ROYALTY

Chapter 29

The morning dragged on, I had barely gotten enough sleep late night and had not touched anything to eat this morning, so that explained the closing eyes and my complaining stomach. I was not complaining no. Actually, I was grateful that I could experience the great outside on horseback and not in a carriage. I just could not warp my head around the number of guards that were following us.

"We are just going into town, not at war with the next kingdom, why so many guards? At least five would be enough." I said as I yawned, she turned to look at me, beautiful and well rested. She was one person I knew that never bothered to style her hair. She always left it down, falling in waves around her waist. "My brother can be overprotective, besides you were coming along, so he had to make sure the both of us got really good protection, I think that is cute, considering the fact that half the guards are here for you."

My sleepiness left my eyes immediately. "Me? But why? You are his sister, the princess, you need more protection, your life is more important than mine. Not that I would ever say so but you get my point." She simply laughed and pushed her horse forward. I did not get enough time to dwell on those thoughts because immediately I caught sight of the little village that was right before us, my heart leaped out of my chest as tears threatened to pour out of my eyes. I could still smell the burning ash, I moved closer to her and whispered. "What happened?" She got of her house and held her hand open for me, I took it as I climbed down.

Side by side we walked, in silence. The guards keeping a far distance from us. Slowly by slowly the village people came out of their homes, they were all covered in soot. The women carried crying babies while the men carried farm tools. A whaling child caught my attention. She was covered from head to toe in dust and black soot, the only thing visible were her pink nose and white teeth. She barely had any clothes on, the poor dear must have felt cold, the weather was harsh. I bent down and picked her up, cuddling her in my arms, warming her with the little warmth I had with me.

I could not help but cry with her. I looked to the princess. "Who did this?" She simply asked me to follow her, and I did. The crowd slowly followed behind, they seemed more afraid of the guards than the princess. We walked a far distance till some strange smell filled the air. When we turned the corner, I almost dropped the child in my arms. She looked up at me then looked towards the direction of what I was staring at and began crying again. The villagers did to. The guards trying to shut them up. Even the princess had tears in her eyes, but she did not show it.

"A rebellion has been rising up, and it is not coming from the villages but from inside the castle walls. They are trying to claim the throne, even though they had no right to, even though they have no blood line connecting them to the crown. They want the throne for themselves." She walked to one of the little girls that sat on the cold ground, holding an infant child, looking straight ahead. In her eyes, in her heart, the little girl wished, she begged, she hoped, but she knew it would never happen. Maddie picked her up and wiped her already dry face. The girl took comfort in the little embrace but did not cry.

She knew her had to be strong if not for herself, then for the tiny infant in her hands, gently the princess turned her towards a woman and the woman led the girl into a warm building. "It first started with the farmers crops dying, thugs destroying all that was left and some theft here and there, then it moved to farms being set ablaze animals being slaughtered this happened, last night," she pointed towards its direction, the child in my arms forgotten. "during the ball." She finished, I looked at them again and down at the whaling child who had broken out of my grip and moved to a woman's pale dead body on the ground. She was rapped. And her head had been twisted to the other side, I grabbed the child from the lifeless body and placed her in an unsuspecting man's grip.

"But, but how? Surely someone must have seen or heard something?" I said unable to remove my eyes from the heap of dead bodies that were pilled together. They were once people and now they were nothing, just memories. I had not realised I was shaking until she placed a hand on my body. "It happened unsuspectingly, one moment the night was quiet the next a pricing scream broke out and everyone was confronted to this horrible site, then before they knew what was happening half the village was set on fire, and they had to put it out, I received news of this happenings last night. I did not want to bother my brother, as this is my responsibility, so I asked you to come along."

I watched as more bodies were added to the heap, a young child of about five had been brutally burned, he survived but his mother and father had not, not all had been killed or defiled. Some had died from the fire. "No one saw or heard anything, whoever did this is not going to stop until he is heard and, in the process, more deaths are going to be seen. Come."

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