Secrets of the Kingdom

Chapter 14

James's PoV

We had been fighting long and hard. The battle was overall going good. We hadn't lost that many men, and we were pushing them back. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something that caught my attention. There was a man who was slaughtering one after another of my men. He was easily identifiable as a high ranking general. Pulling my sword from its sheath, I lunged at him. Expertly, he blocked my attack without even looking and turned to face me. My jaw dropped as I recognized the man in front of me, General Adams. "Adams, what are you doing? Why are you attacking our men?" The General sneered at me, "You still haven't figured it out? Don't you see, I'm not your General anymore." He gestured toward Victor's army. "He gave me a guaranteed spot as the one and only General of his entire army. All the power I could ever wish for" We circled each other, our swords drawn and ready to use. "You traitor, I will have your head for this treason. How long have you been working with Victor?" He swung  his sword at me, and I easily maneuvered out of the way. "We ran right into Victor's army as we tried to escape and they took Eliza, I'm so sorry." He said in a mocking tone. "You... So you're the reason Elizabeth was taken from me. I should've figured." Our blades met with a loud clink sound as we continued to attack each other. In between swings he grunted, "It was too easy. You all trusted me so much and never expected betrayal. It was easy enough sending my men to kill her guards in the tunnel. Getting her to follow me? Easy as can be. I led her right into the middle of the army as planned. They knocked her out and took her straight to Lord Victor's castle. Of course I had to be.. Wounded so that it would be believable. Everything worked out better than Lord Victor had ever hoped." I felt my rage boiling, taking over my swings. Each attack with my sword was quicker and stronger than the last. I could sense Adams having troubles keeping up with me. Suddenly I felt a quick pain and glanced down at my arm. He had managed to give me a nasty gash but I ignored it. I put all the swordsmanship lessons my father gave to great use. With the force of my blows Adams had fallen to the ground, and I kicked his sword away. Lifting my sword up to his throat I gave him one last glare. "This is for your betrayal. May you be judged accordingly in the afterlife. Raising my sword high above my head, I brought it down straight through a weak spot in his armor. Adams let out a cry, as I twisted the blade. His chest rose and fell quickly, and then altogether stopped. Pulling out my sword I closed his eyes with my fingers.

I turned back towards the battle, seeing that we had the upper hand now. We had caused them to retreat into the castle and all the men let out victory cries. I raised my sword high in the air. "Now, we march upon the castle!" Then the soldiers cheered, racing for the doors. I split them up into smaller groups and had them go into different sections of the castle, only taking a small group of elite guards with me. We were headed right for the throne room. Alec had been inside for awhile, so it slightly worried me. Hopefully he could hang on until we managed to get to his side. We took the path we thought would lead to the throne room, and were met with large double doors. "Well... Here we go." I spoke as they opened them and we stepped inside. The sight that we were met with stunned me. Eliza was kneeling down sobbing as blood soaked her dress. Alec was lying on the ground with his head in her lap. All she was saying was "Oh god no Alec please..." I started to run forward to hold her again, when a clear voice rang out. "Stop right there, or she dies." My eyes met with who I only assumed to be Victor. He gave me a cold stare as he lowered his sword to her neck, her looking up at me with tears in her eyes. "James..." I took another daring step forward, knowing he was bluffing. "You wouldn't kill her, you need her."

"You're right, I do need her. But..." Suddenly he kicked Eliza over, her landing on her back with an oomph that sounded from her. He raised his sword pointing it straight at her stomach. I hadn't noticed before, but she was very noticeably pregnant. "I don't need that, thing growing in side of her though. You don't know how long I've wanted to kill it." Eliza had even more tears form in her eyes. "Please... James, don't let him hurt our baby." My hands were tied, I had no choice. "Lower your weapons." I spoke to my guards, and they did just that. Slowly I lowered my sword onto the ground and kicked it away from me. "Guards, seize them." Victor's voice hollered. A few guards ran into the room, restraining my men and myself. "I'm quite glad you made it when you did, I was afraid you were going to miss the show." He pulled Eliza up off the ground and threw her toward Alec's unmoving body. She stopped herself from falling on him, angry tears filling her eyes.