"He's not coming with us?!" Adelaide had stated with slight panic back to Simon, who tenderly held an infant in one hand and a pickaxe in the other, urging her forward and through the window. A part of her wanted to push back, go stand by his side and help him.
"No, he's counting on me to get you all to safety." He replied, voice laden with just a hint of guilt. He ushered them through further once they were standing in a safer place deeper inside the ship, he placed the infant back into the arms of its mother.
"Now I've got to go back and help him." He threw his helmet to the ground, unable to bear it upon his head any longer. "If you follow me, so help me Adelaide I'll kill you myself."
He warned, but next, in a swift, unexpected motion, his arm was wrapped around her back and he pulled me into another hug.
"How I've missed you." He mumbled into her hair.
"Me too." She replied into his shoulder quietly.
"Get them into th the pantry and barricade the door. Nobody will think to search there." He urged, and with a weary half smile, he steps back and is soon heading up the stairs to the upper deck.
"You heard the Horse Lord." Adelaide urged.
"To the pantry!"
Once all the others are inside she shut the door behind them.
"Adelaide!" She heard a voice call from behind the door, followed by the striking of fists.
"I'm fine." She confirmed.
"Lock the door and barricade it. My men with fight to the last breath before they let anyone down here."
The ship lurches at another powerful cannon blast. The other ships were in firing range, she realized with dread.
"What about you?!?" Calisto called frantically.
Adelaide sighed, unsure of what to say. Rulers are always supposed to know what to say.
Xander would know what to say.
She internally sighed.
I guess I could always go with the truth.
"I'm not going to lie... The odds are not in our favor."
The queen took a deep breath.
"Look.." She placed her hand upon the heavy wooden door frame.
"Staying back and hiding is when I lost the people I cared the most about the first time. I'm not going to let that happen again. Not if I can help it. If this is the end, I need to be there... with them." She paused, gathering courage.
"I'm done standing on the sidelines. Giving orders from afar. If we're going down, I'm going down beside them."
She crept up the steps of the deck.
A frying pan she had found lying around in the kitchen in hand, Adelaide had to muster whatever stealth she possessed in her small, 5'4 frame.
With no battle training whatsoever, she had to take whatever foe she found by surprise. She crept unseen up the stairs to the upper deck, pushing the door open just slightly she was relieved to find that the entrance to the down below had been blocked behind a stack of barrels. Squeezing her body through the doorway she hid behind the barricade and did her best to assess the situation, nervously squeezing the wooden pan handle in her hand, feeling her fingertips starting to tingle from the lack of circulation. She stepped onto a nearby crate, gaining a height advantage while still remaining unseen, her body pressed against the barrels and her back up against the door.
She tried not to focus on the sounds of clanking metal and the groans of dying men. Hearing familiar voices, she spotted Simon and Iolas, weapons drawn, back to back, taking on the Vikings that encircled them in a complete half moon formation. They were now aboard this ship and her heart lept, Simon had made good on his promise, had found the Prince and now seemed so valiantly trying to protect him as they fought against the oncoming horde.
Iolas taunted them, lashing out with his sword, a crazy warrior spirit in his eyes, wicked come and get me grin plastered across that beautifully arrogant face. Simon on the other hand bore a look that showed on the surface, pure determination, sweat on his brow he vigilantly held an ax in hand, sword seemingly lost in battle. She closed her eyes when the axe hit its target, unable to watch him kill, and not wanting that memory of her gentle courtier.
Her opportunity to be helpful had come, as a barbarian charged right alongside her stack of barrels. Seizing the moment, she thrust the pan through the gap and swung hard, hitting him in the head with a resonating thunk, and as a reward, he dropped cold to the floor.
This is good. She told herself.
This is helpful.
Adelaide knew that if she wanted to help sge had to stay hidden while doing it. She couldn't risk jeopardizing her men by stupidly getting herself into another hostage situation, where her men would drop their weapons to save her but be killed anyway.
No, this was the best way.
She stole another glance towards the Stablemaster and the Fallen Prince, and her heart ached at the sight, they were exhausted, drenched in sweat and blood, bodies appearing drained of nearly all energy.
They wouldn't last much longer.
Iolas still bore that annoyingly smug look, and it almost made her smile, he really would be arrogant to the end.
A true prince could be perfectly content dying in battle, a true noble death, a good way to go.
The tall skinny barbarian who had tormented her crumpled to the floor at his feet.
"I warned you Groaa." Iolas spat, pulling his blade out of the man's torso.
"You shouldn't have laid hands on her!" He seethed before returning back to Simon's side.
The look on the face of Simon on the other hand.... beneath that steely determination, Adelaide could see it, even if nobody else on this ship could. He was ridden with guilt at each life he took; A warrior was not who he was. Taking lives went against everything that was Simon, and every swing of his axe only drove that blade of remorse further and further into his heart.
The barbarian she had struck began to stir so she whacked him again for good measure, reaching out, she pulled his sword out of his hand and lay it atop the barrel beside her.
A cannon ball struck a nearby mast with a deafening crash, and as it fell the bottom sail swung around and whacked both Simon and Iolas against the railing of the ship. The force of the blast and subsequent fall also caused her wall of protection to topple over, the barrels fell from in front of her and rolled away.
Her heart stopped beating in her chest, to frozen in fear for her her two protectors were now immobilized and likely injured to try and duck or run and hide.
She was quickly spotted, and soon felt a giant hand painfully grip her arm and drag her foward and toward a familiar, giant figure now at the front of the ship.
Axe in hand, clad in blood soaked armor, it was her husband.
"Adelaide... No!" She heard Iolas call out.
"Ahh darling wife. How nice of you to join us." He speaks though sarcasm, despite the chaos of the battle erupting around them.
"Surrender once more foolish girl."
He orders gruffly, stepping up to her.
"And I may just let you live."
He paused, for a moment and smirked.
"Well at least long enough for the wedding night." He jokes sadisticly, a burst of laughter erupting from the surrounding Vikings despite the battle that still continued vigorously around them.
"No." She stood her ground.
"Never again will I cower in front of another cruel barbarian. I'd rather die with my men!"
Though her words are courageous, her entire body trembled.
"Very well." Is all she heard before he back handed the queen hard, slapping her face with his inhumanly large hands.
Adelaide is thrown backwards onto the floor, landing right between Simon and Iolas.
"Adelaide!" Screams Simon.
"You filthy swine!" Growls the prince, voice filled with a murderous rage towards Lord Dregg.
She gasps for air as there is nothing left in her lungs after the impact against the hard wooden deck.
"Let her die with her men."
The ruler of the Scourge ordered.
Through a blurred haze the queen watched, still immobilized by the impact, as the giant barbarian king began to walk slowly toward them.
"Adelaide... I'm so sorry." Simon grasps her hand firmly, his words coming out in rush.
"I love you."
He says quickly, giving it a squeeze before closing his eyes to make peace with himself.
Immediately she turned to Iolas, whose gaze was already waiting for her.
The look in his eyes told her that he wanted to say the exact same thing.
"Adelaide... I....I"
He stuttered.
Eyes almost pleading with her. Her heart wrenched, and with only moments left to live, she realized just how fully and completely Iolas also loved her.
"It's ok..." She smiled sadly, taking his hand into her own as the barbarian took his last few steps, and his shadow cast over their bodies.
Winding her fingers through his and squeezing it as tightly as Simon did her other one.
"I know. Me too."
She admitted both outloud and too herself for the first time.
He raised his sword, above Simon first, and Adelaide realized she would be killed last, forced to watch them die. If it was the last thing she would do, she would deny them that satisfaction.
The queen closed her eyes for what she knew would be the final time.
___________________
A/N: Happy Mothers day everyone!
Here is my little gift to you whether you are a mother or not.
Update, I did not get my unemployment, but I did get my stimulus check so thanks for that I guess Papa Trump, now I can rest a little easier, at least for a while.
Have a great day!
-QueenOfGeeks
YOU ARE READING
A Thorn In The Ice
Historical Fiction"I fully expected you to say that I was the sort of Prince whose story would involve going into cahoots with the dragon, rather than slaying it." Iolas smiled, but their was a level of seriousness to his statement. "That is where you are wrong, de...
