After rescuing most of the civilians and sending them to a refugee camp along with the soldiers as protection, Keira stealthily made her way back into the villa. She could sense it. There was an eerily strong aura coming from within the manor and she assumed it only to belong to the leader of this ambush. She quietly stepped into the building as she pressed herself close against the wall. Whoever this enemy was, she had to be careful.
Trudging down the hall she heard a feral shout as someone bellowed angrily. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a shadow at the end of the hall. She ran towards the noise as she heard the piercing scream of a girl. Adrenaline taking over her body, she hurriedly blocked the man's attack with her sword. Steel met with steel and she flickered her eyes to the girl behind her to see if she was unharmed.
"Kari?"
Confusion entwined in the man's voice as Keira shifted her focus back to the man before her. The man withdrew his sword and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Kari? Is it really you?"
It was Keira's turn to look bewildered as the man took a step towards her. She pointed her sword at his chest. "Stay back."
"Kari? Don't you remember me?" His voice strained with pain. "It's Cyril."
"This man is completely insane." Hardening her eyes, she tensed herself up before she started to circle around him. "It's coming from him, that power, but it doesn't seem like he's posing as a threat. But still..."
"Kari, please, don't you recognize me?!" Cyril sheathed his sword, his violet eyes shone with worry.
"My name isn't Kari. You must have me mistaken for someone else," Keira glowered. "Now what-"
"Yes it is! You must remember me, Kari! You must remember our love!" Cyril reached for Keira. "All this time, all this time," he murmured with a glazed look. "They kept you from me this whole time, they made me believe you were dead. But you're not, Kari, you're alive."
"I said stay back!" Keira swatted his hands away and kicked him right in the abdomen causing him to stumble backwards.
~*~
"Do you think she's okay?" Sylvia whimpered as she clung to her husband.
His heart breaking as he watched his wife in distress, Alexander clutched her even closer to him. "Keira is a strong woman, she can hold her own."
Ambrose hardly paid them any mind as he paced back and forth in front of the camp fire. It was still early morn and the sun had not risen yet. They had made it to the training camp a little after midnight and not one of them caught any sleep. Ambrose wouldn't admit it, not even to himself, but he was only wide awake because of his worry for a certain guardian. He had kept himself busy by barking out orders to all the soldiers in the camp.
Alexander laid his sleeping wife onto the down-feathered mattress and tucked her in before stepping out of the tent. He stood there for a moment, examining his cousin's duress with a frown. "If only he weren't so stubborn."
Ambrose whipped his head at his cousin and glared at his unspoken words. "What?!"
Alexander sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "You care about her," he stared plainly, "more than you like to admit. Face it, Ambrose. That woman has bewitched you and has won your affections."
"She has won nothing!" Ambrose growled. "The only thing I am worried over is how her stupid choice of action has left our princess vulnerable! She has failed her duty as a guardian!"
Shaking his head Alexander spoke, "You know very well as any that she did what any man would've done. She saved many of our people because she stayed back to aide them." He gestured to all the men, women, and children that huddled by their own camp fires. "Because of her, they still live. You heard the men, they would've died if it weren't for her. No matter how great our soldiers are, there wasn't enough of them to withhold against that many skilled attackers."
