Kingdom Dawning

Chapter Twenty One

"Talk to me about what?" I raised my eyebrow slightly from curiosity.

"It's about your attack on the king, I just-it's just-....I don't want you to-" Leillan was struggling to find the right words, a faint red vein appeared on her forehead as she took a deep breath. "Please don't go" Leillan whispered as she brought my hands closer to her heart.

"What do you mean? I need to go," This reminded me of the time Leillan begged me not to go to Vinick. "I have a whole kingdom I need to protect and they killed my mother Leillan...I can't just let them get away with that."

"What if you get hurt? When I first asked you to join this rebellion I thought you'd never get involved, you would just stand beside me as change happened. Now you are in the middle of that change," her voice slowly turned more and more terrified, her fingers tightened around mine. "It is not too late! You don't have to go please stay! People need you, I need you," I had never seen Leillan this scared before. She was pure white as if she was looking into the future and what she saw scared the color out of her skin. A small part of me wanted to accept her offer without a second thought. Follow Leillan blindly like I always had. I studied her face, taking in every freckle and line before looking down at my arms. The rose thorns that still had yet to leave my arms, their thick vines seemed to pulse and feel like a part of me. I had seen others with marks like this, Harmony had flowers line over his body, Arksel had thick black lines run over him, Zydan carried flowing shadow marks, even Aleta bore sparks that flew over her skin.

"You're everything I hate" Delaney's voice echoed in my head once again. I slipped my fingers out of Leillan's. "It is too late Leillan, I can't hide anymore...they need to pay for what they did," my tone came out icier than I intended. Leillan grabbed my shoulders and shook her as if to snap me out of a dream.

"This is bigger than just you Cyra, you're going to get hurt. Think of your brothers! They can't handle another loss, If you got hurt i'd-i'd" she groaned and shook her head, taking a few steps away then scuffled back to the bench.

"You're right this is bigger than me, this is bigger than anyone." I walked over to her and rested on my knees in front of her. Taking her face in my hands so she'd look at me. I needed her to understand. "If I do nothing my brothers will keep losing people, everyone will keep losing people. I can't stop when I am so close to the end."

"It won't end with the Vinick Cyra, There will never be an end....Please I'm begging one last time....stay,"

"You can't stop moving! If you stop people will suffer"

I stood up and turned away from her. "I'm sorry Leillan but I can't give up. I need to go," I heard Leillan stand up and soon I felt her delicate arms wrap around my waist.

"I don't think you'll ever know how much you mean to me," She whispered into my ear. We have been best friends for years, I believe I had some idea on how much her friendship meant to her. We stood in that spot perfectly content with her arms wrapped tightly around me until the bright orange hues of the sunset appeared.

"It's time Leillan," I whispered and she loosened her grip. She didn't speak a word to me, not even a goodbye. It was a bitter way to go but I needed to leave. I hurried back to my bedroom so I could get changed into the maid outfit, but then I needed a way to hide my half colored shamrock green eye and the vines that wrapped around my arms. I threw on a simple cardigan to help hide the rose vines and thankfully a maid came in with a white-clothed eye patch. Maybe I would be able to lie my way through this mission, I just had to stay on the low until tomorrow night, I could achieve that right? Traveling to Vinick happened so fast I barely had a chance to process it happened. One moment I was being hurried into a cold metal transport and the next the doors were opening to reveal the dark and gloomy world of Vinick. I felt my body heat up with pure hatred, I will make them pay.

It began to tenderly rain so I ran into the castle. Soldiers lined the halls, all their attention turned on me, I awkwardly greeted them. A figure pushed past people to get over to me. Her blood-red hair high in the air.

"Where have you been?" Aleta said in a sharp voice, she looked me over once and snickered. "You look like shit, what happ- actually there is not time Arksel need to speak with you" Before I could get a word in Aleta forcefully grabbed the collar of my shirt and dragged me through the halls, I had no idea where we were going until we went down an oddly familiar hallway, we were going to the library, but that was impossible it was blown up.  I remember my body being hurled through the air like it was yesterday. If I learned anything in my short time here it was that nothing is impossible. She swung open the doors and yanked me into the room. To my surprise, the library was the exact same way as it was before the explosion. High dark walls, gothic stained glass windows, stacks of books that seemed endless, and a large fireplace with Arksel in front of it.

"Look what I picked up," Aleta hooted before laying down on the large black stained desk nearby, sitting close the desk was Zydan reading a large stack of what looked to be maps. Arksel didn't even need to look back to know Aleta was talking about me.

"I was beginning to think you'd never come back Fawn, is your job here so pointless to you that you decided to neglect it?" Though he asked a question his emotionless voice told me not to answer. It took every bone in my body not to lunge at him right now and push him into the fire. I was outnumbered and outpowered. Just one touch from him will take my life away.

"I-I was scared, I thought if I came back I would be thrown into some other dangerous situation and maybe that time I would not make it out...I had never been in an explosion before, I had no idea how to process what happened," I laced my fingers behind my back in an attempt to look innocent. Arksel finally turned to look at me, his eyes examined me. Maybe Aleta was right and I did look rough.

"What happened to your eye Fawn?" He asked firmly, leaving no room to escape the question.

"After the explosion, there was a small pain in my eye that I brushed off as nothing but soon grew worse when I went home and now even the faintest light hurts it," I guess my ability to lie had gotten a lot better than I realized

"I will get you a healer," Arksel insisted

"No, I like to bear my wounds as proof that I went through an event, people believe me to be weak so I want to prove them wrong," Arksel looked me over like I was an idiot yet didn't push the topic any further.

"As you wish Fawn, there are matters I need to discuss with you. You will have to work through the night preparing my luggage," He walked over to the desk where Aleta and Zydan sat.

"May I ask why?" This was bad, if he was to leave I would lose a lot of advantage, perhaps I could come with him and attack him on the road.

"I thought I informed Aleta to catch you up on everything," he glared at her and Zydan snickered before she punched him in the arm. "Anyhow, I am going to launch my attack on Majiey in the morning. They will never see it coming so their defenses will be down-" Arksel continued to talk but everything blacked out. I couldn't hear a word he uttered, my vision became fuzzy, I bit the inside of my cheek so hard that it could taste copper as blood lined my mouth.

I had to kill Arksel tonight, I may not live to see tomorrow but I will not die without bringing him down with me 

{hey guys  I hope you enjoy this chapter! What do you believe will happen if Cyra kills Arksel?}