I am picked up and held close to Willen's chest with my legs on her hips. I hold onto her and see a guard running from the bridge towards us with a worried look in his eyes. He pulls out a sword as he focuses on something behind me. My hairs stand on end as his sword swings passed us and hits something, a warm liquid hits my back. My heart drops as my body goes cold knowing exactly what has happened.
Willen turns around then runs and before I can close my eyes the scene is seared into my mind.
The guard who ran past us was pulling his sword from the body of one then stabbing another, there was blood but no life in the body that fell to the floor. There were more people coming that weren't guards. The men split up. some ran after us and others sought to kill the guard. From the bridge I hear a horn being blown then many more across the estate, running all over are guards and enemies. The guard who protected us was surrounded just as we turned a corner, I couldn't see his eyes but I felt the fear and determination of a guardian.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay..." I suddenly realized Willen was talking, well whimpering in a repeat, once we turn the corner to enter a courtyard hoping to lose our attackers. I cannot say for sure it was meant for me. She stops and looks around trying to find where to go and a person grabs me, suddenly I was taken from her arms and was screaming.
I was finally able to see her face, it was dripping blood. She looked heartbroken but must have gotten some orders as she looked at me then left. I knew she said something but my screaming was all I could process. She was running away and although I realized I was in the arms of a different maid I felt death creep up my back.
The maid carrying me jogged away as I simultaneously held on and tried getting away. She turns a corner and stops jogging. I grow scared as some of the men catch up but even when they're close they don't attack. They look at me and laugh, they seem to be talking in english but I couldn't understand because their accent was too strong. One grabs my chin hard and I try clawing at his hands but I am too weak.
I am given to one of these men, thrown over his shoulder so I could barely see. I push against his back to arch my own. I look around for as long as I can keep my body up.They are walking swiftly but I can't do anything except cry. As they walk past different areas I see bodies. I start screaming at the sights I knew would never leave my mind. Something is stuffed into my mouth as I let myself fall and stop looking up.
I had seen a maid, she was small just about 15. She was on her stomach and I could see a pool of red dyeing the white skirt she wore. She had pretty brown hair and empty brown eyes. There was no illusion of sleep or peace, she had died in shock.
There was a man and I couldn't tell what his position was. He was laying beneath a guard who was still fighting. The guard was yelling for the man to get up but his desperate cries fell on deaf ears. He knew it, but he couldn't accept it.
There was a boy holding the hand of a woman, but it wasn't connected to the nearby body. Then looking at him I realized his head wasn't connected to his body either.
I looked at these scenes and I felt something break. It was me, my body was limp and my mind went blank.
Commander Le's POV:
Orders were received to find a group which was targeting General Kai's daughter. The information was old and we got to the country estate too late to save everyone. We arrived just as the General's daughter was being taken from the inner court. My immediate squad rushed the group and killed them all.
The girl fell to the floor and didn't move. In the group was a maid, I knew this would take a bit longer than usually to find and pull up all the weeds. I had a soldier pick her up and we walked through the estate gathering our people and killing the enemies.
I saw people dead and some with one foot in the grave. I looked past it knowing I just needed to get this girl to a maid who she was close to, finding out which one was the problem.
We arrived to the servant's bunker and found a few maids. I had the girl given to them and watched their interactions and how they reacted.
"Rei! Rei what happened? Tell us please!" The maids crowded her and I turned to look at that maid. From the information told to me by Vanguard Zhu the girl was always nearly brain dead.
Rei Lanter Kai daughter of the Western General Anlin Kai and Madam Jun Mei. Born five years ago causing the death of her mother and faced abandonment of her father. Only child and born developmentally slow. Unable to talk, cook, or communicate throughout five years. People in contact with her would talk of a blank look at best and a walking corpse at worst.
Coming out of his mind Commander Le looked at the maids who had begun crying again and were holding the girl while yelling for a doctor.
"You come." I pointed to one of the maids and to the space before me. She stood up cowering but came closer nonetheless. "That girl is always like this correct?"
Her head shook "N-no Sir" I looked at her pointedly waiting for her to continue. "She has changed since her debut. She speaks and reads and... and she's nothing like this! Not anymore..."
I look at the maid and with my hand wave her off as our medic comes in, I see his anger from being pulled away from injured soldiers but he checks her and simply says she is in shock before leaving.