In The Dark

4. Night War

It was a very cold and calm night. The moon and stars were shining on the serene sky as there were no clouds at all. Everything was silent and the nature seemed to be sleeping, but having a bad dream, maybe a nightmare. At the first view everything looked good, but if you looked deeper, there were many things that were not all right.

Under that clear sky, on a small hill, the king was disturbed and could not sleep, laying on his luxurious bed, in his huge castle, a castle whose construction needed two years to be completed. The time was close to midnight. The king used to sleep at this time, but this night it was different. No one of the people from the kingdom would say that it shall be special, neither the next day; the only one who knew what's really happening was the king.

Eyes closed but awake, the king decided to stand up from the bed and have a walk through his huge room. Watching through the window, the king caught the moment of the guards turn change. He saw how they exchanged their weapons and armors.

The ones who just finished their job looked very tired. After a few steps, one of the two guards fell to the ground. Maybe he was too tired. The other two didn't care. They just watched him, and then continued their way. The one who has fallen hardly tried to creep and catch one's foot, but failed. Then he turned with the face to the sky, hands stuck to his body. He looked very desperate, and with a last low scream he froze, motionless.

The other two guards, who just took their turn, seemed more compassionate. They went and took the body, carrying it into their guard rooms. As they were carrying the body, they didn't notice that someone entered in the castle's yard through their guard rooms, where they left the doors open. He was wearing a black coat, covering his head with a hood. Indeed, it would have been pretty hard to be noticed by the guards, but the king's eye saw him. The guards just got back in their rooms, like nothing would have happened.

The king became very anxious. He didn't know what he should do, but he expected things like this to happen in this weird night. Trying to open the door, the king was amazed to see that it's blocked from outside. Fumbling through the dark, the king looked for all the keys he had in his room, but no one of them could open the door. He was even afraid to turn on the light. That body covered in black clothes could not disappear from his mind. The anxiety was growing more and more. Despite the fact that the king expected almost all these things to happen, he was not prepared at all.

As though the fear was not big enough, something hit the window. The king turned to stone. Looked at the window, and saw a little bird on the window sill. He could clearly see that the bird was ill, and perhaps hit the window because it couldn't control itself. As he had his eyes fixed on it, the bird suddenly rose up, flapped its wings a couple times, and then hit the window even harder. Now it looked like the bird purposely hit the window.

As the king arrived near the window, he heard two knocks at the door. Now his fear reached the highest point. But for his surprise, he heard the voice of the most loyal guard he had at the castle:

"Sir, please open the door. It's an emergency!"

The king ran to the door, and wanted to answer, namely to say that he was blocked from outside and he could not open it. But just when he opened his mouth, he remembered that it was impossible for that loyal guard to be there. It was not his turn to watch. He shall get back to the job only after two days. Confused, the king shouted:

"It's not your turn to watch. What are you doing here?"

The voice beyond the door answered:

"Sir, it's my turn. Please open. We don't have time for discussions now. It's an emergency!"

The king was very sure that something was wrong. He remembered the earlier turn change, when he saw the two guards who just got on their watch turn. None of them was this guard.

The king didn't know what to do, and pushed the knob. Surprisingly, the door was opened. In his front appeared the guy with the black hood.

"Elbert, did you just sneak into the castle? What's going on?"

"Unfortunately, it's not only me. There are hundreds."

In the next second they heard a big explosion in the yard of the castle. The war has started.