Stormborn

Chapter 7: Freedom

Daniel chuckled at King Ben's remark, "Who do you think you are? We are Stormborn troops, sent here by our Queen. Stormborn rules this place, so there's no reason to 'ask permission' to come in. We do as we like."

Ben gave Daniel an unfriendly smirk, "Do you think I give two flying fish about what your Queen wants to say? This is my kingdom, not hers and as long as I'm in charge, things go as I command it, no other way."

Daniel clenched his fists and laughed before turning to his men, "Take the kids, we're leaving."

Jordan tightly hugged his children and stepped back as the soldiers came closer.

"Oh you're not taking anyone, not on my watch," Ben said as he stepped closer to Daniel.

"I don't take orders from -"

He was interrupted when Ben slapped him, sending him falling to the ground.

He placed his hand on the red spot on his face as he pushed himself up, "I'm gonna make you wish you never did that!"

"Threatening royal authority is punishable by death," Skylar said from the far back as she wearily looked up at Daniel.

"Thanks babe," Ben said as he blew a kiss towards her.

With apparently no other choice, Daniel went towards his troops and told them to fall back.

As Daniel passed Ben he glared, a glare so strong it would make any normal person be overcome with guilt, but Ben simply brushed it off as he walked over to Jordan, "I'm sorry for all of this, I should be been here earlier," he said while helping him pick up Vector.

Roana was on the floor with Gloria's body tightly held in her arms at the time that Skylar walked over to her, "She was a brave woman," she said.

Roana refused to take her eyes off of Gloria, "What makes you say that?" She asked.

"Any normal woman would've ran instead of staying here and waiting to die," Skylar said as she knelt beside Roana.

"She didn't want to die, she didn't plan to!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really, why would any one want to die? That's rubbish!" Roana said as the tears in her eyes finally escaped.

Skylar pat Roana on the back then embraced her in a warm and kind hug before whispering, "If she didn't want to die, then she wouldn't have went with a smile on her face," shortly after, Skylar got up and walked towards her husband.

Crystal jumped out of her father's arms and ran to Roana's side, "Aunty Roana?"

Roana smiled while brushing Crystal's hair back, "How much times do I have to tell you that I'm not your aunt?"

Crystal smiled but then looked up to Roana with tears in her eyes, "Are you going to stay with us?"

Fighting back the tears, Roana forced herself to smile, "No sweetie, I can't."

"Why!?" Crystal asked as the tears flowed out of her grey eyes.

"Because, some bad people are going to come looking for me soon, since they are looking for you too. If I stay with you, it's going to be much easier for them to find you," Roana said while wiping Crystal's tears and walking her to the point where Jordan was.

"So you knew all along huh?" Asked a familiar voice from behind.

Roana turned only to see her little sister with half her clothes  torn off her body as she sat on the floor, bruised in the exposed areas.

"What happened to you?" Roana asked, rushing to her side.

"While you were over there having your little reunion, my former colleagues were trying to rape me!" She cried, "And not a single one of you cared!"

"Roxanne someone died!" Roana said with a stern face.

"And I almost did! If King Ben didn't show up you would've had two important people in your life dead!" She pulled on the grass beneath her hands as the tears continued to fall, "But I doubt it would matter to you anyways. I always knew you didn't care about me because I'm not your flesh and blood, but I still try, I try to love you as much as a sister could. And this is what I get in return."

Roana was speechless for a few seconds and tried to extend a hand out to Roxanne, but her hand was slapped away, "Don't give me your pity now. I don't need it, I don't need you anymore," Roxanne said as she took up her bow and walked away, disappearing into the woods.

Feeling guilty, Roana turned to face every one else, who all began to whistle nervously, trying to pretend that they heard nothing.

"Thank you for your help King Ben," Roana said.

"The pleasure's all mine, and please, just call me Ben," King Ben replied.

Roana nodded and looked towards Jordan and the kids, "Take care of them," she said as she head in the direction of the forest.

"And where are you going?" Jordan asked.

"I'm going to look for Roxanne," Roana replied.

"I could have a search party help you out," Skylar suggested.

"No, she's my sister. It's my job to look for her, no one else's. Plus I want to make amends to her and if I had anyone to help me, it wouldn't mean much," she said as she stepped off into the forest, in pursuit of her sister.

"So what do you plan to do now?" Ben asked Jordan.

"I don't know," he said while hugging Crystal.

"If you want I could get you a place to stay for a while. All expenses would be paid by me until you have no further use for the home I give you," Ben suggested.

"That would be nice, very nice," Jordan replied.

They all went inside the helicopter that Ben had arrived in and silence filled the air.

"Aren't you afraid they come back?" Jordan asked, "I mean, Stormborn does rule this place."

Ben chuckled, "A king or a queen is only as powerful as they claim to be. Vecha has been under Stormborn's rule for over a thousand years, ever since they stormed this place and took it to it's knees. That was a thousand years ago, this is now. There's nothing that states that I can't reclaim my Kingdom, and there's also nothing that says that Stormborn still has control over any of the five kingdoms other than itself, of course."

"Aren't you afraid they decide to reclaim the land though?" Jordan asked in curiosity.

"Nope, not at all. You see, Vecha is the only Kingdom that owns an Orb mine and every kingdom needs orb to power them, so right now, we have the advantage. If they choose to send their armies here to retake the land, all orb export to Stormborn will be stopped."

Crystal sat up in Jordan's lap looking over to her unconscious brother, "Will the bad people be able to reach us in here?" She asked.

Skylar smiled, "Of course not. Vecha is now a free kingdom, no longer under Stormborn's rule so they can't get in."

"And I think that after finding out that their rightful Queen is alive, most of Stormborn will rebel and join your side," Ben said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Jordan asked.

"Didn't you know?" Ben asked, in a shocking tone, "Your wife Gloria Stein is the rightful ruler of Stormborn, but her sister, Olivia Stein, sentenced her to death in order to take the throne. Your wife obviously didn't die at that point but now she is dead, which automatically makes your daughter, the rightful Queen of Stormborn."