A Dance Of Blades and Hearts

bandits?

"who sent you? " I asked calmly, despite the anger I felt

I saw his eyes widen before he quickly schooled his expression, he gave a short laugh

"your highness, we're rebels, nobody needs to send us "  I snickered, taking a step forward, I saw an arrow rise from the men that had us surrounded but ignored it

"rebels wouldn't be this stupid, I'm sure you know that attacking me out of the palace won't do you any good " I  said with a bored tone and he faltered for a second

"I wouldn't believe you would be stupid enough to ambush an emperor in the middle of nowhere" I continued and he snickered

"your lordship I could easily put an arrow through your chest right now " he said annoyance in his tone, but there was a hint of fear I knew all too well,

I smirked.

"oh please you're welcome to try " I said walking right up to him, his eyes widened and he took a step back

" just watch your rebel village go down for it, contrary to popular belief I do have mercy, but you see my ministers, my uncle?" I said grinning before replacing it with a hard look and glaring at him

" they would burn it to the ground "

He took several steps back, the amusement gone from his face, replaced by surprise

It was a longshot but I had figured out the only rebels that could pull something like this are the ones left stationed on the outskirts of Peria, even if they were told where we were headed somehow, they would have had to have been tailing us since we left to have found us by now, 

After I found out about their existence outside the city borders months ago, uncle and I had decided to let them be since they were a village and had women and children, they were no real threat.

****************

I watched the interaction between the emperor and the rebel silently, the emperor was ignoring all the arrows that could easily take him out and walking towards the man,  my eyes were blown wide,

he was being so reckless,

clen moved but was stopped by general song who shook his head at him, glancing at the emperor. Vaguely I wondered if we were all really going to die like this.

*************

"how.. How do you know about the village? ",he stuttered, eyes wide. I could see the fear in his eyes, I stared hard at him, he was clearly waiting for a reply that he wasn't going to get. 

"then why didn't you wipe us out? " he said, the fear in his eyes mixed with confusion, my gaze softened

"I'm not a killer " I said staring at him intently.

He visibly gulped, looking around at the men who still had arrows pointed at our heads. The fear and agitation was visible on his face, it was obvious he wasn't expecting me to know who they were, and whoever sent him didn't bargain on me finding out a weakness

I did all this on reflex, we were surrounded by arrow wielding men who weren't even within range, and all we had were swords, it wasn't a fair fight in the least. I had to do something.

"who sent you " I asked again, voice low,  it was possible that the rebels could have followed us right from Peria, but we were all in disguise, I was dressed commonly

officially I never left the palace, nobody was supposed to know, someone obviously found out and alerted the rebels.

I stared at him, gaze hard, I saw him visibly gulp and his hands started to shake, realization of the situation settling in his mind.

"tell me who sent you and I will make sure your village is protected " I said in a softer voice. 

His eyes widened and he dropped to his knees and stuttered out

" your highness forgive me, I.. I.. We're not working on our own.. Your highness please have mercy on the village, they're innocent please " he said eyes red and desperate,

"we were sent, we were sent by-"

he gasped out as an arrow landed arrow deep in his throat and his eyes went wide, blood oozing out of the place that had been pierced

My eyes widened and I turned around to see the men that came with him retreating, the arrow having been shot by one of them, I stood in shock as the man fell on the ground, body shaking and

eyes slowly loosing life, I heard song curse and take off after the group

"song no! " I called but he didn't listen, the mans struggling stopped, body going limp. 

I ran a tired hand down my face, trying not to look at the body infront of me vaguely I thought about how hard he was trying to protect his village and how one of his own had killed him, probably on orders by whoever sent them. Song had come back, out of breath and shaking his head, eyes falling on the dead body.

************

I stood rooted on the spot, everything had happened so fast, the emperor somehow miraculously talking the man out of it, and the man getting shot dead by people who were obviously meant to be on his side,

a cold shudder went through me as I saw the man go limp on the ground, bile rising in my throat, my gaze moved to the emperor who had one hand in his hair and the other on his face

you are to end the perian emperor

I looked back at the dead body on the ground and my blood ran cold,

training to kill a man and actually doing it were two different things, I had never been on the field, and if I was and had to kill a man it would have been as self defense but the emperor, he didn't even know I was a threat.

The emperor and general song were standing infront of us now, and clen was saying something, but my eyes were rooted to the body on the floor.

" all this happened so fast" clen breathed,

"I can't believe we're not dead " he said more to himself, " before his gaze fell on the dead man and he looked away.

I looked up from the body and found the emperors eyes on me, he was watching me intently and looked like he wanted to say something

"we should head out" general song said sighing

the emperor was still watching me, eyes lingering for a second,

but then he got on his horse and we all did the same.

************

"song something is very wrong " I said to my best friend, once I knew the elites were out of earshot, he looked at me, eyebrows furrowed

"you really think they were sent" he asked and I nodded, 

"I only told uncle about this and he would never, nobody else except from us knows, there's no way they would have known I was out of the palace if they weren't informed " my voice was surprisingly calm, even though a storm was brewing in my mind.

Song sighed " we'll figure this out orlan, quick thinking back there, you saved us, I don't even think you need elites " he said smiling wryly, cracking a joke to ease the tension and I smiled at the effort even though It didn't reach my eyes,

my mind was everywhere trying to piece out what the hell was going on

I shook my head to clear them and looked up, eyes finding kiara, she had looked really shaken up after the whole thing, she still didn't look okay, eyes staring blankly ahead.

"orlan " I heard song call and looked towards him, we had stopped a few steps of a large looming gate that had an eagles image engraved in it, and guards stationed by the gates that held the southern cities

"we're here " he whispered.