Granada

Chapter 20

"And if General Felix suggests a plan of attack, you ignore him."

"Rowena!" Rúben laughed.

"I'm serious. You promised to come back, and you won't do it if you do as he says."

"I will come back. You are the one who likes running away, remember?" he smirked.

"It just happened once" she replied, rolling her eyes. "Now you are stuck with me. Forever."

"My prince, it's time to leave."

"One moment!" Rúben said. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"Me? Never" Rowena chuckled. "But the same goes to you."

"I don't do stupid."

"I beg to differ" she teased him. "Now go, don't make them wait. And remember" she said, putting her hand on his chest just where his necklace rested. "I'm always with you."

"And I with you" he replied, doing the same and putting his hand over the shiny ruby that hung from her neck. "I love you, Rowena."

"I love you too."

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Rúben didn't know for how long he had been fighting. It felt like hours but also just minutes, every muscle in his body aching but also asking him for more. It looked like they were winning, enemies falling all around him. But what if somehow more came out of nowhere? What if they found themselves outnumbered? What if he couldn't keep his promise?

"No" he grunted, charging against the man that was running towards him. He was coming back to Rowena. And he was doing it alive.

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"And?"

"We lost them, my prince" General Felix said. "They crossed the river and it was impossible to follow them."

"They will come back, tho. We may have won this battle and killed some of their generals, but their prince still stands."

"And so do you" the general said, putting a hand on Rúben's shoulder and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

"My prince! My prince!"

"Jose? What are you doing here?" Rúben said.

"My prince!" the young boy repeated, trying to catch his breath. "It's... it's the camp."

"What?"

"They attacked the camp."

"Those bastards!" General Felix said.

"Tell me everything, Jose" Rúben urged him, feeling like his heart was about to break his chest in half if it kept beating that fast.

"It couldn't have been more than thirty men, my prince. They showed up out of nowhere and attacked us. The princess ordered everyone to hide in the woods and asked me to run as fast as I could to warn you."

"You did good, boy" General Felix told him.

"What about her? Did she also run to the woods?"

"She didn't, my prince. Lady Rowena and a few men picked some weapons and defended everyone while they ran away."

"I knew it. I just knew it!" Rúben said, looking for something to kick or hit. "She promised me to not do anything stupid!"

"She knew how to fight, my prince. I saw her kill two men before I left" Jose said.

"General, find me a horse and ten men who are fresh enough to fight" Rúben ordered, his voice sounding weird in his ears. "And give Jose water and some food. He deserves it."