♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 17//: It's an attack!♕✿~♕✿~

Ahren's POV

Nick frowns as he watches me walk down the stairs to join the other guards getting ready to go out to look for Madi.

He saunters up to me, his eyes going up and down my body. A smile plays on his lips. "This is your attempt at a disguise?" He asks me with a raised brow.

I adjust the King's Guard mask on my face. "What? I'm covering my face. Just going for the same look as you," I joke. The actual King's Guard mask on Nick's face definitely looked more authentic than my own copy, but nobody would be able to tell as long as they didn't look too long.

"And what's with your hair? Are you actually trying to look like me?" Nick asks incredulously as he takes in my hair, which a maid had dyed blond with some temporary dye. I run a hand through it.

"Well, having only the mask would be pathetic. And so the maid dyed my hair. This dye should wash out after one or two showers," I inform Nick. He crosses his arm, looking slightly impressed.

"I'm surprised you actually let anyone change your hair," he tells me. I shrug a bit. "Actually, this wasn't my idea. Gregory's a bit paranoid, so he made me do this. He said it was either this or possibly get killed when rebels recognize me," I say as I run my hand once more through my hair. I really hope this was temporary hair dye. In the past, there's been cases where people mistook permanent hair dye for temporary. And I was not in the least bit interested in having blond hair for the rest of my life.

Nick looks around at the gathered guards, then beckons me to follow him as he walks towards the doors of the palace so he can be in front of the other guards. "Let's go," he calls out to the other guards, who walk at a leisurely pace behind him.

I walk beside Nick. "So, how do these searches usually work?" I ask him as we walk out to see two large trucks meant to carry many people. We enter one of the cars with other guards following after us, while the rest go into another large car.

"For this search party, we're going to southern Norta. It'll take a few hours by car, so feel free to sleep. But when we get there, we'll separate into groups and scout the area and ask the locals about the Rogue Dawn and Madi," Nick explains to me.

I nod as he tells me this information. The car's engine revs up and soon, we're on the road. Not knowing what to do, I first try to look out the window. But being stuck between two people made it awkward to even look up. So then I opted to just spending the car ride to look down at my shoes and fiddle my fingers. Halfway into the drive, my head started to droop. And before I knew it, sleep was beckoning for me and I fell into its arms.

♡

A quick shake of my shoulder has me bolting up from my seat, blinking in confusion. Nick keeps a hand on my shoulder.

"We're here," he says as he beckons with a jut of his chin outside the car window.

I look out the window to see a town teeming with activity. People were walking past our car at fast paces. As far as I could see, this was most likely a Red village; everyone walked hurriedly, and not with the grace I was used to seeing at the palace.

The doors of the car open, and the guards file out. I jump down from the car and take a moment to scan the rest of the village that I couldn't see from inside the car. The ground beneath me was a mixture of dirt and decayed grass. People looked at us as they passed by, but quickly looked away if they made eye contact with any of us.

I noted the Sentinels posted at different spots of the village. One of them comes up to Nick, and I hear low murmurs as Nick explains to the man what they're doing here.

The Sentinel nods and goes back to his post. Nick looks up at me and gestures with his hand for me to follow him. I trudge behind him, still taking in the sight of the village. I had never actually seen a village like this. I had only seen villages that are taken care of. Growing up, I had never been allowed to go out into my country. Father always made sure I stayed in the areas where the buildings were modern and beautiful. I had never questioned it before. But now, I was seeing a side of Norta that I never knew about.

No wonder there are rebel groups if the majority of Reds live like this, I think as I catch up to Nick and another guard standing to attention in front of him.

"Isaac," I hear Nick greet the other guard with a nod of his head. The young guard nods back. Nick turns to look at me, gesturing between Isaac and I.

"This is Isaac. He'll be with us when we go around and ask about the Rogue Dawn. Isaac, this is..." Nick trails off, knowing he can't say my name. He gives me a quick glance.

"Luke," Nick blurts out. "This is Luke." He gestures to me. I furrow my brows. Seriously? Luke?

Nick notices my look, and murmurs to me in a low voice, "I panicked and that's the first name that came to mind."

I grunt, but say nothing of the name. Nick goes around, separating the rest of the guards into groups to go around and ask the locals about the Rogue Dawn and Madi.

Looking around the village, my heart clenched. What if Madi was here? What if right now, she was getting hurt? I shook my head. That was why I needed to find her as soon as possible. I needed to get her out of the Rogue Dawn's grasp and keep her safe. Make sure she didn't get hurt ever again.

Nick walks back to Isaac and I. He nods at us. "Let's go. We'll go talk to the locals by the market. We're all planning on meeting back up in the market square," Nick explains to us. He starts to walk ahead, and I quickly follow after him, my strides determined and heavy.

I was going to make sure I found Madi. And I was going to bring her back home.

♡

So far, no helpful information has come up.

We had gone around asking villagers if they knew anything regarding the Rogue Dawn and Madi's location. All of them shook their heads and walked off.

But I wasn't giving up. Madi had to be somewhere in Norta. And I was going to search for her until I found her.

Nick, Isaac, and I approach two men loitering around and casting dark glances at everyone. Their eyes move to us as we walk up to them.

"Good day, sirs," Nick greets them politely. "We're from the palace, and we are currently going around to acquire any information on the Rogue Dawn and their location." Nick looks at the two men intently. "Do you have any information you'd like to give? Any suspicious activity that's been happening around here?" Nick questions.

One of the men narrows his eyes as he looks at me. His mouth quirks up a bit, and he nudges the man next to him slightly. I try to stand still and ignore the movement.

"No, we don't have any information," the man finally replies in a gruff voice that indicates he wants to be left alone.

For a moment, Nick stands still, staring at the men. Then he slowly turns away and starts to walk away from them. I walk next to him, glancing back at the men to see them still staring at us. At me, especially.

"Those men were acting kind of weird," I mutter to Nick. He nods his head in agreement, sparing them another glance.

"But, there've been some weird people we've questioned before. I wouldn't dwell on it too much," Nick tells me as we walk to the market square where the majority of the other guards are already waiting.

After waiting a few more minutes for the rest of the guards to come back, Nick speaks up. "Did any of you get anything interesting?"

Most shake their heads. But one raises their hand slightly to get Nick's attention. The woman has a hard face, her face decorated with small scars.

"One villager mentioned that this town is frequently attacked by the Rogue Dawn. It's lead many of them to believe their base is located somewhere in the vicinity," the woman says.

My heart pounds at the idea that Madi might be close to her. That I'm close to her right now.

Nick nods in thanks to the woman. "Alright. We'll spend some time scouting the area around here before we go ba-"

Nick is cut off by the sudden sound of multiple gunshots.

I let instinct take over, and I duck my head and cover it with my arms. The other guards do the same. But then I notice some of them falling, silver blood falling from them in droplets.

The village around us turns into a panic. Screams rip through the air, and many drop whatever they were holding to run away from the men and women shooting at them with black cloths covering the majority of their faces.

"It's an attack from the Rogue Dawn!" Nick yells out as he attends to the guards closest to him, healing their wounds.

The guards who aren't injured react immediately. They pull out their own guns and start shooting at the Rogue Dawn members. Some of the braver ones engage in hand to hand combat with them, utilizing their abilities.

I'm frozen for a second, memories of that terrible day in the garden plaguing me. My parents' dead faces swim in front of me. It's happening all over again.

Someone shakes me from behind. I turn around to see Nick.

"Ahren, get back to the car," he orders me.

I open my mouth to protest. After all, a rebel group was attacking a village in my country. I wasn't keen on letting that happen without doing something myself.

Nick glares at me. "Not. The. Time. I'm not letting you fucking die out here, okay?" He tells me before shoving me in the direction of where the cars are.

I move to turn back but a bullet whizzes past my ear. Forced to run in the direction of the car to avoid the unseen enemy, I grit my teeth and start running.

As I'm running, I suddenly hear a loud, high pitched wailing. I turn to see a little girl being cornered by a Rogue Dawn member, the gun aimed at her.

I hesitate for just a moment before running towards the little girl and the Rogue Dawn member. I barrel into the Rogue Dawn member, knocking him to the ground. His eyes widen with rage as his head hits the ground hard before rolling back as he falls into unconsciousness from the blow. I quickly jump up from the man, turning to the little girl. Ushering her towards the other villagers running away, I turn to look at her and tell her, "Get away from here and find your parents."

The girl doesn't hesitate to listen to me, running away into the mass of people. I stare after her before turning back around but am met with a woman wearing the Rogue Dawn attire.

At first, it looks like she thinks I'm a regular guard from the palace. But then her eyes take in my hair, the fire bracelets fastened on my wrists, and then my grey eyes. Her eyes widen in a moment of surprise as she realizes who I am.

In a quick moment, she has her gun raised and aimed at me before I am able to conjure up my fire. I lower my legs, preparing to jump away from the direction of her gun, when ivy knocks the gun from the woman's hands. I stare in surprise as the ivy wraps around the woman, keeping her tied to the ground.

"Luke!" It takes me a moment to react to my fake name. When I look up, I see Isaac manipulating the ivy to tighten around the woman even more. He looks up at me. "The rest of them left. We're going back to the palace for now. Let's go." Isaac waves his hand in the air, and the ivy grabs the woman's dropped gun and hits it hard against the back of her head. She falls down, unconscious.

I look behind me once more as I run with Isaac back to the cars. The village looked like a ghost town with no villagers in sight. Here and there, Rogue Dawn members were lying on the ground, either dead or unconscious.

I'm pushed into the car, and I almost trip but right myself at the last moment. The car starts to move, but all I can do is stare out the window to the village.

Today, I had seen a part of Norta that I was never exposed to. I was kept hidden away in the palace while my people had suffered through harsh times. And all I could think as the village was left behind as the car went onto paved road was:

I am never going to let myself be ignorant of the state of my country ever again.

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

This chapter was surprisingly long.

Do you guys think the Rogue Dawn base is close to that village? Do you think Ahren is close to finding Madi?

Sorry this took so dang long to be uploaded. I am in the deepest writer's block ever and it is not fun

Until the next update!

Glass_Sword