Lilly watched as her Prince took off, racing towards the fires that were already destroying parts of Maybelle. Vineyards, forests and homes were turning into ash. So much disaster was being left behind as the fire continued to spread. The maid was trying her best to rush the Princess inside, a second maid came out and helped get Lilly inside. They were running through the castle walls, peering through windows only to see an army invading Maybelle. Lilly found herself feeling helpless all over again. "Should I have came back? This is all my fault!" Lilly thought to herself, feeling panic as she watched her home get destroyed. "How could this have happened and why?" Lilly thought out loud. "It's alright Princess, Everything will be okay! Maybelle has one of the strongest armies, plus Prince Brandon is fighting too. Have faith!" One of the maids reassured her as they were rushing through the halls. As the three women were running down the hall, a huge explosion lit up the sky. They stopped running and Lilly walked towards the massive window to peer out at the sea..the water looked to be on fire as it reflected the sky's glow of orange, red and yellow. The smell of smoke was carried through the breeze entering through the walls, as screams filled the air. "Princess, we have to go!" One of the maids urged. "Look!" Lilly exclaimed she couldn't believe her eyes, but there was the proof right on the castle grounds! "The tyrant Prince...We have to get you to your father if he's not already fighting!" The maids said still trying to urge the Princess. "No my father is already fighting and so is my brother, they would never hide behind these walls as Maybelle burns." Lilly said in a serous tone. "He's destroying my home and hurting my family." Lilly said in anger. "Your father and brother are fine." One of the maids tried to reassure her. "Maybelle and the people who live here are my family and they are being taken from me!" Lilly said with her blood boiling. The maids stood quiet for a moment.
"Lilly, let's go now! And you two, how could you allow her to stand so close to the window!? I got worried when I couldn't find three of my girls!" The Queen snapped as she quickly made her way to the three women in front of the window. Queen Diana stopped sharply, staring down at the two maids and her daughter. "Three?" One of the maids asked, as the two maids looked at each other in confusion. "Yes, three! ONE, TWO AND THREE!" The queen snapped as she pointed at the three of them while she had counted them. "Let's go! The three of you in front of me now!" The queen demanded. Lilly and the two maids quickly took the lead, walking to the lower part of the castle. They passed an old dungeon that hadn't been used in centuries, there wasn't really anything special to look at in the lower parts of the castle. The walls were all a dark gray rock and the floors were worn out black cobble stone all the way down to the last level. The bars on the jail cells were black rusted iron and the windows had the same bars over them. Preventing anyone from escaping. It wouldn't have been until you went through the hallway, passing the wine callers and pantries going up the stairs and, through the door, that you would have found life. It felt and looked like a different world. As they passed through the small hallway just directly down from the stairs, there were the doors to the pantries and wine cellars on each side of them. They made one right turn and opened a heavy wooden door, passing through the dungeon. There was hardly any light where they were, the dungeon was cold and smelled of mold and mildew. The Queen continued to direct the young women on where to go, leading them to another door that was partially hidden. They opened the door, walking through the cramp area. "It's going to be a tight fit. I'm sorry in advance if you're claustrophobic." The Queen spoke as they were in a line one right behind the other. All of the ladies were unable to stand up fully in the tight walkway. "Follow the pathway that's the only way you can go other than back tracking." The Queen said. Queen Diana made sure to close the door behind them. When she turned around she heard more explosions and saw a bright light through one of the windows, from an empty jail. They walked for about 10 to 15 minutes before reaching another door. Finally reaching the last level of the castle, they open the door, walking through and closing the door behind them. They stood in a small empty room with an old desk, sitting in the middle of the room. It hadn't been used in centuries, it was layered in dust and covered in cobwebs.
There was one bookshelf behind the desk, a place where you would put a torch on the wall and a wooden crate flipped upside down with a raggedy old brown blanket covering the top. "What is this place?" Lilly asked. "It was where the person in charge of the prison would come and sit to do paper work and what not." The queen replied. Queen Diana moved her way between Princess Lilly and the two made walking to the center of the room. She stood in front of the desk and asked, "Well, are you three coming?" Lilly looked at the two maids in confusion before asking "Where? There's no where else to go.." The Queen laughed at her daughter before bending down and moving the door open. The door made a heavy grinding sound as she slid it open. "Let's go." Princess Lilly was the first to descend down the steep staircase and the maids followed. Queen Diana followed, closing the door behind them. "If people don't know what they are looking for they won't know about this little secret. The door handle is just another cobbled stone and looks similar to everything else. It was built that way for a reason. The door is easily hidden and just looks like the rest of the floor." The queen said, tooting her horn. They reached the bottom of the stairs to a narrow entryway, "Pardon me lovely's." The queen said as she reached for the key, passing the ladies. She quickly unlocked the door, letting her daughter and maids go in first. The queen entered the room, making sure the door was locked. Lilly stood in surprise. Everyone that was in the castle aside from those fighting were down here. There was no furniture but there were at least 10 small rooms, turns out they were bathrooms. Everyone were huddled up together trying to keep each other calm. The walls and floors were still dark and cold, no windows and the only light were candles. Thankfully, the door was a sturdy metal door but no way to see out. There was no telling how long everyone was going to have to be here. "Turned out the Queen had been coming and going since everything started leading everyone here and bringing back supplies. Blankets, pillows, food, water and things they could use as weapons should they need them. "If anyone needs anything let me know, I'll get a list going and head out to get them, just keep it small." The queen announced to everyone. "Mama please don't go back out there." Lilly asked with fear in her heart. "I'll be fine." The Queen replied.
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Swords clashed and two princes stood toe to toe, both refusing to budge from their goal. One wants to steal someone from their home and the other wants to protect that someone with his life. "Still wanting what you can't have, huh Zeal?" Brandon said in a bitter tone. "Still keeping what belongs to me Prince Brandon?" Zeal replied. "She doesn't belong to you!" Brandon retorted pushing Zeal off and making one solid slice in Zeal's direction. Zeal stepped back, almost losing his footing. " Clever, you're strong, but are you strong enough?" Zeal asked with a cocky smile. Brandon didn't reply. Instead, he prepared himself for the next attack. Maybelle was currently holding their own in the sudden fight. At least three of Prince Zeal's ships were taken out and sunk, so that minimized a lot of missile attacks on Maybelle. They still had one ship to worry about. Fortunately, half its cannons were wiped out. "Maybelle is a formidable opponent. I didn't think they would hold their own so well. Not many kingdoms can when the fight is sudden," Prince Zeal said, still smiling. "My question is why are you here, Prince Brandon Charles Arthur Albert?... Crown Prince of a very large kingdom. What is the name again? Oh yes Aurylia....Didn't your mother, whom was named after the Kingdom, die back when you were nine? Stories claim that the King and Queen of Tanith Empire, a small kingdom up north, liked the name so much, they named their eldest daughter after it. Some say it was fated that she married an Aurylian.." Zeal said, hoping to get Prince Brandon upset enough to make a fetal mistake. "Nice try, even someone as young as me knows, to never lose their temper in a fight. I'm not aiming to die today." Brandon spoke calmly. "Why are you fighting for Maybelle?" Prince Zeal asked. "Number of reasons. For starters, the love of my life calls this home. She was born here. I grew up visiting here every summer and vacation. Maybelle is an ally, I think of the royal family as my own." Brandon responded. "Interesting and just who is the love of your life?" Zeal asked. "None of your, Zeal now stop fishing and fight." Brandon replied and then plunged, landing a blow on Zeal. Prince Zeal stumbles back holding his stomach. "Shi-" Zeal says before one of his men came running up, catching him. "What do you want to do Sire?" "Destroy them all and get me back to safety." Zeal instructed.
The man spun around carrying Zeal. Brandon went to chase after them but was immediately surrounded by several enemy knights. "You alright Brandon?" A familiar voice called, coming up from behind him." "Yes sir." "Where's Zeal?" "He took off, I went to chase after them but I was stopped by all of them." Brandon replied. "Tell me he's not going towards my daughter!" King Nathaniel pleaded. "No he withdrawn because I injured him." Prince Brandon replied. "Ha! That's my boy!" The king praised slapping Brandon on the back. "You're going to make a fine King one day!" King Nathaniel continued. "Thank you sir." Prince Brandon replied. "Two to five doesn't seem very fair does it?" King Nathaniel asked with a big smile on his face. Prince Brandon went to to reply but chuckled at the king's smile. "N-No I guess not." He replied happily. King Nathaniel made the first move, swiftly dropping one of the openments by cutting him in half at the stomach. The rest of the men went to gang up on the King to retaliate when Prince Brandon stopped a blade from entering the King's back. Brandon held his ground, keeping his sword steady and using his upper body strength to push away the enemy's sword. Off in the distance, you could hear a horn blowing, "Oh good you're father's here." King Nathaniel said with a beaming smile. "I'm surprised he made it so fast, by ship our Kingdom is a three to four hour sail." Prince Brandon replied. "I imagine our other allies might show up too." Nathaniel stated. Off in the distance, you could hear more cannons firing, this time fired by Brandon's father. Aurylian knights began to step on shore and take out the Veiltest knights and any enemy stragglers unfortunate enough to make it to the only ship that now couldn't defend itself. Even if the Veiltest Kingdom backed off now, Maybelle still had other issues. There was still fire, they lost a good chunk of their vineyards, live stock, houses, crops and businesses. Not to mention they lost a lot of good people, young and old, knights and civilians. The damage was catastrophic.
Aurylian knights suddenly swarmed King Nathaniel and Prince Brandon, they had came out of nowhere and left both Brandon and Nathaniel in shock. "How?" Brandon asked, amazed. "We came from the sky, your highness." One of the knights replied. "Pardon?" Brandon asked dumbfounded. One of the knights just simply pointed up, causing Brandon to look up to the sky. What he saw amazed everyone else but the knights. "Will look at that your dad has finally done it!" Nathaniel said, amazed. "Hey you old fart! I told your old a** it was possible!" A cheerful voice explained from above. The owner of that voice slid down from a tough rope and walked over to Nathaniel. "Haha! You crazy old fool, you did it! Looks like I owe you that drink!" Nathaniel responded excitedly. Both the men laughed as the knights moved in taking out the rest of the enemy. "Thanks for the back up, old friend." Nathaniel said, giving the man a hug. "No problem, you would have done it for me." The man replied. "Thanks dad." Brandon said, standing behind the two men. The guy turned around and smiled at his son and nodded. The two looked so much a like it was like copy and paste. The only difference between the two men, was Brandon's father had blond hair that had some gray in it and he had some light wrinkles. Large amounts of water began to drop from the sky, putting out fires throughout Maybelle, leaving people speechless. "That's incredible!" King Nathaniel shouted in amazement. "You've really out done yourself King Albert!" King Nathaniel said "Why thank you." Albert replied, beaming with pride. "Can we be serious here? We are still under attack." Brandon interpreted in a cold tone. "Don't be so serious, it's practically over. They have one ship to escape from with no defense, the left behind knights of Veiltest are being taken care of and the fires are being put out." Nathaniel replied with a smile. "The boy gets the seriousness from his mother Nathaniel, you know that." Albert said, busting out laughing. Brandon stood there shooting daggers at his father. "You brought HER didn't you?" Brandon said very coldly. Causing the laughter to stop, leaving Nathaniel confused. "Who? Nathaniel asked. "Yes, I did she needed to meet my closest friend." Albert replied. "Why!? She's not even family!" Brandon screamed at his father. "How many times must I tell you? A King is nothing without a Queen. I'm not expecting you to call Astrid mom, I'm just asking you to respect her." "I'll never call her mom and you already had a Queen! You're just trying to replace her!"Brandon shot back with his blood boiling and hate in his eyes. "I could never replace your mother! I would never even dare to! It would be impossible!" Albert fired back, hurt at his son's accusations. "You know that woman could never be Queen, even if she is royal or not. You can only have one Queen. Anyone after that is a consort. She would be called a King's consort. You can't give her the title Queen! Or did you forget?" Brandon fired back full of rage. "I didn't forget!" Albert shouted back in frustration. "I don't know how you could live with yourself, completely erasing mom and going to some loose goose just so you have someone else in bed at night." Brandon popped off before storming off. "Brandon!" His father shouted back in rage. Nathaniel was completely stunned at the whole thing. "Hey let him go and cool off, don't be too hard on him. You know he's young and good kid. He just doesn't understand. You know Queen Aurelia left a giant hole in everyone when she was killed. H*** for the longest time I thought you, Brandon and Princess Ellenor were zombies for the longest time. I was really worried about you three for the longest time." Nathaniel said, reaching out to Albert. "I know, I just don't want him thinking that I'm replacing his mother, I loved her with every fiber of my being." Albert replied, heart broken. "He'll come around, old friend. In the meantime, we got a mess to clean up." Nathaniel said, with a smile on his face. Albert smiled and the two men went back to the fighting.
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Back at the Castle
"I'm gonna head to the dungeon so I'll be close by, I just wanna see how everything is going." Queen Diana said, breaking the silence. "I don't think that's a good idea your highness." One of the servants said. "I need to know what's going on with our home and our family, I'll be back within twenty minutes or so." The Queen replied firmly. "Your highness please reconsider." Another servant protested. "I'm the Queen, it's my duty to make sure everyone is safe and cared for, part of that duty is putting myself on the line. I need to know what's going on out there, so I know if we need more supplies or if it's safe for us to leave. I also need to know how our home is doing." The Queen replied sternly. Before anything more could be said, a large knock came at the door. Everyone jumped and stiffened in their seats. Queen Diana quietly walked to the door to see if she could hear anything like whispering or talking. Just then, everyone jumped at another sudden loud knock. "We mean no harm, we are the Aurylian knights, allies with Maybelle, our King Albert and your King Nathaniel have asked us to come. King Nathaniel told us to tell you, October 10th, Spring like day with autumn leaves." The Queen relaxed and smiled. Opening the door, she looked at everyone it's okay, we are safe." The Queen said and looked at the knights. "Are you alright, your majesty?" A knight asked "Yes, thank you." "Mom?" Princess Lilly asked, concerned. "It's fine, your father sent them. I know because we got married on October 10th, it looked like Autumn but felt like Spring." The queen said with a smile. The knights began to lead everyone out and back into the castle. Lilly searched for her father, brother and prince but, out of all the people, she couldn't find them. "I hope I'm one of the people you're looking for Princess." A soft, tired voice said behind her. Lilly smiled, spinning around and wrapping Brandon in a hug. "Of course you were." Lilly's voice cracked as the tears fell down her face. She felt so relieved to know he was okay. Brandon smiled, his left hand placed on the middle of Lilly's back and his right hand placed gently on the back of her head. "I'm so relieved that you're alright Princess." Brandon said softly. "I'm so happy you made it back. I was so worried." Lilly cried.
Prince Brandon gently took Princess Lilly in his arms and kissed her tenderly, losing themselves in the moment. "When did this happen?" Albert asked, walking up behind Princess Lilly and Prince Brandon. "Recently I guess." Nathaniel replied. "Looks like another one of our dreams, are gonna come true haha we are gonna be finally connected by blood old friend." Nathaniel replied. "Took long enough." Albert replied laughing. Brandon gently placed Lilly down and they turned to face their fathers, Lilly looking excited where as Brandon glared at his father. "I'm so happy you're okay, is it finally over?" Lilly asked. "Zeal is retreating right now, we have an army making sure that they fully leave Maybelle's waters. we got most of the fires put out but we took a hit." Nathaniel replied. "All things considering we got lucky and owe this victory to Albert and his armies." Nathaniel replied. "Non sense I have a feeling you guys would have been fine, you're just being humble! Before I even showed up, they let loose! I just cleaned up scraps literally!" Albert said with a smile. The two men laughed. "Glad to see some things never change. I'm glad to see you alive, King Nathaniel." A stern voice spoke from the left side of the room. "Queen Diana, you're looking well." King Albert replied. "Thank you, so are you." Queen Diana replied. "You had me worried sick! You're not a spring chicken anymore!" The Queen chastised the King. "I love you too dear." King Nathaniel replied, wrapping his Queen in his arms and kissing her. "That's what it's all about having someone by your side." Albert said, laughing. Brandon immediately looked pissed and stormed off. Lilly quickly followed Brandon, feeling concerned.
They both walked out to an open patio where there was a beautiful garden filled with all sorts of flowers, water fountains and benches. Brandon sat down on one of the benches sighing, trying to release his anger calmly. "Brandon?" Lilly asked softly. "I'm sorry Princess, I just don't want to talk about it right now." Brandon replied gently. "It's okay we can just sit here then." Lilly replied, laying her head on his shoulder. "Sounds good beautiful." Brandon said while placing his head on hers. the sky was dark from the smoke still and you could smell it in the air. At the very least, the birds came back making their sounds and flapping along the breeze. "Have you heard of Lady Astrid Nichole Tobias?" Brandon asked. "Duchess of Witherthorn?" Lilly asked "Yes." Brandon replied, sounding annoyed. "I heard of her once, she was caught up in some scandal with the Duke of Earlton, it was big he got caught cheating on his wife Lady Rose'ann Winston Duchess of Cainsbridge and former Duchess of Earlton.. Why do you ask?" Lilly asked, confused. "She's made her way to my blood line and set eyes on my father. Now he wants to marry her and make her the King's Consort." Brandon replied unhappily. Lilly was in shock and became speechless. "Nothing to say?" Brandon asked curiously. "Honestly, I don't know what to say, everyone has a right to be happy, we are only here for a little while, but why her of all people? She has a bad reputation for being a homewrecker. her words are usually venom and she manipulates so easily." Lilly replied. "My father doesn't seem to see it that way." Brandon replied. "I'm tired." Brandon said Lilly lifted her head up and helped Brandon lay his head down on her lap/ She played with his hair and even tussled it behind his ear. She began to hum to him to put him at ease.
Brandon soon found himself taking a nap on Lilly's lap before being woken up by both their fathers talking loudly and bugging them. Brandon let out an annoyed sigh. "You two act like kids." Brandon said. "Just means we still know how to have fun." Nathaniel replied, smiling. "Look, son can we talk?" Albert asked. "There's nothing to talk about." Brandon replied "Excuse me I'm tired and reek of blood." Brandon replied walking away. "Will you have a room here you know?" Nathaniel replied with a smile. "Thank you." Brandon said and walked away. "What happens now?" Lilly asked her father. "What do you mean?" Nathaniel asked. "Do we attack Veiltest? Or do we wait for another attack?" Lilly asked. "We defend Maybelle at all cost while also planning to attack head on." Her father replied. "I am going to go check on your mother." Nathaniel said as he walked away, Albert following suit. Lilly wasn't used to seeing her father so serious. What does the future hold for everyone? Lilly couldn't think anymore so she decided to go and rest. It had been a long, stressful day and honestly she could use some sleep. Lilly got up and walked through the castle in a daze, everything was passed by in a blur. She barely realized she open and closed her door. Her feet barely carried her to her bed before she collapsed on it.