A Week Later
The group traveled back through the forest, taking a break every night to rest. Rowan and Kronos started to recover from their injuries as the week went by, but Jesika's burns remained mostly the same, with only slight improvement.
After a little over a week, they neared the kingdom's outer walls, but when they reached the gates, the knights didn't open up for them. Jesika frowned from where she sat behind Darryn on Rocky.
"What's going on? Why aren't they opening the gates? Don't they recognize me?" Jesika asked, mostly to herself. She rose her voice, shouting to the knights: "It's your queen, Queen Jesika Ivory Snow Binet. I order you to open the gates!"
The knights only glanced at one another. After a couple minutes, they opened up the gates. They slowly walked in, a frown rising to Jesika's face. When they arrived in the kingdom, their hearts skipped a beat.
The kingdom was in ruins. Peasant homes were vandalized and burnt, stores and markets broken into and stolen from, people lying dead in the streets. An ominous feeling fell over the group.
Something terrible had happened in their absence.
They walked through the kingdom a little more, assessing the damage. Soon they found the first civilian wandering around, a middle-aged woman with a terrified look on her face. They stopped beside the woman and Darryn dismounted Rocky to stand before her.
"Ma'am, can you please explain what has happened to the kingdom?"
The woman was trembling viciously, glancing around nervously. "Not... here... They're listening... Follow me," she replied, still glancing around.
Darryn glanced back at the group, shrugging. They nodded in agreement with his silent question. Yes, they would follow. Darryn hopped back on Rocky and followed the woman into an alleyway, hidden away. The group dismounted except for Jesika.
"What happened to my kingdom?" Jesika asked forcefully.
The woman still continued to glance around, almost as if it was a nervous tick. "A rival kingdom attacked, Grumor. Stormed in late in the night with their army, mighty beasts tearing through everything, rival knights imprisoning or enslaving everyone and killing them if they didn't listen to orders."
"What?! Rival kingdom?! How in the world did they get past our guards?! How were they not stopped?!" Jesika asked, her voice rising.
The woman finally stopped glancing around, glaring straight at Jesika. She slowly rose her hand, pointing a trembling finger at her. "It's all your fault, Your Majesty."
"Mine?!"
"Your trusted friend, Sir Audric, is the king of this rival kingdom. Your absence allowed him to overthrow the kingdom. And now us civilians must pay for your mistakes!" she yelled, her eyes fiery with accusation.
Jesika felt her heart start to race. "What do you mean? Audric isn't king of a rival kingdom! He's loyal to Querencia! He wouldn't do this!!"
The woman shook her head. "Turns out your friend was fooling all of us, playing the part of a loyal council-member until the moment you slipped up and left the kingdom vulnerable. He appointed knights from the rival kingdom in our own army to overthrow us and opened up the gates to his army without our knowing. I suggest that you hide, Your Majesty. If he knows you're back and alive, he will enslave you and later kill you, of this I have no doubt!"
"You're lying!" Jesika yelled, tears rushing from her eyes. Why would the woman say this? Why did she hate Audric? Audric, the last man she looked up to, the last semblance of family she had. Surely, he wouldn't do this. There was no way.
