The Arranged Marriage (34 page)

“They aren’t. He’s been shipping them
in. Using the tunnels.” Ison realised as the size of the battle
forced some of the combatants to fight on the castle grounds
outside the turrets.

“We’re never going to keep them back
this way Ison,” Josa spun on the defence. “You don’t have the
manpower; you need to give a kill order. They have chosen to
fight.”

Ison didn’t want to do that. These
were men whose minds had been poisoned by another’s greed and
influenced by ignorance. How could he order death to those who he
might have been standing with if he had been in their
position?

“Try to hold them back Josa. If we
cannot, I will raise the order. You will do so in my stead, do you
hear?”

“Aye.” Josa shouted. He understood. If
anything happened to Ison before he could make the order, then Josa
would be his lieutenant, and make it for him.

Rohesia stood anxiously in the great
hall trying to placate a lot of the women who had taken to
panicking upon hearing the whispers reverberating through the
crowd. She hated just standing there whilst her husband had walked
out to face the danger without her. What good was a queen who
couldn’t fight? She thought to herself in frustration. But then a
flutter in her stomach reminded her exactly what she had been
chosen to protect, and the fierceness of that duty flowed through
her.

“Silence.” She shouted to quiet the
alarmed screeches that were getting louder by the moment. “You will
all gather in groups of five, do not leave anyone out. I want you
to search this room for anything that can be used as a weapon, do
you hear me?” The crowd, who were a majority of women and elderly
men, stopped as if frozen in time. No one moved.

“Candlesticks, pins, plates, vases,
anything that can cause damage,” She shouted out to them again,
some of the women jumping at her tone. “Once you have your weapons,
stay in your groups. Those are the ones you stick with and defend.
Look out for one another.” Only a few of them moved and the anger
she felt pushed aside any sympathy that she felt for them. “Now!”
She shouted, and that seemed to do it. Everyone seemed to move at
once but at least they were doing something to keep them occupied,
and it was something that may keep them safe if the castle was
breached. She started to look around, wishing dearly that she had
her father’s sword with her, when a large rumble noise seemed to
burst through the doorway.

She was stunned for a moment as she
watched the wild men enter the hall and start attacking the guards
Ison had left behind to protect them. The screams started up
again.

Her instinct told her to turn and flee
for the sake of her babe, but no matter what she could not, would
not leave her people. She felt nauseous with fear for the men who
were fighting hard to protect the people of the hall, but they were
no match for those who had entered. She watched in horror as they
all but one knocked her men unconscious before moving further into
the room. It was only when she noticed one of the guards under the
sword of his attacker did she feel the anger melt away the
fear.

“Who goes there?” She shouted as
loudly as she could; trying to take the attention from the guard
who was still in danger. The one who held the sword against him
looked up at her with a smirk on his face. He reminded her of an
animal with his boorish features and a head that was completely
bald. He had teeth missing as he sneered at her and his clothes had
obviously been poorly sewn for battle. He wore little armour on his
large frame, and although he was short, she could sense the power
oozing out of him. He was enjoying this.

“Why our queen, we were just coming to
get you.” He said in mocking polite tones that sounded eerily
familiar to the man who had sliced open her arm, but the diversion
had worked. He retrieved his sword from the guard’s throat and
slowly put it back into its sheath. She watched him approach her as
the realisation came that their objective had not been to attack
the hall, but to come for her.

“I believe it is Ison who you need to
address, and he is otherwise engaged.” She kept the firmness in her
tone even though she knew it was futile; she could hardly fight
them off in this state. The man neared her now as he gave orders to
the others to secure the hall.

“Come now, don’t be afraid. I have
orders to take you to your king my lady,” He grabbed her arm and
held her tighter when she tried to shrug him off. “Only it won’t be
the one you’re expecting.”

She knew then that he referred to the
baron, and how cleverly all this had been put together. This was
not to be an attack of the rebels trying to claim their rights, but
an assassination on her husband and her father-in-law; a very
ingenious one at that.

“Very well, but there is only one King
of Ecripian that I shall be referring to as thus.” She said
harshly, allowing herself to be dragged out of the hall and into
the Throne room.

She almost tripped as the man who held
her thrust her forwards as they entered the grand room. Her anger
was almost ready to consume her, but she breathed deep, calming
herself for the life inside of her. She assessed the room quickly,
and noticed the large candelabra that stood on a frame at the side
of the throne. It wouldn’t be too heavy for her to use, she thought
quickly, but it would be heavy enough to compensate for the lack of
strength in her swing. She only had one chance to get to safety, to
remove herself as a pawn from the baron’s sick game; now she just
had to do it.

A deafening horn sounded as Ison was
about to give the kill order to his men. The battle in which he was
immersed was turning into a bloody one as more and more Ecripian
men were being taken down by the angry mob. They were no longer
fighting for their rights, the enemy were fighting for
extermination. He had to do something and he had to do it
quickly.

The horn came again and made him stop
for a moment, thinking that it was more troops coming in to fight
for the baron. His head went through three strategies at a time
that would allow him to retreat the weaker fighters into the halls
as he and his men went in to destroy; but he didn’t need to
bother.

The sight that met him from the top of
hill outside the castle, made him feel as if he was walking on
light air from the relief. Fabian Woodfayre of the Mookai, was
seated as only a warrior could on his dark steed, leading his men
and women who had come to join the fight. Ison swore he could see
Fabian’s smug look from this distance, and he swayed in and out of
the battle to try and intervene where needed, waiting for Fabian to
stop the theatrics and get his damn Mookai backside down here to
help.

Rohesia looked down at the body of the
man she had just hit over the head with the candelabra and panicked
for only a moment as she made sure he was definitely unconscious.
She knew she only had a short time to get away before he woke or
another entered the room, and the weight of her skirts would slow
her down. She couldn’t flee to another place in the castle, they
would seek her out eventually, and she couldn’t contemplate going
outside to try and seek out Ison. What if they were in battle? She
would only be a distraction to him and she couldn’t afford that.
Her heart and thoughts went out to him, hoping and praying that his
experience in the Foreign Lands would stand against what was out
there. It was then she remembered the key that hung around her
neck, and it was then she decided to seek out the underground room
for protection. She quickly removed the key and made haste to the
stairs that she could seek through the kitchens. It went against
every grain in her body to flee as her people fought, but she had a
child to protect and a husband. They could not take her as hostage
to negotiate if she was out of the picture, and it was time to
trust in Ison more than she had ever trusted anyone, to take care
of her people, and to come back to her alive.

A clash of swords and arrows flew
through the sky as Fabian led his warriors through the castle gates
into the heat of the battle. He dismounted in one fluid movement
from his horse, and whistled to the animal as if it understood to
keep moving out of harm’s way.

“So you finally arrived.” Ison said
sarcastically, the relief on his face so obvious that Fabian didn’t
need to feel it.

“We sensed you had a little trouble.”
He replied with a smile as he withdrew his own sword.

“Thank you.” Ison managed to say
before another onslaught came at them.

“You didn’t give a kill order.” Fabian
shouted across as he battled his attacker with ease. It was like a
dance, Ison thought as Fabian moved back and forth in between the
froe.

“These men are not killers, or weren’t
killers. They fight for what they believe is right.” He clashed his
own sword against another, his faith in the Mookai at full force as
he watched them all glide through the enemy as a wave across
water.

“You think of Rohesia as you make this
decision; you were much colder when I knew you last.”

“I think of the people too,” He said
whilst moving sideways away from an anticipated slice of a sword.
“But it’s made me make too many mistakes. I never made so damn many
until I came here.”

“You never had a kingdom to worry
about before Ison, it is completely different.” He smiled at the
thought of them conversing in battle. Ison just shook his
head.

“Do you ever do anything in silence?”
He asked him as he charged one of the rebels who were about to
attack an Ecripian guard from behind.

“With you my dear Ison, I have to talk
for the two of us because you’re so damn mute half the
time.”

“A man of few words can have a lot to
say,” He growled as he dodged another blow, but the other side were
dwindling, the fight was finally under control.

“Or nothing at all.” Fabian shouted
back, barely giving him time to finish his sentence.

“See, there you go again, yabba yabba
yabba.”

Fabian started to laugh, but as Ison
turned from a spin attack he watched as Fabian stood completely
still, all humour gone. He rushed over to him, at first thinking he
had been hurt, but then he noticed the glazed look in his eyes and
felt Fabian’s arm grab tightly on to his own.

“It’s Rohesia.” He said quickly, his
own heart racing as he felt her fear.

“What?” Ison almost growled. He
dropped his sword and tried to shake more words out of
Fabian.

“She is scared, someone has
her.”

“Where?” He practically shouted, ready
to move.

“I can’t sense exactly where she
bloody is,” Fabian said angrily as he came out of his trance. “Only
what she feels. I felt it, strongly, just now.”

“I have to get to her.” He picked up
his sword and yelled across the fray. “Josa!” Josa came
running.

“What is it?” He said quickly as he
immersed through the fading crowd of bodies, some still fighting,
some dead, and more, thankfully only injured.

“Finish this, Rohesia is in trouble.
You know me, you know what to do.”

“Aye.” He said with a nod before
moving off back amongst the men. Ison started to move away and
rushed into the castle, feeling a presence beside him.

“I love her too Ison.” Fabian said as
he rushed by his side. Ison ignored him, his only thoughts
Rohesia.

“My dear Rohesia, why do you resist me
so?” The baron claimed as he moved closer across the room to her.
Of all the damn luck she hadn’t long shut the door in the
underground room when the hatch had opened and the baron had popped
his damn head out. She was trapped with him down here, with no
weapon and no escape.

“It is quite easy Minley. You are not
my husband.”

“Oh but I could have been my sweet,”
He watched smugly as he climbed out of the hole, watching her back
away. “And I will be again once your bastard of a husband is
disposed of, and I am crowned as a hero who conquered a
tyrant.”

“My people are not so
foolish.”

“Who will care? The rebels back me and
so do those who I sneaked in from the Foreign Lands on a promise; a
promise that they and their families will be allowed citizenship
here once I am king.” He moved closer. “You wouldn’t believe how
many people seek passage here; many who are willing to kill for it
my naive little dove.”

He moved in front of her and she
smacked his hand away as he stroked her cheek, making him
laugh.

“There was a time you craved my touch,
my kisses.

“I was curious, and you played the
gentleman quite well. A wolf in sheep’s clothing comes to mind.”
She would not show any weakness, and she would not go down without
a fight. He obviously had a use for her, and she could use the
time. His laughter made her want to smack him hard across the
mouth.

“You always could make me laugh.” His
eyes suddenly became serious. “I fell in love with you for a time.
Did you know that?”

She ignored his question, knowing the
only love he knew was the one for himself.

“Even when I was banging into Yena, I
imagined it was you.”