Sacrifice Pt.I

I was violently shaken awake, I immediately knew something was wrong when I saw the distress on my mom's face.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Come my child, there is no time to explain."

She pulled me out of my bed and quickly led me into the hallway, i didn't even have time to put on shoes. I was running down the hall barefoot. I was still trying to shake the sleep from my eyes but my mind was alert enough to know that something was happening. The servants and guards were running around in a frenzy as if something terrible was coming.

"Mom..huff…what's….huff….going on?" My mother hadn't stopped once since leaving my room, we were practically jogging and I was barely keeping up.

"Marcus!" my mother called out to a knight who was directing the other knights and servants. He turned around and gave my mother a proper salute after she called out to him.

"Lady Zaren"

"How are the preparations?"

"Most of the servants have evacuated into the city, I have also sent my best men as riders to both the north and south provinces."

"Thank you Marcus, you and the rest of the knights should evacuate as well."

"My lady, we have sworn oaths to serve House Zaren and protect the family till our dying breaths, we have already failed once. Please allow us to redeem ourselves." There was a short pause before my mother gave him a firm nod. "Very well Marcus, have you discovered any traitors on the estate grounds?"

"Traitors!" I couldn't help but speak up when I heard that.

"Yes my lady so far we have found several, I believe that is all of them but I will remain vigilant. It seems it's restricted to the personnel we have taken under our service within the last six months."

"So all of this was planned, damn that selfish king." my mother cursed. I was shocked, first traitors and now cursing the king. What the hell is going on here? That's when I realized something: "Mom, where is father?" Marcus had a pained expression on his face and my mothers was filled with sorrow.

"Marcus pick twelve of your best men and get horses ready with enough supplies to reach the closest port city in the southern province."

"Yes my lady"

"Mother!" my mom looked at me and knelt down so that she was looking up at me.

"Your father...your father wa killed Siri." my mother had to practically choke out the words. I was in shock, father is dead? That's not possible. I saw him this morning and he was fine. The skirmishes we've had with the east ended years ago. He went to have peace talks with them, he told me that they were on amicable terms. There shouldn't have been anything that went wrong.

"No that…that can't be true.." my mother grabbed me by the shoulders tightly, "Siri listen to me, there are a lot of things happening here that you won't understand. One thing you need to know is that you need to survive, do you understand. No matter what happens, no matter what you need to do you must live."

"Mom, what are you saying? I don't understand." my voice was shaky and tears were starting to form. That's when Marcus ran up to us to inform mother that the knights and horses were ready.

"Take my daughter to the port city but do not leave by ship until things have settled down. No matter what you hear, you will not return to Eastern province, do you understand?" what? What is she saying? She's making it sound like she's not coming with me! I look at my mother with tear filled eyes as I tightly grip her tunic. My mother forcefully removes my hands and pushes me towards Marcus as he tightly grabs one of my hands.

"If you have any loyalty at all towards my family you will make sure that my daughter is safe….no matter what."

Marcus salutes her "You have my word, we will lay down our lives before any harm comes to the young miss." My mother looks at me with a sad smile, she leans down and gives me a gentle kiss on my forehead. She pulls back and says one word to Marcus.

"Go"

With that Marcus forcefully pulls me away and starts barking out orders to the remaining knights.

"MOTHER!!!!"

I scream and curse and try my hardest to tear myself away from Marcus' grip.

"Let me go! We can't leave without my mother! We can't abandon her!." We make it to the horses and Marcus throws me onto one, he mounts it right after and starts calling the other twelve knights that are with us to prepare to move out.

"Marcus stop! I said stop, we need to go back!"

Marcus and I look back at the estate as we hear the marching of roughly two hundred men. These were the Eastern provinces best soldiers reserved to protect the estate. They formed a menacing wall of shields, swords and spears. In front of the formation was my mother in light leather armour. She had her sword drawn and was looking in our direction. She gave us a nod and with that Marcus and the other knights took off. We were going so fast it was hard to breathe. We made it about a mile out when I noticed something. We were on top of a small hill that provided a view of the surrounding territory for miles. What I saw was an army of at least seven hundred soldiers marching towards my home, towards my mother. My heart dropped and my body felt like it had frozen.

"Marcus, my mother can't fight that. Her and all the men with her are going to die, we have to warn them!"

"Lady Varen knows full well what she is facing. We cannot go back." I clenched my fists as tears started to roll down my cheeks.

"You're a coward! Let me down, I'll go back myself you scumbag!"

Macus held me tight with one hand and the riens with the other.

"Please forgive me."

He said with a hard expression as he kicked his stirrups and continued riding hard. After about ten minutes I heard hundreds of men shouting their battle cries and horns going off. That's when the reality of it all finally sank in, my mother was going to die. My father is already dead. My family is….gone. And there is nothing I can do about it. I'm a fourteen year old girl who was taught by the best scholars in the province, and was hailed as a blooming prodigy when it came to the sword. But right now I was just a little girl, who was going to lose everything and everyone I cared about. And there wasn't a damn thing I could do.