Cost of the Crown (UNREVISED VERSION)

Red

A war struck. It was a war against every other kingdom that wasn't an ally. All the bloodshed and gore that could scar anyone...

Blood spilled on the battlefield as the King planned their attack.

"Your Majesty! We are close to being outnumbered, what is the plan?" A herald comes rushing into the tent.

The king was glaring at the battle map before him with his knuckles turning white upon tightly grasping the edge of the table, ready to topple it over if everything were to go even more wrong.

"Call the troops, we will retreat." He says with his head low.

"But sire!"

"I can't stand to lose more of my people! Call the troops. We will defend our kingdom."

The herald bows before riding to the knights on the battlefield.

"The king ordered a retreat!" The herald announces with a voice slowly going hoarse over the amount of yelling he is doing just to make sure that no man is left behind. He could hear many knights echoing his command, "Retreat! Men, retreat!", calling out to their fellow men, running past the herald who rides against the stampede.

They ride to the east, leaving hundreds of their allies, dead. The sun was setting as they ride into the darkness with blood on their hands. It was chaos.

As they retreat, the queen in the castle was getting worried with every envelope she receives.

"Mom, where's dad? He promised to be here..." the princess looks at her mother with watery eyes.

"I know darling... He did promise to be back by your birthday... But you need to understand..." The queen reassures, holding her daughter's hands.

The doors of the castle open suddenly showing an injured herald limping his way towards the queen as he holds the crown of his king.

"My queen... The king... The kingdom... Danger..." Those were his last words before dropping dead in front of the queen and the princess. His hand let go of the crown sending it rolling to the throne.

The princess watches the crown roll towards them and with quivering lips, she mutters, "M-mom..."

The queen stares at the fallen crown silently as she trembles with eyes filled with tears of rage. She lets go of her daughter, slowly walks over to the crown just a few steps before her then she fell on her knees. Shock fills the silence as no one dares to even flinch as everyone watches their queen take the bloodied crown and tightly hug it close to her chest, almost piercing through her gown. What once was purple, now dirtied with red and the scent of blueberries and hyacinths, turned burning with the smell of iron and rust.

The silence was broken when someone called out, "Maria!". The voice continued calling and it echoed louder and louder until the person sees the whole scene. The queen kneeling, sobbing and finally letting out a gut-wrenching scream that induced guilt and pain throughout everyone inside the room; the servants standing at the sidelines, not even daring to look at their grieving queen; and Maria, the little girl right beside the throne who is blankly staring at the dead herald in front of her mother.

This person, a young prince, older than Maria, is running towards her in a panic with the composure of a monk under a waterfall and once he takes his sister in a tight hug, he feels the tears finally reveal themselves. "Everything will be alright," he says loosely, not even believing what he said as he caressed Maria's head.

The young prince lets go of the hug and kneels in front of his sister, taking her hand asking, "Do you want to go to your room?"

Maria rubs the tears away from her eyes while nodding profusely and her brother continued, "Uppies?" to which the little girl opened her arms, letting her brother carry her to her room. When they take a step into Maria's room, she starts crying louder, startling the prince that's carrying her to her bed.