Of Shadows & Light

ⅩⅩⅠ. Roderick 🗡

By the time we made it to an opening of the trees, Meredith's group had stopped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"This is where he is." the other male of the group said.

"Rhaliva is right." Victor assured. "Meredith talked about this part of the forest whenever we came here."

"She said to never go here." Asella said.

"I know. That's why we never ventured this far and betrayed her trust."

I looked around and saw a small cottage in the distance. My eyes narrowed as I saw two silhouettes in the window. A man and a woman yelling at one another. I would go closer, but they would see me. The woman has black hair in a small braid, it seems like she's wearing a flowy shirt and skirt with some sort of corset.

The man looked old, but not wrinkly old, almost like how my father looks. His black hair had some white streaks, and he wore a flowy casual shirt from what I could see from the window. The girl stopped shouting and when she looked out the window, I could almost see tears running down her face and--Meredith.

"Guys." I say, getting everyone's attention.

"Yes Rick?" Clalia replies.

"I see Meredith and her father." I'm in shock. There's no possible way we found her this easily. From the window I could almost see her eyes widen. But before we could even start moving towards the cottage, her father had come out and towards us.

"Your Highness, just tell me and I'll pull my sword." Darkstrike said, hand on her sword handle.

"Don't." she flinched a bit as I kept my eyes on Meredith's father.

"But–"

"Don't harm him yet."

She kept her hand on her handle and kept staring at me. Once her father got close enough, I got off my horse and Victor came over to me.

"Don't start anything," he whispered to me.

"I don't plan to." I take a step forward towards her father. "Give her back. We want no harm—"

"Right right. She told me everything." Her father snapped back. "You want no harm on her and you want her back just so she can take down my monsters." he nearly mocked my words.

I took a breath, not letting my anger get out of him.

"I did say I want no harm on her. Using her was never my intention."

"Right, but bedding her was?" he smiled.

My heart stopped for a moment. How did he know we had done that?

"What?" my voice barely came out as a whisper.

I could feel the stares amongst me.

"You know what I'm talking about. Because of you, I found her way easier than I suspected I would."

"It was not my fault she's in your hands." I state. I've clearly lost control of my anger now. "And it wasn't hers either."

"Well it was someone's if she's in my hands now."

"Your Highness." I hear Darkstrike ask again.

"Do not–"

"His monsters have surrounded us."

Her words strike me and I look around us. She's not wrong. I look back at her father who has created some form of dark magic in his hands. The only thing I knew at the moment was to let him attack first. So I did just that. When he threw the dark magic, I thought it would hit me, but instead he aimed for Calia and she fell off her horse.