I slowly opened my eyes and immediately felt the stinging pain in my shoulder and my hands.
I was lying on the cold hard floor of a large room without windows. I heard a faint mumbling of multiple people somewhere in the room. I carefully lifted my head to look around.
"Hey, you're awake." Someone said from behind me.
I nodded slowly. "Where am I?"
"Still in the castle. You were unconscious for a minute or so."
The person that had spoken walked into my field of view.
"Shaye?" Is asked, confused.
"Yes"
More people walked up to me. I became more and more confused by the mix of people.
I saw Shaye and Connell and some of the older children of the mission, but also Lucien and some people I recognised from the tavern.
"Makatza!" I heard an excited voice.
"Rafe?" I asked. "Are you there?"
The young boy appeared in front of me. "We saved you. We saved you." He said, with a big smile on his face.
Shaye helped me to stand up and the moment I stood, Rafe gave me the biggest hug. I couldn't help but smile.
"But how? I don't understand?" I asked.
"You can thank the young lad," Lucien said, looking at Rafe. "He warned me the moment you left."
"And Lucien found us." Connell continued.
Lucien nodded. "I asked the people in my tavern for help. A couple of people agreed to help me. Fintan here," he tapped one of the men on the shoulder. "Had maps of the castle."
"Most of the kids wanted to come too," Shaye said. "We agreed to let the older ones come and help. We searched the room above you, and, well, you know what happened next."
"Wow," I said. I could hardly believe that all of these people had come to help me.
"But, how did you know where Abrus had taken me?"
"You can thank him for that." Connell smiled, pointing at someone standing in the shadows in the corner of the room. "Who...?" I started. He stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing the armour of the guards, which made me hold my breath for a moment, but then he took off his helmet, revealing his red curls and blue eyes.
"It's you," I said, a little too excited. "You helped me? But you're a guard."
He smiled, walking up to me. "It was not really my choice to be here. I was more or less forced in the position. When I saw you at the door, well, you sparked a flame of hope in me that had long been gone."
I didn't know what to say, so I walked towards him and gave him a somewhat uncomfortable hug. "Thank you," I mumbled.
"What now?" I asked, after releasing him.
"Right now, nothing. We go home. It is over, we won." He said.
"Really? You... You stopped the war?" I asked the people in the room.
"No," Shaye shook her head. "You did. You stopped the war. It was your bravery that saved everyone, Mak."
"I just did what everyone would have done," I said. I felt my cheeks turning red and looked at the floor.
"It was you willing to sacrifice yourself that caused Abrus' death, whether you like it or not." Lucien smiled.
"Now, who wants a drink? Free drinks, on me, in the tavern." He said.
Everyone cheered and laughed. Some of the men high fived each other.
"Well, what do you think?" Shaye asked. "We have to go through the village anyway. We have to pick up the younger kids to bring them back home, it will do no harm to stay a little longer."
I thought about it for a moment. "Sure, we can use a party," I said. "Let's do it."
After we cared for my shoulder, which already felt a little better and didn't seem to be broken, and cleaning the wounds on my hands, we left. Everyone was in a good mood.
We left the castle without any problems and like a happy parade, we walked through the forest to the tavern.
We were happy, we were relieved and we were together.
It was perfect.
The End