The Lady Knight
It was as if time had slowed.
There was a moment when the guards tormenting Nick and Richard beside me seemed to realise what had happened – that their Master had fallen – and ceased to move. However, it was for only a moment, for they began to attack the twins again with even greater viciousness.
Assured that James would not be able to stand up and fight me again, I proceeded towards the twins, who truly seemed like they needed help.
"Jules, please listen to me and leave now," Richard advised shortly when he noticed me approach, struggling with almost five men simultaneously, "you had your duel like you wanted. Now leave. Nick will murder me if I get you killed in this bloodbath."
His grave expression told me he was not jesting.
However, even before I could process his words, one of the guards fighting Richard grabbed me, locking his arms around my chest such that my arms were trapped. Another stepped forward towards me and punched me hard on my cheek. I had barely seconds to recover before another staggering blow was delivered to my stomach.
Clearly, my choice was made.
The second one raised his fist once more, but I was better prepared this time. Pushing my legs off the ground, I used the man holding me to balance and plunged my boots into the stomach of the second one, sending him flying across the chamber. He slammed against the wall and crumpled into a heap. Then, I threw my head back, hitting the man holding me squarely on the nose.
His arms unlocked at once, as they flew to his nose to halt the bleeding. On instinct, I used his momentary weakness to my advantage, and punched his face a fair few times to knock him out well and truly. Before I could even step away from him, however, I felt someone kick me in the back of both my knees with ferocity, thrice in quick succession.
A searing pain, unlike anything that I had ever experienced before, seized my knees at that with such astonishing intensity that I buckled down, falling heavily on the curtains that framed the windows. I heard something topple over, but I paid no heed, as I tried to move my legs so that I could stand up.
I could not.
Instead, I flipped on my back on the ground to see who had attacked me from behind, noticing a well-built man sneering down at me triumphantly. "Coward," I spat up at him, "a true warrior fights his opponent in front of her."
'Who cares?" he smiled viciously, as he lifted his sword threateningly towards my middle.
I was already about to hold up my own to block his approaching blow, when he suddenly froze. His eyes bulged, and the grip on his sword slackened.
Only when he fell face-first beside me, with another dagger plunged into his back, did I realise that someone else had stabbed him from the back – a very furious, injured and bloodied Nick. The first thing I noticed was that his right arm hang suspiciously limp by his side.
"What are you still doing here?" he rasped, offering me his left arm up, "come, you need to leave, Julie!"
I was about to take it, before I smelled something amiss. I sniffed again, hoping that I was wrong.
"Nick," I whispered, "there is a fire somewhere here."
He was not listening to me, as another guard had pounced on him at that moment, and he was fending him off the both of us while he continued to speak. " – you have to run, Julie. I will never forgive myself if something happened to you - "
"Nick, listen to me!" I shouted, sitting upright as I began to cough, "there is a fire! Can you not smell the smoke?"
He froze at that, as did the guard he was fighting. They sniffed the air, and Nick looked around, confused for a moment, before his eyes narrowed on something behind me.
"The curtains," he inhaled sharply, "the curtains are on fire. The candles by the corner must have toppled on it when you fell."
I glanced behind, alarmed. The fire was not visible, as there were many folds of curtains, but I could see black smoke billowing from the back, clearly indicating the presence of flames. Already, they were beginning to consume the curtain I lay on with an intense hunger that both frightened and fascinated me.
The guard fighting Nick hurried away from us at once. "Fire! Fire!" he yelled to anyone who would listen, "flee, all of you, there is a fire!"
Most of the guards in the room were either dead, or injured, but the ones who were still fighting began to panic and jostle each other to run out of the chamber.
"Nick? Jules?" Richard yelled from the other end of the room, as he hurried towards us, "are you - "
He did not finish that, as he was waylaid by a few guards, who seemed brave enough to stay through the flames that were fast spreading. In the meanwhile, Nick had grabbed my forearm and hoisted me up. Agony gripped my knees once more, and I collapsed heavily against his side, unable to support my own weight.
He struggled with the one arm he could use to hold me upright, but I could see the effort was tiring him, as he was also very much injured as I was.
"What is wrong?" he whispered to me, gripping my waist, "why can you not stand?"
"My knees," I gasped, holding onto his shoulder, "by God, I am so sorry – "
At that very moment, I saw a swift, subtle blur of movement behind him, and a small flash of silver. I sucked in a sharp breath. Someone was about to stab him in the back. Someone was going to kill him.
Hell nay.
Almost on instinct, I turned around in Nick's arms, and pushed him behind me in time for a hunched figure to plunge his sword straight into my stomach instead of Nick's back.
I jerked, staggering, as I struggled to remain upright.
For a moment, Nick was merely startled. My turning, the stabbing had all taken place in a span of mere moments, in a blink of an eye. When the sight of the sword stuck in my middle truly registered in his mind, however, his eyes widened in alarm.
"Julie!" he bellowed in absolute horror at the amount of blood that was pouring forth from my injury, before looking up in tremendous fury, "by the Lord, Brother-mine, what have you done?"
I blinked, startled to find a bewildered James hunched in front of me, clutching his middle, and the sword he had just pulled out of me. Clearly, he had intended to attack Nick, but had struck me instead due to my noticing his approach in time.
By God, I had thought James was unconscious. When had he gained enough energy to stand up and wield a sword?
"You coward," I gasped out, astonished, "did you just attempt to backstab your own brother?"
My hands were full of my own blood, as I wrapped my arms around my stomach. I supposed I should not have been surprised at his latest attempt at treachery, but James kept surprising me over and over again at how low he could sink.
The flames surrounded us now, consuming anything and everything in sight. However, I could only stare and stare at this mutated monster before me, attempting to remember the solemn, good-humoured boy he had once been. The happy boy with a glowing future he was once destined to.
And I failed.
"Richard and I are your brothers, Jamie," Nick whispered, as he tried to hold me upright, "you held us both when we were born. You and Sister-mine taught us to walk. You made me Marzipan, and sweetmeats for Richard when we were upset. You gave us your catch when we could not fish during our summer trips to the lagoon. Do you remember?"
For once, James was still and silent.
"I used to be so afraid of falling asleep in the darkness, and you would tell me bedtime stories to forget my fears. Whenever you learnt a new sword trick, Richard and I were the first to approach you, so that we could learn it from you in no time. Do you remember, Brother-mine? Do you?"
Nick was trembling violently, his face pouring with perspiration. "But I could not. I could not even remember how you looked like after you fled Monrique. I could barely remember Richard at all after you kidnapped him," he forced out, "all these memories of our childhood come to me in bits and pieces, in the oddest of times, and always vaguely. However, I still tried my very best to hold on to them. I did."
"You, on the other hand? You remember it all, Jamie. Did all those years we lived together as a family mean nothing to you? Do all these memories hold no significance for you? Would you truly prefer us dead?" Nick demanded wildly, the raw pain clear in his strained voice.
"Hush," I murmured weakly, "hush. Enough." I rubbed his back the best I could, fighting a dizzy spell.
James blinked rapidly, struggling as hard as I was to keep conscious. For the first time today, I saw remorse flash through his countenance, as his eyes became glassy with tears.
The smog in the room was becoming thicker, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed Richard watching us silently, holding a hand to his bleeding head. The rest of the guards seemed to have fled the burning chamber at long last in fear, leaving the four of us alone to perish inside.
"I could do little else," James mumbled at last, defeated, "I love her, Nick, but none of you were prepared to accept her. Papa threatened to disinherit me and banish me from Monrique if I did not divorce her. I had to do something."
"And did she tell you to murder all of us so that you could take the throne?" Nick answered bitterly, "did she tell you that the only way out of this problem was for you to become King? To accept aid from the old Vantaugian King to strengthen your cause? To betray Papa and Monrique?"
Silence.
"She was never the one for you, Jamie," Richard spoke up quietly, "you should have listened to Papa. If she is able to wreak so much havoc on all our lives outside of our family, then imagine what she could have done when she was living with us, married to you. All she ever wanted was the crown. Not you. It was never you."
"If she truly loved you, and she wanted nothing else but you, then she would have asked you to run away with her and get married the night you pretended to suicide," I realised, "she would not have asked you do all of this. Why can you not see? She has deceived you, she has deceived me, she has deceived us all." I stared straight at him tiredly.
James grew enraged again. "You dare – " he was about to swing out at me, but Nick moved faster than I could have given him credit for.
Handing me over Richard, he stepped up towards the hunched James and blocked his blow. "Bring Julie away from here, and flee!" he yelled, before James and he began to fight in the earnest, one injured man against the other.
In the meanwhile, Richard was eyeing me in horror, as he wrapped an arm around my waist and supported my whole weight. "By the Lord, Jules," he shook his head, "Nick is right. You attract trouble from all directions. Indeed, here I was, assuming that we had suffered the worst at Warwick."
"I will be fine."
I watched the physical combat between the two injured brothers uneasily, aware of the stifling fire surrounding us from all directions. One look at him, and I knew that James did not have very much longer to live.
However, I could not guarantee Nick's well-being at the end of this fight.
Either way, in the end, one will live and flee, and the other will fall and be left to burn among the flames.
It was then that I remembered something important.
I glanced up at Richard's tensed countenance. "Richard, I need you to stay here and help Nick with his battle," I sighed tiredly, "there is something I need to do."
***
I took deep, staggering breaths, stumbling, crawling, almost rolling my broken body towards the sounds of the high-pitched screams that were ringing throughout the hallway, all the while trying to ignore the agony as I dragged myself across the heated floor.
Lord, I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone propel myself forward. I -
My mind threatened to darken -
Nay. Dare not faint now -
Almost there. Deep breaths. More blood. Deep breaths -
Truth be told, I did not even know why I was bothering to do this, when I barely had the energy or the will-power to save myself at the moment. However, something within me kept me going, despite the voice in my mind that was screaming at me to give up and let my sense of honour go to hell.
I knew I was going in the correct direction. The screams were becoming louder.
Soon enough, I had reached the chamber I had intended to. The burning door read Mistress Jacqueline.
Lying flat on the hot ground, I sucked in a sharp breath, took hold of my immobile legs and slammed them against the door, kicking it down.
"Jackie!" I yelled, raising my voice above her screams as I propped up rather unsteadily on one elbow.
Lord, my vision was beginning to cloud.
The room was already in flames. A tiny woman stood in midst of her orange enemies, looking as frightened and pitiable as she had on the first day I had met her in Bordeux Castle all those years ago. This time, however, I knew the emotions displayed on her face were truly genuine.
She was absolutely terrified for her life.
She glanced at me now, almost in tears with relief. "Oh, Jules, thank goodness. Help me, please..." she begged, completely stripped of her earlier contempt, confidence and superiority, "Jamie had all but imprisoned me, and I could not flee -"
"I am aware," I cut her off, fighting to stay conscious, "and I will save you - on one condition. If you do not abide by it, I will leave you here alone to perish. Is that clear?"
She nodded, desperate, eyeing the flames that were close to smothering her. "Anything. I will do anything you ask me to. Please help me flee, Jules, please...."
"You will come with me to Bordeux, you will confess whatever you and James have done these ten years in front of the whole Court of the Lady Justice, and you will accept the punishment handed to you," I commanded harshly, "do you swear to do so on your life?"
She remained silent.
"I will leave you here to die," I threatened.
"All right, I swear on my life!" she panicked.
"Even if you think you can break your word when we return," I narrowed my eyes, "I will most definitely hunt you down wherever you flee, and take your life for myself. Is that clear?"
She nodded again vigorously. At that moment, I should think she would have even sworn that she and James never married, had I asked her to.
"Good," I sighed, giving her a curt nod, "now, do exactly as I tell you to."
***
Lord Maximillian Van Helsing
The bloody Fort was on fire.
King Alfonso, Papa and I were sprinting up what was left of the stairs, leaving the Corporals to fight the guards below. However, the battle was no longer as intense as it had been before, as most of them were already fleeing towards the woods due to the fire.
We were winning.
Please be safe, Julie, I chanted in my mind desperately, as we both narrowly escaped the part of the ceiling that collapsed behind us. We presently reached the very chamber from which the flames seemed to be spreading.
By the Lord, even the door was in flames.
Papa went white, and his jaws clenched. "Come, both of you," he growled, "help me."
With that, we simultaneously kicked the burning door open, and were attacked by a dense cloud of stifling smog almost at once. I swiftly tied a handkerchief over my mouth and my nose, urging Papa and the King Alfonso to do the same, before we jumped over the flames across the threshold, and reached safe ground within.
Truly, the whole room was in flames, and the poisonous smoke made visibility extremely difficult.
"Lord Henri? Max?" a weak voice called out at that moment, "oh, thank goodness!" A dark figure loomed over us, and emerged from the smoke.
I almost stumbled back in shock at the appearance of the Crown Prince. He was almost dripping with blood, and there were so many wounds and bruises on his person that I was surprised that he had not succumbed to the pain yet.
"Nick?" I gasped in disbelief.
"Nay, nay, I am Richard," he admitted ruefully, "Nick is unconscious. I have been trying to carry him and escape this chamber, but my shoulders hurt." He winced, clearly exhausted.
"Where is the Crown Prince?" King Alfonso took charge, "lead me there at once."
Richard nodded, and we plunged into the screen of smoke together, straining our eyes to see through the dense smog. Eventually, we spotted him - Nick had collapsed in the middle of the ring of fire, safe from the flames but almost unrecognisable due to his injuries.
Another body lay beside him, but it was almost burnt to ashes.
"Good God," King Alfonso muttered grimly, as he lifted the unconscious Nick and threw him over his shoulders with ease.
In the meanwhile, Papa's cheeks blanched at the sight of the burning body. "Where is Julie?" he asked Richard tightly.
"I am...here, Your...Grace," a weak voice spoke at that moment from behind us.
Almost jumping in astonishment, we turned around to find Julie, tired and heavily wounded, being carried by a subdued, dishevelled Lady Jacqueline, on the threshold of this chamber.
"Julie?" I gasped at her state, aghast.
To my surprise, Papa rushed towards Julie at once, jumping over the flames in his way like a man three times younger than he was, and pulled her from Lady Jacqueline's arms into his own roughly, surprising her and all of us present.
"Your...Grace?" she was bewildered, close to fainting.
"How dare you!" Papa's body began to tremble with sobs, as he broke down completely, "how could you allow yourself be taken thus? Have you any idea how worried I was for you? Or how terrified I was that I might lose you today as I did your Mama all those years ago?"
I stared, astonished. He was speaking the truth. For once, he was speaking the truth.
Jules simply blinked. "You...were...worried?"
Even now, hacked up as she was, she could still hope. She could still smile at him as if she were that five-year-old that she once had been, completely basking in Papa's love.
By the Lord, she would be the death of me.
He was blubbering now, completely undone. "You are well aware of how violently these men kill, and you are well aware of how dangerous they are - why did you not take the necessary precautions to prevent this? Why did you not defend yourself well enough? I will have your hide the instant we return home!"
The threat was clearly empty. His rapid tears splashed onto her face, but she still continued to smile in a dazed manner that was truly beginning to scare me now, as she leaned against Papa's shoulder heavily for support.
In the meanwhile, Richard hissed sharply. "What is she doing here, Jules?" he growled, pointing to Lady Jacqueline.
Good question.
She struggled to answer, her words slurring together. "She...will testify...in Court, now...that James...is dead," she grabbed Lady Jacqueline's hand tightly as she held on to Papa, "James is...truly...dead, yes?" Her eyes were fluttering feebly.
James?
Richard jerked a thumb to the burning body beside the spot where once Nick had lay. "Aye, indeed. One good punch, and he fell to the flames. Jamie is well and truly dead," he sounded pained, "but he did knock out Nick as well."
Panic flitted across her exhausted countenance, as Lady Jacqueline released a strangled cry at the news. "Is Nick...all right?"
"Not to worry. He is merely unconscious," King Alfonso spoke up for the first time since Julie had entered.
I nodded. "He will be well soon, Julie. All will be well soon."
She noticed us for the first time, startled. "King Alfonso? Max? H-How...."
"'Tis a long story. One that we will save for another day. At the moment, however, we need to bring you all to a Physician first before all else," Papa cut her off, lifting her despite her soft protests, and walked out of the chamber without another word or look at anyone else.
King Alfonso shrugged nonchalantly at that, and followed him closely behind. He dragged Jackie with him none too gently, cursing her in Spanish under his breath for all the trouble she had caused him and his wife.
Richard and I exchanged astonished looks. "What in the world was that?"
Speechless, I simply shook my head, still unable to believe this sudden turn of events. Mayhap Papa had taken a good look at the sketches made of the corpses that had been prey to these murderers. Mayhap he had feared the same fate for his daughter when he heard that she had been kidnapped. Mayhap that might have snapped him out of the age-old stupidity and resentment he had held for Julie.
Either way, I was glad that he had come around at long last.
"I...know not either," Richard scratched his head in bewilderment, "I suppose we had best leave before this fire traps us within. Bordeux, yes?"
He glanced over his shoulder long and hard at a particular spot of flames, before he firmly turned his back on it.
I shook my head. "Nay. We will be staying at Carcassonne for the next week or so to recover to a sufficient extent to be able to travel, and to allow Nick to briefly meet the last of the Potentials - and then we will return to Bordeux."
Richard gave me a bitter smile. "When I imagined going home, it was not like this. It was never like this."
***