A Throne Set Ablaze

Chapter 8: Rebirth

Lilith was still slumped on the ground, surrounded by Gabe's shield. All she heard was Silvia say, "Did you really think this would be that easy? For a king and the ruler of your nation, you are pretty stupid. You realize what thinking ahead is?"

Lilith couldn't make out what her father said because before she knew what was going on, she was disappearing. Everything around her went black, then she was back at the rebellion's camp. Gabe had sent her back with his magic.

She opened her eyes to see Irma. "Irma. What's going on? Why did they send me back here. They didn't mention this in the plan." Lilith was rambling on while Irma was trying to calm her down. "Relax. We got what we wanted and so did you. Just like we planned." Silvia. Lilith got up from the ground and turned to look at her. "So, no more castle.." Lilith started.

"Yup. No more maids, or fancy dresses, or royal balls, or "mother" and "father" 's. You're free to do whatever you want out here." Silvia said, putting her hand on Lilith's shoulder. "So, Lilith. Is there anything you want to do?" Silvia smiled at her.

"Actually. Is there anyone here that can help me with self defense training?" Lilith asked. "Self defense? I suppose that would be useful. Tobi!" Silvia yelled for someone. A man with black hair walked up. His hair was not the first thing that Lilith noticed about him though. His eyes were bright yellow and orange. This must be the one Silvia called "Tobi".

"So it's true. You did recruit the princess of the Devontae kingdom. What may I do in service of her highness?" He said, bowing before her. "It's not "your highness" anymore. It's just Lilith. And I am in need of lessons.", "Lessons? Whatever could I teach you?", "How to protect myself. How to fight and keep my place in this rebellion." She said. Lilith didn't get the best feeling about this guy.

She decided to shrug it off. "I will do my best. After all, you did give up everything to join this fight, so I will do my best to keep you in it." Tobi told her, finally rising from his bowing position. "Ok then, get on with it." Lilith said, walking away. Tobi stayed back. "Well, are you going to show me the way or is this going to be a hunt to find where we can train?"

"Whatever you say. Follow me, Lilith." Tobi said, running ahead.
~
A month passed and Lilith continued her training with Tobi. She got better at fighting. So good in fact, that she was able to fight and win against almost everyone in the rebellion. Everyone but Silvia, that is. Silvia was the only one who was able to beat Lilith in a fight.

One day after training with Tobi, Lilith was really quiet. "Hey! You good? You usually won't stop until you're about to collapse. I should know, I'm usually the one to bring you to head medic, Irma." He said, pointing to himself.

" I'm fine. It's just... what if one day- what if one day all of this training isn't worth anything? What if one day I run into someone I still can't protect myself from? I mean I can't even beat Silvia!" She said, sitting down. "You say that like it's something easy to do." Tobi said, sitting next to her.

"What?" Lilith questioned. "There is no one here that can beat Silvia. That's part of the reason why she is our leader. I don't think I've met a single person who could actually beat her in a fight. You've gotten the closest out of everyone." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Really? But what if i can't fight because I get too scared?" Lilith asked.

"Lilith. No warriors that I know have never felt fear. Being brave and fighting means being scared but still pushing forward, regardless." Tobi said. "When did you go soft on me, huh Tobi?" Lilith laughed. "But really, thanks." She said. "Any time, Lilith."Tobi replied.

"We need to go! Now!" They heard Silvia scream. They got up and ran twords her. "What's going on, Silvia!?" Lilith exclaimed. " It's the royal family! They found us! We need to relocate. We should've done that weeks ago but I got too comfortable here. I'm sorry. All of you." Silvia spoke, looking anywhere but the members of the rebellion. "That's not your fault. But we shouldn't worry about that right now. Right now we need to worry about getting out of here!" Lilith yelled.

" You're right. Everyone get only the essentials. Children, mothers, and elders ride in the front. Everyone else, leaves last. Does everyone understand?" Silvia shouted. "Yes ma'am!"

With that, everyone spread out, getting family heirlooms, food, and other things that they saw as essential. They all met up on a road behind the camp and left as quickly as possible. Not having time to even snuff out some of their lights or take down some of their tents.

They were on the road for days, only stopping for food, water, and rest. Eventually, they ended up setting up camp hidden inside a far off forest. There they were able to regroup and give everyone a chance to get proper rest. Lilith knew that this was very stressful on Silvia and went to her tent to try and comfort her.

"Hey." She said, walking into Silvia sitting at her makeshift desk that was really just a tree stump. She was looking at a map, no doubt seeing the nearest resting point for the rebellion. "Oh hey. " she smiled but Lilith could tell she was tired.

"You ok? We haven't really had a long break in a while and here you are, still pushing yourself." Lilith said, walking up behind her. "Well, I appreciate your concern but I have people I need to protect. This is the only way to do that.", " By pushing yourself so hard you can barely get proper sleep?If you continue like this you'll be extremely worn out." Lilith argued.

"I know. But I can get some real sleep after I've figured out our next escape route." Silvia said, going back to looking at her map. "At least let me help." Lilith said."I know this land better than anyone. I used to be in charge of shipping routs though the kingdoms. That included the ones on land as well as sea." Lilith said, smiling at Silvia.

"Well, aren't you just full of surprises. Maybe this would be your area of expertise then. Well, go ahead I won't stop you ". She said, backing up from the map to let Lilith see it.

"Well, we can circle back around to here. That way we won't be pushed out of the kingdom entirely...then here we can..."For some reason, Silvia was no longer paying attention to anything Lilith was saying, or the map. She just couldn't stop staring at Lilith.

"Are you ok?" Lilith asked. "I'm perfectly fine. In fact right now I'm  feeling a lot better..."