The King of Stars and Storms

Chapter Twelve

Elizabeth stood in the throne room with the three leaders, Luca, Christopher and Alfie when one of Queen Diana's personal guards came bounding through the door, breathless. Diana stood from her throne worriedly as the guard came in. "What is it?" "It's.." "It's..." The guard spoke between breaths. "Spit it out." The guard finally caught his breath. "King Gabriel. He's here." Elizabeth glanced between Luca and Christopher. The queen let out a big sigh. "Alright. It's time to fight." Diana looked at Mason and the Supreme. "Gather your men. It's showtime." The Supreme and Mason rushed out the room, whilst Elizabeth ran over to Luca. "You alright?" Luca nodded, but inside he was panicking. Even though he had been training he was worried about facing his father. Would he freeze and let them fall? Would he stand up to him and stop him? Elizabeth spoke up easing him out of his thoughts. "Luca I know this is tough for you but you are doing the right thing." Luca nodded. "I know. We better go." Luca and Elizabeth hastily walked out of the room and back towards the entrance. They stepped out of the courts and saw the king and his army headed towards them. Their hands went straight to the weapons drawing them stepping forward as the number of soldiers stepped out behind them, two at a time.

They stepped forward one foot at a time before they were met with the king's horses. "Elizabeth? Luca? What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked, to Elizabeth he surprisingly sounded shocked. "We know what you did five years ago and we know what you were, are planning to do here and we can't let you hurt innocent people." Elizabeth spat. "You know nothing, girl." The king returned. "I know you put the faeries up to burn down villages and kill everyone just to find me. Was I really worth it?" "You're my daughter. You were taken from me." "That doesn't excuse what you've done and what you are about to do," Luca yelled. Everyone behind them stopped. Elizabeth stared at him. "You don't know what it takes to be king." "I know that you don't kill the very people you're meant to protect, who look to you for guidance and leadership. Who is meant to respect and be loyal to you." Luca stated.  Gabriel glanced down at the swords in their hands. "I see that you are here to fight me, children." Gabriel sighed. "We want to stop you by any means necessary," Elizabeth told him. "I actually thought that you and I might actually get to have a bond but I suppose not." Elizabeth snarled at him. "That was before you killed my parents and changed my life." Gabriel looked up from his children and glanced over the number of soldiers behind them. "Wow you really have pulled out all the stops to put an end to this haven't you?" Elizabeth shrugged her shoulder. "We just want to have a ruler that we can put our trust in. One that isn't going to kill us all to get what he wants. If you carry on like this you won't have anyone to rule over." Gabriel laughed. "You guys have no idea. You don't know what you are up against." Gabriel looked to his men and nodded and if one swift movement they were on the ground advancing towards them.

Elizabeth didn't have time to react before she lifted her sword to meet the soldier's move. Her sword met his but he started to push it towards her, she pushed back and managed to push his arm away before bringing her sword up to meet his shoulder but met his sword instead. She spun, swiping her sword across his torso drawing blood. The soldier fell to the ground huddled over in pain. She ran forward towards another soldier and held her sword out slicing it through his soldier. Elizabeth halted and looked behind her. She spotted Christopher, Alfie, other members of the Masters, members of the faerie army and members of the elf army fighting soldiers of the king's army. She looked back to where she started and saw Luca fighting with Gabriel, and he wasn't doing so well. She underestimated how good the king was so she went over to lend a hand. Elizabeth now stood behind the king and dug the hilt of her sword in between his shoulders. He fell forward and Luca looked directly at her. Gabriel turned his head to look up at her and snarled.

Elizabeth smirked at him. "Thought Luca couldn't handle me by himself?" Elizabeth shook her head. "Nope. Just thought that we could double up." Elizabeth heard a battle cry come from behind her, when she heard it getting closer she lifted her elbow and hit the man in the face, knocking him out. Elizabeth leapt over next to Luca and twisted her sword in her hand before swinging her sword missing him slightly as he jumped back. "You ungrateful boy. I have given you everything." Luca shook his head swinging his sword across his fathers face just grazing his left cheek creating a shallow wound, making Gabriel hiss. "Based on blood and lies." Swung at them but only Elizabeth managed to spin around missing the blow whereas Luca only had time to bring his sword halfway to connect with Gabriel's. Elizabeth brought the hilt of her sword down on his head letting him fall to the ground clutching the top of his skull. When he turned his head round to look at her, she brought it down once more and connected it with his cheek, his hand slipped slightly making him collide with the mud. Elizabeth and Luca paused for a moment to see if he would retaliate and when he didn't they went to help the others. 

Elizabeth promptly looked around at the battle that was going on around her. She spotted Christopher on the ground, sword nowhere near his body gradually backing away from the soldiers. She ran over to him, swinging her sword across the back of the knees. The man suddenly stopped and tumbled down, clutching his legs in pain. Elizabeth held her hand out to Christopher, which he took and jumped to his feet. Christopher nodded. "Thanks." He glanced over her shoulder. "Elizabeth lookout." She spun and connected her sword with the soldier's, who didn't look much older than she did. She managed to shove him back slightly, swung her fist, colliding it with his cheek. When he was distracted, so to speak, Elizabeth placed her hands on his shoulders and brought her knee into his stomach. Once he was on the ground she connected her foot with his face knocking him out. 

They were too busy trying to fight off his men, that they didn't realise that Gabriel had gotten up from where he lay and headed towards his horse. The Supreme was the only one to notice this, so she fought her way over to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth. The king is escaping. Take Luca and go after him." Elizabeth looked in that direction and saw that he was about to get away. She spotted Luca and rushed over to him. "We have to go." She yelled. Luca looked at her confused. "What? Why?" He yelled in response. "Gabriel. He's getting away." He didn't need to respond after that. They raced over to their horses and rushed after him. The further they got away from the battlefield Luca realised that he was headed to the castle. "He's headed to the castle." He told her. Elizabeth stared ahead of her worriedly. "We won't get there before him. What about all the people in there? What if he has men waiting for his return knowing that some of us would follow him?" She said frantically. "We'll just have to find a way to get everybody out of the castle whilst we stop him." Elizabeth nodded not taking her eyes off of Gabriel.

ⒸSashabarrow1999