In all my life, never did Veles Citadel feel so cold, dark, and alien. Steel against steel echoed faintly through the hallways, punctuated with a scream of pain then brutally cut short an instant later. My skirts, a lengthy, ankle-high dress, felt like shackles around my legs. I picked them up by the hem and up to my waist to widen my stride. Annabell Vloster, my Lady-in-Waiting and personal maid servant, seemed far too practiced for such a terrifying event. Despite her uniform's similar length, she ran behind my father and I while carrying a large sack of supplies, carefully prepared for this sort of outcome.
My father, the King of Renalis, was purged of his position by my fiancé, Lord Cedric Hasting.
I could scarcely believe Cedric's proclamation of rebellion even when he declared it over the evening feast in celebration of my mother's valiant death within the Endless Abyss. But I could not avert my eyes from the truth when a high-Leveled Dark Elf, the infamous Sliverflash Idyia, appeared out of the shadows and started a slaughter of all my father's supporters in the middle of the banquet hall. Even Cedric's elite soldiers engaged the royal guards alongside his deadly Barghests. Despite their best efforts, it was obvious they would be slain within minutes.
But their lives bought us time to escape. I flinched in horror when my father gutted another traitor who barred our way. Father was a 3rd Level Fencer, and even in his old age he still maintained a glimmer of his skills. But fighting through the Citadel long since drained his Health and his Attributes decayed along with his age and years of inactivity.
He turned to check on Anna and I, but his moment of concern was careless.
"Father!"
The wounded guard jammed his sword through my father's stomach. Father spun, a rare glare of anger painting his features and beheaded the dying guard in one swipe.
There was a moment of pure, painful silence. Then I watched, grief-stricken, when father fell to his side. Anna was already moving. In her trembling hands was a small sewing kit she kept for emergency stitches.
Despite her kind nature, Anna gripped the sword hilt in my father's stomach and yanked it free. Blood split everywhere, but Anna ignored it and started to sew father's wounds shut. I had no idea when she gained such medical skill, but I was grateful.
"Princess, take the King's left side!" Anna's voice cracked, betraying her barely contained fear. I quickly did as she said, using my whole body as a crutch for my father to lean on. Anna ran on ahead while the two of us limped forward. By the time we caught up, she was desperately pushing at the wall.
After a few attempts, one of the bricks fell into an indentation and a secret passageway slid open. Anna retrieved one of the hallway torches and slung her free arm around my father's waist to assist me.
With only the torchlight to guide us through the darkness, I flinched at every sound and shadow.
The tunnel eventually gave way to the sewers beneath the city. The rancid smell awoke my father.
“Annabell, we must make for the southern gate,” his voice was frighteningly frail. “Find Captain Antigone. Hasting’s controls all the territories between Veles and the Peak.Tell him we must make for Altanova.”
My father fell silent again, but his eyes fluttered open every so often and he continued to limp forward while Anna and I hoisted him up on both sides.
Anna must have trained for this moment, because she was far too familiar with the narrow twists and turns. My mind spun with each step. Why was this happening? What great sin did my father commit to deserve such hatred? Was he not a good, kind, and just King? Never did he allow tyranny to cloud his judgment, yet Cedric condemned him as a tyrant, hellbent on protecting me from the Alliance.
How could he? Cedric was shielded from the quota just as much as I, if not more so because of his rare Summoner Class! The cold, creeping fear slowly melted into a burning, smoldering hatred for my fiance.
We eventually emerged into the streets of Veles, shadowed by the cloudly night. Rain was expected, so the streets were sparsely populated. Anna draped a thick cloak over father and I then left to the gate barracks while I limped onward alongside father. He drifted in and out of consciousness. His eyes grew murky and he was oh-so cold. I even channeled a bit of warmth through my body with magic, but I couldn’t fend off the chill he seemed to emit.
“Captain Antigone!” That was Anna’s voice. “His Majesty and the Crowned Princess require aid! Are you not a Royalist?!” She spat venom from her lips. I rounded the corner to see her arguing with a city guardsman who bore the rank of Captain on his pauldron and breastplate.
“Milady, please, if you continue to make a ruckus, I will be forced to throw you in the dungeons until you calm down.” His gaze drifted lazily off of Anna’s hysteric face and his eyes widened like dinner plates. Despite the cloak, our clothing was not easily concealed. It was obvious at a glance we were the highest level of aristocracy.
“Captain Antigone,” my father spoke again in a surprising demonstration of lucidity. “What Annabell says is true. We require aid. There has been a coup. We are now royals in-exile.”
Antigone gaped like a fish, but he recovered and his eyes gleamed harshly. “I need men here now! Secure the barracks perimeter! Take His Majesty and the Crowned Princess to the physician!”
My jaw, locked in perpetuity since this madness began, finally relaxed as able men and women escorted my father carefully into the safety of the stone building.
“Miss Annabell,” I heard Captain Antigone call as I walked past him and my maid to join my father. “If you wish to flee to Altanova, you will need a vehicle to bear the King. Please follow one of my men. They will draw and tack horses onto a carriage. Can you jockey?”
Anna nodded, her face pale, but her expression set. I noticed her bloodstained hands still trembled.
“Good, Jacob, take Miss Annabell to the rear stables and ready a carriage. Two horses, our best. Swiftly now!”
A soldier, Jacob, ran up to Antigone, saluted him, then took Anna by the hand to the back of the barracks. I continued after my father. The physician’s room smelt of stiff alchemical potations, but I much preferred it over fresh blood. She was busy bandaging my father’s stomach wound. She didn’t change stitching. I cracked a slight smile. Anna was better than she was.
“Your Highness,” the physician began once she was finished with my father. He was awake now, staring mindlessly at the ceiling. “Your Highness,” she said again and I turned my attention toward her. “There is a water basin. Please, cleanse your hands and arms. They are covered in blood.”
I looked down and saw my father’s blood painting my arms crimson up to my elbows. In a panic, I ran over to the basin and dunked them then wiped them furiously until my skin was red. The doctor gently pried me away from the water and examined me for any wounds.
“Your Highness, the King is-”
I looked away and sat next to my father. I took one hand in both of mine.
“He will be fine.”
The physician blinked once and nodded. “I will give you two a few moments alone.” She left quietly after, but I found the silence deafening, broken only by my father’s gentle wheezing.
“Lydia, I’m sorry.”
“Father! No, don’t speak. You need your strength!” I stroked his hair and kissed his forehead. I was proud of my Dragon Mage Class - it was even more powerful than my mother’s. It was almost Heroic. But for the first time, I wished I was born with a healing Skill.
“I’ve failed you. I’ve failed your mother. I’ve failed the kingdom. May she forgive me when next we meet.” Tears fell from his closed eyes and I wiped them away with my thumb.
“No, father. No. You protected me. You protected the kingdom. You saved me.” I whispered into his ears. His hand clasped tightly around mine, but no words left him. My breath hitched in my throat. My lungs froze, only to move again when my father’s chest rose weakly once more. I dipped my forehead against his and prayed to the Primaries for deliverance.
But I forgot one lesson all faithful learned quickly: the gods were often cruel.
Loud bangs echoed through the entire building. I shot up from my father’s side. At some point, I had fallen asleep, physically and mentally exhausted as I was.
Jacob and Anna barged into the room the next instant. Anna’s face fell at my appearance and my father’s stillness.
“Your Highness, is the King-”
“No,” I interrupted Jacob. “My father yet lives.”
Jacob nodded once. “The carriage is ready. Captain Antigone has gone to delay our unwelcome guests in the courtyard. Meanwhile, you must away to Altanova. The city gates will shut as soon as you pass through.”
Jacob didn’t wait for my response and instead picked up my father in both arms. Anna and I followed after and I saw the physician standing in the hall on the way to the rear exit.
“Your Highness,” she grasped my hand. “You must prepare yourself for the worst.”
I shook free of her grip and turned away from her and reality to march onward. I heard Captain Antigone bellow out orders and the all-too-familiar sound of steel cutting into flesh reverberated through the barracks. I picked up my skirts and ran.
Jacob, Anna, and three other soldiers were carefully loading my father into the carriage with a makeshift bed when I finally arrived. Once they finished, Jacob and his comrades drew their swords and shields. It was only then I noticed Captain Antigone’s voice was silent and the stifled sounds of battle were dead.
“Your Highness, you must flee. We will remain here and delay your pursuers.”
“No!” I argued and pulled on Jacob’s arm. “Come with us. All of you, come with us!”
“We who are about to die, salute you! Long live the King!”
I backed away, shaking my head at their resolve. “P-please.”
“Your Highness, more bodies will just slow the horses. We of the Goldfire Battalion choose to believe in the triumphant return of the dragonkin, just as Captain Antigone did.”
Anna wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into the wagon. I didn’t fight her as I watched Jacob and his fellows prepare for battle.
Again. I’m leaving my people again. First my friends and the royal guards in the citadel and now my warriors in the streets. As soon as I was seated, Anna whipped the horses into a full gallop down the back alley and toward the city gates. I crawled to the rear of the wagon and watched over the edge as the barrack’s rear doors exploded to reveal a gigantic black dog. It proweled out of the building chewing on the mutilated corpse of the physician I was speaking to not a few moments prior. Behind came more of Cedric’s guardsmen. Even so, they were bloodied and wounded. I felt the smallest flame of pride ignite within the depths of my soul. Captain Antigone and his men made the traitors pay for every inch in pounds of flesh.
The four brave soldiers of Renalis raised their swords and shields and formed a tight wall of flesh and steel that prevented passage further down the alley. As we turned a corner and made for the city gates, the last words I heard from Jacob I would sear into my mind for the rest of my life:
“You shall not pass!”
