The Crimson Queen

5. Home

"And why's that, old man?" He raised his brow. Seemingly surprised by his uncalled for choice of words, the farmer narrows his brows.

"I shouldn't have said anything."

Theodore was never a patient person, but he really tried to stay composed. "I asked you-," he started commanding, almost biting his tung as he realized he could no longer use his authority as a king.

"Please, tell me what you meant." He grits through his teeth.

Surprised by his change of attitude the farmer searched his eyes for an explanation, before dropping it and speaking on, "Because of the rebellion." He whispered before looking over his shoulder to check if his wife was anywhere close to them.

"Rebellion?" Theodore asked surprised.

"You folks haven't heard of it?"

Theodore shook his head no, and lied, "We come from the East, we haven't heard much of anything lately."

"Oh," the old farmer said, leaning closer to Theodore. The light of the candles let the wrinkles around the mans eyes look deeper than they were. "Apparently there's an upcoming rebellion that plans on attacking soon." He whispered.

Theodore stared at the man seriously. "Attacking who?" He asked before taking another sip.

The man leaned back out but kept his head low. "The royal family. A merchant came by here last week from Lyria, since the war ended, and he's told me about a possible upcoming rebellion group called 'the rising'."

Theodore perked his ears, but showed no emotion towards the man. He finished his drink and got up. "It's a good thing we've got nothing to do with the royal family, then."

Surprised the farmer looked at him. "I'll be going upstairs." Theodore said, wanting to be close to Alice.

He didn't care about being rude. He stepped up the stairs while putting his helmet back on and saw Emeric sitting next to the door, his eyes falling shut. When he heard Theodore his eyes shot open but he relaxed again quickly.

"You here to take over?" He asked visibly tired. Theodore nodded.

"Alright then, I'll go down to the others." Emeric said while getting up. Emeric didn't know why but he had a weird feeling about Dorn. He never took of his helmet and before this task he'd never even heard of him.

Remembering how Dorn had protected the princess during their ambush he shook of the strange feeling and left. Theodore leaned against the door and and sighed. Even if they were in different rooms he felt like he could feel her suffering. He wanted to be closer to his bonded.

He quietly turned the knob of the door and looked inside. He could only see the back of Alice as she was turned to the side covered by a blanket.

Her long hair was splattered behind her as she slowly inhaled and exhaled.

He opened the door further and stepped towards her after closing it again. Leaning over her he could see her tear stained face and it reminded him of their first encounter. He removed his gauntlet from his right hand and stroked his fingers over Alice's head. Her eyes fluttered and her body seemed more relaxed as he did.

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Hours later the early sun had started to rise, making its warm rays tickle Emeric awake. The others were still sleeping and the dew had left his armor covered in small droplets. Soon he'd snuck into the little house and gone up the stairs.

He was abruptly awake after seeing that Dorn was no longer in front of the door. He ran towards the door and ripped it open, while gripping the hilt of his sword.

Theodore quickly looked up and grabbed his hilt aswell. Both of them stared at each other, distrustfully. Emeric didn't understand why Dorn had entered the princesses room, he doubted that she'd allowed it and Theodore didn't like the fact that Emeric seemed to think him unworthy.

Theodore got up from his leaned position against Alice's bed frame, never letting go of his sword.

There was a tension between the two that could only foresee trouble.

Alice day up still half asleep and both of the men relaxed. "Good Morning," Emeric spoke. "We must be getting on the way, your highness."

Alice nodded and as only minutes later she'd been seated on her horse. Theodore was the last to leave the farmers house and he placed two gold coins on the table, where he'd sat and drunken last night.

The farmer couple was still sleeping, but Theodore had done so many bad things, the least he could do was to ease their lives a little financially.

On the ride to the borders, Alice felt numb. Only as she'd seen her brothers body once more she'd really realized that he had actually died.

Alice was trapped with her thoughts and the pain in her chest came back in waves, never leaving her. Making it seem unbearably present the entire time.

There were four  paved ways to get from one kingdom to the other and Theodore was sure that they were all being guarded by the Lyrian army, awaiting their princess to return.

And he wasn't wrong. Only about half an hour after leaving the village they'd been stopped by Lyrian knights. "Hold it." One of them riding a horse said.

He came towards them and blocked their path as he commanded to know who they were. Alice simply pulled down her cloak and explained that she was the princess of Lyria. The knight knew of her arrival which is why he trusted that it was the real thing.

He bowed on his horse as the knights behind him all kneeled and welcomed her back. It didn't take long before they arrived at the tall gates of the Lyrian castle.

Theodore had always planned on coming here, but to siege the castle. As fate had played it here he was now, as a knight, without anyone knowing.

While they trottet along through the castles gates and towards the big staircase leading to the main entrance of the castle, the King and Queen of Lyria had already come running down the steps.

Alice got of the horse and at the sight of her parents the pain interpolating with the numbness she'd been feeling finally let up. "Alice!" Her mother shouted as she almost ran her daughter over, embracing her in a hug so tight that it almost hurt.

She kissed her daughter and Alice shed a tear of happiness, as the King, whose figure was rounder than Theodore had expected, came up behind the two woman and hugged them tightly as he shortly lifted both of them up in happiness.

"Mother, father! I've missed you so much." Alice sobbed continuously hugging them both. "Oh and we've missed you too, sweetheart." Her father laughed hugging back.

But their joy was short lived when her mother caught a glimpse of the horses, while looking for her son. Her eyes wandered to the body wrapped into a cloak.

"Alice, dear, where is you brother?" She asked concerned, and the King looked up at the horses and knights and then down to his daughter.

Alice's pain came crashing back, as she couldn't bring the words to come out of her mouth. "Alice?" Her father asked but she could only shake her head subtly, signaling them that their son was no more.

The king gripped his face to hide his sudden outburst of tears and the queen shouted out in pain as she slid to the floor.

The sounds of their pain was to be heard for what seemed like an endless amount of time. Losing one of their children was the biggest pain any of them had ever felt in their lives.