The Fall of a Kingdom

A Scarred Girl Is A Safe Girl

*3 Years Later*

Polaris worked tirelessly trying to save the women of the town and neighboring villages throughout the Kingdom. She noticed that most of the women that were taken were very beautiful with no flaws on their bodies.

Thinking that this could not be a coincidence she started a movement to scar the face of the girls in the Kingdom, any above the age of 15. Most of the women would not do it though, they saw scars as ugly and was worried it would scare away other potential suitors.

Polaris was the first to scar her face, she did not ever plan to marry anyway. She had all the children she would ever need in her life when she visited St Marks.

Over time more and more women chose to scar their bodies, which made the number of girls that went missing each month lower. Some girls she had try to persuade but refused were among the ceaseless amount of girls that went missing. She heard from Kieran when he had to patrol the town. They had a drop off spot for letters and such since they could not risk meeting in person. She really hoped he was alright in the castle, she worried about him being that close to that maniac.

Today she would be taking a trip to the farmlands in the southwest part of the Kingdom. Though they were farther away, that did not mean they were safe, and she would do what she could even if she only saved one more.

"You better get ready to leave, that boy is waiting for you outside and he is attracting the wrong kind of eyes." Niles said to Polaris as she finished writing up her proposal to the families she was going to go visit.

Polaris grabbed her satchel shoving everything into it before she turned to give Niles a cheeky grin. "Is someone jealous they aren't accompanying me on my adventure?" She winked leaving Niles with his mouth wide open and sauntered out the door. She loved teasing Niles, over the years they seemed to get closer. The better the Rebels did, the more he seemed to open up. 13 years ago she would have never been able to joke about anything with him.

"Xavier, have you been waiting long?" Polaris asked the boy in front of her. He was 15 now, and had taken it upon himself to be her personal knight in shinning armor. She had heard from Mother Agnes that him and several of the other children worried about her and wanted their "Big Sis" to be safe.

"Of course I have, what did you break a hip or something ya old lady." Xavier huffed, truth be told he had just got there a couple minutes earlier, but he wanted to tease the girl he had thought of as his big sister basically since he was a baby.

Polaris just rolled her eyes and started walking, once they reached the stables on the edge of town they would rent a horse to make their trip take less time. Walking it would have taken several days but by horse they can ride through the day, rest tonight and then finish the trip by afternoon the next day. If they came upon any residences on their travel they would stop and talk, they needed to be careful though as they did not know who was sympathetic to their cause.

After hours of riding they stopped to water the horses and allow them to graze. They could tell by the suns position that they had maybe 2-3 hours of daylight left so they should start looking for a place to camp for the night.

Polaris was about to mention this to Xavier when she heard a sound coming from the nearby bushes. Shrugging it off as an animal she called out,"Xavier, let us continue and find a place for the night." She had a bad feeling, and wanted to get back on the move as quickly as she could.

Finishing their water they got back on their horses and continued on their journey unaware of the eyes that watched their every move.

As they continued on their journey the sun got lower and lower in the sky yet Polaris still did not give the word to stop for the day. Xavier had seen many places they could set up camp, but Polaris just shook her head and continued pushing forward, occasionally looking over her shoulder behind them. He kept asking himself, "Is she seeing something that I am not?"

Going until they had very little daylight Polaris finally gave the word for them to stop. As they had been going she had noticed they were being followed. She had only seen 3 men, but they all had weapons and knew to stay in the shadows. To them Xavier and her probably seemed like easy targets, him a young man and a her a woman, but she grew up in the slums and they had no idea what they were walking into.

"Xavier, I need you to listen closely because I do not have a lot of time to explain. There is 3 men who has been following us since we stopped to water the horses. They are all armed," as she spoke she stopped him from pulling his weapon yet, "I need you to talk loudly and say that you are going to go gather firewood leaving me alone. They will think I am an easy target and will split up. Watch for them to attack and then use your weapon. I will be fine, focus on your task."

Xavier was bewildered the woman in front of him was Polaris but he had never seen her act the way that she is now. He could only nod, he knew that he couldn't afford to refute her plan or he would cause it to fail before it even begins. He just needed to hurry up so he could help her.

"I will go gather firewood while you prepare the sleeping area." He announced a little too loud, but the men only heard what they wanted to hear. Having them split up seemed like the perfect opportunity to attack. They would sell the boy to a slave trader and take the woman to the castle, the king paid a pretty shilling for women.

Xavier had only left for a minute when a man walked out and towards Polaris, "I wouldn't bother screamin, my friends are taking care of the boy so it is just you and me sweet cheeks." The man was obviously a bandit, and judging by her poor clothes and weapons he wasn't very good at it.

"If you leave now I will let you live." Polaris was calm, dealing with guys like him has been second nature to her since she was 5 years old. The slums were tougher than the man in front of her. "If you still plan to attack then hurry up, I have a busy day tomorrow and I need to get some rest."

The man was shocked that this woman was speaking the way she was, and staying calm too! He kept walking close to her until he could see her features, frowning when he noticed the scar that ran the length of the left side of her face. The king wouldn't want a woman with a scar.

"It's a shame you have that ugly scar on your face, the king would have paid us quite a bit to bring in fresh meat. Oh well, we can always have fun with you instead, other than the scar you aren't half bad." The man sneered and started to reach his hand towards Polaris.

In the blink of an eye Polaris produced a hidden blade an severed his hand at the wrist. "I told you if you had left I would have let you live, but you had to go and try to touch me with your dirty hands." She quickly sunk the knife into his throat pulling it out and wiping the blood off the knife onto his clothes before pushing and letting his body fall back.

Xavier had been gone too long for her liking. Walking into the forest where she had last seen him she stumbled across a scene that made her blood boil. Xavier was on the ground, she could not see him fully as it was dark but he was face down on the ground. There was a body lying beside him and a man standing over him.

Sneaking up behind the man she put the knife to his throat she whispered, "I do not know how many women you have sold to the king, but it you wont be doing it anymore." She once again sunk a knife into a mans throat, yet she felt nothing doing so. There men had probably led to many women going missing and then later murdered by the king when they "failed" to produce an heir. These men were sick and deserved what they got.

Polaris knelt by Xavier and was relieved to feel a pulse. They had got him pretty good on the head. She could only guess that while he was fighting one, the second man came up behind him with a surprise attack.

Sighing she knew it was going to be a long night. She was not going to be getting any sleep. First things first, she needed to get Xavier to the camp site, gather the firewood, clean his wound, and then she still needed to dispose of the bodies. She couldn't leave them near camp as wild animals would be attracted to the blood. Then she would need to stay up and stand watch.

Bandits always travel in groups, for all she knew those were just scouts.