Wake of Devastation, Lost in Desperation

I just stared blankly at Sayer's retreating figure. Her boot clad feet barely dragged the floor as they stomped loudly against the pavement. It wasn't her normal walking posture. This was a cross between anger and sorrow. This frustrated girl wasn't Sayer. It was like she completely turned into a new person after this encounter. 

This new person is giving up and knowing Sayer, she usually don't give up unless it was completely necessary. Leaving Nove Hrady wasn't necessary. There's still a chance.

Maybe I did want her to leave originally, because of my selfish reasons. But now I can't watch her leave. She can't leave. Especially not because of what happened a few moments ago. 

Michael's anguish attempt at killing Chester frightened me to death. I thought Michael was going to kill him right there in cold blood. Imagine how I'd cope with watching the love of my sister's life slaying him. Having that image in my head for the rest of my life wouldn't be pleasant. It would haunt me until I allow myself to forget. How will I ever forget if it actually happened? 

Chester didn't even know what was going on. Why didn't I tell him when I had a chance to? Why did Chester have to find out like this? Maybe I could have told him before we started our heated argument about convincing the king to let me fight the enemies. But thinking back, I still don't regret not telling him. I knew I wouldn't be able to mask my sadness. He doesn't have to see the weak side of me. No one does.

Somehow, I feel relieved that I'm not the only one wanting to do something about the terrible marriage arrangement. Changing father's mind won't be an easy task and I told the psychic that I'd just give up. Now I want to fight. I want to fight for Sayer and Michael to be together. I want to fight for me.

The only solution at this moment was to stop Sayer from leaving. So I'm going to stop her. 

I follow the sound of Michael and Chester's loud, mumbled words. Walking through the garden to the area near that fountain, I eventually found them. 

"You know you're going to be king when you marry Sayer, you don't care about my feelings. Greed blinds you, my friend" Michael was saying. Chester replied back, spitting his verbal comeback out sharply. Funny how either of them noticed my presence. 

"I think we all need to calm down here" I took action by shoving the conflicting knights into the fountain. Water splashed everywhere around that area, soaking me wet. But it didn't matter. We have a serious situation in need of fixing. 

They yelped, trying to continuously regain their balance only to see failure. Chester tried to get up but Michael fell again at another attempt, knocking his friend along with him. 

A lot of splashing and profanities were thrown around before the guys actually dragged themselves out of the fountains.

"Princess, you soaked my armor" Chester whined, shaking liquid substance out of his body. 

"I'm very upset with you right now, princess" Michael's reaction was less humorous. He carried a permanent frown on his face and shot his friend another glare.

"I was trying to get your attention!" I shouted, causing the soaked knights to jump. They stopped their antics and finally listened in fright. I smiled at my accomplishment. This is a step closer to total domination! 

"Michael, you are overreacting..." I held my hand up to silence him as he opened his mouth, ready to protest. "... Sayer doesn't want to marry Chester and it's a shame you can't identify that from her actions and words. You are lacking something in here" I tapped on his head in demonstration. His tense anger faltered and now he looked at me with complete interest instead of the previous intimidation. 

"Sayer is upset with your actions, Michael. She decided to go marry her cousin in the Western Kingdom because you drove her to do that. Now, do you want her to go?" my hands gripped on both sides of his armored shoulders tightly, on the verge of shaking him furiously.

Michael didn't speak but shook his head.

"Go talk to her. Apologize to her or she'll leave and never come back" 

"But..."

"Go!" I shoved him to the direction of Sayer's chamber building. He looked back at me hesitantly.

"I'll join you later" 

That encouraged him to move on forward.

Sighing, I faced Chester. His facial expression exposed his awkwardness standing here, dripping wet. 

"I'm not going to marry Sayer, am I?" he finally spoke up. I stared at him and contemplated. Sayer doesn't want to marry him and I'm confident enough to fight for happiness. Michael wouldn't be too thrilled to see Sayer with Chester. Sayer, herself, wouldn't be happy either. I'd never ever admit it but I'd hate to see Chester ruling the kingdom without me. We have to do something about it.

"No, you're not" I turned away and retreated to Sayer's chamber without another word. 

Sayer and Michael were in the middle of an embrace when I walked in. They let go of each other in alarm, allowing their body structures to freeze tensely. Their bodies physically relaxed as their eyes landed on me. 

"We will take care of this another time. Whatever happens, I'll make sure his majesty won't arrange this marriage. I'm not doing it for myself since I do not benefit from it..." Sayer smirked quietly to herself which I decided to ignore, "... But I'm fighting for you guys!" 

"We're the knights here. We are supposed to do all the fighting" Michael cut in.

"Silence! I do the fighting and I will unless god tells me otherwise" I jabbed my finger harshly against his chest. He looked at me defensively and decided not to argue with me.

After a few more exchange of words between the star-crossed lovers, Michael left the chamber to attend to his own business. 

I was left alone with Sayer, Mayora waiting patiently outside.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to bring you on a trip to the Tropical Paradise of the Mid-Northern Kingdom. We will relax and escape the castle for a day. Without the stress, we shall forget about the problems and come back refreshened" I continued, straightening the hems of my royal attire. She glanced at me for a few moments before agreeing.

"I'll have the carriage out at the gate around noon" 

I didn't even wait for a response as I turned to leave. 

Mayora bowed respectively at me and I smiled at her in return before retreating to my room for a good night's sleep. 

My slumber was made of perfection. No concurring dreams found the intentions of haunting me in my unconscious state and I woke up by Flora's soft knock against the mahogany door. 

She helped me dress and pack for the eventful day ahead of us, escorting me down to the dining room afterwards. 

I ate alone in silence, having butlers stare at me from their stance beside the long table. They immediately appeared by my side to take my plates away when the sound of clashing silverwares died down. I thanked them in a mannerly fashion and excused myself. 

Nothing extraordinary happened before getting in the carriage with Sayer. Novice, the man escorting us to our destination, sat on the given seat connected to the carriage. He twirled his sharp leather whip and I stuck my head back into the carriage before we started moving. 

Roy, the butler inside the carriage, offered us tea and we sipped them silently, conversing with one another about non-marriage related stuff. 

Sayer told me about her encounter with Robert and Michael the other day. She has succeeded to aim her custom made daggers right at the bullseye. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with her ability. Being the expert at combat, I've never really picked up the skills of putting short ranged weapons to good use. Having that ability, Sayer proves herself fearless and skillful which immediately gained my respect. 

After a few hours of simple converse and tea sipping, we got tired of the long trip to Tropical Paradise and took up a new found feeling of frustration. I stuck my head outside the carriage every few seconds to check the surroundings. Nothing looked familiar to me but I've never traveled to the Mid-Northern Kingdom often so I couldn't complain. 

Sayer put down her tea cup in a princess-like manner and smiled sweetly at Roy when he offered to pour her another cup. He poured the contents from the priceless tea kettle into the same valued cup. She thanked him and took one sip before putting the rest down. 

"Eurydice?" 

I gazed at her in response.

"How far is this Tropical Paradise, exactly?" her fingers trailed down from her silky, soft brown hair, waiting for my answer.

"I have no clue. But I wasn't aware that it took so long to get..." as I said this, the carriage halted to an immediate stop. The force flung us, along with Roy and the priceless possessions, forward. I would have slipped by the motion if Sayer didn't grasp onto me. 

Roy stuck his head out curiously before hopping off the carriage. 

After a few moments of just sitting in here uneventfully, Sayer and I decided to go outside and check the circumstances. 

Novice and Roy stood by the horse, grasping their hands together nervously.

"What's wrong?" I asked, crossing my arms impatiently. Novice stuttered out an answer that I barely paid mind to. He apologized and explained that he forgot the directions. I just stared at him in disbelief. His majesty would never allow anyone in his castle to lose sense of their direction.

My mind wandered off to finding a way to talk sense in Novice and Sayer let out a yell, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Eurydice, watch out!" 

I turned to my right to see Roy coming at me with a bronze sickle. When aware of my attention, he extended the blade and flung them at me. I ducked, pulling my steel sword out of my belt. 

Looking to the side, Sayer charged at Novice with her metal dagger. His whole body glowed and when the lights faded, his human form no longer existed. 

His new features were familiar. He was a shapeshifter who turned himself into an elf. 

Sayer swung her dagger wielding arm at the elves' mid-torso. Her sharp dagger cut through his button up shirt, inflicting damage. He flung his long weapon at her only to be blocked by her short ranged weapon.

They continued to clash weapons and I remembered that I had my own battle going on. 

Turning back to Roy, he smirked at me in his still human form. 

"I'm not a shapeshifter if that's what your thinking!" he broke into a malicious grin and took another attempt at throwing his bladed weapon at me. I acted fast, swiping my weapon gracefully against his. 

Some blades connecting to the sickle dropped on the grassy field, disconnecting from its pieces. 

Roy growled, readjusting his broken weapon. 

I took this as a distraction for my next move. My long, steel sword slashed vertically at the human's arms only to be blocked last minute by the sickle. He swung at me again and I performed a backflip to avoid that attack. 

Standing on foot, he extended his broken weapon and wrapped the remaining blades around my wrists. Closing my eyes, I remained still. When you move your arms steadily with sickle blades around you, the sharpness will cut you further than the force its wielder provides.  

Roy grunted, tightening the blades around my wrist. Pain shot through my veins and I tried to hold back a yell. 

Regaining focus, I used my free sword-wielding hand to distract him. His eyes went wide as my sword moved toward him in a horizontal motion. The tight grip of the blades loosened and I suddenly feel the blades against my weapon. 

Our weapons clashed as I backed up, in fear of another part of my body being wrapped around by the sickle. I swiped my sword past his weapon and to his arms, leaving a bloody cut.

He yelped in pain and dragged the blades toward my upper body vertically. I thrust my sword upwards in time to slice the remaining blades off the sickle.

Roy dropped his useless weapon in defeat. 

A smirk grew on my face as I prepared for the finally blow. I held my sword back, readying to stab him horizontally across his body. 

My sword neared movement when another weapon cut through his now bleeding body. Roy's dead form dropped lifelessly onto the grass and I was face to face with Sayer, who just did the favor of finishing him off for me. 

I checked the surroundings to see the elves' dead body about a few meters away.

Looking down at my bloody wrists, I motioned for Sayer to follow me.

"Let's get out of here!"