Rain Drops

Chapter 26

Now that the time for you to become a princess comes, you should start taking good care of yourself. Remember the advice you gave me when you were eight years old? You must remember that."

I lowered my head and nodded. Suddenly, a loud noise resounded from the other side of the palace. I looked around, puzzled. Grandma and Grandpa both raised their eyebrows, looked at me curiously and then rose from their seats. All the servants, except for the guards, got up as well. The guards came up to us.

The king asked with concern:

"What's wrong with that noise?"

One of the soldiers whispered in reply:

"That sounded like someone was being crushed under an avalanche!"

"An avalanche?" cried Mom. "Who would do such a thing? Is it possible that the rebels came back?"

I turned to stare at the soldiers. My heart was beating hard in my chest, and tears started forming in the corners of my eyes. Grandpa and Grandma looked at each other and the soldiers. Grandma suddenly lifted up the hem of her dress in panic, while Grandpa's hand trembled violently.

"Quick! We have to save them!" he exclaimed.

He dashed towards the door. I hurried after him while the rest of the guards followed suit. I heard a loud roar and felt someone pushing me aside. The next thing I knew, a soldier landed roughly on top of me. Next thing I knew, I saw blood splattering everywhere in my vision.

* *

After what seemed like hours, the soldier finally released me. I rubbed my nose and wiped the blood away from my face. Then I turned around and looked at what had caused me such pain and horror. I froze and my lips became dry and parched. The soldiers who had been fighting with the rebels had fallen, dead, one after the other. A number of men lay on the ground motionless, most of them bleeding profusely. One soldier had fallen to the ground with his throat sliced open, and another had landed face forward on the ground, his back shattered into dozens of pieces. The bloodied rocks on the ground made a ghastly sight.

The whole battle had taken place just beyond the village gates. At least thirty people lay dead, including members of my family, the soldiers and the rebels. Their faces twisted with fear and shock.

I looked back inside the gatehouse. All that was left of the soldiers were pools of blood, lying sprawled on the ground. Several men still lay alive among them, though badly wounded. Most were staring blankly in front of them with terrified looks, and others were crying and shouting incoherently. They kept trying to get up, but the soldiers standing guard at the gate would not allow it.

Someone called out to me urgently:

"Mia, come with me! We've got to leave at once! They're already here!"

The words 'they're already here' rang through my ears. Then everything became very hazy to me. Before I could register what had happened to me, I heard the sound of gunshots close by and I fell. It didn't hurt at first, but soon it was unbearable. My whole body ached terribly and I couldn't breathe. Someone helped me to sit upright and placed me against an oak tree behind me. I leaned against it weakly, unable to control myself and gasping for breath while I tried hard to regain some sense of self.

The sky seemed blacker now than ever. I stared wide eyed into nothingness and listened intently to everything around me.

"Are you alright?"

It was Uncle Ben, sitting right next to me, looking concerned. I nodded and he immediately held me up so that I wouldn't fall back to the ground. Then I heard footsteps. Soon someone was beside us, helping me stand up completely straight again. I opened my eyes and realized that it was Grandma. With a relieved expression she hugged me tightly.

"Good heavens Mia! What happened? Where is Josh? Who did this? Are you all right?"

I closed my eyes again and concentrated on breathing steadily until I regained composure. When I reopened my eyes, I saw Uncle Ben, Josh and Grandma standing there. Uncle Ben looked pale but otherwise fine, whereas Grandma was pale and trembling visibly. Josh looked angry, and stood with his fists clenched and his jaw firmly set. Grandma looked frightened. Her mouth moved silently and she bit her lower lip several times before speaking again:

"Mia, are you sure that they didn't harm you anywhere?"

Before I could say anything in response to her question, I heard Grandpa shout from somewhere:

"Josh!"

My brother appeared in the distance, running towards us. I watched him run towards us in shock as if I couldn't process what was happening. I watched him as he reached us and stopped in front of his grandfather. Grandpa looked shocked. I glanced at the rest of the royal family, wondering how they were supposed to react when they found out what I had done. They looked horrified and scared, as if they thought the same.

"Uncle! I'm here! What is it?! Did something happen?!" Josh replied, still panting heavily from running.

Grandma, Grandpa and Josh looked at me anxiously. Josh looked at his grandfather first and asked:

"Is she all right?"

Grandpa hesitated for a second before replying:

"Yes. She has been saved. But it seems that they were after more than just our daughter... we think it might be Mia..."

Josh furrowed his brows and turned back to me. He looked like he wanted to ask me questions, but didn' know exactly what to say to me, especially since I hadn't answered the question yet. He took a deep breath and continued:

"So the rebels really killed those soldiers in front of you? Are you hurt? Can you talk?" he asked impatiently.

I shook my head quickly. He grabbed my arm and led me away from everyone else before asking:

"Where does it hurt?"