Fragments Gallery
Worth the Price
“You need to go. Now,” said the soldier his gaze locked on hers.
Her eyes were wide and all she could do was stare. Short hours ago everything had seemed right, all had seemed calm. Now blood flowed across the cobbles, it seeped down the worn stone of the road.
“Wake up lass!” exclaimed the solider as he laid a hand on her shoulder, “Look around you.”
She shook her head, still staring at him. How had this happened? How had her life come apart so quickly?
“Look around you!” He ordered again, this time roughly shaking her shoulder, trying to jolt her from her shock. When she didn’t respond he turned to a younger man standing behind him.
“Cawldon I need you to go to the keep and get together a mounted escort, be back here in five minutes. Bring an extra horse for Milady.”
“Am I to bring a horse for you Sir?”
“No. Go.”
She heard the men’s words but they didn’t seem to make sense. Nothing made sense. Her father, she needed to find him. He would make things right. She began to pull away from the solider but stopped. Her father was… now dead. She’d seen him go down with an arrow in his chest as he led men to reinforce the gate. That arrow… it had been a lucky shot. An archer outside the fortress had fired it at the defenders on the wall. It has missed them but the arrow had felled her father on the road leading down to the gate. A lucky shot, she’d seen the arrow strike him down from where she was in one of the keep’s balconies. Her brothers… both of them had been promising captains. Edward and Luke were their names. Luke, the younger of the two, had been praised by his mentors as the brightest young pupil they had ever seen. Edward had been trained from birth to be the next lord of the keep, and he had seemed well suited for the task. He had a knack for understanding people and how they worked. He would have been good for the people. Both of them… now gone. They had fallen as the gate burst open and the rebels had swarmed through the gate. She had seen Edward pulled from his horse and vanish under the swath of bodies.
“Look around!”
Hesitantly she tore her eyes from his and looked around; they were in the middle of the street. Lining the street were tall store fronts capped with the merchant’s living quarters. Something was wrong. Some of the buildings were burning. The street was painted red. The street was littered with bundles of cloth, steel and flesh. The battle had been here. How had she gotten down here from the balcony?
“Hey! I need you to listen to me!” Yelled the solider, his voice gruff, “You need to leave.”
She opened her mouth but no words came out. Where was her voice? What was happening? She started as a scream pierced through the din of metal clashing on metal somewhere nearby. The fighting was still very close. It was too close.
“Milady Laina, please listen. His Majesty, your father, is dead and so are your brothers. That leaves you as the last surviving member of your family. Do you know what that means?”
She shook her head. Did it matter what it meant? They were all dead of course it didn’t matter.
The soldier pulled her closer to a storefront, moving her from the center of the street. He fell to one knee and turned to regard her.
“That means that you are our ruler now. You are the queen and it is my duty to get you to safety. You must leave; we cannot hold the city against the rebels. They have won for now.”
She blinked at him; swept her gaze across his grizzled cheeks, sharp jaw and grey eyes. Of course, now she recognized him. He was the second in command of the city watch. She turned and looked up the road as the clatter of hooves on the cobbles announced the return of the younger man.
“I need you to go with these men,” said the soldier when he caught sight of the riders, “They’ll get you out of the city and take you someplace safe.”
Laina nodded.
The soldier looked searchingly into her eyes for a moment and then stood. From the midst of the riders emerged an unburdened horse. Taking her hand the soldier helped her into the saddle.
“You are to take her out of the city… take her to the summer palace,” he told the lead rider, “You will see that she gets there in one piece. Do you understand?”
“Yes Sir I understand,” replied the rider, “Will you be following?”
“No. My place is here. I will distract the rebels, give you time to escape.”
“Yes Sir. It has been an honour.”
The grizzled soldier smiled, “Yes it has. She is the only hope for the survival of our people. Make sure she gets the chance to save them.”
The rider saluted his commander and then rode down the road. Laina waved to the soldier as she rode by and he smiled indulgently. Yes he would hold the city for as long as he could even though it would cost his life and the lives of many of his men. It was worth it if they could help Laina survive long enough to restore the kingdom.
He turned and ran down a nearby alley. He had to gather together his forces and organize a resistance. He had work to do.