11

Although he told me not to act frightened but my heart panicked.

"What was he talking about? The kingdom under siege?How is that even possible?" I thought. It meant that there was probably an unresolved dispute between the kingdom of Aeradon and another kingdom that I did not know about.

Aeradon hadn't been involved in any war for as long as I could remember, the last battle they fought was probably when I was a very young child which happened to be the one Adriel narrated to me about his father being killed during the war.

So I wondered what caused another kingdom to start a war against us unexpectedly, and how did they succeeded in getting into the kingdom past the watchful eyes of the outskirt protectors.

He left me and walked towards the exit while I stood there shocked for a moment, it took about ten seconds to jerk back to reality, and reminded myself that the more time I wasted the more dangerous the situation may get.

I turned my neck in different directions and searched for the Princess and her Prince amidst the crowd and I spotted them just where I had left them. Without hesitation, I moved towards them at a fast pace and almost pushed anyone in my way.

"My princess,"I called,

"You majesty, the King wants to see you," I lied since I knew that it would sound abnormal to inform her that it was a guard who asked me to get her, plus Allesio told me not to alarm anyone so I didn't want to give away my true intentions.

"Alright, I'll be right back," She said to Prince Andrew and left with me.

"Where is he? Hope everything is alright?" She asked me and all I said was,

"I hope so my princess."

As we walked toward the exit, I saw the king standing with Allesio and I was delighted because I knew the Princess would think that I had said the truth.

"Father you called me," She bow as we got to where both men stood.

" Listen to me Agatha, I need you to go with Allesio, Sage you will go with them as well, leave the palace immediately," He instructed us.

" Why father, is anything wrong?" She asked him.

"Just do as I say Agatha if you want to live, the kingdom is not safe at the moment, go now! Your mother and I will join you soon-

"What about Andrew?" She Interjected and King almost yelled at her.

"Don't tell me about anyone Agatha, listen to me and leave at once, take her away both you," He instructed us and I took the Princess's hand and massaged it gently.

"It's going to be alright," I whispered to calm her down since there was terror written all over her face.

Even I was terrified, that news was unexpected and I had never been involved in such a sudden conflict, I didn't know how it worked either but I feared death.

No one expected the Princess's birthday to become a catastrophe just as soon as it started, she had been looking forward to that day and there it was crumbling down her feet owing to some kingdom-related violence.

We left the exit in a hurry through the everlasting passageway which Allesio took us until we stood before a painting, I had seen that before when he assisted me with the Princess's tea so I knew what to expect.

He lifted it to reveal a dark tunnel and urged us to walk in, without much hesitation we stepped into the tunnel and he walked in after us and closed it up with the painting from inside.

"Just follow me," He instructed us, it was too dark to see where we stepped our foot but out of the blue Allesio held up a torch made of wood from a special tree that burnt slowly in a red and blue flame until every last bit of it has been exhausted.

I couldn't make sense of how he did it or when he lit it up because as far as I remembered there were no source of illumination in that tunnel but I was too afraid to even think about it at that moment, he picked up other torches hanging on the wall and lit then up with the one he held and handed it over to me and the Princess.

"Sage, please take this skirt off me," She said to me, the gown was huge and I stopped her from moving freely, I handed my torch over to Allesio and untied the straps from behind and let the skirt fall off leaving the princess with the upper part of the dress and her overall which covered up to her feet.

"Alright let's go, the end of the tunnel is just ahead of us," Allesio announced.

All our steps were taken in terror, the Princess's face was covered in tears and I felt sorry for her, I wished that day would have been better. As we approached the end of the tunnel we heard footsteps coming from outside.

"Wait here," Allesio instructed us and we had no choice but to obey.

We watched him walk slowly towards the end of the tunnel, he was careful when he stared out to know who it was that walked all over the place, suddenly he ran out of the tunnel and I heared the slashing of swords and screeches of agony.

The Princess was on the verge of screaming when I placed my hand over her mouth and stopped her.

"Don't, he'll take care of it," I assured her, even though I was scared and it took a lot of courage to control it.

"Tell me we are not going to die, Sage is this the end?" She whispered.

" No my princess, we are not going to die, we will be fine trust me, let's just stay calm and remain here as Allesio told us to," I said to her in a motherly concerned tone and then we waited.