The Sanctuary

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

We dropped on the other side, as silently as our training allowed. We had landed in a thick brush, a garden of some sorts. The grass was soft under my feet, but felt wrong. It wasn't the Briarwood forest, full of imperfections and chaos. It was soft and lush, pefectly thick and gardened. I hated it.

Marvine waved at us, and we began to follow him, trusting Marvine’s keen sense of direction. We kept low, our steps silent and carefully placed. I peeked through the shadowed trees that surrounded us, and blinks of light began to break through the spaces. We were getting closer to the Farsay Castle, but from the side, hidden by the large trees in the garden. We had avoided the guards. Marvine was a genius.

We stopped, as Marvine put a finger to his lips. Now the Castle was much closer, looming over us with its daunting size. The castle was impressive. Four towers surrounded the main building. They were several stories high. There was another entrance just to enter the courtyard of the castle, that was heavily guarded, much more than the initial gates. I quickly scouted the area, checking for some sort of a spot for us to sneak through undetected. 

There were archers walking on the tops of the towers. Men with large swords patrolling the grounds. 

This was impossible!

My shoulders sagged as we waited, watching the movement of the guards. My mind tried was racing with possible solutions, but I couldn't find any. Those Saiyaran children were put under lock and key. This retrieval would not be easy. 

A sudden form appeared in front of us.

I nearly screamed. A palace guard!

He looked at us with little surprise. Before I could raise my sword, Chara grabbed a hold of my arm. I watched as the guard surveyed us carefully and then connected eyes with Marvine. A look passed between them, befoe the palace guard nodded his head and turned quickly, walking towards the closest watchtower.

Marvine waved at us to follow. My heart was thumping loudly, my mind filled with confusion as we followed the Farsay to the entrance to one of the towers. The other palace guard that was guarding the tower entrance barely gave us another glance.

I shot a shocked look at Jonrick. He looked just as surprised as I did. Only Chara and Edaward seemed nonplussed.

We seem to have more allies in the Kingdom than we thought, I thought with a beating heart, thinking back to Boyce’s strange words.

We entered the tower entrance, but the castle guard that was leading us did not follow us in. He closed us in. Darkness fell upon us.

I looked around, instantly thinking that it was a trap, but there was nothing but a swirl of stairs in front of us, leading up high into the top reaches of the tower.

“We will send the three children here if we cannot make it out,” Marvine said quietly. “Be ready.”

Marvine, Edward and Chara then muttered the words quickly, as if trying to get it out. “Seek courage. Seek strength. Seek life. Seek freedom. Seek revenge.” I mouthed the words along with them, my mind whirling.

 This was all too real.

 Chara gave  me a quick hug and smiled at me. “We’ll be back,” she promised. And then with a final wave, they disappeared up the stairs.

 Jonrick and I were left in the silence of the tower.

 “I don’t understand this,” I whispered, quietly into the darkness. “What are we doing? The entire Farsay Kingdom know that there are Forbiddens traipsing around their land. They know what we're after. Why are we still going through with this?”