A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 32: Believe Me

My feet begin to stomp forward without my permission. He spots me instantly. Sensing something in my stride and demeanour, he grabs a sword from a fallen soldier and holds it at the ready.

I stop a few feet away from him.

The words come tumbling out... "I thought you were on my side! I trusted you! How could you do this to me?!"

"I am on your side... I've always been on your side."

"This isn't how it was supposed to end. We had a plan! Why would you do this?! What point were you trying to make?!"

His voice is commanding, despite his shaking hands. "Revenge is a tricky thing, Candra. You should know that better than anyone."

"I never should have brought you along. I should have known that you would let your own selfish desire for revenge get in the way."

"Don't say that-"

"It's my fault, I suppose... I should have forced you out. I don't know why I gave you this chance..."

"You're jumping to conclusions."

"Tell me you didn't do it."

"I'm surprised you would even ask me that."

"That's not an answer."

"We're all just monsters hunting other monsters. I am no exception, and neither are you. It's hard to decide who is meant to win."

"I refuse to accept that."

"I tried to warn you, Candra. As much as we both wanted this, you knew that there would be a heavy price to pay."

"I was prepared for losses, but not like this..."

He frowns at me with tired eyes, "You really think I did it, don't you?"

"You were supposed to let me go. You promised me that you wouldn't hold on! I thought we moved past this?!" I'm enraged by how unaffected he seems to be.

"After a lifetime of revenge and justice, blurring the lines to kill when you think it's right, you don't get over it... you get used to it."

"That's what I was afraid of."

He clutches the crown tighter in his left hand as he raises the sword a little higher in his shaking right hand.

I raise my own sword in preparation for the upcoming slaughter. "Tell me you didn't do it..." I repeat venomously.

"Do what you have to, Candra. We both knew this day was coming."

"I'll kill you..."

He sighs, "Shall we begin?"

~*~*~*~

Was it my brother? Is he the one who is bound to betray me?

I startle myself awake once more. I look up to the night sky and begin to count the stars to calm my nerves as I regulate my breathing.

I seemed to regret bringing this person into the battlefield. It couldn't be a coincidence that I was forming this new development in the nightmare right after Arlo and I discussed how to bring Marcus into our team.

Or could it?

"He's a Galacian assassin, after all."

I tilt my head to the side to find my father sitting close by, staring at me with curiosity.

Just beyond his form lay dozens of sleeping gladiators, tired from the long day of walking across the Romallian terrain. We had successfully recruited twenty-three fighters in Antigo, and we were well on our way to Octain Port. I didn't want to wake up the men, nor did I want to alert my friends or those on duty to my spout of insanity.