Gladiator Wars

Chapter 22: Alone In This

Victoria's Point of View

My head spun and I felt my blood run cold. I shook that strange feeling away and looked at Sebastian's tiny handwriting at the top of the page.

The Bauron family is related to the Arrow family by blood. Our family's ancestors were brother and sister and were great rivals. The sister married a man with the last name Bauron and the brother passed on the last name Arrow to his son and his son to his son.

Every second of reading this was making me feel queasy and unsteady. For a second, I thought I might faint, but I pushed that thought aside.

"I can't find anything in this book." Daniell said taking off his reading glasses. "You have any luck?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice to crack due to all the emotions that were threatening to engulf me. The Bauron family is related to the Arrow family was the only thought that I could muster. Daniell must've noticed my pallidness and the shocked expression on my face, because he looked concerned.

"What'd you find?" He asked reluctantly. I passed his the scrolls and pointed to the top while I stood off to the side trying to process what I had just stumbled upon. I watched his expression as it changed from confusion to shock to acceptance.

"Wow." He simply stated. I nodded in agreement.

"Do your parents even know about this?" He asked. I shook my head no.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Physically, I'm okay. I'm not so sure about mentally though." I responded in a soft voice.

"We should go tell the others and then your parents." He nodded. I rolled up the scroll and handed it over to Daniell. We walked out of the tower, closed the door and left for the lodge the others were staying in.

We walked to where everyone was relaxing or playing hangman. Hama was the first to notice us walk in.

"Hey guys!" Hama greeted happily.

"We have some news and not exactly the good kind." Daniell said grimly. He showed them the scroll and explained what we had found in Sebastian's tower, while I went and sat next to Catherine and Natalie, my anger towards them was long forgotten.

I could feel their concerned glances and stares, but I wouldn't meet them, instead I looked at the wall. These last ten minutes felt unreal and the lack of sleep was making it even more strange.

I stood up. "I'm going to go tell my parents about this." I announced grabbing the scroll and walking out. I didn't look once in their direction.

Family doesn't make you who you are, but after years of hearing about Bale and developing a great dislike of him and what he stood for, it was hard not to feel how I felt now. I wasn't even sure what I was feeling and that made me angry.

I battled with my feelings as I walked back to my father's private study, where my parents were most likely still talking.

I stopped at their door due to the loud argument that I could hear through the door. It seemed so important that they must've dismissed the guards for more privacy.

"-won't help us, then we are doomed." That was my mother's voice heavily laced with worry.

"I know that and I'm doing my best to persuade them." My father responded in an tired tone.

"They-" I finally decided to knock in order to give them the information that I dreaded giving them.

"Who is it?" I heard my father's voice say through the door.

"Victoria." I replied. Sometimes I wish I would just be dramatic and burst into rooms without asking permission from to enter, but according to my tutors that's bad manners.

"Enter."

I pushed the door open and found my mom sitting down in one of the chairs, while my father was sitting in his chair and writing a letter.

"What troubles you?" My mother asked. I guess I was an open book despite my best efforts to hide my emotions.

"Something y'all won't like." I answered handing her the scroll. My father had already sent his letter using the magical mail system, moved to my mother's side.

I watched my mother go awfully pale and my father look horrified.

After a minute of very awkward silence, my father looked up at me.

"Victoria, I need you to do something for me." My father told me.

"What do you need?" I asked.

"You can not mention this to anyone on the council." My father said grimly. The council presided in the Peace Territory and the thirteen of them over saw every meeting and trial of importance.

My friends and I would be going there for a briefing later thanks to procedure.

"Of course." I said albeit I was rather uncertain.

"There's also something you need to know." My mother stated, face ashen.

My mother had never looked her age, but with everything happening she looked like she had aged ten years within an hour. I instantly dreaded what they were going to tell me next.

"The non-magical kingdoms refuse to help us." My mother stated shocking me. This ignited my infamous temper.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"They believe that because they don't have any magical citizens, Bale won't care about them." My father stated angrily. I got my temper from him, but I could easily outdo him temper-wise.

"Bale is crazy. Have they not read their history books?" I asked. "They'll just leave us to die?" I couldn't stop my voice from cracking with emotion on the last word.

I could keep a calm facade under extreme stress and danger, but everyone has a breaking point. This was simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

"We won't die. You still have the support of the entire magic population." My father reassured me.

"Yeah, all two hundred of us." I muttered.

"No war is hopeless, no fight to small and no one person insignificant." My mother told me with a smile.

"Now go sleep. Get your friends up in the morning and we'll meet you at the Peace Territory at 8 'o clock sharp tomorrow." My father said shooing me out of the room.

Despite my parents attempts to lift my spirits, I was certain of one thing. This was not going to end well.

I leaned against a wall for support and gave my self a second to rebuild my calm and collected facade.

After a minute I started to walk in the direction of my friends while silently praying that this wouldn't be my worst case scenario.