Chapter 9

ALEX

We had approached the battlefield that was desert like and surrounded by tall mountains. It was very quiet. Something was not right.

"Something's not right" I whispered

We were supposed to meet a troop here to renegotiate before an actual war takes place. It's a trap. It dawn on me that our meeting here was part of their plan.

"Father..." I was cut short by the shrieking of one of the soldiers.

Arrows flew from above and began to hit our soldiers.

"IT'S A TRAP" Cornelius shouted.

Quickly the formation was made, father and I were protected with shields. More soldiers were hit and fear began to set in.

"If we stay here, we'll lose more lives" I shouted.

Re-forming our formation, we set ourselves in a circular form and shot arrows from below above. It wasn't sufficient enough but good enough to have them disrupt

Suddenly more soldiers came out from where I couldn't place their hiding spot. We drew out our swords and faced them. They really had us well, but they won't get the end of us. With that determination within me, I fought them. Passing my sword through one, more came towards me. I couldn't tell where father or Clint or Cornelius was. All I needed was for them to be alright.

The sword again went through more of the opponent soldiers and I could feel the weight of blood on it. At times like this, I take off my emotions and focus on surviving. It's never my wish to take lives but the circumstance and position I found myself in leaves me no choice.

"Agh!" I grunted as sharp pain passed through my hand.

I turned to where the pain had come from and with one slash, I sent his head off his body. Energy left me quickly as the war deepened. It felt like it would never end. Finding Clint was a relief

"They're too many, we can't outrun them" Clint heaved

"We can't give up. Not just yet" I said firmly.

We pressed further and fought harder and the English soldiers seemed to lose focus. We tackled them much more and lessened their number.

"RETREAT!!" One of the opponent soldiers shouted.

They stopped fighting us and withdrew from our premises quickly.

The sword in my hand became heavy as I sighed. Father. My thoughts ran to him. I searched for him and there he was with Cornelius.

"Son" he called and nodded shortly.

We camped away from the wilderness. Though we were resting, our guards were not down. Some wounded soldiers were treated and the bodies of the lost soldiers were kept. Some of them.

"We need to be very much cautious and alert now" Cornelius said

We were inside the tent, planning for the war.

"Clint, you'll hold reinforcement. The Archers" I told him. "You're not coming with us" I added

"Isn't that dangerous, we need everybody together" Father added

"If we're together, we die together." I said. "The English soldiers are going to re-plan their attack strategies. They work with tactics and we have to outsmart them on that" I added.

"So separating us is the best thing?" Cornelius questioned

"I believe so" I said

They were all silent.

"Clint, you'll have two hundred soldiers with you. You'll be the one we bank on eventually" I fixed my eyes on him.

We planned more and prepared ourselves for much more.

***

Back to the fields, we were brought upon with a fuller force. They fought us and we fought back.

The tension was stronger and the pain of lost soldiers was what was fought with.

Just as expected, their mode of attack was different now. They seemed to attack better but that won't stop us. My sword ran into one of them, immediately I took out my bow and arrow behind me and shot one that almost had the head of one of our soldiers. The more we fought, the more of the opponent soldiers. I almost regret asking Clint to wait behind. We fought much more and reduced their numbers. To my surprise, the England soldiers arrived with large catapults that could take away at least ten soldiers

"What in the..." I whispered to myself

"FORMATION" Cornelius shouted

We rounded ourselves with shields to prevent damage from the falling stone. They threw the large rocks and they landed on our shields. The stones were heavy and came with full force, it weakened our soldiers and the shields won't be able to stay for too long. More rocks fell and the shields were falling apart.

"Clint where are you?" I whispered to myself.

As the England soldiers noticed our dislocation, they ran towards us with spears, I came out of the shields and attacked them to prevent them from coming closer to us. Cornelius joined me alongside with a few soldiers. More stones fell and the shields were opening apart gradually.

We can't meet up.

A large rock fell very close to me, just a little step further and that would have been the end of me. It caused me to fall to the ground and I was separated from my sword. One of the opponent soldiers approached me with a spear and immediately I got up, weaved the piercing point and kicked his stomach. He lost his balance a little and before he could get back together, I kicked his hand and the spear fell from it. I kicked his stomach again, harder this time and he fell to the floor. With his spear in my hand, I passed it through his heart. I pressed further into the other soldiers and attacked them. Our soldiers had reduced drastically and we were running out of time. More stones kept falling and shortly the shields broke apart.

One more shot and we're all dead.

"Why isn't Clint here?" Cornelius shouted.

Suddenly a massive amount of well-arranged arrows flew above us and landed specifically on the soldiers that controlled the catapult.

A smile found it way on my face as we let down our shields and advanced to the opponent soldiers. More arrows fell towards them and we brought down the ones with spears. Clint joined the fight and we progressed.

A white flag came up from the England soldiers as they withdrew themselves.

We shouted in victory knowing fully well we had won the war.

"Well-done your highness" Clint said and I smiled at him.

We made it. A lot of lives lost but we survived and won. Finally I can go back. A smile made its way on my face as my thoughts were of Mia.

We returned to where we camped and prepared to leave.

"Well-done son, I'm proud of you" My Father said as he patted my shoulder. "I knew you were fit enough to run the kingdom."

"Thank you Father" I smiled

"Remember what I said earlier about the plans I have for you?" He reminded

"Oh yes Father" I said wondering what this plan is

"Well actually, I sent a proposal to the Princess of Netherlands and she accepted" He smiled

My heart dropped as he made the statement.

"What?" I asked with surprise

"Well I know you both had a thing one time, so I thought it would be proper to make it official now" he added

"No Father, we never had a thing....why didn't you tell me before doing this?" I walked restlessly.

This is not good. What's going to happen to Mia? I can't marry anyone else.

"Are you okay son? You don't seem to be happy about this proposal" he said

"I'm not Father. I don't want to marry Princess Arenila" I said quickly.

"Why?" he lifted his eyebrow "Is there something I don't know?" he asked

"I love someone else" I said

"Is she a Princess?" He asked sternly

I paused. "No"

"Then I'm sorry son, it can't happen. You can't marry her" he said.

I wonder what he has against peasants. Ever since mother died, he shut down the palace acquaintances with the outside. I couldn't make friends other than Princes, like no one but princesses, everything I did was just within the palace. It was just too restricted.

"But what is it you have against the people outside? You never wanted me to go outside or relate with the people. What makes you their king if you don't want to relate with them?"

"I meet their needs" he said

"It's more than just meeting their needs father, they need to see you. They need to know who their King is" I said.

He paused. "No. They don't need to know me and I don't need to know them. Once they have their needs met, they're fine" he stated. "This discussion ends. Once we get back, we start planning your wedding" he said and walked out of the tent.

I have a feeling there's something I don't know and I'll find out. I'm not marrying anyone but Mia.