Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 22: Part 2

Standing in the field before the edge of the forest, I could almost picture myself somewhere safe. The grass seemed impossibly green and gentle. The sky was clear, and the sun beat down on all of us with it's warm, caressing rays. On either side of me were Arne, Seraphina, Sven, Ogen, Tamas, Alana, and a few more rebels.

I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet, spring air. The flowers we were all adorned with had a gentle perfume that nearly lulled us into a false sense of comfort. But there would be no comfort as we stood awaiting the arrival of the Ithican army.

There were only a few more minutes of peace before we could hear the furious chatter of birds as they rose above the trees, likely disturbed by many moving through the forest. They were almost upon us.

I gripped the hilt of my sword tighter.

The first soldier appeared through the tree line toting a light blue Ithican flag high in the air. Behind him, the army began spilling from the tree line. A small pit grew in my stomach as they kept pouring out of the trees. The light blue fabric of their uniform and the bright reflections of their armor made them look like a lake spanning 1,000 bodies.

We were already outnumbered.

A small part formed in their ranks, and King Henrich and Queen Luciana came forward on pure white horses. If the army was a lake, then the king and queen looked like they were effortlessly skimming across the surface of the water. They had elevated themselves above everyone else.

They came to the front of the human lake and stopped, waiting for my next move. We had just entered into a deadly battle of chess, and I hoped my next move would throw them pause.

My hand rest lightly on the hilt of my sword as I stepped forward from my own warriors and began to walk towards the opposing army. Queen Luciana and King Henrich didn't move a muscle. They practically looked like statues in their perfectly pristine armor perched upon immaculate mounts.

"Hello, mother and father," I greeted.

"Amberleigh, I see you and your little Elven rebels are trying to win the gods over with your little flower ritual. It's folly, come back with us now, a few flowers won't save them," Luciana said.

I stared up at her with the sun a backdrop to her regal armor. She wore a cape of crisscrossed metal studded with jewels so fine that it looked like fabric. She practically looked god-like, but I had met the gods, and she was nothing like them. I stood my ground firm and unyielding. I may not bear their finery upon my body, but I wore the traditions of my ancestors and of those I was trying to save. It was more than they could say.

"I won't be going back with you. I won't turn my back on them, and I won't let you steal my power. It is time that you are stopped, but before that," I paused and scanned the rows of blank-faced soldiers before me. "I think your army deserves to know the truth."

I stole a breath to project my voice loud enough so that all could hear, or at least I hoped they could. "Queen Luciana has been blessed with a conniving and unscrupulous tongue. Think of everything she has ever told and question if it is the truth. I have discovered the truth, and I wish today could go without death, so I speak now, hoping that I can convince even some of you to defect to the resistance. You are being forced to fight in a battle that you don't even know the full depth of.

"Over the years, the Elven rulers have grown increasingly corrupt, filling the lands with racism leading to the enslavement of Fauns and Satyrs and ripping mixed families apart. They have staunched magical education to force inferiority in other races and have plotted to kill me, their daughter, to steal my power.

"The gods have spoken to me, and they are unhappy with the darkness that has infected the land caused by these rulers. They ask you to fight against, and to kill, innocents who have been pushed out of their homes and kept from happiness because of King Henrich and Queen Luciana. If you do not want to fight for these snakes, or you do not wish to kill mothers, fathers, friends, or lovers that simply want to live a life of equality and acceptance. Then I ask you to defect to the resistance."