The board wobbled dangerously as I inched across it. I stayed on my knees, clutching the sides of it so tightly my knuckles were white, and refused to look at anything other than the window in front of me. I could feel it bending slightly under my weight, and was suddenly very grateful for my small size. Being short did have its moments of paying off.
When it was within reach, I pulled open the other window and slid inside. Luckily, it wasn't locked. I had no way of knowing how long I had been in that, but it was at least a few hours since it was now pitch black outside.
Once I was safely inside the other room, my breathing started to slow down and my hands stopped shaking so much.
That wasn't so bad, I thought to myself. Fears were never as bad as you imagine once you actually faced them.
Just as I had thought, the door in this room wasn't locked either, but as the door to the other room opened, I dropped to the floor so I wouldn't be seen. If I was caught, I'd probably just end up back where I started. Locked up in that blasted room.
After a few minutes, I risked slowly getting up to see if they were still there. They weren't.
Slipping out of the room was incredibly easy. No one was even in the hallway. Honestly, I would have thought Arthur would have given me a little more credit. A bit more challenge would have been fun.
But still, something was off. I couldn't explain it exactly, but it was like the mood of the castle had shifted for the worse. I felt it as soon as I left that room. The halls were much to quiet. No footsteps or chattering maids. You could practically hear a pin drop, which was quite the contrast to the usually noisy castle. On top of that, I didn't come across a single person. Heck, I didn't even see a spider.
Paranoia set in as I reached up to grab a torch from the wall. Part of me wanted to call out and see if anyone was there, but I felt it was a bad idea.
A woman's shrill scream startled me. I ran towards to sound, practically running into a maid as I rounded the corner. She stared at me for a moment, terror in her eyes, before clinging to me tightly. I awkwardly patted her back, trying to calm her down. "What happened?", I urged.
She clung to my shoulders, shaking uncontrollably with sobs. Which was pretty strange since she was much older and taller. I felt weird having to be the strong, unemotional one. Instead of answering me, she pointed out the window. I helped her sit down before going to look out. I can't say what I saw was very pleasant.
Several people lie on the cobblestone down it the courtyard, dead. I could hear fighting from somewhere inside, but I wasn't quite sure where. You could never tell with the echoing. More people were being herded inside by men in black armor. They'd somehow made it past the army of Camelot and had invaded the castle. I gagged, pulling myself away from the window before I could be seen and turned my attention back to the hysteric woman.
"We're going to be just fine.", I tell her firmly. "Can you get to the kitchen on your own?"
She nods, tears running down her face. "I think so.", she choked out.
"Good. Barricade yourself inside, along with anyone else you can find on your way there. Don't be seen." I help her up and and start to move away when I thought better of it. I couldn't just leave her defenseless, wandering the castle on her own. But it wasn't as if I could bring her with me either. Reaching under the hem of my skirts, I pull out one of the twin daggers strapped to my calves. "Take this. Don't hesitate to make use of it if you need to." I closed it within her shaking hands. She thanks me shakily and heads off to do as I instructed her. I still doubted she could take anyone out with that dagger, but it made me feel better that she had some form of protection.
Just as I thought things couldn't get any worse, my torch and all the ones on the walls went out simultaneously, plunging me into total darkness. "Well that isn't creepy at all.", I mutter to myself, dropping the torch and taking my sword from it's sheath on my back. It felt as if icy fingers were sliding their way up my back, making me shiver. I'd never been scared of the dark before, even as a kid, but right now I was nothing short of terrified.
I went slowly, trying to be quiet and staying close to the wall to guide me. It seemed to me that Raul had an extra force to taking on the castle. Which meant the one Arthur and the guys were taking on was only a distraction to get them out of here.
As I rounded a corner, an arm reaches around me, pulling me back against his chest tightly and clamping my mouth shut before I could make a sound. I threw my head back, connecting with the face of my attacker. From the way my head hurt afterwards, I was guessing he got off even worse. His grip on me loosened enough for me to wriggle away. I whirled around and pointed my sword at him, making him keep his distance from me. But he only stays hunched over, spouting curses. Sadly, now I realized it wasn't an enemy exactly.
"God, Sarah!", Meliorn hisses at me. "What did you do that for?!" I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see it in the dark.
"You should know better by now then to sneak up on me! Especially when I'm freaking out already!", I take a breath to compose myself. "Did you see what happened in the courtyard?"
He straightens up. I could practically feel him glaring at me. "Yes. And that isn't the worst of it. Come on."
Going anywhere with him wasn't exactly appealing, but neither was wondering around on my own. "So what's your big plan? Because they'll have all the exits covered by now. We're trapped."
"I know", he mutters, obviously not very happy with me at the moment. "They're herding any civilians they can find into the dungeons. Most of our remaining troops are out on the training field or on the walls, but they won't be able to hold them off for long. It's total chaos"
"Then we'll go help."
He stops me, grabbing my arm. "No you will not! We're getting you out of the city. They're looking for you pacifically. You know that! Are you completely insane?!"
"You don't have the authority to tell me what to do.", I say, pushing past him. "I'm helping, and I really don't care what you do. Stay for all I care."
"Sar-"
I draw my sword, turning to point it at his throat. "I left my people once. I don't care to do so again. Running away won't help anyone."
He takes a breath, fully wanting to argue me, but smart enough to realize it would be a waste of time. "Arthur is going to hang me.", he groans, but he follows behind me.
I hated that was right, though. The walls and fields were in complete and total chaos. I once again wished I had armor of my own, but I didn't really have much time to dwell on that thought as we were charged.
Instead of dodging to the side, I ducked down and slammed myself into his gut as hard as I could. If he had been expecting it, it would have been a really stupid maneuver. But since he wasn't, he stumbled back and nearly fell. Which was all the distraction I needed to slam the hilt of my sword down on his head. The piercing ring of his helmet make me want to cover my ears. He went down, and didn't get back up.
I let my mind go into survival mode, not even thinking as I reacted to blows and strikes.
But as we fought on, a terrifying realization began to set in. Every time I strike one down, they seemed to get right back up a few minutes later. Even when I hit them hard enough for them to be out for hours and have a nasty concussion.
"Sarah!", Meliorn yells at me. "Knocking them out isn't enough!"
My gut wrenched. He wanted me to kill. I always knew it was a part of battle, but I thought I would be able to avoid it. I knew he was right, my was was taking to long.
With a scream I drove my blade into the gut of the nearest solider. He didn't even blink, and simply stared down at the protruding sword, sticking out of his belly. I yellped in disgust and he grabbed the belt and slowly pulled it out and tossed it to the floor. He was bleeding heavily, but didn't seem to even notice.
The zombie solider thrusted his sword at my abdomen. I jumped back, crouching down and managing to retrieve my sword as I went. But the guy didn't even slow down. It was so inhuman, so wrong.
I barely managed to avoided becoming a Sarah-kobob when an arrow sprouted from his heart. He dropped to the ground with an indifferent expression, and didn't move again.
My eyes widened. So they could die, it just took a more fatal blow. I could see everyone else was having the same problem. They would keep attacking like nothing happened, even with missing limbs or gashes bleeding so badly they shouldn't be able to stand, much less fight. They could die, but they felt no pain. I really hated magic sometimes.
"This is so messed up.", I muttered to myself, moving onto the next grotesque enemy.
As I finished him off, a startled yell drew my attention. One of Raul's men stood over one of the twins, who had lost his weapon.
I charged blocking his sword and stabbing him through the heart. Creeper was dead before he knew what hit him.
Either Thayer or Torin (I really needed to figure out how to tell them apart) stared up at me with a mixture of awe and shock. "You just saved my life", he says as I helped him to his feet.
"Well, I for one would prefer not make a habit of it."
He nods in agreement. "I'm going to name my firstborn after you."
I grin, handing him back his sword. "For the child's sake, I hope you wait for a girl."
He considers it for a moment. "Or perhaps I can just wait until they're all grown and give your name to the most stubborn and wonderful of them all. Speaking of, you really shouldn't be out here, though I shouldn't complain. I'd be dead if you were still inside."
Shouts from outside the wall capture our attention. Our army was retreating back to the castle, only to find we were practically over run as it was. But what was even more frightening was the structures that towered above the battle. Catapults. And they were aimed right for the outer walls, were we stood.
Too late did my brain realize what was going to happen as I took off sprinting. A gigantic boulder launched towards us and slammed into the wall behind me. Rock crumbled to the ground under it's impact, leaving a bit gash in the top on the wall. The stone under me gave way, sending me plummeting towards the ground. I screamed, trying desperately to grab onto something. I saw a few of my knights staring at me in horror, but all were too far away or caught up in a fight to help.
My forearm caught on a small ledge, and I was barely able to hold on. I tried to swing my legs up, but couldn't between the weight of my skirts and the extra sheath around my waist. I heard someone laughing above me.
It was a girl, dressed all in black. She wore her hair in dreads down to her waist. Honestly, I could see she used to be pretty. Probably even beautiful, but now she looked like she was trying way to hard to cosplay a gothic vampire. She held her hand out to me, smirking. I'd never seen her before, yet I knew exactly who she was. Morgana.
"Oh, don't look at me like that. Give me your hand."
"No way in hell.", I choked, but I didn't sound very convincing at the moment.
She cocked her head, her face impassive as if she didn't care what I did. "You're choice."
Accepting help from her was the last thing I wanted to do, but it wasn't like I really had a choice. It was either let her pull me back up or fall to my death. My arms were already slipping, and shaking from exhaustion. I let go with one arm and reach up to her. With a smirk, she grasps my wrist tightly, but has no intentions of pulling me up. Instead she leaves me dangling away from the wall. I tried to reach out and grab it, but she kept me dangling out of reach.
I had no idea how she was holding me up. Size wise, she wasn't much bigger than me. But she didn't seem to be having much of a problem with it.
"Stop!", she booms, as if she had swallowed a microphone. Magic once again, but it had the desired effect. Everyone stops what they were doing to look her way. I could see the stunned faces of several of mine and Camelot's men. Others, from Raul's army, looked entirely pleased. Morgana herself didn't have a single emotion showing on her face, but I could feel her anger, as well as her smugness. She felt that she had won already. "Drop your weapons. Or the little princess dies."
