Love At First Kingdom

Chapter Seven

" John! We have a problem!" Maria slams the door open. This is the loudest I've heard her. She kicked her shoes off so she could run and tied her hair up in a bun.

"What is it?"He stands and jaw sets. His nervous posture melts and he's once again the fearless king.

"Someone tipped Burr off that we have a human." She growls and his hands curl into fist. His voice goes sharp.

" Find out who it is and get Alexander hidden." He starts out of the room, I catch his arm.

"I dont want to hide."I shake my head. Our eyes meet and we search each other's for a mutual agreement.

"You dont have a choice. "He huffs and tries to go off again. My grip tightens.

"I'm not a doll. I want to fight,I dont want to hide. It's ts cowardly and wrong."I glare

"Do you have an ounce of magic in you?" He growls.

"Well...I.. No." I look down.

"Then you cant fight." He yanks out of my touch and is gone in the blink of an eye. I watch after him,narrow my eyes,and huff.

"You're not going to stay hidden,are you?" Maria sighs, she sounds like a mother tired of dealing with toddlers. I shake my head. "Well, what can you do?"

"I'm pretty good with a bow."I offer. She studies me for a minute and chews on her cheek.

"Alright,come on." There's a loud crash and boom. Maria and I look at eachother and we both start running. Hercules runs by and skidds to a stop. The castle staff and gaurds are on in utter chaos around us.

" Where the hell are you going? "He turns to Maria." Where the hell is he going?"

"To fight."she gives my arm a yank to get me out of my daze and we continue on, Hercules following.

"No,no,no,no! No way! You know what John said!"He protests. " He is to hide in the castle catacombs!"

" And he is getting a bow right now." She glare and yanks open a door. The castle armory. I gasp and eyes widen. They walls are stacked with hundreds of bows,knives, swords, arrows, axes, anything anyone could imagen." Be quick. Quivers are over there and you can see the bows."

" Maria this is a really bad idea and...." Hercules starts

"We need all the help we can get. He might suprise us. He might get hurt. I'll be with him to keep him alive." She assures.

"Damn healers..." He cracks a smile and shakes his head.

"It'll be okay. I'll keep him safe." She gives a tight smile back.Hercules chews on his lips and nods slowly. Next to Maria he seems like a giant. But she could not stand any taller with authority,she has the same air to her as John. He presses a silver whistle into her hands. A dog whistle. Hercules must be able to hear it.

"Give it a blow if you need any help. Good luck." And with that hes shouting orders and snarling out the window. I quickly grab two quivers ove arrows, they're heavier then what I'm used to, hopefully I'll adjust quickly. My hand yanks a silver bow off the wall and I go back to Maria.

" Good to go." I nod. She gives me a once over before leading me outside,through the courtyard, and outside the walls. It's still as a graveyard. Silent as one too. The castle walls high up are lined with archers. The stone statues and gargoyles once still shift on their pedestals or pace angerily.

"Keep your head down,don't make eye contact with Burr should he look over here, and keep your mouth shut." Her voice drops to a whisper but in the silence to me it sounds like a scream. I nod and run my fingers over the engravings on the silver handle.

I take in the stone road that leads over a bridge and to a road into town. The grass around the castle is neatky cut, as are the hills that seem to roll on for milesand miles.

I catch john no more then fifty feet away from us. His posture is ridged and teeth bared, he looks like a loaded spring. Burr, or who I assume is burr, is much less tense. His shoulders are relaxed and feet comfortably apart. His handsare foldes behind his back and face relaxed. As they speak John's features become sharper and his muscles tense more and more. Yet joy and glee is in Burr's eyes instead of fear and anger.

John laughs tightly and smirks, he looks up at the sky and he rolls his shoulders,his gaze falls back on burr and he gives a sarcastic smile. His lips move, im too far to hear what he said, but Burr's not. His eyes widen and body tenses, he's frozen for thirty seconds before he snarls. Faster then my mortal eyes can watch Aaron's hand springs forward and too sharp to be natural teeth bare. I could've sworn that his teeth looked normal earlier when he gave a calm,cool, and collected smile.

John staggers back with a dagger in my arm. He doesn't look in pain,just stunned. His eyes are wide as he looks between the wound and burr. His shock melts into a grin and he laughs.

"John shut up, youre playing with fire."Maria mutters. The trees in the distant sway and shimmer like something,or someone's, in their branches. I frown and slowly pull an arrow from one quiver and load it into the string. "Alex."Maria scolds.

"I'm not going to shoot at him. I'm going to shoot at whatever the hell's over there." I frown and slowly lift up my bow. Maria puts its down.

"Why?"

"Anyone from this castle would be in there," I point inside,"or up there." I point up at the wall." No one would be way over there climbing a tree. So how,or what, is over there cant be on our side. I dont like how burr just stabbed John and they're still just taunting eachother like school children. If what John said is right then burr has something up his sleeve and those trees are a perfect hidding place."

"You're the smartest human I've I've ever met. "She moves her hand and I fully pull up the bow.

"I'm the only human." I point out . The silver tip catches the sun and its enough to get Aaron's attention.

He grins like the wolf that has the rabbit in his own home.