She Loved Me Too

Chapter Two: Live

We were under attack.

I watched as soldiers flooded the city in an effort to defend. My feet hit the cobblestone pathway and I squirmed closer to the wall. I needed to get to the castle. I needed to get to Emmeline.

The royal family had an escape plan. I knew they had one; Emmeline had told me of the tunnels that ran under the castle. They had been made especially for cases like these. In case of a breach, the royal family was to use them and get out. But I knew Emmeline. And I knew that she would fight against it. She would fight against leaving without me. I needed to get to the castle.

Our kingdom was small. With only a little over three million citizens it had never needed to have a large army. It never started or partook in wars. It was neutral. It possessed the most esteemed universities and art schools in the world. People didn't come here to fight.

My eyes found the fire at the castle's turret, and I struggled to push away my thoughts. The castle was the most fortified structure in the kingdom and even it was burning.

Screams made me flinch and I saw a soldier clad in black armor break into a house close to mine and pull out a woman. Their sword found her neck and I looked away as blood came out. I had made myself look as small as I could, finding the closest wall to lean against, as soon as I got out. The violin case that was strapped to my back hit the wall behind me. My violin had been the only thing I had grabbed from my house other than shoes. The only thing I had taken with me.

More hostile soldiers joined them, and I fled closer to the castle, which sat closest to the sea.

I had taken this route a thousand and one times but this time it felt endless. Wherever I looked, people were fighting. The night sky was overtaken by dark smoke and the threatening gleam of fire. My boots were loud against the cobblestones as I ran towards the castle in a hurry, but I stopped short when it came into view. The castle gate... had been breached. I had known that it had been breached, but knowing something and seeing it were completely different things.

The wailing of a child from behind me snapped me out of my shock. Despite being terrified of the bodies of soldiers, that had been trained to fight, that lied before me, I started running. Even though I couldn't see any hostile individuals before me I chose against going inside from the front. Instead, I slid to the darkest corner of the front yard, past the well, and close to the small stable. It housed five horses. One for each current member of the royal family.

The pungent smell of blood twisted my gut and low heavy breathing made me peek inside. Blood was soaking every piece of wood and four horses had their necks cut wide open. Life had handed them over to death long ago. My eyes caught the fifth horse, which was breathing heavily, on the ground by the edge of the stable.

It was Yvan's horse, a beautiful dark brown mare with large patches of white all throughout her body. He had named her after King Jehan's firstborn daughter and first Queen of Rosa, Sabia. And she was currently bleeding out from the large gash that went down the left side of her body.

I wanted to jump in and help relieve her from the pain she was feeling. She definitely had no chance of surviving this. But a small voice in my head told me I didn't have the time to jump into the death-infused stable to end Sabia's misery. If they had killed the horses, it meant only one thing, they didn't plan on letting anyone leave the castle.

I looked away from the dying horse, trying not to think of all the times Yvan had lent Sabia to me when I went riding with Emmeline. Emmeline. My legs started moving closer to the side of the castle, my form blending into the darkness of the outer wall. I slipped through the building and the wall and ended up at the royal garden. I looked at the spot where Emmeline and I sat a few hours ago and swallowed down the emotions that bubbled up within me. Instead, I sprinted to the door that led to the kitchen, some sort of minor relief coursing through me as I found it unlocked. I stepped inside and bit my lower lip at the sight.