The Blood in Our Veins

Chapter Sixteen - True Fear

As I kneeled on the ground with tears streaming down my face, I realized something. I had done many things to my twin, but this was unforgivable. I had finally crossed the line; the final and most terrible line to cross. I looked up from my hands. Bryn and Tara stared at me, mouths agape. How much they had seen, I would never know, but apparently they had seen enough.

"How could you!?" Grace cried. She wept over him. I backed away slowly.  I was scared. Scared that I would lose my brother. Scared that all my friends and family would hate me. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to meet the source. Lord Mason held my gaze. I saw that he held Lani and stood to take her from him. Once she was safely in my arms, I looked back up to him.

Mason wiped a tear from my cheek, but it was swiftly replaced by another. "Come on." he said softly. "Let's go home." I nodded sadly. He pulled me close to him."Hold on." At first I was confused, but then the world fell away. For a brief moment, it felt like we were floating, dangling over the open void of the earth. In another second, the feeling vanished, and was filled by the sight of a familiar throne room. 

Before me sat my nightmare. King Gallahein stroked the arm of my father's chair and smiled down at me. Lord Mason kneeled, but I remained standing. The false grin dropped from his face like an apple from a tree. I resisted the urge to slice his head off with my dagger. The very same dagger that was still stained with the blood of my twin...

Tears threatened to spill over when I remembered why he had been killed in the first place. For a moment I held my tongue before giving in to my furious rage. "You murdered him!" I shouted. My uncle smirked. "You killed your only nephew!" Gallahein shrugged.

"A necessary sacrifice. There was no other way to break you." he said simply. I clenched my fists so tightly that blood ran from my palms. 

My voice lowered dangerously. "I am anything but broken. You would be wise to wach your back, for every bump in the night, every cold breath down your neck, will be a sign that I am close and watching." 

Gallahein stood triumphantly. "No. It is you who should beware." He snapped his fingers. From the shadows came two figures, flanked on either side by guards. The pair were both had black hoods drawn around their faces. I watched, horrified as they were unmasked. On my parent's foreheads was branded a sun, Gallahein's royal symbol. They were shoved to the ground before the 'king'. 

While I was frozen in shock, I numbly felt myself lose control of my body. I unsheathed a sword from my belt and stepped toward the two. They looked up at me in fear. My uncle's raspy whisper echoed through my mind over and over. Soon it all blended together so that i couldn't tell what he was saying, but the order remained engraved in my mind.

Kill. Kill them both. I tried to convey a message to them with my eyes. I'm sorry. In a single stroke, the rightfull High King and Queen of Arkenon fell dead to the polished tile. A single sob shook my body. Somewhere in all of this, Mason had ended up holding Lani. In a flash, he was at my side. Less than a moment later, we were somewhere in a forest. I tore my daughter from the arms of the evil man.

"How could you!" I choked out. "I thought you meant to comfort me, but no! You took me back to unwillingly slaughter what little family I had left! I trusted you!" With that, I bolted into the dark shadows of the trees. The sounds of pursuit came from behind me, but soon even that stopped. I thrashed through the brush and fumbled among tree trunks blindly, for in the small amount of time I had ran, the sun sank below the distant horizon. 

Chills ran down my spine as a beautiful yet terrifying sound met my ears. Wolves howled, a haunting chorus of both union and uniqueness. For a moment I pitied the poor creature they hunted, but then shrugged it off as the circle of life. The noise grew louder, much closer than before, and coming fast. That's when I realized that it was us they were hunting. My eyes widened as I accepted that this was the truth. 

Sprinting faster, I soon came to a small clearing. The wolves' howling was all around. They had us cornered. I spun in circles, catching flashes of movement just at the treeline. There was no escape. We were doomed. Lani was shaking with fear, and instinctivly I wanted to calm her down in the hour of need. I did the only thing I could. In an ancient language I had learned as a child, Draconic, as it was known, I sang.

"After battles hard and cold, we remain to live on.

Comrades fallen we will mourn, until the dawn's first light.

The sun of a good morrow, brings us great sorrow, yet a joy that we sur-vived.

Weapons fallen, pasts forgotten, innocent men buried.

Spilled blood staining much old land, a con-stant reminder.

Of tra-ged-ies in just passed times, valiant warriors slain.

Trudge on, march forward.

For the morrow brings us hope."

By the time I had finished, Lani lay asleep. I froze as the beasts crept forward. The largest of them, a white wolf with pure blue eyes, stopped just in front of me. My body tensed, preparing itself for slashing claws and ripping teeth. The wolf blinked. I stared at it in awe and fear as it lowered its head. I looked around. The other creatures followed suit. It took me a moment to make sense of what was happening. Then it hit me like a brick.

We had been spared.

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Yeah, I know. The song is stupid. Its late, okay? For the record, I'M AMAZING!! I not only managed to do my homework, but update not once, but TWICE in one day. :)  See you peoplez later!

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