Castle of Glass

I tightened the rope around the guard’s neck until he stopped fighting, meaning that he is either unconscious or dead. Whatever happened to the elven guard did not matter to me. I pulled out a bronze dagger from his belt and tip-toed outside of the chambers Queen Vira threw me in.

Checking on both sides, I realized that the coast is clear for now. There is no one lurking around the halls and I decided to take this opportunity to strike. While I have no clue where they are keeping Sayer, I know that it has to be a guarded area like mine was (before I strangled the guard). Joe is my usual guard in King Jakobi’s castle and so far in Queen Vira’s castle, but I waited for Joe to take his break to make my escape. Confronting Joe might not be as easily.

I saw a guard ahead with his back facing me, so I tried to be as stealthy as I can be by sneaking up behind. Before the guard even noticed my presence, I grabbed his head with one hand and sliced the dagger across his throat. He died silently and I gently placed him on the ground. No one witnessed this action, encouraging me to advance.

I refuse to be Vira’s prisoner, especially knowing what she did to my village. The betrayal of the knights still hurt, which is why I refuse to stay here and look at their faces any longer. Fortunately, I only saw Joe on the regular and Chester on a single occasion. I haven’t seen Sayer since Vira separated us so now I am going to take action to break us out of this castle.

When I hear movement behind me, I turned on instinct and threw the dagger at the direction of the noise. I sighed in relief when the third guard fell silently in his death. After retracting the bloody dagger, I moved ahead and turned a corner, relieved that the only person guarding the door at the end is Robert. It can only mean one thing, and I know that if I can disarm Rob and extract Sayer, we can get out of here.

Robert noticed me immediately and took out his sword, knowing exactly how I got here.

“Eurydice, what have you done?” He gasped as he took steps toward me.

“Let me through,” I warned, pointing my dagger at him.

The only weapon I have is the dagger—that and the rope I pulled from the window drapes. Knowing the rope is only useful for strangulation, I prayed that my short-range combat is good enough to get Sayer and I out of here. If I had Sayer’s combat ability when it comes to sparring with daggers, I’d have more confidence.

“You do not want to do this, princess, we are here to protect you,” Robert said.

I tried to stab his lower abdomen with the dagger, only to be parried by his iron weapon. He tried to slash at my head but I ducked in time, swiping at his upper thighs. His blood graced the bronze metal of the short blade and he hissed at the cut I made on his flesh. I showed no sympathy, knowing that the knights never intended to protect us. They used us, just so they can pull us into this trap. They earned our trust just to betray us. I will never forgive them, and if I have to kill Robert to get us out of here, I will.

I felt a sting on my shoulder, noticing that Robert took a slice at it in retaliation. In anger, I got up from my lower position and used the back of the dagger to strike at his head. It proved effective when Robert fell to the floor in a state of unconsciousness. Sighing in relief, I opened the entrance to see Sayer staring mindlessly out the window. It seems like she had no clue what went on outside her chambers.

“Sayer!” I hissed, gaining her attention immediately.

She eyed me with her dark brown eyes and glanced at Robert’s body behind me. Her eyes dilated a bit as a gasp left her mouth.

“Eurydice, did you…?”

“No, I knocked him out, let us make leave of this castle!” I tossed her the dagger and she caught it with ease.

We both left the chambers and I made sure to snatch Robert’s weapon on my way out. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something else to me but I gave her a warning glare, which shut her up immediately. Our plan is to leave this castle and fight our way through Zratil les and back home.

“You’re cut!” Sayer gasped as she stopped me in mid run.

Her hand is on my shoulder, nearing my cut. I grabbed her hand with my free arm and shot her a meaningful look. Now is not the time to worry about such things. She finally let that go, knowing that we have more dire necessities. Fortunately, we did not run into any more guards as we wobbled our way to what looked like the exit from the keep. Two guards stood by the gate.

I quickly advanced on one while Sayer took care of the other. It took a few parries for me to stab my sword through his heart. I noticed that I had the advantage because the guard did not want to hurt me. Vira possibly instructed us to be unharmed, which helped us in this case. Sayer knocked out the guard, finding it unnecessary to shed any blood, which I rolled my eyes at.

We left the keep and noticed that all we have to do is leave the main gates to get into the forest. I looked at Sayer with a knowing grin and she returned with the same. She looked more relieved than anything. The fact that I had to kill a few guards to leave this castle unsettled her, but she isn’t surprised. She knows it had to be done. We are going to return to Nove Hrady and we will be safe behind the walls. Possibly, we’ll ban the knights from the castle, and when we finally go to war, I will lead the forces and slay everyone here in the battlefield.

“EURYDICE!” Sayer warned.

We nearly made it to the main gates but unfortunately, it is guarded by none other than Chester. He stared at us in shock, refusing to believe that we made it this far. We got to this point, nearly out of the castle. I know that if I am to fight him, there will be a chance that I won’t make it out of here alive.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Chester grabbed at my wrist, scowling at the weapon in my hand, “and what did you do to Robert?”

I rolled my eyes at him, noticing that Sayer is glancing nervously at us from the corner of my eyes.

“Let me go, Chester,” I growled, trying to pull myself out of his grasp.

He is persistent.

“Do you realize how much trouble you have gotten yourself in? And you, Sayer! I can’t believe you allow her to do this!” Chester turned to Sayer with a look of disappointment.

“You betrayed us,” I whispered.

Chester turned back to me, looking at me with unusually sad eyes. He looks upset and it is a rare sight to see. It only lasted for a while though, because that mild anger in his eyes returned.

“Eurydice, we never meant to lie to you. We had to hide our identities, but we are still the same people you’ve grown up with. You can still trust me, I promise! I just want to protect you, please believe me,” he pleaded.

My heart skipped a beat but I reminded myself that he is an elf and his people killed my father and destroyed my village. They probably were sent to play as refugees during the day of the massacre just so they could infiltrate our walls and send word back to Queen Vira.

“I don’t believe you,” I said, adamant.

Chester eyed the cut on my shoulder, letting go of my wrist so he can attend to it.

“Please let me see your wound and…”

“DON’T!”

Even Sayer looked surprised at my outburst. Our goal was to be as soundless as we could so we wouldn’t draw attention. But when it comes to Chester, sometimes my judgment is clouded. Of course I do not have love for this man, but he does seem to have some sort of effect on me.

“Eurydice, please let me explain. We were not the ones who destroyed your village. It was not us, and we only had to hide because Jakobi would have our heads if we revealed ourselves to be magical creatures…”

“Chester, I trusted you no less than anyone but Sayer, I ask of you to get out of my way or I will kill you,” I held up Robert’s sword.

He placed a hand on the hilt of his weapon but I can tell by the look of his eyes that he will not hurt me.

“I love you, Eurydice,” he blurted.

I froze and even Sayer’s eyes widened at the revelation. While I do believe him, I cannot fall for it. There had always been a possibility that he held affections for me. He always went out of his way to protect me, no matter how arrogant he made himself out to be. His words and his actions towards me spoke very different things, but now his words have changed and it has taken me by surprise.

“Chester…”

He placed a hand on my cheek, no longer nursing his weapon. His dark brown eyes stared through mine and I must admit, I feel my insides churn. I feel my heart beating rapidly but I know I have to be stronger than this.

“I’ve always loved you. And I live to serve and protect you, nothing else, I give you my word,” he whispered.

Nodding, I craned my neck up to bring my lips to his. He kissed me back as expected, and with both hands, he held onto my head. I feel my lips move yearningly to his, which surprised even myself. I didn’t realize how much I wanted to kiss him until this moment and by the way he is reciprocating, I know he is true to his words.

However, I have other tasks in mind and by the time we pulled away from the kiss, his hands are tied together by the rope I got from my chambers. His eyes widened in disbelief when he noticed that I also tied him to the side of the gate. Sayer smiled at me proudly since she witnessed all of that. I beat him at a game beyond combat. I knew I couldn’t defeat him with my weapon, so I decided to use other methods to distract him.

He distracted me the last time we sparred, but I win this round with a distraction of my own. My heart did sink a little when I saw the hurt in his eyes. But I had to do this.

“Come on, open the gate!” I yelled to Sayer as she ran over to the lever.

“GUARDS!” Chester screamed at the top of his lungs.

The gates opened but reinforcements arrived before we have the chance to make any more movements. Michael is standing directly in front of me while the other guards surrounded us. I didn’t know what else to do so I grabbed Chester with one hand while I placed Robert’s sword to his neck.

“Let us go, or I will kill him,” I threatened, staring straight at Mike.

“You won’t kill me, you can’t,” Chester chuckled from beside me.

I gently brushed the blade against his skin, making a thin cut. He gasped a little at the pain but did not make too much of a fuss about it. I looked up at Mike questionably, waiting for him to make his move.

“Why would you hurt us?” Michael glanced at Sayer, looking for any kindness and loyalty from her.

Sayer stood unmoving by the gate, refusing to fall for his trap.

“You have been betraying us,” Sayer murmured, “we have been kept as your prisoner.”

“No Sayer, we have not, we…”

“Let us go and Chester lives,” I bargained, “take one more step towards me and I slit his throat.”

Michael made eye contact with Chester and I can’t tell if they are communicating with each other or not but Chester nodded at him in reassurance. In result, the elf prince took slow steps towards us. As promised, I dug my blade deeper into his skin, causing Chester to hiss.

“I will kill him,” I warned.

“Eurydice, you wouldn’t hurt Chester! You love him!”

“Is that what you truly believe, Mike?” I tilted the sword, considering digging deeper into his flesh.

However, before I can do that, a pair of hands pushed me down onto the ground. As my back hit the hard grass, Chester, having freed himself from the ropes, pinned me down as the guards closed in on me. I reached desperately for the weapon and struggled against Chester, but my strength is no match for his.

The guards picked me up and I can see Michael personally restraining Sayer from doing anything about it. Sayer shouted at them to let me go but to no avail.

“Throw her in the cellar. Hang her to the ceiling by her hands and inform the queen of the body count,” Michael instructed a footman.

“Michael, isn’t that a bit excessive?” Chester asked.

I smirked at the fact that he is still fending for me, despite the circumstances.

“She killed four of my men, Chester!”

I struggled and despite that, I was brought into a dirty looking cellar and Chester personally chained my hands to the ceiling. I can feel my blood traveling and leaving my hands through my arms. It brought immense amount of discomfort but I dare not show it to give Chester the satisfaction.

When he finished restraining my hands, he attempted to chain my feet together as well. I tried to kick him but he is too fast for me. He gave me a meaningful look as he buckled my feet together.

“That was well played, Eurydice,” he complimented.

I smirked at him.

“If I knew kissing you would help me win, I would’ve been doing it when we sparred,” I chirped.

He shot me a fake smile as he started walking away from me.

“Phoenix, see to it that she is well guarded while the queen decides what to do with her,” Chester instructed before leaving the cellar.

Phoenix emerged from the entrance while Chester closed the door behind him. I glared at Phoenix but he seems unfazed. He knows that I am harmless, so for the first time, my glare does not frighten him.

“You treacherous elves! I hope you all burn to the fiery pits of hell! Jakobi will send his men and burn your castle to the ground, with all of you in it!” I spat at him.

Phoenix sighed and sat down on the floor.

“Listen, Princess Eurydice, we did not kill your father and burn your village,” he said.

“LIAR!”

“Princess, the rebellion did not come from us. Other forces from within Zratil les penetrated through our defenses and Morcaus ushered us to the south east, in hopes of seeking aid from Queen Elizabeth. We were seeking shelter and protection. Vira wanted her heir to be protected from the rebels, so we were wandering in the village. Unfortunately, the rebels already struck.”

I didn’t know whether to believe the story or not, but that is the most information I’ve gotten about the day of the massacre, so I chose to accept some of his words.

“King Jakobi thought it had been someone from Vira’s kingdom since we live closely to the forest. But we were attacked that day too, to the lack of Jakobi’s knowledge. He must’ve thought it was our kingdom. But it could be a coalition from Zratil les,” Phoenix explained.

I tried to ignore the pain from being suspended from the ceiling and forced myself to retain as much of the knowledge as I can.

“We had no hand in this, Eurydice! We were really trained to protect Jakobi’s kingdom, and we really are your friends! We mean you no harm!”

I just stared at him, not knowing what else to do. He looked up at me, a little uneasy.

“Do you believe me, Eurydice?”

I blinked.

“I don’t know.”