by A. M. Hardin
One of the older kids, a teenager, with tear stained cheeks and dirty, cut up clothes, eyes me warily. “Who are you?” She asks, almost sounding resigned, but as I watch her I see the spark in her eyes. The girl is pissed.
“I’m Cherish,” I say simply. “We’re here to get you guys out of here.”
I feel one of my guys come up behind me and place his hand on my shoulder.
“Cherish?” The girl eyes me up and down again. “The princess?”
I take a deep breath and nod once.
“So it’s your fault that we’re all down here?” She asks loudly.
I open my mouth, to say what, I don’t know, because in all reality it is in a way, my fault.
“It’s Forrest’s fault that you all are down here,” Andrei says sharply. “If it weren’t for the princess we wouldn’t even be here risking our lives for you with so few people.”
“What do you mean?” Someone from another cell calls quietly to us.
I hear the clinking of metal as one of the cells is opened at the front of the dungeon.
“The princess heard what Forrest was doing and demanded that we come save you. Even at risk for her own safety,” Xander explains.
“And I have no doubt that she would have tried sneaking off on her own if we didn’t agree,” Kade says, opening another cell and letting another wave of mothers and children out.
I shrug as Kade shoots me a look. Yeah, I most likely would have done that. I wouldn’t let these people suffer on my behalf, it’s not in me to just sit back and do nothing. Especially when I can help.
The teenage girl who asked who I was eyed me again but with a different look in her eye than before. Instead of rage and disgust, there’s a bit of respect there now.
It took five more minutes to get the rest of the cells opened and the people out.
I meet the eyes of the teenager and ask a question that’s been bugging me. “Why were you guys without an adult in your cell?”
“We have no mothers,” she said simply. “They even took the older boys and told them that they had to fight. They didn’t get a choice. One of them tried to tell them he wouldn’t fight and the king had him beaten to an inch of his life and then brought him to a healer when the boy said he would fight. He was used as an example.”
I take a step back, placing a hand over my churning stomach. Why is Forrest doing this? This has to be more than just being king.
"All right, let's get the hell out of here," Xander says.
Kade leads the prisoners outback through the tunnel. Xander, Andrei, and I follow closely behind.
It doesn't take long for us to reach the maze of tunnels, but instead of leading us where we came from, cade leads us down a different pathway.
The walk to the end of this tunnel takes longer than the other, and by the time we reached the end, the younger kids start to get restless and fidgety.
"Are we there yet," a little voice says from beside me.
I look down and see a little boy, probably around the age of six, fidgeting with his fingers as he looks around the tunnels. He looks up and meets my eyes and I give him a small smile. "We're almost there, honey," I whisper back to him. "But we have to stay quiet, okay."
The little boy nods his head and gives me a shy smile. It takes about 10 more minutes for us to get to the end of the tunnel. I look up and I see Kade stopped at the end of the tunnel as he directs people through the opening.
We get everyone through the opening and Kade is the last to leave. Once outside of the tunnel, I take a look around and see that we are in some kind of barn. Only there no animals inside.
"Where we going now?" One of the mothers asks.
"To the village that we are staying at," Andrei says. “There are others there.”
Xander goes to the entrance of the barn and peeks out. There must not be anyone out there because emotions for the rest of us to follow in steps outside.
I noticed that were at one of the abandoned buildings that was outside the castle walls that I had noticed while I was living here.
I look at that Kade, who is standing beside me, and ask, "Is there enough room for everyone at the village?"
Kade gives me a smile and nods his head. "Yeah, ma hai, there's room.”
** This is a pre-order place-holder. If you have received this then amazon sent you the wrong file. Please update the book to get the full copy. **
