Chapter 9: Darling run
She tried to move away from the carriage immediately she understood what was about to happen but it was too late.
One of the soldiers grabbed her and she screamed.
Keenan came down from the carriage with an expressionless face. He watched the men that held his wife as she screamed on top of her voice. He wished she would just shut up.
"What battalion are you from soldiers?" He questioned.
"The 53th battalion of King Joan's army" one of the men answered.
"So was it the king that gave the order or the commandant of the 53th, my very good friend Sir Del'matal" Keenan questioned.
The soldiers looked at each other. Keenan counted about eleven of them. He waited patiently for their answer.
"Commandant Del'matal gave the orders" one of the men answered.
Keenan Del'matal tilted his head to the right "That's funny! I am Keenan Del'matal and I am not a bloody commandant. And i bloody well didn't ask for the murder of my wife. Give her back to me and you may leave with your lives"
Keenan waited for them to comply. But it didn't stop him from noticing the relief on Tia's face and the realization, his wife actually thinks he wanted her dead.
"You should listen to my husband! He is King Joan's right hand man. He is the lead knight. The king's shadow, just let me go" Tia advised them.
One of the men holding her took a dagger towards her throat when suddenly; he was impaled by Keenan's dagger. Tia screamed as she realized how close she came to death. She had no idea she was still screaming until she heard Keenan's voice.
"Darling, I suggest a little less screaming and more of running towards me!"
Tia took off towards her husband. She was by his side in a second. She was there just in time for him to deflate the arrow headed for her chest.
Keenan picked her up and shoved her into the carriage and locked her inside.
Tia couldn't stop her hands from shaking. She knew the knight was outnumbered and he would probably pay with his life and then hers.
She sank to the floor of the carriage and covered her head with her hands. Then the door started to shake. Someone was trying to get inside. Tia knew she was going to die. She tried to take off her bracelet but it won't bulge. She tried again and again but the sorceress that bonded it to her wrist taught her a spell to take it off but her mind was blank at the moment. She just kept pulling the bracelet until the door finally opened. For a moment, Tia accepted death.
"Come on! We can't stay here. Whoever wants you dead, will send more"
It was Keenan's voice. Tia sat upright. Her hands were still shaking. She took his hand and he pulled her out of the carriage.
Her eyes darted around to the fallen bodies of the men that attacked them. He had killed them all.
"We have to go" Keenan grabbed her hand. Tia wanted to follow him but her eyes darted to the dead coach, Manser.
"He is gone. There is nothing we can do for him" Del'matal reminded her.
She moved closer and she took his marriage chain. His wife would appreciate it. "I am sorry, Manser"
Tia turned and followed Del'matal as he grabbed two horses and lifted her into one. They turned and rode into the forest by their right. They rode for a while until the space between the massacre and them was wide enough.
Tia had no idea she was crying until she saw Keenan pick her up from a moving horse and sat her in front of him. Then he stopped the horse. He stared at her. He had transferred her to his horse when he noticed that she wasn't controlling her horse and was at the threat of being thrown down.
He felt her body shake with shock and sobs as he instinctively pulled her into his arms. He felt her wet cheek on his chest. After a while, she pulled away to talk.
"Why would king Joan want me dead after forcing us to get married?"
Even as Tia sobbed and talked, Keenan didn't have an answer for her.
He has been the king's shadow for years. His father was King Joan's lead Knight too and they both perished together in the great war. Sir Del'matal and King Joan both took up leadership on the same day. Even Joan knew that Keenan would die for him in a heartbeat. It was a certainty everyone knew.
But, now he was comforting a bride imposed on him because she was almost killed by men bearing the symbol of the house of Raven, a house led by the king Joan himself and nothing makes sense anymore.
But Keenan was certain of one thing and In a calm voice, he passed his truth to the Queen of the Midland.
"King Joan doesn't want you dead"
Tia lifted her eyes and looked at him.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because he knows that you are my wife...Queen or not, you are under my protection and the only way you will end up dead was if I am dead too"
Tia stopped sobbing and gazed at him. She believed him.