The Immortal Blade Trilogy: Book #1: Fate's Destiny.

The Rescuer

I was thrown into my cell once more, but this time I didn't curl up and cry. I screamed, cried, tried to break the metal bars that were keeping me from Quinlan. He is going to die!!!!! I will do anything in my power to stop that from happening. I would even take his place!! This isn't real. This can't be real!! Quinlan is not going to die. He can't!! My happy ending would be ruined. There has to be a happy ending!!

I screamed insults at the guards, trying to get them angry, like I did to the Captain of the arena-masters, but these guards were too well trained, and they remained where they were posted.

"Curse you!! Curse humans!! CURSE LOTHANDRA!!!!" I screamed at them, then gave up and cried.

This can't happen... This. Can't. Happen. Why does everything bad always happen to me...? The guards just looked at me with a blank expression. What am I going to do without Quinlan? I guess I haven't really realized how much I love him. Only now, the night before he gets burnt at the stake, do I realize just how much I need him. I cry myself to sleep. The hurt is real and the pain cuts deep. All hope is lost. Death has won. Evil has won. No happy endings. All is lost.

Quinlan's POV

I knew it would happen. Do I regret it? Not at all. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Definitely. I just feel bad that Alexandra is going to have to live with my death on her mind. I fall asleep in my cell eventually, wishing that my life could have been more meaningful.

---------------------------------------

The rattling of keys opening my cell door wakes me from my sleep. Six muscular guards walk into my cell and pick me up by my shoulders. They restrain my hands behind my back with tree roots, so they'll burn off when I'm burnt to a crisp.

What a nice picture. I've always wondered what I look like as a pile of ash.

The guards grab my shoulders and lead me out of my cell, up a few staircases, and outside the tree. They lead me around and through the trees. After walking for about half an hour, the stake finally comes into sight. Dread fills me as I see the people of Lothandra circled around the stake, wondering who might have disobeyed the laws of the tree city.

As the guards lead me closer and closer to the stake, the people of Lothandra turn to see who the prisoner is. I lower my head in shame. Even though I don't think what I did was wrong, I am ashamed that the people have to see that the criminal is me.

Once I come into view of my people, I look up just before I hear the hundreds of gasps. They turn in a panic to each other and start frantically whispering, probably wondering what it was that I did. Every once in a while, I'd catch a section of what they are saying to one another. I heard a, "What did he do?" and a, "He's the kings right hand man's son!". 

The guards push my through the crowd and lead me up to the stake. There was wood piled around and under it. There were barrels of oil next to it, as well as oil that was already poured onto the wood. Then, about 10 feet away from the piles of wood, there were torches. I was pushed up onto the piles of wood, and securely tied to the tall wooden stake.

This is it. This is where my life ends. This is the time that it doesn't matter what I've done in the past. It doesn't matter anymore because this is the end.

One of the guards, probably a higher rank than the others, walks up to the front of the stake. He hushes the crowd, and opens his mouth to speak.

"Quinlan, son of Eliven, has been found guilty of kissing the kings daughter." The guard starts.

"And I loved every second of it." I scowl. The guard waits a few seconds before continuing.

"If any kind of sexual activity occurs without permission, this is the punishment." The guard grabs a torch and drops it on the pile of wood.

I'm so sorry Alexandra.

Alexandra's POV

Quinlan. Don't leave me. Please.

My eyes snap open. I jump up and run to the metal bars of the cell and start shaking them violently, hoping beyond hopes that they'll break. To my utter disappointment, they didn't budge. And now I'm going to lose Quinlan because of it.

I hate everyone and everything. I hate Quinlan's father. I hate Lothandra. I hate Quinlan's brother. I hate this stupid prison. I hate the guards. I hate my life. I hate humans. I hate all creatures. I hate this world. I hate myself. But I have a burning hatred towards my father. My own father!! Same flesh and blood, but I hate him more than ANYTHING. He killed me.

I laid back down, feeling numb inside. There was nothing but a dull ache, slowly ripping my heart apart. Even though I was numb inside, I could still feel the pain. But I couldn't cry. I couldn't scream. I had run out of tears, and lost the power to scream. I couldn't let it out. So, I just lay there, trembling, not able to do anything else.

My heart has just been killed.

--------------------------------------

My three days of being imprisoned had passed. I had been led up to my room, and had just laid on my bed for days. There is no real reason to live. Life is just a joke. And the only reason for me to live now, is to get my revenge.

I sat up on my bed, then laid back down, because I started to get dizzy. I sat up again, but slower, then stood up. I turned all of my grief, sadness, depression, and all of my other emotions, into anger and determination. 

You will pay for this, father.

-----------------------------------------

I stormed into the kings throne room, the first room I entered since being here in Lothandra. The room in which I was told that Borald, the king of Lothandra, was actually my father. The room where Quinlan was sentenced to death.

Borald and Eliven snap their heads up at the unexpected company. I glare at Borald, my father, and stride up to him. There are no guards in the room, probably because they were all outside of the thick wooden doors guarding, and I killed them all. My father stares at me with a blank expression that had just recovered from surprise. Eliven, Quinlans father, stared at me with a shocked expression.

I grab my fathers tunic collar and lean in close to his face. I stare into his eyes, which are now filled with fear.

"Do you know how much of me you just killed?" I whisper, a tear threatening to slip down my cheek.

He stares at me, now with a hurt expression, then looks down. "I have an idea..." He says softly back.

I pull back quickly. "You have NO idea!! None!!" I scream at him, then punch him.

He falls to the ground, and before he can react, I start kicking him. Tears are streaming down my face, my fist hurts, and my throat feels like it's being ripped apart. None of this compares to the pain in my heart. My whole life has been ruined. And my father was the destroyer.

"Why'd you do it? WHY??" I keep kicking him until I'm pulled away by Eliven.

I turn to Eliven and start punching him. He grabs my arms, so I kick him. He drops my arms and falls to the ground. I turn back to my father, barely being able to see because of the tears in my eyes. I turn towards the door, then freeze. I turn back around, walk up to my father, bend down, so we're looking in each others eyes, and whisper five hate filled words to him.

"I will never forgive you."