The Masked General

Quatervois

Once again, Avira woke up looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. This was happening way too often. Only this time she was not lying on a nice soft bed, she recognized this place, the palace dungeons. It smelled damp, like a musty version of the morning dew. She brushed the dirty stone floor beneath her. It was cold and hard, but somehow a tiny flower grew in between the cracks of the stone. It was withering. Avira sighed and rubbed the back of her head, looking around frantically as she recalled what had happened the night before.

"Samuel! Doctor! Ivelle!" Her voice bounced against the walls, but there was no answer, "Is anyone there?"

"No one is coming for us," A voice came from the dark end of the cell, they approached Avira

Avira squinted, "Eleanor? What are you doing here?"

Eleanor didn't get the chance to reply. She hesitated as a man approached the cell. The lady- in-waiting shrank back into the corner.

"How rude, you didn't bother to call my name. Did you forget about me?" Marc walked up to the cell's door, a smirk formed on his lips. "I thought I was your favorite."

"Marc, I--" Ivelle crawled to the door, "What are you doing?"

"Ha what do you mean? It's pretty obvious, I'm getting rid of those in my way. Avira, you were the general, a princess. Yet you have managed to get yourself kidnapped, not once, but twice. In just one week! What a record," he mused.

"Why you--" Avira began, but was interrupted by Marc's laughter. His laughs grated against her ears as they echoed against the walls.

Marc grabbed the bars of the cell's door, making his face level with his sister's, "You're careless, young, and weak. You should have taken your job more seriously. Seriously though, you didn't see this coming? And you even tried calling for Doctor Jayr, when he's the one that knocked you out. Oh, such a sad sight you are."

"Her Highness--" Eleanor hesitated, her voice shaking, " Her Highness is not weak, she's one of the best general's Harwen has had." Her voice grew stronger as she continued to speak, but faltered again as Marc shot her a stern look.

"Why are you doing this? Where is Samuel, and Ivelle?" Avira's grasped onto the cell's metal bars, pulling herself up. She refused to show anymore weakness than she already had.

"Haha why am I doing this?" Marc stood up straight, "It's the reason why a king would do anything, the wellbeing of his country." Marc put a hand on his heart.

Avira snorted, "Yeah right."

"It's true! With me, as their leader, I will bring Harwen more power and wealth than Father or Samuel could ever. They were weak, just like you," Marc smirked as he looked at the angered look on his sister's face.

"It won't work for you, besides the soldiers, they are loyal to me." Avira stood up confidently, she knew once people realized she was missing... again, they would look for her. Marc was right though, she had been careless.

"Oh, but they have more respect for me. Besides, they think you're a traitor, and soon they'll know you're dead," Marc replied. "Honestly, this hasn't been going according to plan, I was going to keep my plans a secret. From you at least, but Doctor Jayr messed up and acted too early. Instead of me going through all the work of gaining loyalty of all the knights, I was going to work on fully gaining your trust. It would have been easier to use you. Now I must, unfortunately, resort to getting rid of you as well."

Avira gritted her teeth, "What did you do, Marc?" She waited, but he did not answer right away, "Answer me, Marc!"

"Why should I? If you choose the latter option, you'll find out. But I'll give you a hint, I didn't do anything. You didn't come back to the kitchen on time." He chuckled slightly. She was pathetic.