This is one of the longest chapters in the story and I had to retype it because I accidentally deleted it.


Chapter Nine: The Attack

About a week after, the atmosphere in the palace shifts dramatically.

I whip my head around, suddenly seeing three butlers and maids run over one another in a panic, as if they were running away from something. I follow them and try to ask what is happening, but the moment I open my mouth is when the most frightening siren begins blaring in my ear. I fall to the ground, putting my ears to block out the sound as I stand back up.

I never get scared but this siren is a sound that nobody ever wants to hear. It means we are under attack.

I sprint over to the wing of the palace where my suitors are and begin pounding on their doors. Hopefully, they can hear me over the alarm. When they all open their doors, worried about what is going on. I ignore all their questions and simply order them to follow me.

"We need to hurry," I warn them, taking the lead. "I do not know who is attacking nor how close they are."

All of my suitors nod. I know they are all petrified and are doing a marvelous job of hiding it which is incredibly helpful. I can feel adrenaline pulsing through me, over-powering my blood. I try not to allow it to take over me because fighting with that kind of power never succeeds. I speak from experience.

Once we reach a wall, I look both ways to make sure nobody else is around before I push aside a statue of a Panther. I open a secret door and push them all inside to go down the staircase in there. It is a safe-room that we would use during attacks. They are for hiding and safety. There are so many all around the palace, just inside various walls and corners of the palace. Once my suitors are all inside, I close the door but someone stops me.

"Princess," I hear Zuberi call from the other side. "There is a chance that you are what they came here for. It will be safer if you are with us."

"There is a greater chance that you all are their targets," I tell him honestly. "You are here because of me. This is my country and this castle is my home, therefore I must protect it till my dying breath."

Which I really hope does not come...

Zuberi nods and closes the door. I push the statue back into place and continue walking to find someone to fight.

-o-

Hearing the recognizable sound of shots being fired makes me realize that I currently have no armor nor weapon with me. I have a suit similar to the Black Panther one that my father has but I do not have the time to run and change into it. It has a vibranium mesh that stops the momentum of any kind of blows, stabs, and shots. My dresses cannot survive wine stains but that is all I have as of right now. Good thing I have been trained for any kind of situation.

I run down the hall, towards the main stairwell. I kneel at the corner of the wall, watching the curve of the steps, waiting. I feel the railway vibrate rapidly which means that someone is running up the stairs quickly. It takes me less than a second for me to identify the man as an intruder. I pounce on him, like a Panther, forcing him to the ground. With a grunt, he falls back. Before he can get back up, I take off one of my shoes and use it as a weapon to hurl at him. A guard passes by and captures him.

"Where are my parents?" I ask the guard.

"Outside," he replies. "There are strong forces against us, Princess."

"I understand."

He nods as he walks off with the intruder. I turn around and continue trekking down the hall. I have ditched my shoes just so it is easier for me to travel by foot. Even though they make a wonderful weapon I will make do without them.

"If you find the King, Queen or any of the suitors, kill them!" I hear an intruder yell.

I freeze for a second. Why was I not on that list? And why is the dialect slightly different than mine?

I move as quietly as I can towards the sounds of the intruders, ducking wherever I can and constantly checking all around me. I am alone in this hall and there is definitely more than I can handle at the end. I make it up to the next floor, finding it destroyed. Everything is in several pieces all over the floor. The home I have grown up in is disheveled and all I can do right now is walk past it all.

I look up and see an intruder patrolling the area but he has yet to see me. I pick up a leg from a broken side table and quickly smack him in the back of the head with all my might. He drops and I check him for weapons. Lucky for me, I've obtained a shard of vibranium. I get up and see some more intruders approaching me. I stretch out my arms and summon the winds to assist me. Nearby windows shatter and giagntic gusts of wind knock over the oncoming force. Another intruder attempts to sneak up on me from behind but the sound of his weapon being loaded causes me to turn around and stab him right in the chest. As he screams, I leap up and kick him over. He falls to his knees and I hold his neck against the wall with my foot.

"Who are you with?!" I demand forcefully.

As I try to get an answer out of him, I feel glass smash into my face, cutting my forehead and my cheeks. My head spins from a sudden dizziness and blood begins leaking into my eyes, making it harder for me to see. I feel a sudden thrill of panic from my temporary blindness as someone grabs a hold of me from behind before my training comes back to me. I crouch and use my leverage to flip him over my shoulders. Though he is much bigger and stronger than me, he crashes onto the debris-covered floor. I wipe the blood from my eyes and suddenly get pinned to the ground by another. The man holds down my arms and stradles my stomach.

"Take me to your suitors," he orders. His voices reminds me of the machines in the mines - mechanical.

I shake my head. He releases me arms and I immediately punch him in the face with my bloody fist. He slams my head into the floor. My head feels like an exploded bomb and I can no longer breathe. The man takes my head and forces me to face him.

"Where are your suitors?" He asks me again.

"I cannot tell you if you kill me," I gasp, ignorning the burning pain in my head.

"Come on, Princess..." he teases, tracing the blood that streams down my temple. "We were not going to kill you..."

He laughs menacingly.

"You underestimate me."

I spit into his face which he did not expect from someone as feminine as me. I buck up all my strength to push him off me with my hips. One of his arms that holds me down loses its grip so I roll right through it, knocking him down and worsening my dizziness. I quickly get up and point my arm to fire lightning bolts at him.

Now that I am alone, I try and restore my breathing. My head is foggy and I am failing to find any oxygen. I try to walk, but stumble and fall forwards onto some debris. Crawling, or dragging, my body is my only means of transport but even that causes pain because of all the debris on the floor mixed with open wounds on my body and carpet burns.

Through the haze, I hear a gun go off and I wince, not knowing who fired the shot and at what. I freeze, hoping whoever is there will think I am dead and move past me. I feel myself being turned over and someone holding the upper half of my body up. Everything I see is blurry and what I see in front of me is this big blur of black. I tense up but feel my face being held.

I am Princess Iqadi and I made a promise with myself to protect Wakanda till my dying breath. The problem is that I am not ready to go. Not yet, at least...

The blackness is saying my name, softly, and lifting me up as I finally pass out.


Princess Iqadi is a badass that's for sure.

Stay Tuned - Where is Princess Iqadi heading and via whom or what?