A loud noise crashed against the door, “Princess Sarai, are you in there?”
Relieved at the familiarity of the voice Sarai pushed herself to her feet and pounded her fists against the thick door, “Master Dimir, is that you? Please, watch out for Margaret, she killed the guard!”
“Are you certain it was Margaret?” Dimir responded. She could hear the uncertainty in his voice. It only made sense he was confused and tried to catch himself up with the situation. “First a city alarm, then a dragon’s roar, and now this?”
Sarai could hear keys jingling on the other side of the door and panicked, “Hurry, she killed the guard before could open the door.”
“Patience princess,” Dimir said coolly. “One must keep a calm mind in the face of dang-”
“Stop him!” came a shout from the hallway followed by a loud bang against the wall. Suddenly something was thrown into the door causing Sarai to bounce off the other side and fall to the floor. It was amazing that the hinges held together. But her anxiety spiked, and she began to cough uncontrollably.
"Clear!" a voice shouted. Sarai didn't react and lay prone, trying to get herself under control. The door lock exploded in a flash of blinding azure light and green sparks.
A tall, lanky man finely dressed in purple and white silk and leather vestments slowly maneuvered his way through the blown doorway. Sarai pushed herself onto her knees to get a better viewpoint and watched Dimir waving the smoke away from his face.
“Are you okay princess?” Dimir asked. The concern in his voice helped soothe Sarai’s heart as he helped her up to her feet.
“I am now, Master Dimir, thank you,” she said, trying to see through the plume of smoke filling the area. “Did you see Margaret? Is she still here?”
“No, I had not seen her for quite some time as a matter of fact.”
Sarai’s voice squeaked, “Then who was it that attacked you at the door?” she asked, wearing more concern on her face.
“I don’t know, but they did not plan on letting me leave the hallway alive. Nevertheless, we need to leave here now." Dimir quickly shuffled his way into the room. "Grab your things.”
Sarai scanned the dark room for the closest clothes and supplies she could grasp and began to change clothes. “Thank you Master Dimir.”
“Do not thank me yet, we should probably leave the castle as soon as you are done getting ready. I suspect there are more that will come to stop you from leaving this room,” he said. I am just glad the medication I made for you recently is holding up well."
“Yes, just as you predicted, only the coughing remains, but I can manage much better than in the past," she said as she shuffled around the room at a higher pace. "Are you sure that more will come?"
"More than likely." Dimir walked to the hole in the wall, avoiding the man he killed, and peered around the corner into the hallway, “I am certain of it princess. Are you ready yet?”
“I-I think so, yes," she replied, stuffing more things into her small brown satchel.
“Good, let us make haste for my laboratory. I have something you need to see and we should be relatively safe there.
The sound of footsteps began to reverberate against the inner walls of the castle. They seemed light did not seem like the usual steel armor the paladins and guards wore.
“I think we are out of time princess, we must go,” Dimir said.
She grabbed a worn, blue-leather cloak from under her bed, wrapped it around her shoulders, then quickly walked behind Dimir out of the room. Sarai’s eyes couldn't help but fixate on the lifeless bodies lying outside the room’s walls. She grimaced but pressed on.
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The vibrations in the floor increased enough for the portraits of the kingdom’s previous rulers and landscape paintings to rattle against the walls. Dimir ran through the upper floors only as fast as Sarai could keep up. She could feel her lungs beginning to spasm and force a cough but fear compelled her to cover her mouth and continue to run.
As they turned each corner, the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. Sarai’s breathing became more labored and she began to sweat heavily. Dimir caught wind of her struggle and stopped to grab hold of her shoulders with a firm grip, “I know this is difficult but we must keep mo-”
Before he could finish his sentence, an arrow blitzed through the air into Dimir’s shoulder in the subtle space between them. The arrow pierced the wall behind them with tremendous force.
Sarai recoiled in shock as the blood splashed across her face. With a grunt, Dimir crashed to the ground and took Sarai down to the ground with him.
Sarai turned her head to see a behemoth of a man wearing a dark linen bandana across his face searching for his next arrow. She gasped in horror and turned back to Dimir, who was struggling to stay conscious. She shook him to keep him awake but more grunts were all she received.
“I apologize princess,” a familiar voice said from behind the accumulating crowd of people. “I told these mercenaries to make sure you stayed in your room until we could find your father. It was never meant to be so messy. You get what you pay for I guess.”
Sarai hesitated to return her gaze, “M-Margaret? Weren’t you going to send for Commander Illiah?”
“Your highness?” she said, slightly tilting her head to her side. “Why would I ever do that?”
The shock in Sarai’s face was not to be missed as she couldn’t help but take in how different Margaret looked with her tight-fitted, studded leather and longsword in her hand. “What is going on? What have you done?”
“Whatever do you mean your highness?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Sarai said furiously, “why would you kill that guard? Why would you betray us? Me? My family helped to protect-”
“Shut it, girl,” Margaret interrupted. “The nobles have looked after me ever since your illness came to light. You and your bastard father are the ones that drove my family into the hellhole of the slums in the first place. The nobles paid me to look after you until the time was right since your father didn’t and couldn't.”
Sarai felt a pang of fear and sadness as she looked into Margaret’s angry eyes. She had no idea that the policies she oversaw in her father’s stead had affected Margaret’s family. Despite her intelligence in managing the kingdom’s ledgers, Sarai lacked the experience to fully grasp the weight of her actions.
“I’m sorry,” Sarai said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Sorry doesn't change anything,” Margaret spat back. “You're lucky the nobles still have a use for you. If it were up to me, I’d have left your corpse to rot in the slums like my family did.”
Sarai hung her head, feeling the weight of Margaret’s words. She knew she had made mistakes, but she never intended to hurt anyone. The slums were a difficult place to manage to support and aid since resources dwindled every year thanks to her father. With so many reports coming in from Thomas, it was obvious where her father’s mind was. Sarai silently vowed to do better in the future and make amends for hers and her father’s past actions.
“I want to make things right,” Sarai said, her voice trembling. “Please tell me how I can help your family. I will do anything.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, “Anything?”
Sarai reluctantly nodded, unsure what could happen at the hands of the small militia standing in wait behind Margaret.
Margaret stretched out her hand, “Then come with me and stay where the noble faction can keep their eyes on you.”
“Don’t go…” Dimir coughed back into consciousness.
The large bowman growled, redrew his bow, and aimed at Dimir. Margaret waved him off with a flick of her wrist. “No need,” she said. “I doubt even the great alchemist could save himself with a wound like that.” She snickered.
“Please, Margaret,” Sarai begged. “Let him go, and I will go with you. He needs help.”
Margaret’s face twisted into a sneer. “I am sorry, Your Highness,” she said. “But I cannot allow that. As per my orders, you are to come with me. Your tutor over there is too loyal to the crown and will need to be eliminated in due time anyway.”
“What? Too loyal to the crown?” Sarai’s eyes narrowed as she thought deeply. “The noble faction is trying to take over the kingdom?”
Margaret grew a smug smile on her face. “You catch on quickly, don’t you?” she said. “Yes, the nobles believe your father to be unfit for the role and are planning to take matters into their own hands. But with you as their new figurehead, they’ll have the support they need to make it happen and pull the rest to their side. Simple, no? Now come with me, child.”
Sarai shook her head in disbelief. “I won’t let that happen,” she said, her voice firm. “I won’t let them, nor you, use me as a pawn in this game.”
Margaret chuckled. “Oh, I think you’ll find that you don’t have much of a choice, Your Highness,” she said. “But don’t worry. Once the nobles are in power, they’ll make sure you’re taken care of. That sickness of yours will be cured and you will be their puppet. A very well-cared for puppet.”
Sarai gritted her teeth, “I won’t go with you willingly,” she said. “You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming if you want to take me.”
Margaret’s eyes gleamed with a sinister light. “Oh, I think we can arrange that,” she said. With another snap of Margaret’s fingers, the bowman stepped forward, with a cruel smile on his face. However, a second step resulted in the bowman collapsing hard to the ground – two arrows fighting over residency through his head.