quick and deadly.
“How many more?” I asked the Queen after the man was dead.
“I think that was the only one. He found us by accident.”
“We need to get out of here now,” I said. “Where is Isabel?”
“I’m right here,” she said coming out of her room. “I heard the man come in, and I ran and hid under my bed.”
“Alright, come on, let’s go,” I said.
The Queen looked at the children. “I want you to be brave,” she said.
It took a moment for me to grasp that she didn’t intend to come with us.
“What do you think you’re doing? “ I asked.
“I’m staying behind to try and get others out,” she said. “I can’t leave our servants trapped here, it wouldn’t be right.”
“You can’t stay here, he’ll kill you,” I warned.
“Maybe, but maybe not. Either way, I can’t abandon my duty.”
“Your duty is to your daughter,” I snapped. “She still needs you.”
“My duty is to my people. I’ve done my duty to my daughter, she’s taken care of. But my people aren’t. I need to get as many of them out of the palace as I can. It was the King’s wish.” With that, I realized that I would never be able to persuade her to come with me.
“I’m not coming either,” Lady Mary said.
The Queen glared at her. “What? You can’t stay here. I command you to go with them.”
“No,” Lady Mary protested. “I can’t leave my husband behind, I won’t leave him behind.”
“He would want you to go,” the Queen said.
Lady Mary shook her head. “No, I can’t.”
“Then I order you under arrest,” the Queen said.
“What?” Lady Mary said shocked. “But…”
“Sir Owen, arrest her,” the Queen said.
I stood there dumbfounded for a second, as Lady Mary began to sob. “ You can’t do this,” she said.
“I can and I will,” The Queen responded. “Sir Owen, I order you to place Lady Mary under arrest.”
I shifted uncomfortably. Lady Mary was someone that I had respect for, and I didn’t wish to arrest her. I pitied her, having to leave her husband. If I were in her shoes, I was sure that I wouldn’t behave any differently.
“Sir Owen, arrest her now and leave. We can’t waste any more time on such matters,” the Queen said sharply.
I reached into my travel bag, pulled out some rope, and bound Lady Mary’s hands with it. “I place you under arrest,” I muttered.
“I’m sorry,” the Queen said. “This is the way that it has to be.” She embraced the children one last time. She could no longer hold back her tears as she hugged each of them. She begged them to be brave no matter what happened, and told them all how much she loved them.
As she stepped toward me, I found myself unable to hold back my emotion. She wrapped her arms around my waste and rested her head against my chest. “Be brave my son,” she said stepping back.
I nodded and turned away. I didn’t want her to see me cry anymore. I grabbed Lady Mary’s elbow, and led her out of the room into the dark passageways.
As we moved through the passageways, we could hear the fighting on the inside of the castle. I felt nauseated as I thought of the Queen still inside trying to get people out. I looked back over my shoulder, and saw the knights carrying the children on their backs.
In my haste I had forgotten that Isabel and William weren’t quite healed all the way. It was better that they were carrying the children anyways. It meant less noise, and less chance that someone on the other side of the walls would hear us.
My heart raced when we reached a dead end. I glanced down at the wall, and saw the handle for the door. I knew that when I opened the door, we would be at the end of the palace walls and in the forest. I pressed my ear up against the door, and couldn’t hear anything. With any luck, the battle wouldn’t be anywhere near us. But still it would be dangerous, we had to make it to the rock, and who knew what could happen by the time it took us to get there.
“Hold up,” I whispered. “Will someone toss me one of the bags that have the extra weapons?”
One of my knights, Sir Benton handed me a bag. I opened it up, and pulled out a long dagger. I used it to cut the rope off of Lady Mary’s hands, then I handed her the dagger. She looked at me fearfully. “Just in case,” I reassured her.
Then I handed each of the kids one.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” I said. “We’re going to move as quickly and as quietly as possible. I want all of the children carried on someone’s back. The most important thing is to protect them. Also we need to try and surround Lady Mary as much as possible. If we get attacked, we need to try and stick together. Am I understood?”
They nodded. “ I’m going to take Isabel,” I said. I knelt over, and she climbed up onto my back. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you,” I said.
I could see the Lady Mary was trembling. “The kids need you to stay calm,” I told her.
She nodded. “I’ll try.”
I opened the door, and saw nothing. I signaled for my men to move, “Now!” I said running out into the open.
We made it to the forest, and that was when the chaos began.
Isabel
We had just made it to the forest when an arrow went by my head missing by inches. I screamed.
“Be quiet!” Owen commanded me.
Another arrow went by, this time missing by farther. I knew that we were still quite a way from the rock. I looked around, and spotted them, at least two dozen men coming over the hill. I was still young, but I realized how bad that was. We only had maybe ten men with us.
Owen grabbed Catherine and William, off the backs of the men they were on. “Cover us,” he said as he began to run. He spotted a small cave, and ordered us to get inside until he said it was safe. I heard footsteps running away from us. Had he gone? Had he left us there?
I huddled against Catherine and William, trembling. Catherine was crying and I grabbed onto her hand squeezing it as hard as I could. Just a few feet away, I could hear the weapons hitting each other.
I suddenly realized that Aunt Mary was not on inside the cave with us.
Sir Owen
After the kids had climbed into the cave, I grabbed Lady Mary and twirled us around behind a tree.
“Can you be brave?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“We need to lead them away from the children.”
“We can’t leave the children unprotected,” she protested.
“If we stay here there’s an even greater chance they’ll find them.”
“What do we have to do?”
“Run,” I said pulling her hand and leading her into the open. I was immediately attacked by three different men. “Get out of here,” I ordered her.
I was able to defeat the first one quickly enough, but felt overpowered by the other two. “Stay alive”, I said to myself in my head as I tried to fight them both at once. I could do this, I had done it in training often enough…two attackers at once. I finally managed to get them in a line so I was only fighting one at a time. One man swung his sword over his head, I was able to block it and kick him into the other men. They both stumbled backwards. My follow through was swift and fatal.
The first man screamed, as I drove my sword through him. The other man tried to flee, but he wasn’t able to get up fast enough as I sliced him. As my sword sliced through him, I saw another man coming at me in the corner of my eye. I spun around, and cut him in the gut before he could land his blow. I let out of breath of relief, as I heard a thud behind me.
I twirled around, to see a man lying on the ground, bloody and gulping for air. Lady Mary was standing above him, shaking with a bloody dagger in her hands.
“Thank you,” I said.
She nodded. I was beginning to think that she wasn’t much for words. I glanced around for my men. Somehow it see
med as if they had held their own. I could see them, all of them, standing in a circle with their backs to each other striking down their attackers.
“Come on,” I said. “I’m going to help them, and so are you.”
She looked at me, her eyes wide. I pulled her behind a tree, and pulled out my bow and arrows that I had in my bag. “Watch my back,” I said, and began shooting.
William
It seemed like we had been there forever before we finally heard footsteps. My first instinct was to run out and see if it was Owen, but I knew better. Then I heard more footsteps, and voices. I listened for a minute, and realized that none of the voices sounded familiar.
“I’m sure I saw them come this way,” one of them said.
“Keep looking, the rats have to be somewhere around here.”
What had happened? I wondered. Was Sir Owen ok? Why wasn’t he here protecting us? As they got closer, and I could hear the branches under their feet snapping, and panic set in.
“There you are!” A man suddenly yelled, climbing into the cave. Catherine and Isabel screamed. He grabbed for Catherine. I pulled out my dagger and drove it into the man’s stomach. He fell backwards.
“We have to get out of here,” I told the girls. I grabbed the man’s sword and ran to the front of the cave. Another man was barrowing towards me angry. I inched back towards a tree. Catherine and Isabel were clinging to each other. Within seconds suddenly there were more men. I swallowed hard, and ran towards the nearest man, and drove my weapon into him.
I heard the girls screaming again, and saw another man trying to grab them. Damn it, couldn’t they use they’re daggers? I thought. I ran back and stabbed