Over the wall

Over the Wall ~6~

"Father, you called?" I asked.

"Ahh, Jedidiah, my son. Come, sit." The King gestured to an empty chair across from him at the gargantuan dining table groaning and laden with food. I sat but didn't touch the food, I was disgusted by this man, my mother had always talked of a handsome, caring, amazing man, the man she had fallen in love with, the man who she bore me with. This man was not him. This man was a monster. Fat and gluttonous, disgusting. I had to follow in this mans footsteps, twas not my choice.

"There is a kingdom over the wall. Salem." The King began.

"What?! How does no one know of this and why are you telling me?" I screeched.

"You are my heir, you must know. Also, you are to marry the queen so that we can demolish this kingdom and make it ours, they have lived in peace for too long and I want that land. And more slaves." He guffawed. This man is sickening.

"Why? I do not want a wife. I do not need a wife and we do not need that land. Those people ate entitled to their lives there."

"Also, I want a girl, the girl who escaped me 5 years ago, I will have her. Brown hair and dark eyes. I will ruin her and make her my whore." He laughed into a chicken leg before stuffing his mouth.

"Yes, Father. I-I must take my leave." I stood, leaving the table, I flung the doors open and ran to my room, to my balcony. I looked over the wall from the highest point of the castle, the mist gave no inkling to what lay beyond there. An idea hit me, I could come back over the wall if I created a good exit strategy. The King wouldn't notice, he never does when I leave. I ran from my room, down the spirals of stairs to the garden, I'd been at the ball 5 years ago, I'd been in the room when that girl had rejected the King, I'd chased her as she ran and jumped over the wall.

Hair whipping behind her, I never forgot. She was a lucky one. She looked like an angel, a mostly white dress and beaded cap, I thought she was beautiful from the minute the walked in those doors. If I find her, I mightn't leave 'Salem'.

I ran to the barracks surrounding the castle and jostled the door open to Noah Anderson's shared bunk. The door creaked open to reveal Noah in his tunic and breeches looking at a small painting of his sisters. Both were supposedly dead now. Liana and Caierah, both gone.

"Noah, I need your help." I said, Noah jumped...it looked like his head hit the ceiling, I laughed internally. He turned around, the painting still in hand, I'd never seen either of his sisters. I didn't know what either looked like but I needed to go down to the other side of the wall and ruin my fathers plan. Noah handed me the painting, silently. My eyes were met with the graceful beauty of two girls laughing, one had long black hair and the other was my angel, the mystery girl. I'd never uttered a word to her but she had my heart for standing up to the stone cold King. Was this Liana? Or Caierah?

"Cai is the brown haired girl, my littlest sister. The black haired girl is my older sister, Liana. Can I have that back?" I handed him the picture. She had a name. My best friend's sister. "What is the help you request?"

"Uh...I...I want to go over the wall..." I stuttered. Noah looks taken aback. "You told me of a ladder escape you found down the way, nestled nearly invisible in the wall."

Noah nods and pulls on a pair of leather boots. With out a word he straps his broadsword to his back and looks at me, Noah was always a man of few words.

As the sun sets in the sky, leaving no shade but blackness in its wake, Noah and I creep out of the barracks, down the wall's length. Hidden in the stonework, leading down into a porthole is a set of alabaster rungs, the same colour as the wall itself.

"Will you come with me? If what my father says is true, Caierah might still live." I say, grabbing a rung slightly below my elbow from where I stand, centimetres away from being on the porthole.

"Your father tells you what? Hasten in telling me." Noah growls.

"That there is a city beyond this wall, where people live; whether is poverty or otherwise I do not know...but if it is as my father claims. This land will soon be part of Vlencia."

"I'm coming, sire, now not merely for your protection, but for the slight chance that my little sister still breathes."

"Into the abyss we go, my good man."

"You got it, ole buddy, ole pal." Noah jokes, before drawing his broadsword and using it as leverage to move the heavy porthole cover. With the cover removed, I can see a deep, deep shaft...alabaster rungs died black with mould and other nasties, it stops as a bright light, maybe kilometres down. I swing myself onto the rungs, climbing downward, my eyes set into the light at the end of this shaft, I look up briefly to see Noah's arse and body several rungs above me. It looks like the mightn't have enough to room in this small shaft.

I am but a slip of a man, that is probably why is have so much space in this tunnel. After Liana, then Caierah supposedly, died, he threw himself into his training. The brawny, sinewy man he is now.

As we travel down ward, the light becomes closer, in a warm light of summer, I can see the grass, it's hue less bleak than that of my homeland. I'm intrigued. I feel a bright summery breeze flow up the shaft from the opening, I shiver...warming. As I near the bottom, I can see a small, stone arch way, maybe just big enough for Noah, definitely big enough for me.

My feet hit the ground and I can see lush fields and trees as tall as the sky. Pastures with animals I've never seen in them are framed with fences and people work the land, smiling and laughing. Suddenly, from on where, two women run up, the smaller stays rooted to the spot as Noah jumps before me.

The taller, runs, sword drawn. A battle cry leaving her lips as her blade clashes into Noah's her face a mask of calm, her breath continuously even. Her feet don't touch the ground as she whirls and hacks and slashes, knocking Noah off guard as her hair falls from its confines, framing her face. Lustrous brown curls, softening her face, becoming familiar.

Noah stops his defence, sword raised above his head. He falls, his back hitting the grass, sword now raised above his face, protecting himself from her consecutive blows. The smaller figure comes running, a dress far too short to be decent waves around her bare knees as she bolts toward us. As the brown haired woman raises her sword again, prepared to strike down on Noah's unprotected stomach, the smaller woman dives in front.

"STOP!" The small woman yells. "Can't you see it's Noah, or are you blind, Caierah?"

The woman, 'Caierah', stops, sword still raised. Noah looks astonished.

"Shut up, Red head. SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" 'Caierah' screeches. 'Red head' drops to her knees beside Noah and pushes his fringe from his eyes. The Anderson family black hair, plastered to his forehead.

"L-liana? What happened to your hair?" Noah asks, taking a lock into his fingers. Tucking her own fringe behind her ear, she hugs Noah, tears streaming down her face.

"This...this is my natural colour...mother used to dye my hair black with ink." She cries. Colour? What is that?

"Colour?" Noah inquires.

"ENOUGH." Caierah shouts. Pushing Liana off Noah. "And give him room to hug me!" Caierah dives into Noah, wrapping arms around him. This is what family should look like.

"Now, who is this? Why is he here? And can I have him?" Caierah asks looking at me, releasing Noah. Noah lets out a deep chuckle. Liam climbs to his feet and stands beside me, both his sisters standing before us.

"This is Crown Prince Jedidiah of Vlencia, son of King Leonidas and Lady Maria Cooper. Heir to the throne." Noah introduces, I bow to the two women, people in the pastures looking over interestedly. Caierah put out a hand.

"Lady Knight Cai Anderson, heir to Salem. First rank militia officer, General third class and head of the protections forces to Queen Shona of Salem. This is Lady Liana Wright, wife and mother." She says, her voice a perfect pitch, like honey...sweet and rich. I take her hand, it feels wrong to clasp a woman's had in such a way.

"We have much to discuss, come." She leads the way from the pastures. Discuss? What of this?