Chapter Forty-Nine
"Do you hear that?" I asked.
"Princess, since the moment I met you," Askar started.
I shook my head, "No," whispering.
"What?" He looked up at me. "No?"
"No, I–" I bunched my skirt, crouching in front of him. "No, do you hear that?" I asked. "I thought I–"
Something swooped over the veranda, then again in front of it, well above the lighted garland. A few ladies gasped; others snickered and laughed at the effect they thought was staged.
"How lovely," someone cracked. "We're to have a spectacle."
"Oh! And fireworks!" another cried.
There was a loud, angry boom from somewhere else. The hedges lit in a crimson haze, fading quickly to orange, yellow, then white. Fire; people started screaming.
Askar rose to his heels; he grabbed my arm and drew me toward him, shuffling me into the crook of his shape. "Run," he ordered. "We have to run. Find shelter."
"Where?" I asked, but I was too aware of the burning castle. Another explosion fell from the sky, and through the gleam, I saw little rods, like matches, soaring through the air. Then the shape of a haunting mechanism in their wake.
"Is that a dragon?!" someone screamed.
People were fleeing. They were falling into the dirt; the tables were pushed from their stations, food and candles fell everywhere. Men grumbled to their wives, others just ran. Askar grabbed my hand.
"Where is your armory?" he asked.
"T-There!" I pointed. "They're arrows," I declared. "They're shooting arrows, Ask!"
We sped for the Knight's Quarters, though Swords had already erupted from it and the castle. Some had bows, others blades, and they searched the smoke-ridden sky for monsters.
"They're wooden!" I yelled, though no one heard or cared. I sounded mad. "They're wooden!" I cried again. "They're baskets, made of wood; there's– There are riders inside! They're not dragons! They're men with fire!"
"Eliza! Come!" Askar begged. He rushed me into the barracks, shoving past every shape of bronze inside. "They're wooden baskets with riders in them," he reiterated for the men. "Arrows. Fire and arrows," he said. "Shoot the riders!"
I was searching every space. "Where is, where, Ser W-Willoughby!? Askar, where is Ser Willoughby? I don't see him anywhere!"
He didn't know. "He'll be somewhere else," he said. "Engaged already."
"I need to find him," I said. "I need to warn him. I need–"
He touched my shoulders at either side. "Ser Willoughby will be okay," he said. "You need to find somewhere safe to hide."
"Hide?" I scoffed. "In the burning castle? The castle... it's... it's on fire."
"Somewh–" His word was cut by the sound of crashing on the roof. Knights scurried out of the structure; others came in. A crackling began, and Askar's face grew grim. "We need to go," he said. "Go! Go! Go!"
He took the nearest sword, arming me with it, then grabbed one for himself. We left the barracks just in time to see the shingles were alight. One of the dragons soared across it.
"I don't understand!" I yelled. "The old man, he was... he wasn't...."
There was a grunt, and then I was off-balance, thrown into the stone birdbath, as Askar raised his sword to strike a man where I had been.
"Bandits!" a woman yelled. She offered me her hand. "Come, Princess. Run with me!"
Silver glinted, wearing flames as a blade cut her throat. The lady fell, falling forward, and left, was a man I didn't know. He stepped toward me; I stepped back.
Askar stabbed the one he sparred with. I heard him force the blade deep into his belly. He struggled to retrieve his weapon, finally pushing him by the throat. I raised my sword.
"Stay away from me," I dared. "Do not come any closer!"
The bandit ran full speed at me. I was able to step out of his path, his momentum bending him over and winding him upon the bath. It broke with his weight, splitting into two, and he fell on top of the stone. Askar arrived, hacking into his back. When the man stopped gasping, he stopped his strikes.
"Are you alright?" he gasped.
Someone called my name. I searched for it, but my eyes burned inside the smog. I coughed when I breathed too deep.
"Eliza!" I heard again; it was Ser Willoughby.
"I'm here!" I cried loudly, then a second. "I'm here! Ser! I'm here! I'm not hurt!"
He burst from the gray, collecting me by the hand. Willoughby breathed at the Duke; they shared an unspoken exchange, and then we started moving; he rushed us in through the wine cellar and out the kitchen into the hall.
Willough threw a large barrel in front of the port, barricading it. Askar helped him move a trunk after. They went ahead to lead before we found my mother; she was standing with Ser Elías in the middle of the Grand Hall; they both were armed; they were both out of breath.
"Eliza!" she cried.
Many of the faces I had seen dancing cowered near the walls. They huddled together; a knight stood near each pod of persons. The entry was still open, and suits of armor fluttered in and out of it; some dragged the injured with them; others left and didn't return.
My mother dropped her sword, releasing all the world's air from her lungs. "Eliza!" she yelled a second time. She embraced me.
"I'm alright; where's Father? Where's... Where's Will?" I asked.
She didn't know. "You cannot stay to find out. Daniel will take you far from here; he'll–"
"With respect, Svana," he said, "There is one path out of the castle from here. If I were to launch an attack, I'd wait there for the Queen and her children."
My mother paused. "Then I..."
"She's better here with me," he promised. "I will die a thousand deaths before I–"
"No!" I called. I gripped his gauntlet as hard as I could. "No. Never! I won't let you, Willoughby! Not even once!"
"It's okay, Eliza," he sang. "That is my oath."
"No!" I begged.
"Your Grace?" Mother said. "Can you fight?"
"Aye, Your Majesty," Ask replied. "I will keep the Princess safe. I promise."
"Good. Do it, or I'll have you killed, do you understand?" she asked.
"Mom!"
"Hell hath no fury, Eliza!" she spat.
"Mom! Don't! Don't leave me!" I begged. "Please, I'm so scared! If you're lea–"
"I'm not leaving, my love," she returned. "I will not leave you unless I must. But listen to me, listen close. If they break in here, run. And if we are separated, you stay with Daniel; you stay with Elías; you stay with your Duke, your father, your brother, or no one else, do you understand?" she asked. "No one else!"
"Y-Yes," I nodded. "I understand."
"You will not die tonight," she said.
"M-Mom!"
"If we're forced, we'll run for the Crypt," she explained.
"O-Okay," I nodded. "The Crypt."
Elías added to it. "When you're inside, block the door. Don't open it again."
"I don't understand," I said. "The dragon wasn't– It was an old man. Originally. How are there– There's so many,?"
The Duke nodded. "There's armor to it now. I missed the purpose before."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Half of the barracks collapsed; we saw it from the window. There were guttural cries from within. Willoughby watched it for too long.
"The man likely sold his contraption," he muttered. He shook his head. "I don't know."
"Where's Daddy?" I asked.
Mom shook her head.
"I'm scared. Where is he, is he–?"
"Do not utter those words, Eliza," she said. Her voice cracked.
Elías met her glare. "I'll look for him."
She didn't reply.
"Mother!" I said.
"Quiet, dear, I'm thinking."
Suddenly, a voice called from the entrance, loud and eagerly. "Mom?!" It was Will.
He and our father staggered in. My mother ran past her knight, sprinting into the King's arms. She latched herself around his body, but when his hand came up to collect her, his wrists were painted red, like he'd bathed his hands in blood.
"Daddy!" I cried. "Are you hurt?!" I was fused to his and my mother's side in seconds. "You're hurt?!" I asked. "Are you hurt?"
"No," he said. "Not me."He pulled back enough to show that he wasn't lying.
"But then who's–"
Will cut me off, hurrying past us, as a pair of knights carried in a wounded man. He had been bandaged for something serious low on his chest and was passing in and out of consciousness.
"Mr. Henrik!" I cried. "Oh, God!"
My brother knelt beside him, brushing his stained bangs from his face. He swept the hair a second time before he said, "It's alright; you're safe now, Henry. I'm here."
But he didn't reply. His eyes closed, and he slumped to the side.
"Is he–?"
"He passed out," Willem told me. "He'll be alright, I think. I hope." My brother stood; his grip tightened on the hilt of his blade. "We'll need back out there," he said.
Father frowned. He used a tablecloth to clean his hands; he balled it up and threw it to the side when he was done. "Aye, but with what weaponry?" he asked. "They burnt the barracks. We are limited here."
"We're sitting ducks here," Will argued.
"I agree with the Prince," Elías chimed. "We must attack them head-on. The longer we stall, the longer we are at the mercy of the castle's stone."
"Stone doesn't burn," my mother said.
Father sighed. "They're around the front, the back, they're everywhere, but the problem is the above us. If we could strike them? If our archers could penetrate the basket? If they didn't have some sort of shield around it, we would be better off."
"Smoke travels," Askar said.
"What?" I asked.
"Smoke. It travels," he said louder. "All they must do is realize you're in here, Your Majesty. They'll block the windows, and you may not burn, but you'll die the same."
"He's right," Willough said.
"Where are the Crypts?" the Duke asked. "Are they close to here?"
"They're beneath the castle," I told him. "But the entrance is outside. There's too man–"
"There's another passage," my mother said.
"What?" I asked.
"Through the Drawing Room. Willem," she called for him. He came. "You know it. You'll move everyone there."
"I will fight," he said.
"You need to live to rule," she said. "Your painter is wounded."
"Yes. And for him, I want to fight," he pressed.
"No!" she yelled.
"Svana," Father said. "Let him decide."
Mama shook her head. "No, he needs to go. I'll fight."
"No, Swan," he urged. "Not over my dead body. Not over the Empire's rotting corpse."
"You want me to sacrifice our child?" she asked. "I've given these bastards enough!"
"Svana," Elías said.
She looked out across the room at all the eyes watching her. "I can't lose him," she whispered.
"I won't be lost, Mom," Willem said. "I must fight. What good a king am I if I hide?"
"Goddamn your Eisson blood," she croaked. "Fine. I'll take them. But I swear to God, Willem! If you die–!"
There were footsteps over us—boots beating upon the terraces. Shadows passed across the windowed doors.
"You there," Mother snapped her fingers, bringing the squire to lift Mr. Henrik. Then she addressed the room. "We're all moving," she said. If you're not a Sword, if you're not able-bodied to fight, you'll follow me through that hall. We'll take refuge in the Crypt 'til the morning."
They started to whisper.
"Take only what you need," she ordered. "Stay within your family and friends; do not venture off the path. We'll see the daylight soon."
Askar pulled me from the group as they began to weed into the corridor. My mother stopped to listen to what he said.
"I will see you soon, my love," Askar promised.
"You're not coming with me?" I asked. "But–"
"You know I cannot do that," he said. "I will see you soon."
"But there's–" More thuds over us, speeding my heart. "Askar, please. Come with me."
"Eliza, we're moving," Mother said. "I'm sorry. We need to go."
A bandit shattered one of the doors, jutting his hand into the threshold to turn the knob. A knight met him there, tearing him through the glass, wounding him in that alone, then killing him when he was inside. But the door was opened, and more noticed. They tried to file in.
"Move!" my mother called. "Now!"
She and Ser Elías headed the front. She was muttering about unlocking it, whatever it was. They paused to conspire privately. Askar dropped my hand.
"I'll come for you," he said. "I'll see you soon."
"I–" I couldn't think. I watched him as he faded down the hall, vowing again and again.
"I'll come for you," he said. "I'll come for you."
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