The Princess and Her Rogue

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  “Where is Deceiver?” he demanded from the enemy, pressing the razor deeper into his flesh.

  The footman chuckled and tried to spit in Nate’s face, but it lost that battle to gravity and the saliva trickled down his chin.

  “Where is Deceiver?” Nate asked louder, pressing the sharp, bloody edge against the man’s skin. Just at that time, Malcolm, who had been watching the two from a distance, came trotting up on his horse to see.

  “I’ll never tell!” the footman replied with disdain. Sir Claude came up with his sword and pushed its tip against the enemy’s chest, right about where his heart would be.

  “Tell us now or we will make sure your death is not so quick!” the knight shouted. Nate glanced up to Sir Claude and smirked. At least they could agree on one thing.

  The footman finally broke down after having one too many blades pointed at him and told them exactly where Deceiver was. Nate roared in fury and sliced the man’s throat open without mercy before gathering up his weapons and running back to his horse. Malcolm swiftly ordered his army to move out, leaving none alive at the decoy camp.

  Back at the castle, Kiara had done her share of crying over Nate’s departure. She couldn’t think of a time when she had felt more heartbroken than she was that day. Crying for a full hour or two was a new record for her. To numb the pain, she took a short nap in her chamber with Samson snuggled up in her arms.

  In the late evening, Kiara awoke from her nap and realized she had completely missed lunch. However, she had no appetite or interest in eating. Instead, she decided to take a meandering stroll around the castle, thinking of all she wished would happen and all that was a harsh reality.

  If only Nate had become a knight a few years ago, then they could have had a future together. Kiara thought of what she would tell her father. She didn’t know how to word such a thing. She thought of just bluntly speaking her mind, but that was not formal enough. Kiara would have to think of something more adequate and respectable. A long-winded speech, however, would surely bore Malcolm. Kiara hoped that Malcolm’s sense of mercy and compassion would be intact when they returned.

  As she walked about the castle, her only companion seemed to be the fond memories of her long journey. Some thoughts made her want to giggle. Others, made her want to cry. But, they all included Nate somehow, so they were generally pleasant.

  Kiara wandered up to the second floor of the library, where all of her study books were kept. It was a dark evening to match the gloominess that filled the castle because of Malcolm’s absence. Kiara tried not to think so negatively about the potentiality of the king never returning. Such a tragedy would shake the kingdom to its core, because if he did die, the battle would most likely be lost and Deceiver would conquer the land for himself. Who knows what would become of the royal family and loyal knights.

  She let out a grievous sigh and waltzed to her high window that held a perfect view of Aleph below. The city looked dull and lifeless as a result of most of its occupants being gone. Only half of the population had stayed behind, which consisted of the women, the old and the young.

  She smiled peacefully as she could hear the faint shouts of laughter coming from the children of the city. Kiara gazed up and beyond the city walls. Something grabbed her attention. The southern horizon was darker than usual. Its edge grew blacker and thicker with each passing minute.

  Kiara peered at this anomaly and thought that maybe Malcolm and the army had returned. However, given how little time has passed, it seemed unlikely.

  The princess grabbed her spyglass that she used for studying stars and constellations and brought it over to the window. Squinting through the curved lenses, aiming it to the dark horizon, she couldn’t believe what she saw. Red soldiers.

  Kiara gasped and ran out of her library. “Eshean! Eshean!” she called out frantically, shouting the counselor’s name in every room of the castle. All the servants thought she was going mad and the other guests suspected that something must be wrong, but had no time to ask as she raced on by. All of Kiara’s brothers and sisters were either spending time with each other or off in town. She was the only one to tell the news.

  Finally, she found Eshean in his quarters, apparently taking a nap as she had earlier. Without being told otherwise, Kiara burst into the room.

  “Eshean! Deceiver’s army is heading for Aleph! I just saw them through my spyglass!” she cried out, her chest heaving for air. The old man awoke and stumbled out of bed, grabbing his cane and hobbling out of his quarters.

  “We must assemble everyone we can, everyone that is left, and gather them to the city wall. Quickly, volunteer some servants to collect all the bows, arrows and crossbows available while I sound the alarm.”

  Kiara nodded and hurried, calling up all her servants to help her.

  Within just a matter of minutes, the families of the soldiers that had left for war and all those able in the village, rushed to the southern wall of the city, awaiting instructions. Eshean and Kiara led a procession of carts and wagons, carrying all projectile weapons with them through the city.

  “Now, I am old, you know this. So, I put you in charge of this makeshift army,” Eshean said to Kiara as they were approaching the front lines.

  She looked to him with pure fright radiating from her eyes. “What? I don’t know how to run any army. What am I supposed to do? Can’t you get one of my older brothers to do it?”

  “No, they do not have as much life experience as you. And even if they did, they’re all hiding back at the castle. You are more educated than them as well, whether you like to believe it or not. You have more common sense… Now, think… What should we do?” The old man watched and waited as Kiara thought hard, trying to push out all the fear and doubt that clouded her mind. This was too much to take in all at once.

  “We can’t go up against Deceiver hands on with the forces that we have… We can only use bows, arrows and crossbows to fight with… But, who knows if or when Malcolm will return, so there must be a team or two of arrow makers ready… Wait, they need to be making arrows right now! We’re going to run out quickly.”

  With that thought in mind, Kiara stood up on seat of the wagon to get everyone’s attention. The crowd of maybe five hundred men, women and children looked up to the princess, all with frightened, confused expressions.

  “Deceiver is coming upon the city and we are the last line of defense for Aleph. I want three tiers of archers to form along the top of the southern wall. All arrow makers and carpenters, I want you to station yourselves close to the wall and make as many arrows as you can turn out.” As Kiara shouted out her orders, people quickly fled to their posts as servants began handing out the weapons.

  Kiara looked down to Eshean, who nodded his approval. “Good, now where will you be?” he asked.

  “I will be with my army, shooting arrows at that no good, black hearted wretch!” she exclaimed, leaping down from the wagon and grabbing her own bow and quiver of arrows before running up to the wall to give her commands. Eshean chuckled and shook his head at her feistiness.

  On top of the southern wall, there was at least ten feet of walking space that was soon filled by the peasants of the village. On either side of the walk were battlements for the archers to shoot through and then duck behind.

  Kiara quickly and daringly climbed on top of one of the battlements to look out towards the horizon. Deceiver’s army was just getting within shooting range. Their shouts and jeers could be faintly heard, beating their swords against their shields, everyone ready for an easy victory. Kiara had something else in mind. As if a switch had been pulled in her brain, she was no longer a delicate princess, but a master commander, able and qualified to lead her people.

  She turned about to face the hundreds of citizens, lined up on the wall in three rows. “Those who are shorter, stand in front. Those who are tall need to be in the last row and all other in the middle between them! Make sure everyone has enough room around them to be able to load and reload those b
ows!” Kiara called out.

  Everyone began to rearrange themselves and those who didn’t hear her had the message passed along to them. Soon, the entire length of the wall was completely filled with her archers. Kiara looked over to the inside of the fortress and saw that the arrow makers were busily working and collecting the arrows in a pile near the stair case that led to the frontlines. Her siblings were nowhere to be seen. She suspected that they had fled to the castle in search of sanctuary from the coming battle.

  Kiara stood valiantly, showing no fear as she looked from her army to Deceiver’s. She knew there was a chance that some people would get killed, but she tried to stay grossly optimistic. If they managed to spread out their arrow supplies and shoot at just the right time, then there was no way they could lose. Kiara silently prayed that Malcolm would come before they ran out of ammunition.

  Soon, Eshean came hobbling up the stairs and stood below Kiara. “What is the plan, my captain?” he asked, leaning on his cane, as he always did.

  She glanced down to Eshean, then back to her archers. “The front row of archers will fire their arrows first. When they are done shooting, they shall squat down and reload as the second row is firing their arrows on my signal. They will then reload as the third row shoots. When they are done, they will reload and the process will start over again. Whoever is not shooting, they shall duck down to give the shooters room to fire.”

  Once again, the message was carried down in case there were people who did not hear her. Eshean nodded once more with his approval of the idea.

  “We are Aleph’s last line of defense! Malcolm will return to vanquish Deceiver, but until he comes, we must fight as bravely as a king would expect of his people! They will speak of us for years to come for our bravery and valor in the face of adversity! Those loyal to the enemy will cower in fear of us when this day is done! Banish all fear from your hearts! We have already won this battle in the name of the king!”

  The peasants shouted with confidence, waving their bows up for Kiara and the kingdom. Her and Eshean exchanged confident grins. Neither ever thought such a short speech would inspire such courage.

  Kiara turned back to the field before the city and saw it was about to be over run by Deceiver’s army. She hopped down off of the wall and took her place in the first row of archers. Eshean decidedly sat himself down behind the safety of the stone.

  “Ready!… Fire!”

  The first volley of arrows soared high into the air, making a dramatic arch in the sky and its tips headed straight for the enemy. The first row squatted down to reload while the next row stood and waited for her signal.

  “Fire!” Kiara cried out.

  The next batch was sent out in the same way. They squatted; the third row stood and shot their arrows on queue. Not one arrow hit the ground, but all struck their mark into the evil flesh of Deceiver’s men, who were so thickly clustered in their ranks that not one arrow seemed to be wasted.

  This routine was continued for half an hour more, and as if heaven was on their side, every arrow pierced the enemy in some way. However, not all were killed upon impact. Some were only wounded. Almost a fourth of Deceiver’s army was vanquished. The rest were descending towards the city like a swarm of ants.

  In the midst of Deceiver’s army, came two dozen trebuchets that were quickly set up and loaded upon the battlefield. Kiara turned to Eshean for advice, but he couldn’t help her. She would have to do this on her own.

  Along with the trebuchets, came Deceiver’s archers. They, even though had the lower ground, were able to fire their arrows deathly close to the wall, almost hitting some of Kiara’s soldiers. Kiara shouted out that her army should try and concentrate on taking out the archers.

  Suddenly, as she was given that order, the stone trembled and shook below their feet. One of the trebuchets managed to swing a boulder into the city wall. Although it didn’t create a hole, it severely threw off her archer’s balance, causing their arrows to fly out of range and miss their targets.

  Kiara glowered at the dreaded trebuchets as they continuously pounded away at the wall. Then, she had an idea as she noticed the war machine was made of pure wood.

  “Fire arrows!” she ordered, which utterly confused her archers, who thought they were firing arrows. She shook her head at herself and hurried down the steps to collect up a batch of arrows with oiled cloth tips stuck on their iron points.

  Kiara ran back up to the battlements, grabbed a torch from one of the towers and thrust it into Eshean’s hand to hold. Without a word, she loaded the arrow onto her bow, lit it and aimed right for one of the trebuchets. The arrow stuck into one and the arrow was far out of reach from those on the ground and the fire spread, putting it safely out of commission.

  The champion archer took the duty of lighting every single one of the trebuchets ablaze, creating tall towers of dancing flames scattered across the battlefield. The archers along the southern wall continued to pull back and release their arrows without fail. Only a small handful of her brave warriors were injured by incoming darts and were escorted into the city be tended to.

  The enemy soldiers, however, were relentless. They quickly constructed something like a turtle shell of wood just big enough for a few dozen men to fit in. Kiara watched them as they picked up a battering ram, covered themselves with the shell and approached the city gates.

  “Close the inner gate and barricade it!” Kiara commanded, grabbing several strong looking young men and sending them down to the city. They quickly closed and locked both gates, but that would surely not stop them.

  Kiara put down her bow and gathered a few more ladies to help her. “Go get as many buckets of water as you can from the well. Start an assembly line up to the gate tower and fill the cauldron that is up there. Someone light a fire underneath.”

  And as she ordered, they did so. Women of all ages began an assembly line leading from the nearest well, up the stairs and to the guard tower. The guard tower oversaw the passageway between the two gates that allowed entrance into the city. The large cauldron was rolled just next to the ledge that overlooked the passage.

  The women filled the pot and let it boil as the enemy soldiers continued to ram against the exterior gate. Kiara gave them strict orders to stay in their places and as soon as the soldiers dare break through the first door, to pour down the hot water on them.

  No matter how well they built that turtle shell, the water was bound to seep through. And more than likely, they would take off their covering, making the water all the more scalding. Kiara told them that after their first cauldron of water was empty, to refill it and keep the water hot for another attack, should it come. Little did she know that the women were conspiring another idea for after that first cauldron was emptied.

  Kiara rushed back to her post on the wall to discover that the enemy was breaking out ladders. She groaned as she realized that she would never get a moment of rest in this battle.

  She gave the orders that if the ladders should be leaned against the walls, then those archers in the first row were obligated to push it back or to shoot the climbers on sight. Every ladder that came up to the wall was pushed off and their climbers shot and killed.

  When the turtle shell managed to break through the outer gate, Kiara could hear the deafening, girlish screams of the soldiers before they came running back out to the field, hopping around and writhing in pain. She couldn’t help but giggle as she ordered that the outer gate be replaced and the archers to pick off those who tried to get close. It would be their end if the inner gate broke. Thankfully, the enemy was kept at bay and the gate was restored, giving the women time to refill the pot.

  A long and arduous hour had passed since the beginning of the battle and already it looked as if a third of Deceiver’s army was destroyed. All seemed to be going smoothly and there were only a dozen casualties on Kiara’s side. Bad news came with the appearance of a young carpenter’s apprentice.

  “Princess Kiara! We have run out of supplies f
or arrows. We only have about two thousand left in the reserves. What shall we do?” he said pleadingly.

  Kiara showed none of the fear that she felt. She turned to Eshean, who kept silent and watched her expectantly. The princess looked back to that boy. “Just keep feeding those arrows to the archers.”

  The boy nodded and went away.

  Kiara stood frozen, thinking of a plan. Two thousand arrows were only enough for four more volleys. They would have to resort to throwing spears after this or arm themselves for hand-to-hand combat. But, upon looking down to the children who were shooting the arrows, she cringed at the thought of putting inexperienced youngsters in war. It was unfair. She needed a miracle.

  Then, suddenly, the miracle came. In the distance, a trumpet could be heard to sound an attack. Kiara looked to the hills, and there they were. The blue army, Malcolm’s army, had finally returned, charging against Deceiver’s army, shouting like banshees upon their horses and waving their weapons.

  In the lead, she could see her father, Justin and Nate. The battle was just beginning.

  Chapter 26

  “Justin, Nathaniel, Sir Claude, stay close and cover me! I’m going straight for Deceiver!” Malcolm yelled to his comrades that rode beside him into the battle. All three heard and nodded in understanding as they charged towards the enemy.

  Deceiver’s army turned with surprise to the south and converted their attention away from Aleph, just as Malcolm wanted. Kiara watched from the southern wall as the blue dots and red darts clashed and slowly dissolved into each other with earsplitting clanging of swords and screams of pain and glory.

  “Focus your arrows to protect Malcolm!” she ordered of her army.

  Nate, Justin, Malcolm and Sir Claude, all mounted upon their horses - Sir Claude was given a new horse -, slashed wildly with their swords at the red infantry who dared to draw close enough within striking range. Their swords sliced through flesh and feeble armor, heading straight into the middle of the battlefield. They passed by the flaming trebuchets, which illuminated the darkened evening, their eyes searching for the false king.