Alphande'

We were about a mile off from the gate. The whole camp was excited about the prospect of having permanent shelter before we moved our assault to Indué. I had been sleeping in my old tent away from Bastian and would remain so at least for the next four days as despite his assault, my bleeding had come. It gave me great comfort that I wouldn’t have to see him.

Clarissa sat with me threading the needle as I went about mending lost buttons from my dresses.

“Why is that you think Clarissa that Evander and Raegon have not returned as yet? I don’t know why but I am getting the strangest feeling that something is wrong.” I said as I dropped the dress in my lap.

“Have you told anyone else your concerns my lady?” she asked.

“Andreas, but he just said that they’ve only been gone for a little over a day and that my worrying was unnecessary.”

“If Andreas isn’t worried then I am sure that we will be fine. Things are going well too as all the prisoners have been sent ahead in good faith and our men have only now left out to join them in the city as the fire has been lit at the west gate.”

“I know,” I said lowly. “But something is bound to happen. Yet every time Evander goes off by himself trouble always follows.” I frowned. Since he and Raegon left I had not been able to sleep a wink. I tried busying myself with the most menial of tasks but my mind never let me forget that he was missing.

“The young king knows what he is about princess, you need not trouble yourself over his whereabouts. I am sure by evening you will hear directly from him.”

“I am sure you are right.” I said smiling slightly. I put down the dress I was working on and moved to the flap of the tent. I could tell that something was wrong; I wanted to believe Clarissa so badly, but my mind was still uneasy.

The air outside was still— too still and that made me hear a faint sound coming towards us. I still couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but it was high-pitched and moving very fast. “Clarissa,” I called. I felt her coming beside me. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what my lady?”

“A screech, it seems to be coming from far off but it is getting closer.”

“I hear it and I also see it. It is like a ball of white light falling from the sky.”

“A feldünstar.” I breathed. Van had told us of this and I knew that it didn’t mean well for us at all. “Where is it heading?” I asked frantically as the sound grew in intensity.

“It seems like it is heading towards the trees near to where the priests camped.”

“Andreas and Sonis went there, there was a dispute… we need to go.” I said grabbing her hand. “Lead me there.”

She took my arm but before we could take a step forward, the ground underneath our feet shook violently, Clarissa fell forward pulling me along with her to the ground. The sound of another grounded explosion echoed around us and it was soon mixed with the sounds of panic rising up from within our camp.

“Clarissa are you alright? Did I hurt you?” I said fighting may up from off her a she let out a painful groan.

“The fall hurt me more than you princess. I have a pain in my hip and my leg hurts when I try to move it. I think it is broken.”

“We move you inside the tent then on the bed.” I said getting up, my worry about Andreas’ wellbeing being the foremost thought in my head. The panic had not subsided and I could hear frightened footsteps as the stamped past us.

“Noräin!” I heard someone calling but it wasn’t Andreas’ voice. “Princess it is good that I found you but it might yet still be too late.”

“Raegon, what is happening who is attacking us? Aren’t you supposed to still be in the city with Evander waiting for us to come?”

“It was a plot. Margaret has betrayed us to the king.”

“But I thought she was with us. Evander said…where is Van?”

“She is holding him hostage I think to bring to Asher. She let me go as proof of her love,” I could hear the derision, betrayal and hints of hate in his tone as he said this. “I was let off to warn the army as we are going into battle. I left Asher’s men at the gates but it won’t take them long to be here. Yet they might not even need to fight openly, a feldünstar has been sent here and we don’t know if there will be other attacks as this or where it will hit next. Do you know where Sonis or Andreas are? We need to start organizing our retreat.”

“Retreat to where? The Catacombs are too far and Rá Leat is even further.”

“I don’t know but we cannot stay here.” his black eyes were wild with anger and panic. The small bones knotted in his hair clacked together as he repeated whipped his head back and forth searching for the next point of attack.

“Andreas will have more to say on this. Help me move Clarissa inside and we can find him.” I heard as he jumped from his horse.

“I will lift her inside.” I heard Clarissa cry out in pain.

“I will get someone to attend to you as soon as possible.” I said as Lord Raegon brushed past me.

“Keep well princess.” she replied.

Raegon returned quickly. He grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me over his horse. I balanced myself on the animal. Holding on tightly until I felt him behind me, he took the reins and rode off.

“What are we going to do about the people? We need to get them out of here before more of them get hurt.”

“I need to get you to safety first and find Andreas and Sonis.”

“They can take care of themselves, the feldünstar was dropped close to where they were so they might not even be alive.” I said hoping that I would be proven wrong. “I can hear the panic around us, we are set here as their leaders. They’ve trusted us to keep them safe and we must fulfil our roles.”

“We cannot…I cannot…” he stammered.

“We must.” I said grabbing his hands and pulling them back until the horse skirted to a halt. He grabbed me around the waist stopping from falling.

“You cannot see the confusion princess, but we are scattered all about, the camp is almost empty. There is nothing left to do but to save ourselves.”

“And we can’t do that without first saving our people.” I said harshly. I dropped my voice speaking more gently. “You are still hurting from Margaret’s betrayal so don’t do to them what she has done to us.” I said touching his wrist softly.

“Fine.” He said after a moment of silence. “We will have to get everyone out of the open.”

I placed my finger on his lips. “There is one more coming or is it two…Raegon!” I said terrified tilting my head towards the sky.

“There is no escape! Avandor help us all.” I heard him say as he drew the horse to a halt and steered it the other way.

The second explosion rocked the earth beneath our feet. The horse reared up on its hind legs spooked, throwing me off its back. I landed safely amongst some shrubs. Mercuric dust with a hint of silver permeated the air. I didn’t lie on the shrub for too long as the second feldünstar hit ground. This one was much closer to me than the others. I could feel the cut of the white heat as sit scorched my skin. Showers of debris rained down around me. I could hear the clack of broken wood and the abrupt end to terrified screams as death silenced them all.

My heart sputtered frantically at first as I tried to recover from the deadly fright. It slowed to a steady resounding beat, the only thing that I heard.

There was no wind. No cries of pain. Not a note of bird song. Even the trees were silent.

I pulled myself up from the ground, standing shakily. There was little left of the dress covering my body and I could feel small rivulets of blood streaming down my face, chest and limbs.

I stretched my arms in front of me and took my first step forward. “Hello! Raegon?” I called and I coughed violently afterwards as the air was choked with dust. “Hello!” I called again. But I received no reply. I stumbled forward tripping occasionally. I stepped on something soft and I stooped to feel what it was. It was a hand. I moved up the body to the shoulders. “Are you well?” I said shaking the person. But there was no reply. I touched his face—for it had a beard—and moved to feel his neck. There was nothing there as his throat was completely torn out. I jerked back reflexively as his warm blood coated my fingers.

I stood up and wiped it off in the tattered pieces of my dress that remained. “Hello!” I shouted more forcefully. “Someone answer please.” I begged and broke out into a slight run. I stopped as I realised that I might be alone and all the others dead.

I wrapped my arms around my waist trying physically hold myself together. Tears streamed down my face without permission.

I was wrong. Someone out there was alive. I refused to believe that everyone I loved was gone. I wiped the tears away with the back of my hands.

Someone would come. They would. Rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet I waited.

Hours had passed. The suns set and began to rise again. I had taken a seat on the ground facing west. The first rays were warm against my skin, but not warm enough to penetrate the coldness within me.

I heard horses coming in the distance and knew them to be horses of our enemies as the Nuwanhe had no more horses left. The Nuwanhe had no more people left. The watchmen had been all put to sleep. I too waited to be put to rest by our enemies.

“There is no one left.” I heard one of the men say, but it was in Láetian. I snapped my head and looked towards the sound. Bastian’s men must have finally made it here. “Only corpses or pieces of corpses. The deaths are too unnatural. This is not our way of war.”

“Hello!” I called out and moved towards the men.

I could hear the horses coming closer and the sound of three sets of feet dismounting.

“It seems, that you are wrong not everyone died.” said another as they came closer.

“You are men of Rá Leat, the ones sent in aide of the Nuwanhe?” I asked in their tongue.

“We are from Rá Leat, but our mission to help was never given. We came here with intention to destroy the Nuwanhe but it seems Asher had grown impatient and has chosen to do so himself. I must say I am thoroughly disappointed.”

“That cannot be. King Rammon promised to come to our aide.”

“May be he did, but promises can be broken especially if a foreseeably more lucrative option is placed before him.” he snickered amused.

“He did this to us and to his own son, his heir. Bastian could be among the dead.”

“I assure you lady that Prince Bastian is far from dead. He wasn’t here for the attack and we have been sent here to ensure that no one else is alive.” said another in a harsh tone.

“So you are going to kill me then.” I said without fear.

“We must.”

“Get on with it then.” I said as I bent before him, sweeping my hair to one side and exposing my neck. I closed eyes tightly waiting for him to strike. “It seems your people are spineless worms that find honour in murdering the innocent and fighting like cowards under the shadow of betrayal as you are too afraid to face us in open battle. Go on then, finish the job and kill me.” I could hear them muttering among themselves as they exercised restraint. If it is one thing I knew about Láetian men and that it was that their egos were bigger than their brains. That I, a lowly girl calling them cowards bruised their pride immensely. If they killed me it would prove that they were indeed cowards and soft men and if they didn’t, the same would ring true.

“What are you waiting for do it.” I goaded them.

“Get up from the ground.” One of them finally said.

“I would rather not.” I said obstinately.

I was grabbed around the wrist and dragged roughly up from the ground. And my hands pinned in front of me as he shook me violently. “I will not kill you either. It is better we leave you here to die on your own.”

“What is that she wears on her finger?” said another as he took my left hand and examined it. “She wears the ring with the bearings of the Rammon’s house.”

“What is the meaning of this? Where did you get this ring?” asked the first one.

“From the devil himself.” I replied. After all he did I refused to even refer to Bastian as my husband. I would rather cut out my own tongue and stamp on it over hot coal than call him my husband.

“Bastian did marry a Sebánese princess, do you think that she would be her?” asked the one holding my hand.

“It could very well be, she does have the look of a northerner. We will take her to Indué to be sure.”

“You will take me nowhere.” I said as I pulled away from him. “Kill me here and now!” I commanded.

“I am afraid we cannot do that, as we might be committing high treason. Besides Prince Bastian will be happy that we found his wife as now he will not have to remain abstinent for the remainder of his life.”

“I doubt he would even consider doing that. He probably has women lined up waiting at his door.”

“It seems you don’t know our culture very well. If a man dies before his wife and they have children she remains a widow for life. If no children are produced from the union she is allowed to remarry. If the woman dies before getting a child the man must remain abstinent for the rest of his life as it is duty for his seeds to be planted and bear children within a year off marriage. If not, his seeds are weak and his line should be discontinued. Weak seeds lead to weak offspring. Weak men lead to a weak society and society that is feeble crumbles easily. A sentence worse than death I would say. So if Bastian is indeed your husband, he will be happy to see you alive.” he said as grabbed me and pulled me along with him.

I retaliated planting my feet firmly into the ground. “I will not go with you.” I said pulling my arms from him.

“I will not kill you, but I will hit you.” he threatened.

“Do what you must. I will not move from this spot.”

“Fine, if I must.” he said. I felt as his hand connected into the back of my head. At first there was the pain and then light. My legs gave way and I crumbled towards the ground. As the darkness came I promised on Avandor’s gates to plunge a dagger in Bastian’s and Rammon’s chests