CHAPTER 16

Sunset was near and Matilda was worried .

She was scared , terrified even .

What if this creature they were about to meet be so true to it's legends that the only thing that would come out safe was Cahira .

She liked to believe she would be safe , but what if she gets our of her hide and ends up seeing a blood coated ship .

She was a princess . She had seen more blood in her life than many others , but it still stinged each time she had to take a life .

Mercy . She hoped she could grant everyone mercy , but that just was not the way of the world .

The world was cruel and bloodthirsty and it still is . It was her duty to protect her homeland , whether that involved blood spilling onto the ground .

Matilda looked at her hands . The lives that it had took , the people it had seperated from their families .

' It's to save ours.' She whispered to herself , a sentence of comfort she often used to keep the guilt in her buried .

Was she about to get payed for what she had done ?

She took so many lives that it was now death's turn to take from her . She hoped not .

She had reason for her choices , understandable reasons .

Turning around , she looked at the crew who were running around frantically , making sure

that everything was in its place .

She could see Amia sitting on top of a barrel , sharpening her daggers one by one and there was Emlyn who was just staring at her sword.

What could she have been thinking ? It puzzled Matilda , how everyone had their own lives , their own thought and their own actions .

Why were they even born ? She didn't know .

She was born onto a silk bed already destined to take lives and she never asked for it .

Why was she even born ? Was everything she was doing right atleast ?

Matilda was born to wear a mask from dawn to dusk . She shouldn't be seen as weak by anyone , and her brother Oliver was so perfect at keeping that mask on unlike her .

When Matilda was scared , it was easy to know and she hated it . Each time she tried she failed miserably and here she was again being a coward .

Hiding inside a ship , when she should be out fighting along with the rest .

If she was to die today , she wanted to die bravely , but again her death could mean the death of millions as well .

Her choices held so much of consequences that she felt it was never her decision , never one that she chose by following her emotions . Her choices were decided by her thoughts and her thoughts overpowered her ..... and here she was , again going to be a coward .

Frustrated , she pulled her hair , her behaviour unlady like and harsh as she stomped off not caring about where she was off to .

Tears ran down her cheek as she muttered to herself repeatedly .

" Coward. "

That was what she was , a coward who was going to hide again .