Royals Through Time 7: The Present Age

Chapter Seven: Fears and Falcons

One last visit to Alexandra in England confirmed what she had told the Royals earlier: her two stable hands had disappeared, along with a few weapons. A very nervous Beth sat as quiet as the dead while the Royals discussed their next move. Myah and Averia were all for searching every forest in the area, while Lunden, Charity, and Gracina were for leaving the stable hands alone, and trying to fortify their current positions. Sarah was surprisingly silent, too deep in thought to do anything but reply to the occasional question. Instead, she rested her head in her hands, staring into space. Beth wasn't a psychologist, but she was beginning to wonder how much of the Royals' lives might be considered traumatic. Charity seemed to be leading the meeting at the moment. "If Feria plans to attack, we must be ready for her."

"But she can just as easily attack any other kingdom as attack Rome, can't she? How do you know where and when she'll strike?" That was Averia. Sarah seemed to awake from her daze, and glanced up to meet her friend's eyes. 

"We don't. We don't know when and where Feria will strike. Truthfully, the only thing we know is that Feria wants us all dead.  She'll come for us, or send assassins..."

Myah slammed her hands down on the carved table. "How is that supposed to help?!? We can't just wait for her to kill us!"

Beth was beginning to get very emotionally involved in this whole thing. She could see the loyalty each girl had to her kingdom, and their passion for protecting it. It filled her with a strange fire, and she made a promise then and there to be the Queen they believed her to be, and to fight to protect their kingdoms as fiercely as others had protected hers. A sudden idea struck Beth, and she rose from her seat. Walking to the table, she looked each Royal in the eye. 

"Feria knows Sarah's strategies. She will be expecting a large invasion. She may have also sent assassins, to finish us, even if we don't lead the supposed invasion. No, we can't just let her kill us...." A glitter lit Beth's eyes. 

"But we can let her try."

Stepping back, Beth looked once more at the gathered Royals. One nod from Sarah showed that Beth had been recognized in this impromptu court. Sitting down in a chair next to Averia, Queen Beth of the United States began to talk seriously with the others about the details of this operation. 

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The meeting was concluded rather peacefully, with the end decision being that each Royal would go to their home and make some preperations, namely stockpiling food and weapons. They would wait there until the move was made on their lives, when they would use their keys to escape. A meeting of the Royals would then be called, and they would track the would-be-assassins to wherever Feria was hiding. 

Each girl had said her farewells and departed for home except for Lunden, Beth, and Sarah. Lunden did not leave because she was in her home already. Beth was staying with her, disguised as a lady-in-waiting. Sarah had already said her goodbyes, but she hadn't left. She wasn't yet done in England. She stood next to a collection of arching windows, sunlight streaming in to make her white dress seem to glow. On her hand sat a falcon, a trained bird. Normally they were used for hunting small game, like rabbit. But this falcon would be different. This falcon was especially trained to find humans, similar to a dog. Sarah lifted a piece of rope, used to bind Feria that had been found floating in the sea after she had destroyed the ship on which she was held. The bird caught the message and began to ready its feathers for flight. Sarah leaned out of the window and released the bird, then watched it fly until it was only a speck. Then she turned to a nearby wooden door used a little silver key to go back home.