing his childhood playmate get wounded like that, he, like Keith, went berserk and before the three Arians knew it, they were killed byArden.
Will’s eyes widened and he felt his eyes brimming with tears, “No…Lis…”
Keith immediately went to Elysia’s side, holding her, “Elysia, Elysia, Lis!”
Elysia winced in pain and reluctantly swallowed. She never liked the taste of blood. “Keith, I…”
“We need to take you home, now,” Keith told her in a rushed whisper, wiping sweat off her forehead, careful not to touch the sword pierced through her chest.
Ardenwent to Will’s aid, examining his injury. He breathed a sigh of relief, “Great, it’s not so deep as I first thought.”
“So sorry,Arden,” Will grunted and groaned.
“Don’t talk,”Ardenordered softly. “Save your energy.”
He took off Will’s body armor and tore a piece of cloth off, wrapping it tightly around Will’s wound, “Does it hurt?”
“Not so much,” Will gasped. “There’s pressure…”
“That’s good,”Ardennodded as he tied the improvised bandage into a tight knot. He then adjusted Will’s armor, throwing away the accessories built in it. “You could breathe better without this junk.”
“Thanks,” Will exhaled andArdenleft him to rest a while.
Ardenthen heard shallow breathing and found that Francisco Conrad was still alive – weak, but alive. He approached him and inspected his wound.
“Shit,”Ardencursed.
“Levi…” he murmured.
“Come on, Conrad, you can’t bail on us now,”Ardentold him, rapidly trying to bandage his wound that was oozing with blood and pus. “How could this have happened?”
“The prince…” Francisco panted. “How…”
“He’s fine,”Ardeninformed.
“Great…so glad…”
“Don’t,”Ardenordered, his voice sharp. “Shit. Shit! This is poison…”
“Yeah,” Francisco could hardly breathe. “I was so careless…didn’t even realize…the guy….dagger…poison.”
“You bastard,” Arden muttered under his breath as he ripped off Conrad’s armor and his eyes widened at what he saw. Around the wound, the skin was turning green and black, spreading rapidly on the surrounding skin.
“Can’t do…anything…” Francisco gasped. “Gonna…die…Vero…nica…”
Keith and Elysia looked at him and Elysia wanted to cry. Francisco Conrad was her good friend, one of the best knights in Orion.
“Don’t you dare,”Ardengritted his teeth, trying to get the poison out. But inside, they both knew, Francisco Conrad was not going to make it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Veronica sat beside Francisco Conrad during the banquet that night, exchanging flirtations back and forth. She knew of his crush on her that started two years ago and although she didn’t want to reciprocate his feelings, she found herself liking him back a few months before.
She was enjoying herself and she thought that the day couldn’t have gone better. Sure, a teenager kicked her on the shin and a kid spit on her shoe but other than that, everything went well, better than they expected actually.
“My friends from Orion,” King Edric raised a glass of wine. “Let us remember this night as a night of friendship, of trust, of peace that we all hope will last forever!”
Veronica, as well as the rest of the knights along with Queen Rosaria, Prince Eric and Princess Athena, raised their glasses as well.
“Cheers, my friends!” the king ended and took a sip of his wine. Everyone else followed.
The dinner ensued and nobody noticed the queen choking on her wine. When the king started to panic, that’s when everyone else saw what was happening. The queen was grasping her chest, then held her neck, trying to vomit whatever she felt was stuck in her throat. Veronica saw the king’s worried face, patting her on her back. Everybody present then froze when they saw Queen Rosaria’s eyes went to the back of her head, her mouth hanging and then fell to the ground, unmoving. King Edric shook her body in an attempt to regain her consciousness but after a few minutes of rigorous shaking, he finally realized that his wife was dead.
Nobody dared to moved and Veronica felt her heart thumping rapidly in her chest. There were more or less thirty peace envoys and no one could move a muscle in fear, shock and disbelief.
It was surprising that the first ones to recover were the Arian knights as they suddenly posed to attack the peace envoys. Veronica swallowed a gulp nervously, her forehead sweating, thinking of how that thread of white hope that she was desperately holding onto disappeared into nothing and she was left alone with red.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We were imprisoned afterwards,” Veronica said solemnly. “The doctors said it was poison – poison in the wine that killed her. Up until now, I still couldn’t believe it.”
Franchesca played with her hands. Adriancouldn’t look at Veronica in the eyes. Gwyneth’s lips trembled and Eugenie clenched her fist around a bedside table which she was beside to.
“It was ironic really,” Veronica laughed without humor. “To think that the wine she reserved for that toast that was meant to strengthen the friendship of our two nations was the cause of her death.”
“It was a kind of poison that caused immediate death, wasn’t it?” Gwyneth spoke in a small voice.
“The queen fought hard to survive but it seemed that way, yes,” Veronica nodded.
There was a moment of silence until Eugenie broke it, “Thank you, Miss de Roquefort. And we do apologize for bothering you and taking your time.”
Veronica offered her a smile, “Call me Veronica and it’s fine. I’m glad I could help you.”
Adriannodded, smiling, offering his hand to her again, “It’s nice to meet you, Veronica, Franchesca, we hope that we’d see you both again.”
Veronica nodded, shaking his hand and Franchesca shook his hand as well. The other ladies followed and soon, they found themselves outside of the cabin.
“I can’t believe she died just like that,” Gwyneth said.
“I know,”Adrianagreed.
Eugenie sighed, biting her lip, “Pity.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn’t a long way from the clearing. It was only a two hour ride but with the speed they were taking, they could reach Orion in under an hour.
William managed to still maneuver Legion and therefore had a horse on his own. Keith had explained that he ordered the other two knights who were still alive to round up any other surviving knights and head back home immediately. They met the two whom Keith ordered to gather survivors at the crossroad and Keith told them to take the lead. Keith had Elysia in his arms, the sword was still pierced through her chest and they rode Keith’s horse. Arden, on the other hand, supported Francisco as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Ardendidn’t want to lose another comrade and was adamant that Conrad stay alive long enough to get help from medics.
The survivors summed up to seven, excluding Arden, Keith, Francisco, Elysia and William. They arrived at the castle gates and medics and other knights rushed to their injuries. The royal family also arrived at the scene, devastated at how much they’ve lost but also glad that William was safe.
Erielle cried when she saw Elysia’s state andElizabethcalled on Nadyn Jameson, the daughter of her late maid of honor, Christie and who was also the best female doctor.
Veronica and Franchesca were also present and Veronica gasped at the sight of Francisco. It didn’t take long for her mind to process that the injury he sustained couldn’t be treated and that he was going to die.
Ardenknew this and the only thing he could do for his comrade was to leave him in Veronica’s arms where he could spend his final breaths in.
Francisco’s head was resting on Veronica’s lap as she softly brushed his dark hair from his face, crying. Franchesca was kneeling beside the couple, though she wasn’t crying like her friend.
“Don’t cry, Ron…” Francisco lifted a hand to wipe the tears off of Veronica’s face. “You can’t stain that gorgeous face of yours.”
“Don’t go,” Veronica sobbed. She just couldn’t help the tears from falling down her cheeks. “Don’t go.”
“You’re so…so beautiful,” his breathing was ragged.
“Francisco…”
“I like you, you know?” he told her. “”Like you, like you.”
Veronica cried, “Don’t talk like that, please. Please. Don’t die on me.”
“Sorry,” Francisco gave her a sad smile. “Couldn’t do that…poison…it’s consuming…me…”
Veronica shook her head vigorously, “No, you’re not going to die…I won’t let it happen…” But she knew those words were empty. There was no such thing as resurrection and this was the only time left that they had.
“God, how could you be so beautiful?” Francisco wondered.
“You should know,” Veronica hiccupped. “I like you too. I mean, like you, like you.”
“I’m so happy,” Francisco cried, tears flowing.
“I’m just so sorry…” she shook her head. “So sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier…if I did…if I did…”
“I wouldn’t…have…have it any….other way,” Francisco lifted a hand to cup Veronica’s warm cheek.
Veronica leaned down and softly kissed him, her tears still flowing.
She looked at him after, her eyes gazing at his emerald orbs, “Your eyes are beautiful, I just realized.”
Francisco smiled faintly and finally, slowly, closed his eyes into a peaceful sleep.
Veronica trembled, hugging Francisco’s body tightly to hers, crying hysterically. Franchesca turned her head, closing her eyes, couldn’t bear to look at the two.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tower guards were taken aback at what they saw from afar. Arian troops.
Shit.
They immediately rang the bells and horns, signaling an attack. The royal family was ushered back into the castle and the injured were immediately transferred further inside the knights’ quarters.
Veronica and Franchesca heard the bells and horns and as Veronica got up, gently laying Francisco’s body on the ground, Franchesca stopped her.
“Let go, Franchesca,” Veronica gritted her teeth.
“I won’t let you,” she answered, tightening her hold on Veronica’s arm.
“Bradley!” Veronica yelled. “Didn’t you hear the bells? The horns? There’s an attack! For god’s sake, just let go!”
“Not while you’re in that state!” Franchesca yelled back. They weren’t attracting any attention since everyone else was preparing for the incoming attack.
“Damn it, Franchesca!” Veronica exclaimed. “Francisco’s dead! He’s dead because of them!”
“And you think this will solve anything?!”
“I have to avenge him, Franchesca!” Veronica’s eyes glazed with hatred. “They killed him! Murdered him!”
“Are you even listening to yourself?” Franchesca asked incredulously. “This is not you! We are here to serve our country and to protect its people! We are not here to pick fights and act merely on vengeance! We can’t act self-righteously, Veronica! You can’t and I won’t let you!”
Veronica shut her eyes and clenched her fist, “But they…”
“Besides, you’re injured,” Franchesca said a bit more softly. “I’m not going to let you die.”
Veronica looked at her and Franchesca continued, “I’ll go.”
“But –”
“I’ll survive this battle and protect Orion, Veronica, for you and for him,” Franchesca said determinedly. “I promise. You have my word.”