Thank you to DauntlessProdigy4Life and DoxieLove for your kind reviews!
Chapter 2: The Fire
I sat at my desk, tapping a pen idly against the wood. It had been a quiet day. Jeanine had followed my wishes and left me alone. Max came through every so often. I had to get the journal started and caught up to my time before I was King. My Fathers first journal outlined the history of the city and the history of Kings, before his own. I struggled to do the same. Tossing the pen down I grabbed my father's first journal and flipped it open. I couldn't make a complete copy of his that would be to easy. I glanced through the pages and a realization hit me. I called out to the servant that stood outside the door.
"Yes my Lord." The servant said as he peeked through the crack in the door. I waved him in. He was hesitant on entering the office.
"What's your name?" I asked and stood. He looked at me warily, he knew I never bothered to care before this moment. It was all a part of the transition over to being King. I needed to care.
"Tobias." He said and came to stand in front of my desk. He kept his eyes low. It was typical of Abnegation to avoid confrontation or avoid eye contact with people.
"Tobias, I have a special instruction for you today." I said and he nodded, waiting for the order to be given. "Go to the archives and find all the journals of the past two Kings." Tobias nodded and went to leave the room quickly. I had to see what my fore fathers had written down, for a comparison. I watched Tobias leave and Max enter the room with force, almost knocking Tobias to the ground. Max was covered in sweat and in a panicked state I had never seen him in before.
"My Lord, quick." Max gasped in between breaths.
"Calm down Max, what's going on?" I said and came around the desk, placing my hands on his shoulders in reassurance.
"The Amity fields." Max continued and took a deep breath. "Someone set them on fire."
"What!" I shouted and left the office quickly. I made my way to the observation room that looked over the entire city. Coming to a stop in front of the large window I was shocked. Black smoke filled the air. Amity was truly on fire. Max had been quick on my heals and I turned to him. "Get every available servant and guard not on duty out there!" I ordered and made my way to the stairs.
"My Lord where are you going?" Max said as he followed me.
"Get it done Max, I'm going out there to help!" I shouted over my shoulder.
"My Lord I must protest!" Max said as he continued to follow.
"Now Max!" Before I knew it I was on the street and running. I knew the quickest way to get to Amity was by the train. I could sense that a few guards were quick behind me. Max must have sent them after me, I needed no protection. I hopped onto the train with ease. I had done it before, while other guards had trained. I was impatient as the train slid along the tracks. I considered whether or not what Max has said was true, that someone had set the fields on fire. This could have been an act of nature for all we knew. I jumped from the train when we neared the fence and began to run again. Amity was close to the wall.
Everything was on fire when I arrived at the main compound. It was worse than what it had originally seemed. The fire had made its way to the buildings and barns. Everyone ran scattered about, aimlessly tossing water onto what fire they saw. Max was still on his way out to the fields, hopefully with more men. I rushed through the crowd of people and found someone who I felt was leader enough of the group.
"My Prince!" She said shocked, I believe her name was Johanna. It brought everyone around to a halt. I waved everyone off. This was no time for formalities.
"You need to get these people in order. Do you have any water pumps and hoses?" She nodded and quickly led me to them, no one was manning them. I quickly began to bark orders at the men who for some reason thought running from the river to the buildings with buckets was more effective.
I ordered for the hoses to be brought out and attached to the pumps. Once a system was developed the hoses were doing their job as were the men using them. Everything slowly came to order, aside from the fact that everything was still ablaze. I groaned, we needed more people. I began to organize everyone around me to the most effective way of handling the fire. Food stores were put at the top of the list. Those injured came second. Max showed with more men soon after that and I ordered him and his men to take charge and aid in the efforts.
I leaned against a nearby tree for a moment. Watching everything go to work. If someone had done this on purpose, they would surly pay for it. A cry for help came to my ears. Looking around I noticed that a barn in the distance had just caught fire. The fire from another building had jumped to it. Dashing over to the barn I looked for the voice who called. The fire was spreading quickly as I entered the barn. It was full of horses. The horses gave me a comical look, one that asked if I was going to help them or not. I coughed smoke from my lungs and moved to open the barn doors wide.
A woman appeared after that. The one who called I assumed. She began opening the gates and letting the horses loose. Looking up I saw that the fire had caught the hay in the rafters. We had no time. I began doing the same and opened the gates. One by one the horses flew out of the barn until there were none left. Turning to the woman, I gasped for air. She had been knocked to the ground by a force unknown to me. Rushing forward I flung her up into my arms. The barn collapsed behind me causing shrieks from all who were around.
"My Lord!" Max shouted as he rushed up to me. I gasped for air as I fell to my knees. The woman in my arms was unconscious. I continued to cough uncontrollably. "Bring water!" Max shouted to his nearest man. One rushed forward with a canteen and Max snatched it from him. He quickly came to my aid and I pushed him off.
"Help her." I ordered as I laid her flat on the ground.
"My Lord you are more important than this peasant." I snatched the canteen from his hand. If he would not help her then I would. Max stepped back as I glared up at him. I took a quick sip from the canteen before leaning over her. I splashed water on her face. She was breathing thankfully. Her eyes fluttered open and looked up at me. Gasping for air, she stood quickly and moved toward the barn that had just collapsed. Johana appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the woman stopping her. I stood slowly, watching her. The woman collapsed in Johanna's arms, sobbing.
It wasn't until the next morning that the fire was out. Everyone gathered at the edge of the burnt field. Amity was gone. I tossed water onto my face trying rinse the soot from it. There was a silence all around me, it was eerie. Turning I watched them. They had all joined hands and were in a large circle, praying. Religion or beliefs in a higher being were never truly taught to me. I looked to Max and his men who stood by for orders. I had to make a choice. Walking up to Max I sighed. We both shook our heads at the situation. Before I could think of a solution cars pulled along the dirt road. Jeanine stepped out, looking cleaner than ever, and assessed the situation. I rolled my eyes, she did not have to come.
"It is unfortunate this happened, I wish I could have helped." She said as she approached me.
"You should have." I said attempting to remain calm, considering the audience we had.
"I had business to attend to, now what do you think caused this?" I raised an eyebrow and gave a chuckle. "Now is not the time to be funny." She said sternly.
"No! Now is not the time to ask idle questions, these people need help, food, shelter." I paused and turned away from her, thinking for a moment. "We will investigate that cause later, until now transport everyone to Erudite." I did not even glance at her as I gave the order.
"My Lord we do not have the space." She instantly protested and I turned sharply to her.
"We have a hundred empty rooms we use for guests, these people are now my quests." I said sternly. I motioned to Max to follow me as I began to walk toward Johanna. "Take what you need and use these rooms fully, I am at your service." Johanna smiled brightly and nodded. She turned to her group and began to organize them to move. A few hours later I was able to sit back down at my desk. I groaned. I was tired and dirty. Leaning back in the chair, I shut my eyes. The moment was too brief as knock came to the door.
"Enter." I said loud enough for them to hear. Max entered, with the Amity woman I saved earlier. I had forgotten about her.
"My Lord, this is Alexandria, she requested to see you." I glanced from Max to the woman and gave a polite smile.
"I want to thank you, for saving my life." She said softly, her gaze never leaving mine. She was bold and I sensed she did not fear authority. Her eyes were the brightest shade of green I had ever seen. Her and Max shared a glance and she spoke again. "I am in your debt, whatever you need, I will assist." She gave a bow and left the room before I could even think to speak. Max began to laugh.
"What!" I moved around the desk and stood in front of Max.
"You like her." He said and I stood shocked.
"I saved her life that is all." I stated and he only chuckled again.
"You are never speechless, you gave her no reply." He held out his hand in a suggestion.
"I was distracted is all, I am very tired." I argued back. Max turned and began to leave the room. He paused at the door and spoke.
"She had beautiful blue eyes would you agree?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.
"She has green eyes." I turned to him and my shoulders sagged. He knew me better than I thought.
"Get some rest my Lord, in the morning we will begin sorting all this out." I nodded and Max left the room. I sat back in my chair and relished in its comfort. Alexandria. She did have beautiful eyes. I groaned. Tomorrow was my father's funeral. I sighed, my thoughts returning to him. I was glad that at least the halls would be filled to see him honorably remembered.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, more to come soon. Any comments on the work is always appreciated.