Herba's Forrest [Complete]

Chapter 10

It was the day of Brendan's and Natalie's wedding and the castle was empty. The only person left inside was Ben, pacing in his room. Repeatedly he walked to the door, opened it, and then closed it again, only to return to his pacing. He finally made up his mind. He grabbed Sciros from the bed and buckled it around his waist. Then he left his room and made his way to the stables, where he saddled Gariah and pointed her head toward the forest, to the place where the wedding was going to happen.

A man stood near the outskirts of the clearing. He wore dark clothing and carried a large double edged battle sword on his hip. Ben made to call out a greeting to the man, but something about the way the man stood stopped him. As Ben watched, the man pulled up a loaded longbow from where it had been hidden from Ben's view and aimed it carefully into the clearing.

Ben realized suddenly what was happening. "Watch out!" he called into the clearing.

The man drew back the string and let the arrow fly. Then he turned and ran, disappearing quickly from view.

A man screamed as Ben vaulted from his mare's back and ran forward. The crowd was on its' feet as Ben tried to see what had happened. He heard Kotaku yell for his guards to find who was responsible. Within seconds they surrounded Brian and had him pinned to the ground.

"Your Majesty, we have him!" one soldier called to the king. Ben looked next to him and saw the bow lying on the ground beside him. It would appear to an onlooker as though he had been the one to fire it. He began to struggle frantically in the guards' grip.

Ben heard the king gasp and felt himself being lifted to his feet, his arms held tightly behind his back.

"No," Ben heard Gabriel cry out. "No, it can't be. Kotaku, you know he couldn't have!"

Ben cried desperately, "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" He looked around frantically. It was then that he saw Natalie. She was kneeling on the ground, Brendan's head in her lap. She was sobbing, stroking her fiancé's hair as he took his last breaths. Brendan reached to Natalie's face and stroked her cheek, trying to tell her that it was going to be alright. All that came to his lips was crimson blood. There was a large pool of blood on the ground where it had gathered from the arrow protruding from the prince's chest.

Ben sagged in the guards' grip, all his strength suddenly gone. Brendan was going to die, and all evidence pointed to Ben as his killer.

Ben was only vaguely aware of his arms being bound and of being dragged roughly onto a horse. His mind was on rerun. He kept seeing the same images being repeated in the black space behind his eyes. Natalie, her beautiful white dress soaked with her fiancé's blood; Brendan, looking into the face of the woman he loved for the last time and trying to bestow comfort upon her even as he lay dying; Gabriel and Tara, staring in shock, horror and, in Gabriel's case, disbelief as to the identity of the murderer.

Brn was taken back to the castle where he was dragged back off of the horse and down into the dungeons, his captors treating him more roughly than was strictly necessary. It was dark here. The only light came from torches perched in brackets along the walls. A cell door was opened and he was shoved inside, hitting the cold stone floor roughly. The door was shut and locked behind him.

Brendan's body was prepared by Gabriel and the king. At sundown a ceremony would be held for the fallen prince and his body would be burned.

Natalie seemed to be in a state of shock. She had gone straight to her rooms after the ruined wedding. Tara went in after her. They were not sure that Natalie could be trusted to be alone right now. It was a wise concern, for as soon as Tara entered the room, she rushed to Natalie's side and wrestled the knife that Natalie held from her hand.