Wake of Devastation, Lost in Desperation

Gaurds flooded out of the gate, running to form a protective ring around me. They hurried me into the main castle and servants crowded the halls to get a look at their lost princess.

Mayora cried out and hugged me, and I hugged back tears of relief falling from my eyes.

I was home.

"The knights?" I heard Mayora asking. Flora joined our hugging circle. "Where are the knights?"

"They're in trouble. They're with Eurydice in the forest, and they're fighting for their lives.

Mayora whispered Robert's name as Flora whispered Bradley's, and I stared at them in sorrow. They loved their knights as much as I loved Micheal, and I wondered if they'd gotten a chance to tell them so. The tears they were shedding, was it possible that despite how much I wanted to loathe Micheal, I was shedding those same tears?

A gaurd told me that my father wanted to speak to me, so I said my farewells to the girls and followed the gaurd toward my father's throne room, watching his every move in case he turned out to be a spy for Morcaus.

He led me straight into the throne room and left when my father waved him away. The king took me into his arms, and I hugged him gratefully, taking in his warm scent and graying haur.

"Sayer," he breathed, pulling away. There were tears in his dark eyes, and I wondered how I'd never associated his eyes with Micheal's, because they were the same shape and color.

As my Father analyzed me, I analyzed him as well, recognizing little things that were the same as Micheal: the way they stood, how their eyes would widen and crinkle at the ends as they talked, and how, even when they were aggravated, the corners of their lips would twitch up as they spoke. My father walked away from me, his hand falling to his sword, something Micheal always did when he was deep in thought.

Suddenly, I understood the king perfectly.

He turned to me with worry in his eyes.

"The knights can handle themselves," he said, assesing the cuts I had in various places all over my body. "They'd never let any harm come to Eurydice." I studied him.

"Father, did you know that the knights are elves?" His eyes flashed to my face.

"You're not supposed to know that. I told them not to tell you." I shook my head. I had been right.

"They didn't tell us. We saw it with our own eyes. The forest wanted us to know. Why did you order Micheal to order the others not to tell us? What good did you think that could possibly bring?"

He stared at me, stunned, and then a wide smile split his lips. "Of course you would figure that out, Sayer. Yes, I ordered Micheal and he, in turn, ordered the others. I didn't want you girls to be angry with me, so I set it up that, should you find out, Micheal would take the blame."

I fumed silently. How could a man do that to his own son!?

He could if he didn't know that it was his son.

We stared at each other for a while, and I finally broke the silence by asking, "When am I going out to find them?" He laughed, a rich bass tone that didn't really match Micheal's.

"You're not going back out there, Sayer. It's not safe."

"What about Eurydice and Micheal!?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about your husband-to-be?"

"I am, Father, and that 'husband-to-be' is Micheal!" His face turned dark red.

"I am your father, and I decide whom you marry!"

"Have you ever thought about how Eurydice might feel!? Neither she nor Bradley want to marry each other. Bradley is in love with Flora. Eurydice loves Chester!" Jakobi stared at me with wide eyes. "And I am in love with Micheal."

We stared at each other for another long moment.

"Take her to her chambers. She needs rest," he called loudly. Gaurds began pulling me away and I panicked.

"So you're just going to leave your son out there to die!?" I yelled. Jakobi held his hand up and the guards stopped dragging me away.

"My... Son? I don't have a son..."

"Yes, you do," I said. "He's out there fighting for his life right now. Do you want to know who it is, King Jakobi?" He watched me silently. "It's the one person you trust the least. It's Micheal."

His eyes widened and he motioned for the guards to take me away. I looked up at their faces and saw the grim look on a familiar face. It was the guard who had slapped Micheal twelve years ago. I stared at him with unmasked loathing.

"Believe me, Princess, if I'd have known, I wouldn't have touched him. He has all rights to have my head chopped off."

"Wait!" we heard someone call. I looked around and saw the psychic walking briskly towards us. "Leave us," she said to the gaurds. Hesitantly, they walked away, and the psychic began tugging me along. "Have you made your choice yet?" she asked, walking at the brisk pace she had used when catching up to me.

"My choice... I don't know what my choice is!" She heaved an exsasperated sigh.

"Not your choice, Sayer. Your choice." I stared at her in confusion, not paying attention to our surroundings. "You are never alone, Sayer! It's not just about you."

"Are you saying... That someone else is going to make this choice with me?" She nodded her head vigorously. "But who?" She stopped us and stared at me.

"Who is the one person that means more to you than anything in the nine kingdoms?" And she hurried away. I stared after her and gasped when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned to Mayora.

"Come rest," she said, a secret in her eyes. I saw that we stood outside my chambers, and I followed her in to find Flora fixing things up. "Sleep well, Sayer." Confused, I walked over to my bed and collapsed from exhaustion.



I was lightly shaken awake, and I frowned in the darkness.

"It's us, Sayer," Mayora said. "Quick, before the castle awakes." She hurried to get me out of my ruined dress and another pair of hands joined hers to help me into a chain mail dress, and a regular dress on top of that. My eyes adjusted to the dark and I saw Flora and Mayora, dresses in attire similar to mine, with firm looks on their faces, their hair pulled away from their faces. Three swords adorned each of their belts and Flora pressed my bow and quiver into my hands, while Mayora hid my dagger up my sleeve.

"Gold tipped arrows; if they don't kill your supernatural opponent, they'll suffocate them." I stared at them, trying to realize what made them look different. Slowly, I realized that I'd never seen their ears before.

"You're elves," I said as they pulled me out of my chambers, down the spiral steps, out into the courtyard, and toward the gate. They nodded at a man there, who nodded back and opened it enough for us to get through.

"Yes," Flora said as we met up with two other maids who happened to be elves as well. "We're all elves."

"And we want to save the knights," Piper, a kitchen maid, said.

"We all love them," said Merideth, a maid that tended to wounds and such.

"And we're going to help you save them," Mayora finished. I smiled at them all.

"Thank you, so much."

We started towards the black forest.