King of the Darkest Stars (EXO Kai ff)

Chapter Thirty

There was a moment of anxious silence before the attack. It wasn't like a battle where you can see your opponent and hear their battle cry from across the yawning gap between the two armies.

I'm sure there was a tactic I wasn't aware of, but it felt like we were sitting and waiting to be slaughtered. I was in our tent with four guards. Two inside, two outside. Kai had safely tucked me away where he believed I wouldn't get hurt.

Everything was tense and our predators were not one to reveal themselves even a moment earlier than needed. When they did attack there were a few shouts but not the loud battle cry I expected when they finally raided. I could overhear shouts and grunts and cries of pain but it all felt distant.

If I looked hard enough I would be able to see shadows of soldiers fighting through the tent. I would be able to watch the ongoing raid and see if we were in the lead or not. I decided I didn't want to know.

Unfortunately they didn't really care.

A sword ripped through the canvas of the tent and was dragged down to allow soldiers to start piling in. My guards moved in front of me, but the tearing sound from behind clued me into the situation we were in. The two guards from outside were already battling people who were trying to get in from the main entrance.

One of my guards knocked out a man who fell at my feet. I reached down to grab his knife, but another soldier grabbed my hair, pulling it loose from its bun, and dragged me away from the body. He held up his knife and I cringed away from him but another soldier grabbed his arm.

"He wants this one alive." I used the momentary hesitation and move away and grab the knife off the nearest body. I stood up and held the knife out in front of me. A guard came near me and I slashed out in front of me. He grabbed my wrist and wrenched the knife from my hands. I practiced the move Nari taught me and brought my elbow to his and broke free of his grasp. He lunged forward but I already had my foot flying between his legs. He doubled over and I stood momentarily stunned.

Which of course led to two men grabbing me at once and leading to a position I didn't have a move to escape out from. They were both holding tightly to my upper arms, so I jumped and attempted to backflip. It was awkward and no one would have thought I looked anything like a warrior, but they let go and I ran through the front entrance of the tent. At least I wouldn't be cornered.

My two door guards were heavily engaged with the oncoming soldiers. Being out in the open meant a lot more guards could come for me at once. Nearly six this time and they had chains ready. I ran the opposite way but very quickly someone grabbed my hair and I was on the ground again. This time they managed to put chains around my already scarred and bruised wrists.

A second wave of soldiers came into the borders of the camp, this time led by Nari. A solider threw his cape over me and dragged me behind a tent. Two more men joined him.

"Nari!" I screamed out. One of them punched my stomach and I spluttered as I doubled over. They gagged me quickly after that.

"Orders are to bring the king and the queen to the castle before the end of the battle. Grab that." I looked over to see what that was, to see a barrel full of water. One of the men kicked it over and lifted it up to empty it. I pulled against the men but they were quick to lift me up and hold me in place. I spread my legs to stop from fitting in the barrel but the first soldier was quick to punch me again in a way that made my entire body clench together for safety. They were then able to put me in the barrel.

Gagged, tied, and stuffed in a barrel - suffice to say things did not go as I planned.

Someone picked up the barrel and started running. However, they were quickly attacked and I was violently dropped. My head smacked against the wood and my stomach spun with the barrel. I kicked upwards and used my already aching head to burst free from the top of the barrel.

Gagged, tied, and lying half in a barrel on the ground of a battle was not an ideal situation.

I elegantly inched my way out of the barrel and started rolling towards the edge of camp. One soldier tripped over me and my groan was stifled by my gag. I didn't know what side he was on, but he got up quickly and back towards the action. I managed to get free of the barrel and turned onto my back and propelled myself forward to a sitting position. A man stabbed a woman and her blood splatter across my face. I blinked and stared at her body next to me.

I quickly looked away.

They were warriors. They were ready for this. This was war. I moved my hands beneath me and bent my feet, struggling to a standing position. I started bouncing towards the woods only for a woman to grab my hair and put a knife to my throat.

"Let me go!" I struggled against her but she pressed the knife harder. Her arms loosened from around me and she dropped to the ground. I looked over to see Nari grinning and looking extremely amused with herself. She grabbed her knife from the struggling woman who coughed even more blood upon the removal of the knife. I looked away, unaccustomed to the graphic nature of war and death.

I'd never thought of life as fragile until recently.

I'd always been willing to risk my life to sneak out into the capital as a teen. I had upset people playing games with drunks. I had definitely cheated a few times, and laughed as they'd chased me through the streets like a game of tag between children. If they had caught me, I don't know what would have happened.

They never did.

I returned safely to the nest of my palace and they went on with their lives.

It was like my life had been a game of pretend up until now.

A large man grabbed my throat and I looked up at him with wide eyes and released a strangled, gasping sound. I looked over at Nari but she was surrounded. I clawed at the man's face but I felt my vision blurring.

It was easy to fall into the darkness.

...

When I woke up I was in a carriage.

I was blindfolded but with some shifting, it fell down to my chin. It caught slightly on my gag but I managed to shift it down to my neck. I was staring straight into the boots of a soldier. It all felt painstakingly familiar. Only this time I could feel hot breath on the back of my neck. I shifted to turn and winced as my weight crushed my wrists as I turned onto my other side.

Kai.

He had also lowered his blindfold. There was blood all over his clothes but I wasn't sure if it was his or someone else's. We'd lost too quickly. Our numbers had been too scattered for us to defend ourselves in the middle of the woodlands. Without a good means of communication each army had been isolated and easier to take out.

Kai's eyes held an apology, which I refused to adhere to - none of this was his fault. My father had taken the palace at its weakest. He had plotted and schemed to find the perfect way to destroy us, but some stupid, naïve part of me still didn't register this carriage was the closest thing I may ever get to a hearse. We were on our way to die, and some part of me still was clinging to the idea that we were going to take over the entire palace between the two of us.

If we could take off our gags I could ask what happened to the rest of the army. If we were pulled out and they left the rest of the warriors, or if it was a massacre and I should expect very few survivors. I hoped Nari was okay, but chose to push it from my mind. I couldn't dwell on possibilities that may or may not be true.

I did not want to fall apart on mere speculation.

Kai's eyes were just as intense as they always were. He really didn't have a middle ground, it was either the king's day off or being ruler of the fatalistic. Though if there was anything fatalistic it was now. The situation was dire and the prospects were less than ideal. It was just the kind of ground that was waiting for a game changer. I hope I could be part of that checkmate. The queen was a powerful player, but is detrimental when taken out.

I must be an asset, not a fatal flaw.

I was going to survive.

I was going to take back the kingdom.

I was going to save Kai and dethrone my father.

I was entirely uncertain of how.