As I ran down the hallway to the North Wing all I could hear was the shouting of the servants and guards. In the past year that I had spent being forced to be a concubine and forced to follow Henrick's very command no sound above a whisper was ever allowed in the halls due to Hernick's royal decree. To hear voices, to hear sound in the castle at that very moment all I knew was change was coming and I wanted to be a part of it.
I kept running, unnoticed by the knights, guards, and servants. In all the chaos that was the war my protection which was top priority was no longer a priority. All they thought about was themselves which played in my favor and gave me enough time to reach my goal… A life where I was no longer forced to be a concubine… A life where I was not the property of a man… I wanted my freedom more than anything… So much so I was willing to fight to the death for it…
Even though I had heard the shouting of guards, the screaming of servants, my mind was focused on one thing… Leaving this dreadful place full of horrendous memories. At that point the castle was not my home but a place of horrors and horrific memories… A place where I lost everything. I had no energy, no drive to fight for it, to fight to live in it… In my mind it didn't matter if I was ever seen as a Princess again. For being a lowly servant was better than living with and serving a wicked man who thrived on the people's suffering.
After 5 minutes of running, the guards, Henrick, had finally made the discovery that I was missing. I can still remember hearing my name being shouted. I knew the second the guards or a knight who served Henrick found me I would be done for and my plans of freedom would be lost forever. I had no plans of dying in the castle where my home was. I had no plans of being caught so I closed my ears to the guards, I closed my ears to the knights who loved Henrick so much, and I kept running.
The pain I felt as I ran drove me to ignore everything happening around me. I would not let a guard, or a knight, or a servant, I would not let anyone keep me from escaping and getting my freedom. Nobody was going to stand in my way, nobody was going to force me to live the way I was forced to live by such a wicked man ever again.
As I got to the entrance of the North Wing I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. I knew I had to move quickly, there was only a matter of time before the guards would realize where I was and come to find me. I held my chest only thinking of the last words Vic said to me. I had to get out no matter what… I had to fight even if I didn't feel like I was strong enough to do so. With everything in me, with every bit of strength I had left, I ran down the hallway of the North Wing, passing the doors to the rooms I had already checked. I was determined to get to my freedom at all costs, I wasn't going to let anyone stop me.
With every step I took I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker from the malnutrition I had received in the past year. Henrick starved me to keep me weak so I could not run away from him. In his mind if he could break me physically he could break me mentally and then he would win. In a way he had succeeded. He had made me physically weak which was just as he wanted but what he could not do, what I would not allow him to do was make me mentally weak. For if I were mentally weak, then Henrick would have won but because I forced myself to stay mentally strong Henrick could never win. In a sense although I was physically weak, I was mentally strong, stronger than I had been before I was a concubine. The torment I was put through, that was made to break me, just made me want to fight even harder. When I thought about what had happened to my Darius, I refused to let anything kill me, I refused to let anything destroy me. Darius had died to keep me alive and I was going to keep living or at least if I were to die, I would die fighting to be free. My life was worth the death of my Darius and I was not going to let my Darius' death be in vain.
I pushed and pushed, running, feeling my feet tense and cramp but I refused to let the pain stop me. I kept running until I felt it… A hand that had a strong grip on my arm, yanking me backward. I felt my body jolt back as I felt a sharp, cold, dagger against my throat. I stood there stunned, looking forward, and seeing the freedom that I was working towards slowly slipping through my fingers…
As I was pulled back the person behind me said, "Will you run away while your people suffer from war?" When I heard that voice, I knew it was the voice of a man but a male voice I had never heard before. The thoughts of thinking that this man worked for Henrick played throughout my mind. I thought I was a goner, I thought that this man was going to return me to the man who was my death… He lowered his dagger and turned me around to face him, still holding on to my arm, pulling me closely to him.
When I looked upon him the first thing I noticed was his hooded turquoise eyes, before that day I had never seen eyes that color before. His eyes were eyes I could never forget. He had a straight nose and soft arched eyebrows. His downward-turned lips were a light brown color, and his skin was a light golden brown, almost a light sienna color. His cheek bones were defined. His warm brown hair was cut into a layered fringe, with a strand of hair that touched his face the way my Darius' hair would. It caught me off guard, as if I were mesmerized by how his hair fell upon his face.
He shook me, asking me again, "Will you run away while your own people suffer at war?" His voice sounded like a lullaby to my ears. As angry as he was trying to be, the only thing I could hear in his voice was warmth and concern for my people, his people, our people.
I tried to keep it in but I couldn't. I brushed his hair back thinking of my Darius and the man said, "Playing a foolish game will not spare your life! Your own people starve and you let them, you watch them suffer. Answer me why? How could one, how could a lady, cause and watch the suffering of her own people?" I looked into his eyes feeling numbness. I knew my people suffered but I was not the cause of them suffering. This man comes and passes judgement on issues that do not concern him.
As calm as I kept myself I felt my rage bubbling inside as I said to him winded and tired, "They are not my people… My people are dead." The man was caught off guard saying, "Will you lie while your life is at stake? Have you no shame woman? The cause of your own people's suffering and you lie as if you have done no wrong deed." I said, "What wrong deed have I done when I was not the cause of the suffering of my own people?" He scoffed at me, acting as if he knew my life story. With a growl in his voice he said to me, "Are you not the king's right hand? Are you not the queen of King Henrick? Do you have no control woman?" I felt my eyes widened as I thought, 'Queen? Is that what the world was told while I was imprisoned?' I couldn't say anything as I felt anger building inside of me. Having a man, a mysterious man passing judgements on me… I was so mad I could've just spat right there on the floor.
When I hadn't responded to the man, he filled with annoyance as if I had done something to him. He said, "Will you lie and say you do not belong to the king as his queen?" Although it wasn't lady like of me to do so, I could no longer hold my rage. For the past year I had been raped, forced to be a concubine, locked inside the castle, being watched everyday, no breaks, no privacy, just torment, and yet this man had made the assumption that I was guilty of a crime I did not commit. With everything in me I pushed him and although he did not move he felt my rage in that push. With every bit of anger in me I shouted, "Will you dare make such a preposterous claim and talk to a lady the way you have? I belong to no man, I belong to no king, I am no one's property!" Though the man tried to hide his shock I saw it in his eyes. He had never heard my story but what he had been told. While he pushed his shock down, he said to me in a firm tone, "Will you deny what your own king has said? I mean a concubine turned queen is a story that makes history. The barbaric ways of royalty killing off their own people is also a story that will go down in history after Artian wins this great war." I scoffed at him, saying, "A concubine you call me but that would suggest that I agreed to the arrangement with Henrick. You don't tell me as a lowly guard who I am or what I am without knowing what is factual and what is fiction. You have thoughts that I am killing my people with my fiancé murderer? How dare you put such claims against me? I would never agree to see the death of King Darius and become a concubine let alone a concubine to my love's killer and to suggest the passed year I had spent being raped by my fiancé's murderer, when Henrick had taken me when I had not even known a man before is… Is… Is…"
The past year I had spent trying to hide my tears, preventing myself from crying, started coming out. As some tears rolled down my cheeks, I quickly dried them, snapping myself out of sorrow and into my numb emotional state, for that was the only way I was going to survive Henrick.
The mysterious man put his dagger away saying, "Are you to tell me that you are her Highness Princess Maelee and not Rina?" The confusion struck me as I thought, 'Rina?' I had never heard of Rina before. When I asked him who Rina was he told me that Rina was an assassin sent into Ashlot by Henrick and was said to be Henrick's new queen. When I asked him to describe what he was told I looked like I knew in that instant who Rina was. The woman he described is a woman I could never forget. The servant girl who summoned me to the Throne Room, the servant girl whom Vic had killed… Rina was her name. Until then I hadn't known the name of the woman who betrayed Ashlot. To me she would always be named betrayer. Hearing her name, putting a name to the face of the woman who had betrayed us a year ago, made me sick all over again and brought up painful memories. In all my anger I pushed it down, hiding still in my numb emotional state. I felt myself getting dizzy, all this new information was overwhelming my already weak body but I was determined to escape. I pushed everything down and pushed past my dizziness. I would not let anything stop me from leaving this dreadful place which once was known as my home.
The mysterious man seemed so confused, everything he had been told was lies. When I asked him what he thought happened to me he told me that the people said I was dead. That Henrick had told the people, my people, that Vic had killed me in a fit of rage because of the death of Darius. Henrick used that excuse as a reason to, 'justifiably,' kill Vic. He didn't want the retaliation of the people… At that moment I realize that Henrick had tried to kill off my memory. He wanted so much of me, he even went as far as killing me off to destroy my people… To take everything I had and try to destroy my identity, painting me as the dead woman who was Rina because Henrick could not accept the fact that he loss a top assassin, because Henrick wanted to control me, to control my people… Finding this new news out built up a rage in me, all the physical weakness felt as if it had shaken off of me. I felt stronger than I had ever felt before, as if I had gotten a fresh burst of energy. After everything Henrick did, after all he had said, after everything he did to kill me off… It was now my sole mission to stay alive… Now there was no option of death for me, I had to survive, I had to live… Henrick would not win, not now, not ever.
I looked into the mysterious man's eyes, saying, "I do not care what you believe, I do not care if you try to stand in my way, I am Maelee, and I was Darius' Fiancé. Today is the day I will fight for my freedom and live regardless of who stands in my way. Not you, not the guards, not the knights, not the servants, not even Henrick himself will keep me from leaving this place once and for all. I will make it out of here alive and I will live. I will not let Henrick win and I don't care who I have to face and I don't care who believes me. My people know who I am, and I know who I am. So if you choose to stand in my way of freedom, I will have no choice but to fight you with everything I have but if Henrick couldn't kill me after a year, after all he did, you will certainly not kill me no matter what you try to do."
When he saw that fire in my eyes, that determination to live, I saw it… He believed me in that very moment, he knew I was telling the truth. With the upmost respect for me he bowed, saying, "Your Highness, forgive me for not knowing who you were. If freedom is what you seek, I will fight to make sure you're free."
The relief I felt, I hadn't felt in a long time. To hear that a man who had not known me was willing to protect me brought me hope again and although I did not know who this man was, the feeling of Peace I got made me trust him.
I told him about the door Vic told me about a year ago and the mysterious man grabbed my hand, saying, "Come I will take you to the door so that you may leave and be free."
As we ran, I was amazed. How could a mysterious man, who has never been to the castle, knew so much… How could he know about the secret door and where it was located? Curiosity ate away at me so much so that I could not resist it. I asked him, "How do you know where the door is located?" With wittiness in his voice he answered me, saying, "Artians always come prepared when going to war. We know this castle like the back of our hand. We have been planning an attack to help the people of Ashlot for months now. We know where everything is."
Hearing who he was, that he was from The Artian Kingdom filled my heart with peace. Artian was the cousin kingdom of Ashlot. They had provided their help in many of our wars and even today despite the death of my Darius they are still willing to fight for our kingdom. Though I had never met the royal family nor had I been to Artian I heard a lot of stories from Darius about how good the people were and how kind their king was.
I felt safe and instant relief as we ran down the hallways to a brown wood door with a gold handle on the door. The mysterious man let go of my hand and looked at the black wall next to the door while I stood there in confusion thinking, 'I already checked this room? Why has he brought me back here?' I looked at him while he still searched on the wall and I said, "Are you sure you know where the secret passage is? Because I have already searched this room thoroughly." He looked at the black wall, saying, "Yes this is the place My Lady." In my mind we were wasting time, there was only a matter of time before Henrick found out where I was. In a fit of annoyance I opened the door, saying, "Look, see for yourself, there is no passage here." He walked over to me, placing his hand upon my hand that was still on the door knob, looked into my eyes, and said while shutting the door, "That's why its a secret passage My Lady. It's what you don't see." Feeling his warm touch on my hand… Was I already falling for a mysterious man… I didn't even know him… What was going through my mind, while we were at war…
He walked back over to the wall, touching it until he felt a lump that was disguised as just a rock. He looked at me, jestering for me to come to him. I walked over to him and he grabbed my hand, putting it on the lump. He said, "Now push it as hard as you can." I tried pushing it but I wasn't strong enough. The amusement on his face as I looked back telling him I couldn't do it made me annoyed but happy all at the same time… Why was I happy? I didn't know at the time… All I knew is this mysterious man, this stranger, was trying to help me. He put his hand on top of my hand that was still on the lump and helped me push it in. As we pushed the button I heard no noise but I felt the ground beneath me move. Something had happened but I didn't know what.
He said, "Now open the door, My Lady and see what's inside." I was skeptical at first… What could a button do, but when I opened the door I saw it… It was another room… An empty room. The empty room had nothing but light wood floors, stone walls, and a stone door with no handle.
I looked at him saying, "How could…" He interrupted me, grabbing my hand, and taking me into the room, shutting the door behind us. He took keys out of his pocket, locking the door, and said as he walked up to the stone door, "The room changes so that anyone who doesn't first press the button can not enter it. As of right now you're safe My Lady but you must hurry. You don't have much time." I was puzzled, although there was war, if I was currently safe in this room, why did he say time was running out? He put his hand on the stone door, sliding it, revealing a dirt tunnel, and said, "This tunnel leads you to the outside of the castle and to your freedom. You must take the opportunity and run, My Lady, run and don't look back." I walked over to him still struck with confusion on what he had expressed to me. 'Why would he say such things to me,' I wondered. I had so many things running through my mind, so many wonders, that I finally asked him, "Why do you keep saying this? Do you know something I do not? Is there someone who has been alerted to my whereabouts that I do not know?"
I saw in his eyes, he was hiding something from me but did not want to disclose to me what it was. He faked a smile but in his eyes I saw it, I knew that look anywhere, it was fear and he had something he did not want me to know. He said to me, "My Lady, there is currently war breaking out in the castle. If you want freedom you must go now while you still can. Henrick will be looking for you soon, you must get out now." Although I knew all those things were true, I saw it in his eyes. He wasn't telling me the whole truth. There was still something he didn't want me to know and I could see, I could tell that the secret that he was hiding made him fearful.
I said, "I will go if you come with me." His eyes widened, I could tell he was not expecting me to tell him to come with me, but in my eyes he was my people and I couldn't let the man who just helped me stay behind while I escaped to freedom. He held my hands and gazed into my eyes. Although I felt wetness in his hands I could not look away from his mezmuring eyes. He chuckled, saying, "I wish I could come with you My Lady but I must stay here to fight and I fear that I would only slow you down." I didn't have a clue what he was talking about but there was a new weakness in his voice that I couldn't understand where it came from. Was he tired from running, did he fight too hard, what could it have been? I had so many thoughts running through my mind but the biggest thought that played throughout my mind was why he said he would slow me down. He was so much faster than I was, how could he slow me down but then I saw it, I looked down at his torso and saw it. Blood dripping through his thick, raspberry red, guard uniform. I looked at our hands which were now covered in blood and I looked back into his eyes that now became more lifeless. He gave a crooked grin saying, "My, I guess I've run out of time," as he slowly collapsed. I used the rest of the strength that I had in my body to catch him and help me gently onto the floor.
He used his knuckles to pinch the side of my cheek, while saying, "You see I can't go with you My Lady but you must go yourself and be free." I was stunned, I couldn't understand how he was able to hide such a life threatening wound from me. I looked at him asking, "How, how did you get this hurt… How did this happen?" He smiled at me saying, "Right before I came to kill you My Lady. I was attacked by several of Hernick's guards. Some of my guards came to my rescue but they ended up being killed. I wasn't going to go down without a fight so I managed to finish off the guards who attacked me but not before someone wounded me. I knew it was bad and that I wouldn't find help in time but I vowed to have Henrick dethroned so I came looking for you who I believed to be Rina, the betrayer of Ashlot. I'm glad you're not her but that the woman we were told was you, was Rina and you are alive." Though he spoke I could hear nothing, I could focus on nothing else but keeping him alive. He saved me, he tried to help me and I had to return the favor. I had to help him. I tried to take off his guard uniform but he stopped me, saying, "My Lady, save your strength. You have very little and I am heavy. Go and save yourself, be happy and free." To me he sounded so foolish. How could I let the man who helped me die without doing something to save him? Did he really see me as a weak woman? I was not going to abandon him, not in his time of need.
I knew that I needed to move fast if I was going to save his life and I knew I would be unable to lift him. I had to do what I could so I grabbed one of the daggers that was on his belt and cut his clothing until I found the deep gnash on his torso. When I saw how much he was bleeding, at that time, my mind went straight to survival mode. I could hear nothing, I couldn't see anything else around me other than the gnash and the bleeding that I had to stop or else this man would die. I cut some of the thick cloth off of his guard uniform pressing it into his wounds. When I saw how much he was still bleeding, I did not think about it, I did not care about anything else, I wanted to save his life. I cut long pieces of cloth from the bottom of my dress and made a makeshift tourniquet, slowing down the bleeding.
When I finished the tourniquet I looked into his eyes and realized the pain that I was causing him. In that moment I felt horribly but I had to save his life. I had to give him a fighting chance. I apologized profusely. Looking into his eyes I knew he was thanking me but was in too much pain to speak. I sat on the floor, holding the cloth, Praying the bleeding would stop so we could escape together and I could get him to a doctor.
After a couple of minutes passed the bleeding had slowed down to a stop. I knew if he laid there any longer he would die. He helped me, I didn't want him to die. I said, "We must get going now, you need help." Through all the pain he felt he said to me, "No princess, you must go by yourself. I can not get up." I could not contain my emotions. I did not want this man who helped me to die so I shouted, "I said get up. I am a princess, will you deny my orders as a lowly guard?! You will get and I will get you to the best doctor I can find. You will be alright, you hear me? Get up right now! That's an order!"
He smiled at me and even though I was so angry, so worried, and my emotions were all over the place, seeing him smile calmed me. It made me feel like everything was going to be okay. He said, "My Lady, will you sit and watch me die?" I said, "You will not die, that's an order!" He chuckled at me and said with a melody in his voice, "I have never seen a princess who thinks she can order someone not to die. I will remember you always." Hearing him say he would remember me, brought me some form of peace and relief. I said to him, "See even you know you will not die, for how can a dead man remember someone?" He said, "You are quite the stubborn woman aren't you." I said to him, "Stubborn and a fighter and if you think that you aren't going to make it out of here alive you… You are lying to yourself." I spoke with such confidence, in my heart I knew, I just knew he wouldn't die. In my mind I Prayed for me, I Prayed that he would stay alive, I just knew… I knew he would survive this.
2 Minutes of silence passed and black smoke began creeping underneath the door. He glanced at the door seeing the smoke while I kept my eyes fixed on his wound. He looked back at me saying, "My Lady, the castle, it's on fire! You must leave now." I looked over at the door, knowing this had to be a big fire with all that smoke, and I said, "Then let's get out together." He said, "My Lady I…" And I interrupted him saying, "I'm not leaving without you so if you choose death as your fate then you're also choosing death as mine. I will not leave you behind." He said, "Why do you…"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
There was pounding at the door. We heard voices of guards shouting, "We know you're in there and we're coming to get you." I felt fear wash over my body as I heard the shouting. The mysterious man looked at me and stood to his feet saying, "Let's go." In my mind, in my heart, I knew, I knew just him standing on his own two feet took all the strength he had, but there was a little part of me that wanted to believe he could walk down the tunnel and we would escape together. I didn't know why I was so attached to this man but I was and I didn't want to leave him, I didn't want to see him die. I put his arm around my shoulder and we stumbled to the door. I didn't care how much strength I needed to use, I was going to save this man. As we stumbled together to the tunnel entrance he said, "Once the door closes you will not be able to open it from the other side." I said, "Okay," not realizing the trick he was going to play on me.
When we stood by the tunnel doorway he yanked my arm off of me and pushed me into the tunnel, shutting the door so that I couldn't enter the room again. I banged on the door, shouting, "Hey, open the door! I order you to open the door." I knew in my heart he would not do as I commanded but I was so determined to save his life. I heard him…. I heard him say to me in a weak whisper, "Go, keep living My Lady. Keep living and don't look back." I was enraged, screaming for him to open the door but he would not listen to me.
Then I heard it, a loud crash on the other side of the door and guards yelling at the mysterious man. There was so much shouting, I couldn't make out what anyone was saying but then I heard it. The sounds of the mysterious man screaming. He screamed in a way I had never heard before, the scream of true pain. I covered my mouth as I heard him go silent… At that time I knew… I knew he was gone… I turned away from the door, running away, wondering why the guards had not come through the door to get me. What were they waiting for?
I finally made it outside my castle, seeing the 12 story, over 100,000 sq ft, baby blue castle, lit up in flames. I could feel my heart sinking as rain dripped on my head… All that pain I felt, all that time I spent in my home, everything I once knew, was taken from me. I could feel it, I could feel myself about to break down, and then I felt it… A strong grip of a palace guard who worked for Henrick, pulling me towards him, saying, "You're coming with me…"