Queen Celice woke up suddenly, her heart racing.
She looked around her chambers, but no one was in the room. She tried to calm herself down.
"It's only thunder".
She rubbed her swollen belly gently "do you hear that honey? It's called 'thunder'"
Lightning flashed again and a loud deafening sound followed quickly after.
The rain poured even more heavily and everything outside the walls of the castle seemed terrifying.
She laid her head back on her soft pillows and soon fell peacefully asleep
The wooden doors creaked open and the King Adric came in. He shook his wife gently, but urgently.
"Celice" he called
She turned towards him slowly, her eyes slightly open.
"Your majesty" she replied, half asleep.
"You need to leave the Palace now, it's not safe here" Adric's voice was firm
Celice held the pole of her chamber bed, getting up carefully with her other hand supporting her belly.
"Now Celice!" Aldric raised his voice.
Celice could see a cloak in his hands.
"What's happening Adric, where are we going?" she asked, confused. The look on her husband's face was troubling, but there was a dullness in his eyes, as though his mind was on something else, they were shadowed and distant.
He ignored her questions.
"Now is not the time for explanations, you must hurry" he wrapped the cloak around her and pinned it firmly
"Ambrose!" Aldric called out towards the door.
The Royal guard, specially assigned to guide and protect Queen Celice, walked in. He too had a heavy expression on his face, even worse than the King's.
"You know what to do" Aldric nodded to him.
"Ambrose, what's going on?" Celice asked, hoping to get an answer from him.
"Please follow me your Majesty" he gestured towards the door.
A thousand thoughts ran through Celice's mind. She thought of taking something with her, anything she could lay her hands on, anything that represented the home she feared she wouldn't come back to.
She looked at her mirror stand and saw her crown lying still. No matter where she went in the world, she would always be a Queen. She grabbed it from the stand and placed it in the cloak's inner woven fabric.
Ambrose offered his hand to her and she placed hers in it. She walked out the door with him, but not without stealing a quick glance at Aldric, praying dearly that it wouldn't her last. His back was turned towards her and he stared outside her window, the white curtains drifting in the wind.
It took everything in her, not to call out to him, not to call out to the man she loved, the man she betrayed. Maybe that was it, maybe that was her punishment.
But he couldn't have known. No one knew. She made sure of it.
Ambrose lighted a torch from one of the iron brackets on the wall. The corridors lit up around them, but the darkness ahead of and behind them felt threatening. He guided her through the halls and down the stairs. They were not going through the main entrance, she could tell.
They were going through the Palace's North Gate, where the cooks and other servants used.
"Where are we going Ambrose?"
Celice's voice was shaky. She could barely keep up with the speed he moved with. She held her stomach tightly, the baby was kicking and every step became an obstacle to overcome.
Ambrose kept his eyes forward, not answering her nor paying attention to her groans and deep breaths, or at least pretending not to.
The silence only deepened her fear. She held the stone walls for support as they made their way North.
After what seemed like forever, they arrived at the North gate .
Ambrose's demeanor changed. He seemed trouble and conflicted. His hands shook as he reached for the keys in his belt. He fixed the key in it's hole and turned it.
The heavy gates were pushed open and a gust of wind rushed through the space. The rain was still pouring outside, though not as heavily as it had started.
The lightnings and rumbles of thunder had not reduced however, and the world outside the gates looked very uninviting.
Celice covered her hair with the cloak's hood as she stepped outside the castle gates.
A carriage was already outside, it's horse was soaked wet and tied to a shed nearby.
The poor creature neighed weakly, as if to show it had been poorly treated.
Ambrose opened the carriage doors and bowed.
He had been avoiding eye contact with her since they left her chambers. She had observed.
"Is the palace under attack Ambrose? Is the King safe?"
Ambrose hesitated before speaking "The King is safe your Majesty..." he paused before adding "...but you are not, we must leave"
Celice was not any less dissatisfied with his answer, but she obeyed and entered the carriage.
He climbed unto the horse and it galloped with speed, the carriage pulling along. Inside it, Celice wrapped her arms around her baby. "It's going to be okay" she whispered "mother's here"
They had been moving for a long while when the carriage stopped suddenly. Ambrose stepped down and opened the carriage door.
The rain had ceased and the sun was slowly rising, though everywhere was still dark.
Celice stepped outside, not appreciating the cold air that hit her. She pulled her cloak tighter and observed where she was.
It was a forest. She looked around and all she could see where trees and hills farther down. "What is this place Ambrose? Where am I?" she stared at the large expanse of green and wood.
There was silence still.
"Say something!" She had had enough and turned around to face him, but what she saw ran chills down her spine.
Ambrose was standing still, his head bent. His sword was fully drawn and pointing at her.
"Ambrose, wha...what are you doing?" she moved back slowly.
"It is not my will to do this your Majesty"
She could see tears roll from his eyes.
Ever since she was married to King, Ambrose was assigned to be her guard. He opened her eyes to the hypocrisies in the Palace. The King was often away and in those times, he was her only companion. He protected her from those who wanted nothing more than her hurt, but now, it seemed he would be the cause of it.
"Ambrose, please don't do this" Celice was in tears "the King ordered you to take me to safety"
"It is the King that has ordered me to do this" there was misery in his voice.
"I hope that her Majesty will forgive me one day, when she is safe up above"
"Think about my child Ambrose! Think about Adric's child!"
He raised his sword in the air
"I promise to make this painless"