Curse - Septiplier

26: A Reluctant Alliance

Jack's POV

"Mark, please. I'm doing this for you." I watched his blank expression as he stared at his feet, and I rested my hands on his shoulders, shaking him slightly. "Mark, talk to me, please. You cannot be silent with me right now. I know you're hurting, and I'm sorry that your father is gone, I'm so sorry Mark, I'm so sorry." I felt myself sliding to my knees now, my voice turning into a sob that escaped past my lips. I was shaking, and I cried as I leaned against his lower torso, unable to stand any longer with the shame and guilt burdening my tongue and my body. "I can't bear to see you in any pain at all, and I can't keep doing this to you. I'm doing what's best for us both. Please!"

"My father just died." Mark's voice was timid, and I looked up at him through teary eyes and a shaking figure. "And you now have to leave me to 'protect' me. How is leaving me on my own a form of protection? Just the other day you wanted to run away with me, and now you're off to elope. Do you understand how confused and lost I am? I can't stand to lose you too, you can't do this to me." I could hear his voice breaking above me, and I bit my lip to stop from crying out again. My shame weighed in my stomach, in my throat; I felt like I was going to be sick.

"You're safe this way, away from me and away from my troubles. I can't drag you away anymore, you can help your family and the other soldiers. I've already told my father that we've completed my training, and I've mastered the art of swordsmanship. It's my fault your father is dead, and you have your mother to help with your grieving. Please understand, Mark."

"How can my mother help with my grieving when she can't even get out of bed during the day? How can she help me when those who reside and work on the farm are suddenly taking over her chores and duties because she throws herself into fits of tears and frustration. How do you think she feels after losing her son and only a few years later she lost her husband?"

"I'm so sorry Mark." I could hardly speak, I was beyond choked up and I wanted to run away again, but I knew better. I could tell now that running away from my problems wouldn't solve them, but only make them worse and create more for other people. "Please, I won't hurt you anymore, I can't. I can't bring myself to see you like this."

"Then why are you doing this?"

....

"Jack, are you alright?" My father's voice prompted me back to the present, and I jerked my head up to stare at him. Agro shifted uncomfortably underneath me, and the General drew closer on his horse, pulling my jacket further over my shoulders and shielding me from the rain. The storm hadn't stopped from the battle a few days ago, and the kingdom was still suffering from our losses and those who had fought valiantly. All of it, all of it was my fault; every death, every injury, every house destroyed and family torn apart. It was because I had been selfish, and I had wanted to choose my own way. It took the death of Mark's father at my hands to make me realize the harm I was really doing, and so here we were on our way to our opposing, soon to be sister kingdom.

My father had sent word of my acceptance of the marriage proposal, and we had fought our way through the storm and the thick woods that were between us and their kingdom. A truce had been put into place, and we were free to pass on their land as long as we came in peace and with the plans to propose. I simply had to be there, it was my father who would truly be making the proposal. Our horses clopped along the cobbled road that led over the bridge from the land and to their castle that was built up from a shallow part of the bay dropped off another cliffside. Even Agro seemed as upset about this as I was, but for differing reasons.

What truly made this trip a bitter one for me was that my father demanded, and the General as a precautionary measure, that the best soldiers accompany us on their horses to the other kingdom so that if it's a trap or we need to leave quickly, we at least had some who could help us retreat. While most of those soldiers were those who had mastered the art of bow and arrow, as our assailants would be the arches in the tower walls above us, we had a few foot soldiers as well, and Mark was only few horses back. I had desperately tried to explain to him that I was trying to do what I thought was best for us both because I didn't want to hurt him anymore, and his grief over his father seemed to have swallow him whole. He was more devastated than I, but I knew it had to be done. I couldn't lead him on no matter how much I cared about him, and because I cared about him I refused to hurt him anymore. Despite trying to reason with myself, and to tell myself that I was doing what was best for my kingdom and for my people, Mark's reaction and response still set an awful and guilty feeling in my stomach, enough to tear me apart between my people and between him.