The King's Crest

Chapter 7

We made it out of the city gates and were well on our way by the time the sun was giving off light. It was still cool but we were well used to the weather at this point and it didn't phase any of us. So we continued on.

We walked for a few hours and it was almost the middle of the day. We hadn't eaten and we hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. We were all exhausted and decided we would all be in need of a break. The further we walked the warmer it became and the less snow was on the ground. With the lightening of the snow and trees surrounding we were able to find ground with no snow.

We sat down in silence, all too weary to speak. I took the sack off my back and pulled out some rolls. I handed a half a roll to each of us knowing we needed to save food and we should save the other half until after we slept. I quickly ate my food and went to the other side of the trees away from the men to sleep. They respectfully left that tree altogether and moved to a few trees away where they couldn't really see me. Knowing I had that comfort, I took my cloak off from around me and laid down on the ground with my head on my sack. I then put my cloak on top of me and quickly dozed off.

I was woken a few hours later by Jeremiah gently shaking me. I tried to roll back over in my sleep but he was too persistent. "Katerina, please wake up," he whispered trying not to be rude.

Remembering where I was I quickly jumped up. I looked around frantically but did not see anything. My jumping made Rem jump just as much as me. "Rem, sorry. I guess I'm a little jumpy around here right now. I'm not used to this kind of thing."

"It's fine. It's good for me to be alert too, I guess. Besides, I don't think anyone can really be prepared for stuff like this," he said. His stomach growled before he continued, "Also, I'm starving. Please give me more food from your stash."

I pulled the rolls plus a little bit of cured meat from the sack I used to rest my head. As I pulled them out I realized my head squished the rolls a little. I apologized to both Kenneth and Jeremiah as I saw the rolls. All of us laughed as we saw them. It was good to laugh a little. Even though it had only been a couple days it felt like such a long time since I had laughed. I could tell they were both thinking the same thing, too.

I packed up the rest of the food and we decided to keep going. I stretched my limbs as I stood up for the first time in a few hours. We only did sleep for about five hours, but it was enough to give us energy to keep going. It wouldn't have been, but we knew we would hopefully stop at night to regulate our sleeping pattern. It wasn't ideal to travel in the light on a mission as intense as the one we were going through, but we had no choice. In the winter it would be too cold to travel at night. We would freeze.

"So, how did you guys sleep?" I awkwardly asked trying to make conversation as we started walking again. Unfortunately, they too were groggy and were only able to mumble their answer that was something along the lines of "I slept great, thanks!" At least that is what I imagined they said. This was going to be a long journey.

"I'm already hungry. How is this possible?" Jeremiah asked clenching his stomach.

Kenneth laughed for a good minute before answering, "I do believe that comes from being a prince who is used to getting food when he wants it," after Kenneth teased him he stopped. "Prince Jeremiah, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

Jeremiah laughed looking at Kenneth so afraid, "Kenneth, please, teasing is good! Besides, I'm not currently a prince, remember. We all need to get out of our normal mentality and start acting like we are good friends who have known each other for years. The more we tease, the better," he said with a smile. After saying that he put one arm around Kenneth's shoulder and tried to make Kenneth less tense.

"Alright, maybe you guys shouldn't be THAT close," I said giggling.

"I'm sorry Kat, did you feel left out?" Jeremiah said as he put his other arm around me. So we walked like that for the next few minutes laughing, as if what we were doing didn't determine whether or not our kingdom and home remained ours.

It was dark outside and the temperature was rapidly dropping as we walked into a little town. We walked in and looked around the town. There were a few lights in the window of the old, beat-up town houses. Kids were peering through windows trying to get a last look at the world outside them before parents whisked them off to bed. The people who were outside still were on their way inside with a heavy cloaks draped around their shoulders.

Luckily, there were still some people outside watching as the night dragged on for us to talk to. Acting as if we were just ordinary travelers, we humbly asked the first friendly looking man we saw about an inn or place to stay. He kindly told us there was when just a little bit ahead. Sure enough, after walking just six minutes we reached the inn.

It was a tavern-styled inn we realized as we walked in. For me, it was surprising seeing so much drinking. Every man in there seemed to be completely drunk as they were playing random games in which the winner would drink more. It was appalling. Watching this I naturally stumbled around not sure where to walk, seeming drunk myself. After a while of trying to figure out what was going on here, I realized I lost track of Kenneth and Rem.

I was determined not to panic in case they could see me, I didn't want to seem incapable of being here on this mission. I looked around once more in hopes of this time seeing them; no such luck. I decided I should go talk to people then, after all, this is a tavern, and they could have seen Prince Alexander come through here and would have information. Living in a town I knew that no one knows more about gossip than the people who served food.

I took a deep breath and was about to walk into the crowd of men and women chugging ale when I felt someone touch my shoulder. I turned around and saw many people, but right in front of me was Kenneth. "Oh, Kenneth! Thank goodness. I didn't know who you were at first. Where did you and Jeremiah go?" I suddenly questioned out of annoyance.

"We had to get rooms if we wanted to actually stay here! We rented two rooms, one for you and Jeremiah and I will share a room. They're a couple doors away from each other, but we should be fine. Make sure you are up early in the morning for us to be on our way again. We still have a long journey ahead of us."

I nodded my appreciation and headed upstairs to get some sleep. We were all in our separate rooms probably all wondering how this happened and what was going to happen. I opened up my sack and pulled out my nightdress and Bible. I slipped off my over dress and put on my nightdress before slipping into the bed. I read my Bible and prayed for safety and a chance to have my relationship with Christ strengthened through this. Above all, I prayed for wisdom on the journey. After I finished I slipped my dagger under the pillow in case of an emergency, blew out the candle, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
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"Father, what's this herb?" the little girl questioned again.

"It's cardamom, my darling," he said before quickly adding "before you ask, it helps with nausea and helps calming. You would use it for pregnant woman and people having trouble sleeping usually," the father patiently explained.

"What about this one?" the little girl pestered on.

"It's white willow bark. It is used for all sorts of things like general pain, inflammation, and fevers. Now Kitten, that's enough for now, I'm working right now believe it or not and can't explain it all. But, later tonight, we will start making you your own book with explanations," he promised the five year old.

"Will you add pictures, too? Please Papa?" the little girl begged.

"Is there any other kind of book, Kitten?" he sweetly answered. With that answer, she quieted herself down and climbed onto the stool and watched what her father was mixing together and pouring into a vile as her soft, dirty blonde curls fell on the table. As the father went to go grab some thyme he let his daughter, to her delight, continue stirring the already smooth mixtures. She giggled as her father crushed the thyme into the mixture for her.

A woman with long brown hair with perfect ringlets came into the room, she couldn't be any older than thirty. She looked lovingly into the two pairs of blue eyes staring at her. "Well, my darlings, I'm done with work for the day. My job as a lady-in-waiting is no longer needed for the night because Eleanor is with her family. Are you about ready to go home?" she asked the two of them.

"Well my sweet Evelyn, I have one delivery to do in town and we can be good for the night. Also, I should deliver the sleeping medicine to the king and queen as well." The father said.

"Oh papa, can I come too? Please!" the little girl begged.

"Well Tobias, it looks like we are all going on the delivery," Evelyn said to her husband. So off they went to the throne room where the king, queen, and prince all were playing with each other. They were quickly announced before they entered the room, all clearly close friends. "Hello again King Isaac and Queen Eleanor," Evelyn politely said as she curtsied having her daughter do the same.

"Now can I go play with Rem?" the little girl asked her parents. The king and queen waved her on to go play.

"Kat!" the little boy screamed as he went running towards his only true friend. They ran off to play with the prince's things as their parents talked a bit about personal life and the medicine for him to take. After a few minutes they all knew they had to go their separate ways as the sun was starting to set and they still had another delivery. They embraced one another and walked away.

Tobias and Evelyn walked with their daughter down the palace hallway and out into the courtyard on their way to the rest of the town. As the three walked the parents each took an arm and swung their daughter as they walked. The girls' giggles echoed as they bounced off the wall followed by the sound of her parent's laughter.

They quickly made their delivery and were walking home when they saw an open pasture along the way. "Oh, mum, pa, may we please pick just a couple flowers?" she asked with the biggest sad eyes she could manage. With the quick approval of her parents the girl went off running.

She went into the field dancing and spinning around in the grass. Her parents quickly joined her and they all smiled happily. The three of them collected a bouquet of flowers, mainly daffodils, and went on their way home. The parents quickened their pace as the kid happily skipped to their familiar home back at the palace all completely joyful and full of love.
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I woke with a start hearing someone step on the floor. I sat straight up and looked around my room. There in the corner of my room was a mysterious man with a maniacal grin. I reached under my pillow to look for my dagger. To my dismay I realized it wasn't there. "I'm assuming you were looking for this dagger? It is really quite a nice dagger," the man said.

I gasped before I said, "Who are you? Put my dagger down," I demanded.

"The wonderful prince of Rethain told me there would be a group from your kingdom to come try to stop us. I just didn't know you would be so easy to find and destroy. You see, you're much easier to take down then the other men. On your own, a tiny lady, so dainty. It is really too easy." He threatened.

I stood up, "You wouldn't dare," I snapped back "one scream and it is all over," I said. From his face I assumed he had taken care of the Kenneth and Jeremiah, too leaving me with no defense. He came close, dagger in hand and tried to lash out at me. I smacked the dagger out of his hand with a force he wasn't expecting from a lady. Nonetheless, he managed to kick my stomach and knock me down. Out of instinct I screamed as I fell to the floor. He punched me one last time before walking away.

The man went back over and grabbed my dagger, determined to kill me with my own weapon. I was trying to blink out the darkness that was blocking as my vision. With half of my eyesight I was able to just barely see him walking back over to me. He came closer and closer. I was counting down the seconds to death.

I felt the cool, sharp edges of the blade slide across the skin on my upper arm. He was about to trace it up all the way to my neck when my door was kicked down. I prayed a desperate plea to God, knowing He would hear me, and whatever happened would be His choice. With one swift motion, Jeremiah burst in and ran his sword through the man who almost just took my life away. So there the man lay on the floor as blood seeped through his shirt and Jeremiah with blood dropping off his sword.

I fell backwards away from the man gasping. I stood up almost losing balance as I tried to regain my vision. It was slowly back as I stared in horror at the lifeless body on my floor. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't speak. We stood there in silence no longer sure what to do. I suddenly realized that both Rem and Kenneth had severe burns around their wrists and arms and I had blood running down my left arm.

Jeremiah came to my side noticing it too, and he lifted my chin up and turned my face checking for more injuries that might be on me. He looked me in the eye and asked, "Katerina, are you okay? I mean really okay? What happened?"

I explained what happened as far as I knew with a shaky voice. "I guess we better get cleaned up," I breathlessly said. None of us were in good shape so I couldn't really complain. Staring at one another we all let reality sink in of what really just happened.