by Harold Wall
torture us and make our lives miserable?' Well, my purpose is exactly the opposite. I want to set you guys free."
For a moment they all stared at me. And then slowly, very slowly, the woman in front of me started to smile—maybe this was easier than I thought! Blade shouldn't have worried
so much!
But then she started to laugh.
"You, a vampire, want to set us free? How stupid do you think we are? We don't trust your kind..."
"Do any of you remember me?" I interrupted, adrenaline bursting through my body—I had to get them out of here, or else the kingdom would never fall. I watched as recognition
started to form in some of the servant's eyes. "I'm the one that Alec turned into a vampire against her will—I'm the one who, along with Rogue, started a minimutiny in order for
escape. I'm the one who threatened his life—and now I'm the one who threatens his kingdom.
"I know each and every one of you want to get back at him for what he's done to you—and I can do that! I've been in your situation before—I was once a slave just like you. I'm the
one who turned the Black Kingdom completely around; their slaves are free now because of me. And I know how we can not only free you guys, but also bring this kingdom down to
the ground!" I motioned to the battle behind us.
"Right this moment, Circle Daybreak and Alec's army are battling it out and from what I can tell Alec is losing. They can bring the whole kingdom to the ground if they had to—but if
we escape, there's no chance that this place will ever rise up again. We can put a stop to slavery—we can start new lives! And you can stop things like this from ever happening
again—but first you're going to have to trust me to get you out safely." I stared at each and every one of them, "Who's with me?"
For a long moment, no one moved. They all stared at me like I had two heads. And then slowly, a young girl—probably around the age of 13—stepped forward. "I'm with you," She
said, her voice timid but sure.
I started to relax as more and more people started to step forward, until finally everyone had stepped forward, their faces frightened but filled with hope. "Okay," I sighed, "now its
kind of messy out there, and I need all of you to follow me—now does anyone know where I might find a horse?"
Instantly another girl—around my age—stepped forward, a bright smile on her face. "I'll go fetch you a horse, my lady!" I wanted to protest to being called 'my lady', but she was
already out the door.
"Shouldn't someone go with her?" I asked, worried that she'd get hurt on the way to wherever she was going.
The woman who had stepped forward earlier shook her head. "If they're concentrated so much on killing each other like you say they are out there, then they won't pay any mind to
one little servant girl." I nodded, not quite sure I agreed with her, but didn't say anything against it.
After about five minutes of waiting, the girl returned, a smile bright on her face. "The horse is outside my lady!"
"Thank you," I smiled at her before I whirled around and addressed the rest of the servants. "Now, you should be able to easily spot me if you get lost, but do try to follow me as
close as possible!" I whirled around and went to the front door and opened it, my eyes taking in the scene before me.
At the moment it looked as if Alec's army was retreating—it really was kind of pathetic, given that Alec's kingdom was supposedly powerful…but then again, it probably didn't help
that their captain happened to have a soulmate on our side. And from this angle I could see that even Alec was trying to fight off Circle Daybreak—and he was actually very good at
it.
I gulped; knowing that the last thing I wanted was to be seen by Alec and have to fight him. Unlike Blade, Alec probably didn't have any reason to have a change of heart.
I shook my head, deciding to deal with it if it happened and strode towards the black stallion that the girl had brought me. I silently thanked Delos for teaching me how to ride as I
grabbed the saddle horn and pulled myself up, throwing my leg over the other side of the horse. I grabbed hold of the reins and turned the horse so that I faced the door to the hut
where the servants had started to gather. "Head for the front gate, quickly! Don't draw any attention to yourselves!"
They nodded and started to file out the door, running quickly towards the front gates. As expected, some of Alec's army noticed them escaping, but when they tried to move to stop
them, Circle Daybreak members blocked their paths, swiftly killing them. As soon as the last servant was out of the hut, I pulled my horse to trot closely behind them, my body
tense as I watched ahead for anyone who dared to try and stop them from leaving.
We were close to the gate when I heard the sound of running feet and shouting behind me. I whirled around in the saddle to find many of Alec's army rushing straight for us.
Quickly, I whirled around and kicked the horse into a canter in order to catch up to the head of the group, "RUN!" I shouted as I passed everyone, "KEEP GOING!" To the leader—
which happened to be the woman who had first stepped forward, I ordered, "Keep going till you reach the trees and then stay low. Wait there until members of Circle Daybreak
come to get you—you'll know them because they're wearing modern clothes like mine." I met her eyes, pleading for understanding, "Go!"
"What about you?" She demanded, huffing as she ran, "What are you going to do?"
I bit my lip—I hadn't wanted to keep fighting—I'd wanted to stay with the servants to protect them. Besides, I knew Delos wouldn't approve of me charging into battle. But I had to
in order to keep the servants from being captured. "I'm going to fight them off, keep them away from you guys. Don't worry about me, just go!"
I didn't wait to listen to her reply; I pulled the reins sharply and turned the horse around, pulling out my wooden dagger from my sheath—from what I could tell, most of the people
in the group were vampires—and they were gaining fast on the servants.
I kicked the horse into a fullsprinted gallop, yelling out a traditional cowboy whoop—hey, I was starting to have fun with this; might as well, right?—as I stood up in the stirrups, my striking arm poised with the wooden sword to strike. It wasn't much of a group—five vampires, maybe seven, but I knew that I didn't have the experience to go up against all
those vampires alone. I could do one at a time, but not an entire group. I knew that by protecting the servants, I'd probably end up losing my life, but if it was the price I had to pay
for bringing down Alec, I'd do it.
As I neared the group of vampires—who had quickly noticed me and were clearly ready for my attack—I heard the unmistakable sound of a hawk cawing from the air. I slightly
slowed the horse, not daring to take my eyes from off the vampires. A split second later the hawk swooped down from behind, transforming back into human form as it touched
ground.
"Miles!" I cried, yanking on the reins till the horse was almost at a stop. A split second later, Miles was joined by Rashel and Quinn, flanking him on either side.
The vampires stopped, their eyes wide with mild surprise; obviously they hadn't expected a shapeshifter, a vampirehunter and a vampire to join me—but then again, neither had I.
"Make sure they're out of here safely Maggie," Miles ordered, not turning around, "And don't come back! We'll catch up with you."
I hesitated, throwing a cautious look behind me at the retreating servants. "Alright," I finally agreed—war really wasn't my thing, even as a vampire. "Just don't get yourself killed,"
I whirled the horse around and kicked it forward without another word. "Be safe," I murmured, as though it were an after thought.
Truthfully I was more than worried for my brother—my brother, though he was a fighter, wasn't meant for
battle. But I knew that Circle Daybreak needed him—the servants needed me now. I quickly caught up with them, shouting instructions to keep moving and to step up the pace.
I started to relax a bit as the group started to file out the gate, making a break for the woods. We did it, I thought with satisfaction, now Alec's kingdom will…
Movement out of the corner of my eye made my body freeze up and I had time to gasp before suddenly I heard the unmistakable sound of flesh being punctured. For a brief second
I thought it was I that had gotten punctured, butt then my horse suddenly stopped, a earpiercing scream emitting from its throat as it reared up. My stomach shot into my throat as
I scrambled to hang onto the horse—I'd fallen from a horse once, and it wasn't something I wanted to experience again—and I tried to locate the cause of the horse's pain.
I quickly found it—the shaft of an arrow protruded from the chest of the horse. I groaned and tightened my grip on the horse as it reared practically vertical. There was no way this
horse was going to stay upright.
Great, I thought sarcastically as I tried to get my feet out of the stirrups so that I could jump off, but as I was working on getting the right foot out I could feel the horse start to tilt
to the left.
With panic practically choking me, I scrambled to get my foot out of the stirrup. The horse was halfway over when I got my right foot out, and with a feeling of dread I
immediately worked to get my left one out.
But I wasn't fast enough—pain shot up my leg as the eight hundred pound animal landed its weight on my leg and I cried out. I bit my lip and forced myself to turn my head up so
that I could get a look at the servants. A few had stopped when my horse had first reared up and were starting to inch back to me. "GO!" I shouted, thankful that they could hear me over the sounds of the battle behind me. "JUST GO!" I shouted again as I forced myself to start trying to crawl out from underneath the horse.
I relaxed momentarily when I saw them hesitantly turn and run out the gate—Alec couldn't get them as long as they stuck to the plan. But my relaxation was short lived. I knew I
had a matter of a few seconds if the person who had shot my horse hadn't been killed yet. As I tugged on my foot, trying to drag myself from underneath the horse, I kept seeing
the image of the mutant dogthings from thee second Lord of the Rings. The image of getting bitten—since the bite wouldn't actually kill me on account of wood being the only thing
that could kill me, but I still wasn't interested in finding out how it felt—filled my mind and I managed to pull myself halfway from underneath the horse.
"Hello Maggie," My heart dropped—I knew that voice all too well. I gulped as I slowly strained my neck so that I could see Alec standing over the horse, his hands on his hips and a
triumphant smirk on his face. "Too bad about the horse, don't you think? He was one of my best."
A feral snarl rippled from my throat as I glared up at him. "Maybe you should be more worried that your kingdom is tumbling to the ground as we speak." I snarled—I could feel my
fangs start to indent my lower lip, but I ignored it. Instead I kept struggling to get out from under the horse without Alec noticing.
The smile on Alec's face faltered as a vicious expression flashed into his eyes. "Obviously there's nothing I can do about it," Alec snarled, "No thanks to you," He nodded towards the
gate, "Why is it, Maggie," he spat, his hand going towards his wooden sword at his side. I started to pull harder without him noticing, trying to make it look like I wasn't up to
something. "Why is it that whenever I see you, you're always doing something meddlesome?" We met eyes and suddenly, I knew that he wasn't going to wait for my answer.
I decided I didn't care whether he noticed or not, so with one big pull I yanked my foot from underneath the horse. I heard Alec hiss, but I didn't care at the moment—I pulled myself away from the horse and Alec as quickly as possible, my hands gripping at the dusty ground to propel me.
I looked up just in time to see Alec, with his sword poised to strike, come up towards me. Get up! My mind screamed, draw your sword! But Alec wasn't going to give me a chance —if I stood up then, he'd gut me right then.
I'm going to die, I thought, he's not like Blade—he's not going to suddenly have a change of heart. There's no way that I can hold my own in this battle!
But then I thought of Delos. I was so close to being with him—not only that, but I'd seen him! I'd kissed his lips, had felt his fingers on my face…I couldn't die now. Not when I'd
been able to touch him!
With a new burst of determination, I snarled and kicked out blindly as hard as I could, trying to get him to back off so that I could get up. With a satisfying crunch, I kicked his arm,
pushing him backwards and momentarily breaking his arm. Alec cried out in pain and I took that moment to scramble to my feet, my hand going to my sword and unsheathing it
with one fluid motion.
Alec snarled, having regained some of his composure though his arm was still in the process of healing, and unsheathed his own sword. "Stupid girl," he growled, his own fangs
protruding from his mouth.
I made no comment but instead shifted so that I was surer of my footing—even though my leg still throbbed. Suddenly Alec lunged, and I pulled up my sword to parry his strike. Wood clashed against wood, and his strength was surprising. I bit my lip till I tasted blood in order to keep from buckling under his strength. Alec seemed to see my weakness
because he pushed harder against me.
I can't take much of this, I thought just as I heard the unmistakable sound of wood starting to crack. I needed to do something.
With a shout I jumped back, missing his blade by inches as he lurched forward, his eyes wide with surprise. But he didn't stay down for long. He lunged towards me again, but I
dodged to the left, lunging myself for his weak spot.
I was sure that I'd get him. I was so sure, but I should have known. Suddenly Alec reached over and grabbed hold of my wrist, twisting it till my sword dropped from my hand. I
had time to watch it clatter to the floor before suddenly I myself was sailing head over feet till I landed with a THUD on the ground, the air knocked out of me.
I staredwide eyed at the bright blue sky, knowing that there was nothing I could do now—I had no weapon and I didn't have anymore ideas to get me out of this situation. As Alec's
face blocked my view from the sky, I wondered why I'd die on such a beautiful day. At least the servants had escaped, I thought, and at least Delos and Circle Daybreak would win…
Delos, I thought, I'm so sorry.
"…not listening to me, are you?" Oh, Alec was talking? I wondered. Well, I was actually sort of sick of listening to him—I'd listened to him way too much and frankly I didn't wish to
listen to him when I was about to die.
Apparently Alec wasn't too happy with my emotionless reactions to whatever he was saying, because suddenly sharp pain exploded at my side. I cried out and doubled over on the
ground, my hands going to where the pain was. I was afraid he'd already struck me with his sword, but I felt no puncture wound. He must have just kicked me. Not that that made
it any better, but still.
"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" He yelled, his sword going to my neck. I glared up at him, a hiss escaping my lips.
"Go die, Alec." I spat, straightening myself out—I would look him in the eye when I died; I hoped it would haunt him till the day he died.
Which I hoped was sooner than later.
Alec's face twisted in rage as he raised his sword and thrust it down. But instead of staking me like I'd thought he would, the tip connected with my shoulder.
Pain turned my vision black for what seemed like hours, but I had not blacked out—I could still hear the battle, but what I mostly heard was an agonizing scream
of pain. It took me
a second to realize that it was my scream of pain.
"Wrong answer Maggie," Alec laughed as he pulled the tip out. I opened my eyes a crack—when had I shut them?—to look at him.
He looked deranged.
My breathing became shallower as he placed the tip right over my heart and I could see in his eyes that this time he meant to stake me. I tried to look brave against the pain.
"Don't look so angry Maggie," Alec laughed, starting to press the tip into my chest. My heart beat quickened with anticipation, "Think of it this way—if I catch up with Delos, I'll be
happy to give him a quick death—not like the one I'm about to give you."
To be continued...
