The Thief

Chapter 50

Isaac...

Something about the name he gave me rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like I should know it. It was like an itch to my mind.

For all I know however, that could not actually be his birth name. It could just be a temporarily given name. It saddened me that he could not remember his own name.

I waited for the coast to be completely clear before I started moving again. Isaac had completely lost consciousness now however his hold on me did not loosen.

I could not help but be curious as to who this boy was.

Why was he taken from the prison?

Why is he important?

Who are you really Isaac?...

I was forced to push aside these many questions upon my arrival at what was left of the West Gate.

It was almost completely destroyed. The wall around it had collapsed, the wall where I had been standing just earlier was completely demolished. Rubble and debris replaced what once was.

What got me the most were the dead bodies that littered the area. All the bodies were soldiers most being that of my own kingdom. Their one shinny armour was now stained with blood or dented. Their frightened lifeless eyes lay wide open. A few detached limbs and organs could be seen as well. A sickening sight.

My hear dropped to my stomach as I noticed that there were many dead soldiers crushed by the rubble from the wall.

Vorn..

Ivor...

Please be alive...

I started panicking. I rushed towards the rubble without thinking and analysed each and every soldier, moving them to see their faces if need be.

That's when I saw it, a hand sticking out of the rubble. Before I knew it, I rushed over and tried to pull the body out to no success. I needed to dig.

Isaac had an iron grip and I could not get him to let go of me. I did not let that stop me and grabbed a nearby rag that was tucked into the rubble which I soon identified as a piece of my kingdoms flag.

Fortunately the rag was long enough and I used it to tie Isaacs legs together so that both my hands would be free to start digging. Eventually after a minute or so I managed to pull the buried body free after great difficulty of pushing a large piece of the stone wall away.

It was Vorn.

I beyond relieved when I felt his pulse. He was still alive. I don't know how but he was. He breathing was very faint however and he had many wounds.

"Vorn! Vorn can you hear me?!" I tried shaking him awake.

He let out a groan and slowly opened his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Ahh... What happened?" He asked trying to sit up and clutching his head, I helped him as best I could.

"They broke through..."

"Shit."

"Vorn where is Ivor?" I worryingly asked.

Vorn slowly took in his surroundings, processing the scene before him.

"He was... Right next to me." Upon this statement he started searching around frantically.

I would have noticed earlier if there was another person trapped under the rubble with Vorn but it was only him there.

"Shit... The enemy must have him."

"What?!" It was a rhetorical question.

"Help me up, we need to get to the castle immediately."

I gave Vorn a hand up. He was a little unsteady on his feet at first but soon recovered. He seemed unbothered by his wounds.

That's when he took notice of the figure on my back. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Who-"

"I do not know but he is important for some reason. Your brother Richard retrieved him from the prison after the explosion and tied him up hidden away." I cut him off.

"Richard?"

"Yes... He has been pretending to be Josiah..."

"What?!"

I looked down. I could not bring myself to meet Vorn's eyes as I told him the next part.

"Josiah was... killed moments after he left to clean up after we had assembled for her Majesties orders..."

There was silence.

It was deafening.

I glanced back at Vorn. His features were stoic yet a pained emotion danced in his eyes.

"Fuck... Josiah you fool..." He finally broke the silence. His voice cracked halfway.

"Vor-" I was about to comfort him when he cut me off.

"We need to move. This is no time for grieving." He tried to stay strong.

Before I could stop him he had marched off. I caught up to him. I could see the anger, loss and pain in his eyes no matter how strong he tried to act, but he was right, this was not the time fir grieving. The kingdom was at war.

I heard a groan from behind me and I was suddenly pulled back to reality.

"Vorn wait! I need to get this boy to safety." I said stopping in my tracks and glancing back at the destroyed gate.

"Leave him in one of the buildings nearby. Hide him. I'm sure he will not be waking up anytime soon. I'm actually surprised he is still alive at this point. We can come back and retrieve him later." Vorn stopped and turned to face me.

"He won't let go of me, I have tried." I stated.

Vorn walked up to me and tried to gently loosen Isaacs grip.

"N.. Nn...No... Don.. Don't... Lea.. Leave.. Me." Isaac was still unconscious and clutched onto me tighter if possible in panic when Vorn tried to coax him to let go. This had obviously triggered a nightmare of some kind leading him to sleep talk as his subconscious took control.

"He won't budge." Vorn stated the obvious.

Before further thought could be put in on the matter, quite a number of armoured horses bolted into the clearing and surrounded us.

One of the men took his helmet off.

"Skyler, Vorn?" The man asked bewildered yet I could hear relief in his tone.

"Jessie." I was surprised.

"What is going on?" Vorn asked.

"Prince Edward is successfully pushing through. Our army has reclaimed most of the Western sector of the capital. I have been ordered to secure the perimeter back here. The Kingdom of the West is cunning, this is only a tiny piece of their army which is strange, fortunately however we were able to infiltrate General Zhan's camp on the way here. Many of his men still lie loyal to the kingdom so our numbers have increased." Jessie filled us in.

"I see. Listen Jessie, have you seen Ivor?" Vorn immediately asked.

"No." was the instant reply.

"Dammit!" Vorn pinched the bridge is his nose "We need to get to the castle immediately."