Disaster Ever After [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 5 - Freedom

The entire world seemed to still at the sound of the stranger's voice. At the word he had spoken and at the sheer panic that engulfed the one who had been called.

There was no doubt about it, Gabrielle was frozen in shock and terror. This couldn't be happening! It just couldn't! This had to be a nightmare, an illusion, a trick. There was no way someone had found her.

Yet the equally shocked look on Cedric's face assured her of the reality of the situation. Chess had been sitting in her lap as she had been reading a book, but now, for the first time in two years, she saw a different emotion other than amusement flickering in his eyes: confusion. He was not as scared as she was, he did not fully understand what was happening and what could happen to all four of their lives, yet the change in his demeanor said enough of his uneasiness.

Remington, on the other hand, remained composed as he sat in his armchair, but the restless and agitated way his long white ears moved spoke more than words could. He was just as apprehensive as Chess, maybe even more so.

"Princess Gabrielle?" the voice came again, startling the four of them from their tense silence.

At her name being called, the girl could no longer hope for a misunderstanding on the stranger's part. There were no other princesses called Gabriella in all the lands, at least not as far as she knew, and the chance of some other princess with the same name as her and who happened to also be searched for was too small.

There was no other explanation: the stranger had been sent by her mother to get her back. Or maybe just kill her now, as she was aware that the queen wanted her dead.

"Princess, I know you're up there!" the stranger continued to yell from the base of the tower. "The villagers told me of a young girl by the name of Gabrielle living here, don't worry, I'll save you!"

The girl didn't know what to do. Thoughts of running away filled her mind, but she didn't get to express them before Cedric got up and marched towards the door. Just before he could slip away towards the staircase, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back inside the room.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, in a hopeless attempt not to let the stranger know she was truly there. "We have to go, we need to escape and find a new place to stay."

"Not again, Gabrielle, I won't run away again." he shook his head at her. "What has the last time we did that helped us with? We'll never be truly safe unless we get rid of the threat!"

"And you want to what? Kill him? When we could easily fly away and find a new shelter?"

"If I don't do this now, he'll just continue searching for us. And he'll find us again, no doubt, and then we'll have to run to another place. Do you want to be on the run your entire life? Hunted like deer in the woods, never safe and never sure when the next time you'll have to run will come?" Cedric replied, eyes filled with determination.

"Of course I don't want that, I never did, but I chose this path myself. And you chose it with me. Besides, how would you know whether the queen won't just send another soldier after me?"

"I don't, but a chance at freedom is better than none, wouldn't you say?"

"Not when the price is a human life!" Gabrielle countered.

"A human who's determined to hunt you down and bring you back to your certain doom," he reminded her. "A human who works for the queen, a human who-"

"You don't even know his story, though! He could just be a normal soldier, working for the queen of his kingdom, who just follows orders because that's what he has been taught to do his entire life! He could have a family, wife, kids, friends. And you would just take his life, take the life an innocent man?"

"To protect you, I would!" Cedric snapped at her, his gaze burning into hers. "Because I care about you, because you're my friend and I would do anything to keep you safe!"

"But at what cost, Cedric?" Gabrielle asked, her eyes tearing up as her throat seemed to tighten from emotion.

"At any cost."

"Let's just go, Cedic, let's fly away, away from danger and this man. Let's find a new place where we can live peacefully. Please, Cedric, please. let's just go!" she begged, her vision blurry with desperate tears. "Why risk yourself when we could just go...?"

"Because without this small risk, we'll never be truly free."

And with that, Cedric swiftly closed the door, locking it from the outside. His hurried footsteps as he ran down the staircase couple barely be heard under the girl's pained sobs. Her friend was in danger, ready to risk his own life to take another's, just so that they could have a shot at a normal life. She frantically tried to open the door, but it was all in vain.

She had almost forgotten that her two friends were there too, silently watching their argument. She turned towards them, eyes red and body trembling. Chess and Remmy were watching her carefully, unsure about what they should do in the situation.

"Can any of you pick locks?" she asked them, her voice shaky and small.

The cat and the rabbit both shook their heads.

Suddenly, from outside, a booming cry was heard. It was unmistakably the roar of a dragon.

The fight had begun.