Fighting The Unknown

Chapter 4: Faith And Ponder

"Shhh princess, don't make a sound." Whispered the guard.

He poked his head out just a bit, to see whether it was clear for us to run down the hall. Seeing that it was clear, he aggressively pulled my arm, as we turned left in haste. We ran down steps after steps, and halls after halls. As we ran down the staircase I heard the screams of the workers in the palace. Their screams were so awful it would wake the dead out of it's grave. After running down nine more flights of stairs, I stopped and looked out a window, which gave a fuller view of the courtyard entrance. Thousands if not millions of arrows continued to fly towards the palace. The swift sharp sound of the arrows cut into the air, before it penetrated into the palace or anyone. I looked more closely on the ground of the courtyard, I noticed that the 500 bodies that were on the ground were in fact some of fathers advisors who lied lifeless on the ground.

Just then, loud screaming coming from outside, caught my attention. I noticed, some concubines jumping off the balconies, attempting to kill themselves, before the attackers could. Just as one concubine was going to jump off, some of the attackers saw her, and threw their ropes with the curve blades and hooks at the end, towards her direction, penetrating her instantly. Blood started to run from her mouth, as realization hit her, and within a moments notice, all the attackers drew back their ropes, causing the blades to tear her body apart, in multiple directions.

"Princess, come on we must go!"

"Ye-yes!" I whispered.

We continued running down more stairways and halls, passing many servants, who were running for their lives in confusion. Some of whom, I've never seen, and I've lived here in the palace my entire life. Matter of fact I'm sure, father, brother, and even mother had never seen them before either. The middle aged servants yelled out their children's name, hoping that they would be able to find them alive, and possible be able to escape with them. Soon enough as we all ran down the hallways, someone screamed out, the western wing of the palace is burning down, the attackers lit it on fire. By this time they all ran more faster in confusion, like a swarm of confused ants. My heart weeped for us all.

"Where are we going? Where's father and my brother, please tell me!" I yelled out frantically.

The guard didn't respond, as arrows started coming through, the broken windows, killing many on spot. We were in a hallway of death. Soon enough, somehow ten attackers broke through the roof, killing anyone that was near them. My guard pulled my arm more aggressively, as we neared the end of the hallway. I stumbled as he pulled my arm, trying to keep up with him. As I turned my head around, one attacker tried to run after us, but one of the servants accidentally ran in front of him, which caused the attacker, to take his sword, and chop him, in the middle of the servant's head causing the blood to spray out, all over the attacker and the hallway. I cried out, as my guard pulled me.

We ran down more stairways, and soon enough we made it to the concubines quarters. The guard continued to drag me, as we neared to the door of the concubines bed chamber. He pulled the screen door, quietly. I felt my body start to shake as I turned my head around, to see if anyone was around us. As I stepped in, my body went into sceptic shock, as I saw the most horrific sight in my entire life.

Father had over four thousand concubines, and it seemed that somehow all three thousand had been killed brutally. Some had their heads decapatated off. Most of the ones with their heads still remaining on their bodies, eyes were still open, even though they died. Just the look on their face could tell anyone, it wasn't an easy death. The whole entire room was a blood pool. On one of the dressers, it had a small lantern that was still lit. It gave the room a low glow. As we walked further into the room, trying our best not to step onto the bodies and not to trip over some of the heads, I saw papa and brother come out from underneath a table. Papa stretched his arm towards me, as I rushed to hug him. He held my brother and I with a tight embrace, as tears started to stroll down my eyes. He nodded in gratitude, towards the guard, for bringing me to safety. Soon after the guard nimbly left the room, joining in the chaos, outside the halls.