Chapter 4

Ryou, Malik and Joey quickly fell into action. This is what Joey had been training for her entire life. Her sword slipped so easily out of its compartment, like it was ready for this exact moment. Joey knew what needed to happen, she just wished that it did not have to be this way.

"Make sure the princess is safe! Keep her hidden! I need to get some things together. Stay in the garden until I come to get you! Malik! Come with me!" Ryou nodded while riding off towards the garden with the princess in tow.

"Joey! What is going on?" asked Malik as the two girls began to run towards the castle, towards the heat of battle… towards the King and Queen.

"I don't really know…. but the King and Queen made sure that if the warning bells were ever to start going off then our first and only objective is to make sure the princess is safe. Go and get the horses ready and get some food and water for the four of us, I have a horrible feeling that we are going to have a long journey ahead of us….. And Malik! Be ready to fight, this is not going to end well. I'm going to see if I can find the King and Queen."

Malik didn't have to say a word. There was a bond and knowledge between the girls that need not words to help understand. With that, Joey continued on towards the throne room and Malik headed off towards the stable.

The stench was almost too much for Joey…. She knew that nothing she was going to come up against was going to be pretty but nothing could have prepared her for what her eyes showed her next… There was a mess of bodies, most of which were the guards, some of the servants who were unlucky enough to be working in that specific wing when the attacks first started. Joey quickly paid her respect for her fallen comrades but knew deep down that if she wanted to help prevent anymore from falling then she needed to get to the throne room as quickly as possible. At that moment Joey looked up from her thoughts to see a guard running down the hall towards her. He was clutching his stomach and had blood running down his forehead, slowly dripping into his eyes, blurring his vision. Joey halted to a stop as soon as she saw the guard and pulled him to the side behind a curtain so that no one could find them.

"What is going on!?" whispers Joey in a tone like steel, grasping onto the guard's robes. The guard was panting quite hard, desperately trying to find his breath. He then looked up at the blonde in front of him.

"Invaders from the Kingdom to the South…. they want…. the royal family as hostages and….. To take the throne… so that they can expand their lands…. And so he… he….," He pauses then says, "It's Dartz…. He's gone mad… he wants to be king…. all I know is it has something to do with the princess and her being promised to someone else? He is on his way to the throne room now!" Joey did not take the time to listen to the last bit of what the guard had to say…

I have to get to Alexander and Layla and quickly! Joey took off running as fast as humanly possible. Her only saving grace was going to be that fact that she knew the shortcuts to get her to the throne room…. And hopefully before Dartz. I just hope I'm not too late…..

When Joey finally made it to the throne room the King and Queen were seated at their throne. The King and Queen did not seem to be worried about their current situation in the slightest.

How can they be this calm? Their kingdom is falling to ruins and they are just sitting there!

"My King. My Queen. The Kingdom is falling apart! What is going on?" yelled Joey.

"Josephine, darling, we are so happy you are alright!" cried Queen Layla as she grabbed Joey in a large hug.

"Joey….. Dartz did not take us telling him that Ashlan would be marrying someone else very well….he is now trying another approach, a much more violent approach to gaining the crown. Look…. He cannot become king without marrying Ashlan. He may be able to get rid of myself and Layla but without the princess the kingdom will never accept him as their King. There will be riots and he will be ruling over a desolate, distraught kingdom that will never prosper."

Everything was happening so quickly. It was beginning to become all a blur…That's when they heard it.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"That must be Dartz. He has finally made his way to the throne room… You must move quickly Joey! Please take care of our daughter…. I do not know what Dartz has planned for us but as long as he never gets his hands on Ashlan, we can both rest easy knowing that she is safe and Dartz will never get …. Take her to Egypt and take this letter to the pharaoh. Everything is explained in there. Read it and please go with what it says… The pharaoh will give you refuge and will keep you safe and hidden. No one must know Ashlan's true identity. She was not to arrive for another couple months so we will use it as an excuse to send you girls to prepare for her arrival. No one will think anything of i-

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Quickly Joey! They will be through those doors in seconds!" cried the King.

"But! -"

"Just go! Do not worry about us!"

Joey was conflicted. Alexander and Layla were like parents to her…. They practically raised her…. But she knew that her duty was to protect the princess, her friend, her sister….

"I will do my best. No harm will come to Ash."

And with that Joey rushed off from where she came and snuck into the passage just as the throne room's large entrance doors flew open….

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" mocked Dartz. His pleasant and polite demeanour completely wiped away and replaced with an evil glint in his eye and a smirk that would make anyone cringe.

"Dartz…. What have you done?! Why are you doing this? What have we ever done to you to make you do this to us, to our kingdom?" asked Queen Layla.

"Ah, what a wonderful question…. All in due time your highness…. Now, where is that lovely daughter of yours?" ….

Meanwhile….

"MALIK!? Malik?! Where are you!?" screamed Joey. It took her mere minutes to make her way over to the stables where Malik was supposed to be getting everything prepared for their journey.

"Joey calm down! I am right here!" Malik whispered as she popped her head around the corner leading two horses, her own, which was a light sand coloured palomino, and Joey's, a large black stallion with wild hair that reached well past its neck, cascading over its one eye. The horses had saddle bags full of food and rations to hold the girls over for a couple of weeks.

"Good, Good. We need to get going. It won't take Dartz long to realize that we have taken Ashlan out of the kingdom. Let's go get them. Here, catch!" called Joey as she mounted her horse and threw Malik a dark, purple, hooded robe. "Put this on as soon as you can so that it's harder for people to recognize us."

The two girls rode over towards the garden to pick up the other half of their convoy, Joey just hoped that she wasn't too late.

Where are Joey and Malik? I don't know how much longer I can wait here and do nothing to help… Ashlan was never good at sitting still and doing nothing but people always tended to believe that she needed protecting and would never be able to stick up for herself.

"Quit worrying Ash. Joey and Malik should be here right away and Joey will know what to do."

"I know, I am just worried that something happened to them…. And what about my parents? Where are they? Are they okay?" asked the princess.

"I don't know any more than you do but I'm sure everything is under control."

Before Ryou could finish the next part of her sentence she heard thundering hooves getting louder and louder making its way towards the two girls who were currently cowering behind one of the tallest bushes in the garden which easily concealed them and their horses. Both of the horses were calm and collected and stayed hidden quite well along with the girls. Ryou had a grey and white speckled horse and with a little bit of Ryou's magic, a light blue streak had been placed throughout the horses' mane. The princess' horse was a beautiful brown and white paint mare with a long flowing white mane and her name was 'Star'. Ash had been gifted Star when she turned 15 as a birthday present. She had been riding from a very young age but it had always been on her parent's horse and never her own, until Star came along. Needless to say, the horses stayed quiet and were quite well trained.

"Ashlan! Ryou! The coast is clear! Come one we have to get going! The rest of Dartz' men could be here any minute" cried Joey who was desperately trying to be as quiet as possible while still getting the other girl's attention.

"Wait! Where are my parents?!" cried the Ashlan.

"Your parents are holding off Dartz in the throne room. They are distracting him so that you can get away. Dartz is after you so that he can marry you and take over the kingdom and we cannot allow that to happen so we must go now!"

But what about my parents…. The last time I saw them I was yelling at them and basically telling them that I hate them and that they are the worst parents ever… That's when Ashlan lost it. She could not hold in the tears any longer.

"I know this is hard Ash. No one could have seen this coming. But we have to move. Getting you as far away from this place as possible is the best thing for both the kingdom and your parents."

Ashlan wiped some of the tears off her face looking up at her three friends who had painful looks in their eyes but also a look of determination and love. These girls are willing to do anything to help me and keep me safe… I need to pull myself together and do my part… be responsible for once in my life…. Ashlan wiped the remaining of her tears away and mounted Star.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

"First, put this on… all of you." Said Joey while throwing Ryou and Ashlan both cloaks which resembled the same one Malik and Joey had one except where Joey's was red and Malik's was purple, Ryou had a solid white cloak and Ashlan's was a pale blue.

"Oh, and before we go, Ash? I need to remove your crown… we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves where we will be going alright? I promise I will keep it safe."

All Ashlan did was nod and quickly slip the circlet off and hand it to Joey.

"Thank you, Joey, now let's go."

The girl's horses reared up as the galloped off out of the garden and headed towards the outskirts of the city. It was a long way to Egypt and it would take quite a long time to get there. The journey would not be easy but the more distance put between them and Dartz, the better.