"Your Highness," A knight dressed in all black, tight-fitting leather clothes and brigandine armor came running towards the young prince who was looking out of the window at the blood-red moon in the sky.

"What have you got for me, Sir Lukariah?" The man turned around at once, his brows furrowing deeper than they already were as he noticed the knight's blood-coated sword. The crimson liquid was dripping down the weapon as it stained the floor, forming a small puddle beside Lukariah's feet.

"Your Highness, we need to leave from here, right now." Lukariah looked behind him in worry as he kept his voice as low as possible.

"What is happening, Sir Lukariah? Why are you so perturbed?" The young man questioned. But before he could get a reply from him, he heard a maid scream from just outside the room, startling him and Lukariah.

"What is happening, Sir Lukariah? Who was that?" The prince shouted. But Lukariah was in no mood to answer him. Instead, he turned around and stood in front of his prince with his sword ready to attack their intruders. He stood like a shield, not allowing his prince and future king to fall into any harm.

"Sir Lukariah, who are these people? Why are they here?"

"Your Highness, we have been surrounded by our enemies. The men we trusted have betrayed us and we are unable to fight our opponents. Most of the warriors have escaped and the ones that have stayed behind are trying to distract the enemy. We need to get you to a safe location, Your Highness."

Another scream sounded from outside the room and this time, it was much closer than before.

"Please stay behind me. I will protect you." Lukariah kept his gaze fixed on the closed door as he forced his prince to move back to keep him far away from the door.

"But…"

"I have promised His Majesty before he died that I will protect you until my last breath, Your Highness. Nothing will happen to you until I am alive."

The door clattered suddenly and Lukariah stiffened at once. The enemy had found them. But he did not give up yet and held the young man's arm.

"Your Highness, we need to get out of here before they kill us. I will not allow anything to happen to you. You are the last Iarlaith alive now and I will not allow Iarlaiths to perish." Lukariah stated with resolve and glanced at the door that was close to being broken.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Open the secret door." He ordered, and the young prince gave him a surprised look.

Nobody in the castle knew about the secret door except him and his family. Now that his family was long gone, he was the only one who knew about it.

But he did not ask him more about it and twisted the barely visible knob right behind his bed. The wall beside the knob separated into two and a fleet of stairs came into view. From where they were, only a few steps were visible.

"Take one of the torches, Your Highness, and lead the way." Lukariah continued, and again, the young prince did as he was told.

The two men had just entered the secret doorway when the door clattered again and Lukariah quickly twisted the knob that was right beside him.

The last scene the young prince saw before the door shut behind him was the door to his room being kicked open and several masked men entering with their swords covered with blood.

Meanwhile, outside the Castle of Iarlaith, stood an army that awaited for Prince Iarlaith to be dragged and brought to their leader's feet. With wide smiles and cheers, they kept shouting for their fellowmen to finish the task quickly.

The entire castle had been surrounded by them and it was impossible for anyone from inside the castle to escape unnoticed. Death was all the people would get, especially the prince, their target.

"Lord Selke will reward us greatly today. I am going to drink to my heart's content once I return." One of the men in the army spoke to the man beside him.

"Sir Hain, I will reward all my men with barrels of wine to celebrate our victory today. The boy will die in my hands today for sure and the kingdom of Zalana will belong to us. Long live Asra." Selke commented immediately after, eliciting cheers from his army again.

"Long live Asra."

"Our brave men are here." One of the warriors in the group shouted, and everyone turned in the direction where the sounds of footsteps were heard.

However, their smiles slipped when they saw that the prince they were here for was not anywhere in sight.

Selke's expression turned grim as he stared at his men who had entered the castle.

"Where is the prince?" He shouted, not waiting for his men to return to him.

"My Lord." The leader of the group dropped to his knees and the other men behind him followed suit. "Please forgive us, My Lord. We failed to capture the prince. He escaped before we could….."

"What did you just say?" Selke interrupted him and the leader understood that his end was near. His Lord was furious, he could sense it and he trembled in fear as he thought of his destiny.

"What did you just say?" Selke bellowed when he did not get any response and this time, his entire army shuddered in fright.

"The young prince escaped before we could get to him. Please forgive us, My Lord. We…" The leader stopped speaking when he heard the sound of feet touching the ground. Even though he did not look up, he was certain that his Lord had alighted from his horse and was now approaching him slowly. He gulped in terror as he prayed for the man to let him go this once.

"Please forgive us, My Lord. We failed to do our duty and…" He dropped dead even before he could finish his words.

Selke had ended his life with a slash of his sword.