The Princess's Guardian

23

The Gueses who were in charge of guarding the gates to the castle are dead. There is no doubt that there's someone from the inside who had ratted out to whoever's chasing after the Princess. No one dares to talk until Elena switches place with Sunny since Sunny knows the way to medical aid. 

"Are my parents okay? What happened to Geronimo?" Sunny asks Mikael softly when they're both alone at the driver's seat of the carriage with me still wrapped around her neck.

A small emotion appear on his stoic face for a moment. Grief. 

"I didn't see your parents anywhere... Geronimo... He pushed Leonardo out of the way and Luna got the attacker down. She didn't see another coming up from behind," Mikael says with a strong voice. 

Sunny is quiet as she process his words. 

"Elena thinks that this is an assassination plot for the heir to the thrones. Earth Kingdom never had the best security for royals, so you were an easy target to this terrorist group. This was the only time that Leonardo was nearly killed and it happened in this Kingdom. Coincidence?" Mikael explains calmly, driving the horse to make a turn. 

Sunny lets out a sad sigh. "I've always suspected that we have a traitor in our Council. Someone must have told them that I was on Earth and that's how the Hellpod found me. My parents refused to acknowledge my concern over this issue and that was their downfall."

Although it is not said, I can tell in everyone's minds that they are playing with the possibility of Sunny's parents being in onto this issue. They have been dismissive over their daughter's safety and eager to make the Council happy by hosting the Ball. It's either Sunny's parents are weak or they're traitors as well. 

For Sunny's sake, I hope that her parents are just trying to please the bunch of egoistic snobs. 

"Stop here," Sunny orders when we reach a familiar street. I perk from my perch on Sunny's shoulders. She absentmindedly strokes my scaly body as she instructs Mikael to get rid of the distinguishable carriage for a more plain one. Elena and Leonardo carries a battered Luna out while Sunny leads them to a closed tea shop.

My best friend knocks on the door non-stop until someone inside turns on the light.

"Sunderlette?" Rengie's sleepy voice laces with confusion. "Isn't there supposed to -"

Sunny quickly pulls the young female Guese back into the shop and waves for the others to follow.  Rengie gasps at the sight of Luna and wastes no time in instructing them to go to the back of the shop. 

"Is this your work?" Rengie asks, peeling out the makeshift bandage off Luna.

"I tried to stop the bleeding," Sunny replies.

Rengie asks everyone to leave the room and gets to work on healing the Warrior Princess. Leonardo falls to the ground and starts to sob uncontrollably when the adrenaline wears off. Elena wraps her arms around her brother in comfort as the siblings grieve for their cousin. Sunny lets out a shaky breath and stands by the entrance of the shop, looking out for Mikael. 

When everyone is regrouped and have another carriage for stand-by, the tea shop is silent with anticipation for Luna's wellbeing. Tert comes down and act as Rengie's nurse. Sunny and the others are welcomed to freshen up at the bathroom and change into ordinary clothes. 

Leonardo seems to shut down, leaving Mikael to ensure that his Handler is clean and taken care of. Sunny and Elena converses in the dimly-lit tea shop about what to do next. 

"We can't stay here like waiting ducks," Elena says fiercely. "I'm sorry, but Earth Kingdom is compromised."

"Luna can't travel that far and she needs time to heal," Sunny argues, looking frantically at the maps she has in her bag. She seems to be prepared for a quick escape, making me think that she truly didn't trust anyone after the Hellpod incident. 

"Do you know any safe places that are at least in this Kingdom? We can't trust my parents or any Earth authorities. I also don't feel comfortable with other Kingdom's authorities." 

Elena furrows her eyebrows in thought. "What about the Oppenheim League? They're the best of the best and all their agents are loyal to the organisation."

"What if the League decides that heir to the thrones are dangerous and they're really the bad guys?" Sunny says dryly, not wanting to take any risks. 

The Wind Kingdom princess sighs. "We can't just survive this on our own, Sunny. We need  help to get to the bottom of this. It's clear that running away is only delaying the inevitable and more people are going to die in the process."

The two princesses flinch at the term. Two royals nearly died while one is perished. There is no doubt that more people are going to be hurt until the heir to the thrones are dead. That is, if their theory about Leonardo and Sunny are the true targets is even accurate. If so, the other Kingdoms will definitely have the same problem as them. 

"What about the royals from other Kingdoms?" Sunny asks almost quietly. It is a taboo topic in this world to even bring up about bringing together the four Kingdoms.

"It's a safety risk for us to even travel to their Kingdoms, Sunny," Elena says. "We know almost nothing about them and I've heard rumours that outsiders can be burnt to crisps once they step into the Fire Kingdom's land. The Water Kingdom's location is a mystery itself, especially since we need proper scuba gears to even get there."

Sunny nods, knowing all of this. "I know, I know. It just doesn't sit well with me that there is a chance that if they were murdered, we could have done something about it... like send a warning message or something. What's going to happen if the heirs to the throne are killed? What if the whole royal family is gone? Is this terrorist group planning to take over our Kingdoms? Will the Gods appoint a more worthy family to be royals and be given Guardians? So many uncertainties."

"Don't be pessimistic, Sunny," Elena scolds with a glare. "You're not going to die. We will find a way to find out who's behind these attacks and bring them to justice for Geronimo's death. We focus one step at a time, got it?"

Sunny nods mutely and focuses on the next step. "Alright, the Oppenheim League seems to be our only option. They're already aware of my previous assassination attempt, so I'm pretty sure they're also aware of what happened tonight. Let's take this subtle route towards the east and then..."