The Red String

Chapter 2

Ellie tilts her head a little bit and grabs her chin thinking. After a while she smiles and says, “Well, some people are born into power, and some don't. Some have to fight to survive and others die for having too much. Food for thought, my young Empress”. With a delicate bow she leaves.

After some hours, nightfall comes and the Emperor stands up, raises his glass and says, “Thank you my friends for travelling and celebrating with me! But it's time for us to leave. Please, keep on drinking till the morning comes, in my name!”, and everyone says together, “Emperor Lon!”.

The maids take Arianna to the Emperor's champers. There, they undress her and they give her to wear something light and revealing while they comb her hair down.

All of the servants start leaving, having prepared the bed. The last, opens the big window and whispers to her, "Everything is gonna be fine", and she leaves fast.

‘What was that?’.

Emperor Lon enters the room. Candles are burning with a scent of roses. She is standing, being stiff, her heart is beating like a thousand horses. He reaches for her cold cheek and a tear is about to roll on her skin. He says, “Oh no no. You won’t cry here. No one's gonna help you. I own you dear so now, be a good girl”. She closes her eyes wishing that this will be over. She holds her dress tight and takes a big breath.

A ringing is set in her ear. “Ugh” she mumbles as it hurts. She grabs it, only to make it worse. It feels cold and like a piece is missing. She opens her eyes and looks at her hand.

‘Blood?’.

She watches the blood as it drips off her fingers. She looks up but she can't see the Emperor. It was dark, the candles were burning low. Her eyes open wider, her breath stops.

“He--” she stutters. “He is dead” she mumbles as she looks down in horror gazing at his dead body covered full of blood with an arrow on his chest. She grabs her mouth with both hands trying not to scream, while taking some steps back. She is hyperventilating as she feels the cold blood of her ear reaching down her neck. Her legs are shaking and she is unable to move. She reaches for the Emperor but pulls back immediately. Slowly, she decides to turn her head to see where it came from. She notices the open window and a roof, but no on there.  She gasps and with her remaining strength runs out of the room.

CHAPTER 3

Her heavy breathing could be heard inside the hollow walls. She runs down the stairs, ignoring the maids that pass by.

“Ah!” she yells while she falls on her knees.

Explosions light up the city and the sky from black turns to red. She sneaks to see from a window and she notices her kingdoms banners. “They are leaving me behind”, say's with a cry when she understands that they won't come for her. She shakes her head, trying to deny it, gathering her strength and aiming for the palace gates.

The whole kingdom is on alert, but there isn't anyone to guide them. They try to find the Emperor, but they find him dead. They run down the stairs, following the stream of blood.

“Stop where you are!”, a soldier screams to her while she is one step away from the gate. She freezes, not knowing what to do. They aim their spears to her while she slowly turns around. She tightens her lips while closing her eyes for a second, leaving a heavy breath from her nostrils. She whispers “Screw this, I’m done being weak”, and with that, she jumps out of the palace, landing on her bloody knees.

She falls down the stairs and hits her back. She lets out a small scream, but she has a goal and that is getting away. She pushes her hands against the ground trying to stand up, mumbling, “They can't leave me behind”. The soldiers come out but they don't get to live for long. A stream of arrows is piercing their hearts and they fall to their death.

The attackers approach Arianna, laughing. “Look what we got here”, a soldier says while they form a circle around her. She looks at them while lowering her gaze. A soldier steps forward and tries to grab her. She uses her frail body and grabs a small knife he had on his pocket.

“What are you gonna do with that little one?” he laughs. She clenches her fists and with one swing she slices his neck, leaving him bleeding. The others fluster as she runs away to escape.

‘This was my first kill, and I didn’t even flinch’.

They started following her, catching up. One of them grabs her by her arm forcing her to come with him. “Let me go!”, she screams at his face.

“You just killed him! You little s**t! Do you know what my men and I will do to you?”.

He raises his hand to strike her but a deep voice interrupts him.

“What will you do, soldier?”.

She stops breathing for a moment. The soldier turns around, looking like a wet cat, he takes his hands off her and he bows to him. Her mouth drops. She knows who he is, or has heard about him. She recognizes him by his looks. Long black hair with piercing blue eyes but most importantly, a great scar across his left eye, down to his cheek. The notorious conqueror called, “the Devil”.

He stands on his horse, looking intimidating. She whispers, "I know you" without thinking.

Keiran grabs his sword and points it at Arianna’s throat. She stretches her neck, straightens her back, and looks directly at his eyes. “We have a brave one here”, he says with an amused voice as he notices that she doesn’t seem afraid. Little does his know, as she is frightened as it can be.

His eyes move at her body, noticing her ripped dress. “You are royal”, he says with a smile.

“Sir, how do you know she is royal?”, the soldier asks.

“If you had brains, you would have noticed that the dress is made of silk. Then it looks like it is a dress made for a wedding night. Also, look at her porcelain skin and of course, the famous red hair”, he answers in a playful tone.

The soldiers look each other in surprise. “So, who is this one?”, another one asks.

Keiran looks back at her and puts his sword back in his case. "She is the beautiful princess Arianna, from the Kingdom of Lotus, the new bride's wedding that we just ruined".

He then points at one of the soldier to come to him. Arianna observes them with bewilderment.

‘He knew me’.

“Hoen, go find Eve. Ask her if she has found the other wives. Take the princess back into the palace. Roen will be in there. Give her to him”, he orders and Hoen gets closer to Arianna saying, “Sorry for before, please follow me. We won’t hurt you”.

She looks frightened toward her Father's banners that they became distant. Keiran notices that and says, “They weren't gonna wait for you”.

She looks at him frowning while Hoen takes her inside. As she walks, Keiran sees the dead soldier. “Who killed him?” he asks. One of them answers, “She did”.

With a surprised face, he looks at her. He sighs and continues saying, “That’s interesting”.

She arrives back into the palace only to find a new set of maids, the three wives on the corner and a tall figure close to them. “My Lord, this is the fourth wife, princess Arianna”, Hoen comments being happy. The man nods and Hoen leaves.

He c***s his head as an indication of a greeting. “Hello, my name is Roen. I'm the trusted adviser of our Lord, soon-to-be Emperor, Keiran. I'm here to keep you safe”. She looks at him, studying him. She is surprised of how handsome he looks. He looks so different from Keiran.

‘Roen seems peaceful and kind, but Keiran is more... mesmerizing, yet intimidating’.

 Roen interrupts her thoughts by telling her that she needs to follow him. He stops next to the other wives and says, “Stay here. It won't be long till our new Emperor will rise”.

The wives seem frightened and exhausted, covered in dirt. “What happened to you?”, she asks them. With disdain in their voice they answer, “These monsters hunted us down like dogs! They even ripped off our beautiful dresses!”.

‘Their Emperor is dead, the Kingdom has fallen, and all they can think about is their dresses?’.

They look at her and their eyes are full of hate. Arianna knew they didn't like her. She is much younger and prettier, the one that would give sons to the Emperor.

After a while Roen comes back. He apologizes for the treatment that they received. He offers them some bread and the three wives grab it with no thinking. Arianna denies it, as it seems her throat was too dry.

Roen the offers her some water, which is accepted.

“Thank you” she gently said, making Roen blush.

The hours were passing till Roen came back once more.

“My Ladies, I want to inform you that Emperor Lon is dead and that Lord Keiran has won”.

The three wives look each other in shock.

So, it finally ended.

She puts her head down, feeling for some reason, guilty for his death. He then continues, “The day after tomorrow he will be crowned as the new Emperor”. The wives are having a mental breakdown.

“Now, what I want for you, is your help. As Lord Keiran is going to become the new Emperor, he needs a wife by his side so he will be acceptable to the people and create new alliances. He will pick one of you since you are coming from the most powerful kingdoms. But the Emperor doesn’t have the time to think tiny things like that. So, he gives you a chance! You get to pick which one of you will be his wife. But I have to warn you, Lord Keiran isn't an easy man, not someone you can trick or mess. He is dangerous and you won't lead a happy life with him. So, choose wisely”.

“What happens to the remaining three?” one of them asks.

“Will get their freedom, of course”.

Roen leaves and all of them are left speechless. ‘Another wedding?’.

The third wife Ti, says, “So, who do we choose? I don’t wanna marry this monster!”. They look at each other in question.

The three of them nod their head in agreement.  Milen looks at Arianna and says, “After a lot of thought, we decided--” and she gets interrupted by Katzin, the oldest saying, “Let's not lie, it didn't require a lot of thought, but the logical decision is to be you, Arianna. We all saw Keiran, killing countless of people, being ruthless. We all heard about his achievements. I'm not gonna become this monster's wife. You brought this to yourself. So, accept your faith”.