Green embers

Green Embers

PROLOGUE

It was too late when he arrived. I felt it deep in my bones when the blue uniformed guard finally appeared in the distance, galloping hurriedly on his ebony steed. What made me even more panicked was that he was all alone. I met him half way on my horse and when I saw the look on his face; tired and most of all terrified, I knew something was wrong.

"What’s the situation?" I asked hurriedly. "Where's the crowned prince?"

He looked at me with defeat in his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.

"Captain, it’s too late, it’s too…"

"Lead the way, damn it!" I stormed at him.

Without another word, we darted through the forest and galloped as fast as our horses could go. I truly feared that it was indeed too late but for the sake of the one I served, knowing that he wouldn't give up so easily, I galloped as hard as I could with the hope that there was still hope.

Alas! I was mistaken. As we finally reached the scene, my eyes went wide with shock.

What a bloodbath! A massacre!

Rivers of blood were still pouring out from the bodies of the mangled horses. The royal guards' twisted limbs lay among the beasts in such atrocious a fashion, it couldn’t possibly be real. They were all pierced with long black arrows, countless of them. From their angles and from the strange-looking ropes that hung among the dense trees surrounding us, I knew they were triggered or released all at the same time towards their target who was none other than the crowned prince himself.

I search frantically for him now, my eyes darting back and forth. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of his royal purple attire, once so elegant, was now all soiled. The body of one of the crowned prince’s guards was lying on top of him in a protective form. As for the guard's alabaster steed, it lay on top of the Prince's limbs whereas the guard's leg was wedged under it as well. There were several arrows pierced at the guard's back, same as his comrades.

Suddenly, I saw a movement from underneath him. My eyes went wider.

"He's alive," I gasped. Without another word, I immediately sprinted to his aid. Down on my knees, I tried to move the guard's body off of him. I pulled as hard as I could, using all the strength I could muster until I finally did it. I turned back to my prince and looked at him with dread. There I saw him tilt his head to me.

"I'll get you out..."

I tried to pull him from underneath the horse but the sound of his moaning paralyzed me. I stopped and looked at him. There was something weird across his chest, something sharp and pointy; I then realized that some arrows got to him from his back.

"Conrad...'' he whispered. I held him in my arms; trying to hear what I felt would be his last words.

"My Prince,"

Hundreds of thoughts swirled inside my head at that moment, thoughts of how to save him. I still knew it was too late but I didn’t expect to hold him in my arms and count his last breaths. I thought of turning around to call the guard who survived to return and get some help, but the distance he'd cover back and forth wouldn't do any good. I couldn’t stop thinking...

"Tell my father…" he whispered in pain as he looked at me, his sable eyes weak, his dark hair wet across his forehead, his skin pale and ashen. He was breathing so hard he couldn’t speak straight.

''That he's...better off... and that…He’ll find a better...king...in Haru...not me."

I didn’t want to say anything; I wanted him to keep talking. I didn’t want to waste any second he had left with any interruption from me.

"Tell...my younger brother..." he continued, unable to bear the agony now. His brow puckered as tears filled his eyes to the brim. "…that I'll be…watching over him...wherever he is....and promise me..."

He started shivering, his lips shaking as he spoke.

"That...you will too...and tell him...tell...him..."

His brow suddenly flattened and his eyes went ghastly wide.

"Tell him what? Tell him what?" I found myself saying, urging him to hang on to dear life with whatever he wanted to say but he just stared at me, the color slowly disappearing from his ebony eyes.

I knew then, that he was no longer breathing.

For some reason I held unto him, unable to let go. And for some reason too, I knew not, my vision went liquid. I wondered, was it because I would be the bearer of this tragic news to my king, this boy's father? Was it because I had known this prince since the day he was born and couldn't stand to see him die in this torn form? I couldn’t understand whether these tears were falling because of one reason too great or perhaps due to several reasons too great for me to handle. I held him for a long measure of time, simply looking at his face. How could I've known that because of his death, everything I know, every plan I’ve made and everybody that I've ever known were going to change forever?