A Winter's Tale

Chapter 22:

Chapter 21:
PICTURE OF KANE!!
EMERY'S POV:

They came silently one evening. We both knew it wouldn't be long until they came. We were eating, in the kitchen, with everyone when we heard them. The unmistakable sound of thundering horses approaching the otherwise silent estate. The heat of a battle hung in the kitchen, and the wind wafted in the smell of Court: Pride and perfumed men. Slowly, Kane rose to his feet, nodding at William. In the next instant Miriam, Alice, and I were being ushered into the corridor by Geoffrey with the simple instructions to run and hide. Someone would come get us when the fight was over.

       So, we ran. It took more effort on Alice's part to get me from my spot, looking into the kitchen as the door came crashing down. It was chaos. The sounds followed us as we ran. Yells, tables and chairs giving way to bodies, and steel against flesh. Who was dying? Who was winning? Geoffrey, William, and Kane were vastly outnumbered; I had no idea how they were going to make it out of that kitchen alive. Neither Miriam nor Alice seemed to have stopped to consider that yet.

      We ran until we reached a bedroom that I'd never been in before, but that didn't surprise me. Miriam shut and locked the door behind us, "we must be quiet." I didn't argue. The fear was keeping me silent. Was Kane okay? Were any of them okay? Had the battle stopped already, dwindled to nothing short of a massacre? Just the image of Kane lying there, covered in his own blood and lifeless had hot tears leaking out of the corner of my eyes. I slid down to the floor, back against the wall, overwhelmed by the unknown. Miriam and Alice hadn't talked; they didn't seem like they were going to either.

      We were quiet, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Always waiting. I don't know how long we waited, but it felt like forever. By the time we heard footsteps in the hallway, I could've sworn hours had gone by. All three of us scrambled back into the corner, behind the bed, not knowing just who was coming toward the door. It flew open, the door hitting the wall. "Miriam," a frenzied whisper, "Miriam, it's Geoffrey! Come on, we've got to go to the library. Kane and William are there already; Kane has a plan." Miriam discreetly checked before any of us moved to make sure it was Geoffrey talking.

       A few seconds later, we were sprinting to the library, me driven by the need to see the love of my life alive and well. I was running too fast to hear Geoffrey's warning. Nor, did I see the soldier sliding out of the shadows. Not until it was too late. Not until he had me securely trapped, back to his chest, knife to my throat. "Stay back," he hissed at the trio I'd come with. I caught Alice's eyes, mine as wide and afraid as hers were. We were so prepared, yet so unprepared for this moment. The soldier backed to the door, pushing it open with his foot.

      "King James," he called, "look who I found!" There was a shocked gasp, followed by a malicious laugh. I knew that laugh; I knew that voice. It was the man who'd been my father for so many years. It felt like a new stab of pain in my heart hearing him sound so sinister. The soldier swung me around, so I could see. King James and Kane stood across the floor from each other, swords pointed toward the other. Kane's eyes were alternating between me and his enemy, fear present. King James stared at me and me only, the arrogance of a sure win evident.

       I'd never seen King James look like so evil, but right then, he looked like the devil, the bringer of death here to destroy. "Well," King James clucked his tongue "should've hid her better, Kane, my old friend." There was no point in my moving. The soldier held the knife so tightly against my throat, I was sure one move would result in my death. I didn't want to look at the ground; I didn't want to know how Kane, William, and Geoffrey had fought their way out of the kitchen and into the library. I didn't want to see death in its simplest form piled at my feet, marring the beauty of this great room.