Anna found herself standing in a foreign room looking at what looked like a King and Queen, and a tiny bed.
"Oh my dear sweet Anna, you are just as beautiful as your mother" King Aldus looked down at his daughter with pure affection and love, he wrapped his left arm around his wife, Queen Madelina and pulled her closer. She had the same expression as Aldus, with an added tear in her eyes.
'What?! Who are you?' Anna tried asking as she looked down in a crib with a redheaded sleeping baby in it.
"I can't believe it's been almost three years since she entered our lives darling, she really is the light of our lives" the Queen said.
'Mom?!' She tried again.
"I feel the same, no amount of riches can compare to how precious she is to me. I just wish we had more time" he said as his expression changed from love to fear, and just a second later a loud boom could be heard from outside the castle. A few seconds later the head of the royal guard came rushing into the room.
'What do you mean more time?' they still didn't answer her.
"My King, my Queen.. they've breached.. the outer walls.. we must get you.. to safety!" he managed to get out between breaths.
'What is going on?'.
The King looked to his wife, pulled her close and kissed her with fervor, there was a hint of sadness to it as he pulled back, "Protect our daughter" he whispered as he turned on his heel.
"I will, with my life" she said in a stoic voice, not letting her true feelings show. Her eyes were on the King as he walked to the guard and they both left the room. It was only then she allowed the tears to slip and fall down her face. She picked up her daughter, and carried her through the halls to the back of the castle. While the noises of war came closer and closer to the castle, the explosions got closer, the sound of metal could faintly be heard even this far from the action. Madelina rushed as fast as she could with the princess in her arms, running in a dress wasn't easy but she managed. Just as she turned the last corner to the escape route she was stopped by half a dozen of Westergaardian soldiers, and the southern kings most trusted advisor, Wimarc.
"Not so fast there miss, we need you to hand over the princess" Wimarc demanded.
"Over my dead body" she growled back as her eyes started glowing an almost scarlet-crimson red.
'This isn't real. Please tell me this isn't real' Anna had followed the fleeing woman.
"Oh-ho-ho my queen, that is not going to help you here" he chuckled as he motioned for the soldiers to take the kid. The queen raised a hand and let her inner fires manifest in a spiral double coil shape towards the approaching men. They simply raised their shields and kept marching forward, the fire got directed to the sides as it collided with the metal protection the soldiers held.
"What the hell" Madelina whispered in surprise.
"That's right queeny, not yours or your precious husbands powers is gonna help you this time.. If only you had pledged allegiance as all the other smaller kingdoms have done, we wouldn't need to be in this situation.. Blame your own stubbornness for this outcome.. GET HER, NOW!" he shouted as the queen turned and ran towards the front of the castle, hoping to get to her husband. They were always stronger together, which is why their military wasn't overly large compared to other kingdoms. Although the magic the royals possessed wasn't known to many, anyone who opposed them would soon figure out that the small kingdom of Giraldus had more military power than most. That all changed when a princess was born, and the southern king learned of the two hybrids that had been hiding in their castle, near the base of the Skymountain.
The soldiers were hot on her tail all the way to the throne room where the battle was intense. The king was holding back most of the soldiers alone, his royal cloak and his upper body was enveloped in lightning, light filled the room almost from the floor to the ceiling, and every enemy that dared to get close was struck by a lightning strong enough to instantly kill a full-grown bear. If only they didn't have shields similar to those the soldiers behind her had. They were being overrun. Just as she was about to reach her husband a stinging sensation hit her hip on the right side. As she looked down she saw the tip of a spear sticking out from her flesh.
'NO! Please don't... Why am I seeing this?' Anna fell to her knees next to, apparently, her mom.
"Aldus!" she shouted, he turned and barely managed to catch Anna as Madelina fell towards the floor, "Maddy! Nononono" he held Anna close and the royal guard that had warned them was at his king's side ready to take any arrow or spear thrown their way. The fighting stopped momentarily as a massive hole was ripped in the roof of the throne room, and electricity flew from the sky and down to the king, where it would rest on the surface of his skin, making him slowly crackle with power. When the guard shuffled around beside him he looked up to see a few of his own people standing in a protective circle around him and his family. They all looked to him as he stood up, his wifes blood had seeped into his left sleeve. As he looked around he could see they were clearly outnumbered, his guards saw the same. He eyed every one of them as they nodded, he ended up catching they gaze of the royal guard leader who stood proud in front of his king with his right hand flat against his heart, and he nodded.
"They may take our kingdom, but they will never take our pride as Giraldian soldiers. It's been an honor protecting you and your family my king.. FOR GIRALDUS!" he shouted, "FOR GIRALDUS!" the rest of the guards around him echoed. The king closed his eyes and held Anna in a strong grip as he released all the lightning inside him outward. His own guards, the Westergaardian soldiers, even those with magic-negating shields, vaporised in the blink of an eye. Wimarc who was the one to enchant the shields hadn't expected such power, but his own armor held up for the most part, his skin got burned from head to toe and he was flung back the hall he came from.
Panting and exhausted the king fell to his knees clutching a crying and screaming Anna to his chest, with only silence to greet him. His eardrums had ruptured, his skin had lightning-shaped burns all over, in some places it had outright split his skin. His eyesight was similarly burned away, but he still felt the warmth of his daughter against the skin of his neck. Until even that feeling went away, along with everything else.
'Oh god please don't be dead, please please please... Please don't leave me' Anna cried out.
By now Wimarc had caught his breath from the surprising knockback he had been struck by, and made his way to the only sound he heard. When he entered the throne room again he saw something incredible. From where the late king sat in the middle of the floor, the walls and ceiling was burned as lightning had skimmed across the inner surface of the castle, it extended as far the inner walls of the castle. Not a hint of burned flesh or even smoke was seen. He had simply erased everything around him. Wimarc smirked through his pain and let his eyes fall to the red-haired girl.
Anna didn't see anything else as her vision slowly faded.
"I thought you told us we could get out when we stopped?" Robert almost silently asked Jonas, their link had stopped working a short while after Anna had fallen asleep again.
"I didn't expect them to have an anti-magic cage you dumb idiot!".
"Then what do we do now?" Robert had to stop their petty argument. They had been at it for too long already, sitting at the two corners of the cage, furthest from each other, as if they were two huffy teenage girls. And that didn't get them out of the cage.
"Well.." Jonas said as he looked to Anna.
"NO! Don't even think about it, she was still shaking long after she fell asleep, didn't you see what she did? She was more animal than human, you guys really did a number on her" Robert jabbed.
"Listen, she's still a kid, but the vigorous training has toughened her up more than you think. As long as we can get her out of the cage, her magic should return to her, and then she can decimate these guards with a flick of her hand.. You know she is our biggest hope!" their voices was still hushed, but their squabbling was gradually growing louder with each sentence.
"I refuse to use her like that, I won't become the very same person she is running from" Robert stood his ground on this, and his face revealed that exact sentiment.
Jonas huffed and relented, "Fine, but then I only have one choice".
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Robert almost sounded surprised.
"It's not really something I feel like doing, but it seems as if we have no other choice if you won't let Anna handle this" Jonas looked away, trying not to think about what he had to do.
After that, Robert was only met with silence at every question he asked, or every sentence he uttered to Jonas. The other man in the cage had gone into a sort of trance and didn't even respond to physical touch. Robert, powerless and company deprived, turned to look at the town they had stopped at. Of course they had been parked directly outside the tavern, and every person who left or entered would either sneer, spit or thrown something at them. This town was definitely loyal to the south, even with the distance between them, and the Royals that owned the lands they lived on. So besides the people the town was really beautiful. The streets were clean, it smelled nice and the designs on the houses looked intricate, with swirls and flowers cut into the wood. Bright oranges and brown colors were dominant, and the floating lights inside glass cages on wooden pillars filled the streets with a soothing white-yellowish color. Laughing and singing could be heard from the tavern next to them, if they hadn't been prisoners this would actually be a fine town to live in. But alas, life was cruel and the Westergaardian soldiers was equally cruel.
The sound of two guards laughing with large cups of ale staggering out the tavern broke Robert from his spell. They zig-zagged their way over to the cage as they kept laughing. When they had made the short walk to the cage one of the men stared at Robert.
"Wha' 'r' y'o loo'ing at" he slurred out, his breath was laced with a heavy scent of ale. When Robert didn't answer, the second man spoke up "Oi, he ask-*hich*-ed you a question!" clearly not as drunk as the other one, but his eyes was slightly unfocused.
"Do you really think being drunk is a good idea when escorting such precious cargo to the king?" Robert cooly said.
"Whats it to you, dog!?" the second man said.
Before Robert had any time to reply as Anna jolted awake, "DAD!", she shouted and Robert almost jumped a little at the sudden movement.
"Hey, hey, you're okay, don't worry" he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but he quickly retracted it when the glove started freezing over.
"I-I had a vision.. or a dream.. I'm not sure.. I saw what I think was my parents.." Anna tried to remember every detail of her vision-dream, but as it is with dreams the images disappeared quickly after she awoke, only a few things stuck with her. More specifically the words, 'mother', 'daughter', and 'Giraldus'.
"Girl! Care to show us some of that slicing you threatened with?" the guard laughed out loud as he hunched over in laughter. Robert could swear he saw Anna's eyes flicker, the same way they had done when he first released her from the room underneath the mansion, as she glared holes in the one who spoke.
"You shouldn't give her any more reasons to hate you" the General said from the taverns front door, "Although it's not likely she will get out, in the case that she does I'm sure you'll drop dead a second after".
"Of course, sir" he tried standing straight but he was too drunk to properly accomplish it, as he swayed a bit on the spot.
"Now leave the pests alone and get to drinking boys! Tomorrow we'll travel to the garrison a little further south, we need more shields, just in case" he motioned them to come back in. And as the obedient soldiers they were, they followed orders. But not before giving Robert and Anna a look of disapproval. When they were gone Anna opened her mouth but closed it again, not sure if what she just saw was real or not, and not wanting to sound crazier than she must already look to him. She ended up asking anyway.
"Robert, what is.. what is Giraldus?" she asked timidly while looking down at her feet.
"It's a former kingdom located at the base of the Skymountain. Why do you ask?" he said calmly.
"I, uhm, it was said in my dream, along with mother, and daughter.. what do you know of the kingdom?" when she raised her head she saw Robert sitting with wide eyes and an unhinged jaw. After a few seconds of, nothing, from him she asked again.
"What do you know of it?" this time more firmly, he clearly knew something. The next thing he did was surprising, to say the least, to Anna. He propped a leg up, laid an elbow on his knee and ducked his head. That in itself seemed weird to Anna, if it wasn't followed by two small words.
"Your majesty" he said in an almost political tone.
"W-what?!" Anna was sure she had misheard him. But his next words couldn't be misheard.
"Queen Anna, I pledge my sword to you as I once pledged it to your father, my sword is yours, my life is yours, whatever you would require of me I will fulfill to the best of my abilities. All hail the Queen of Giraldus," when Anna didn't answer him he continued, "I'm sorry I didn't see it before my Queen, the last time anyone saw you was back when you were still a baby. I hope you can forgive me".
Anna was stunned into stillness, she didn't move or say anything. She just sat there, looking at Robert. How in the ever-loving fuck could she be queen. She hadn't foreseen this turn of events, so when she did move again she just sat down with her back against the metals bars letting the words sink in.
"Your majesty, are you okay?" he inquired. Again, Anna just sat still, not saying or doing anything, "I'm terribly sorry my queen, I hope I haven't overstepped my boundaries" he decided to stop there and just let it sit for a while. It took a couple of minutes for Anna to become animated again.
"How is that possible? I was always told all the kids were orphans found on the street" he thought it was a fair point, she was taken as a baby so of course she didn't have any memories of her parents.
"Everyone thought you were gone, alongside your parents. When the Westergaardians retreated after their rather, uhm, violent overthrowing of Giraldus, we never saw you again. All we saw was the king sitting on his knees alone in the throne room" he tried explaining without using words such as died and killed. As he explained, flashes of Anna's dream came back to her, and one thing stood out, the glowing of her parents eyes, and she had to know if that was true.
"Were they.. like me?" she finally managed to get out.
"Hybrids? Yes, they were. Some of the strongest I've ever seen, they were benevolent leaders, the kingdom was small, but prosperous. Everyone was properly fed, no one lived on the streets, and orphanages housed the kids without parents. All in all they did a fantastic job as rulers" he hoped that hearing good things about them would help ease the uneasiness she expressed. From the change in her posture he was successful.
"Well then we better set course for Giraldus as soon as we get out of here" she said in too calm voice and a determined fire in her eyes.
"What are we doing in Giraldus when we get out?" Jonas quipped, now out of his trance.
"Resurrecting a kingdom" Anna said as she looked to the sky. Jonas looked questioningly at Robert who had to stifle a laugh at Jonas' dumbfounded expression.
"Allow me to present you the last surviving member of the Giraldus family, in other words, the new Queen of Giraldus" he said as his mouth curled into a tiny smile.
Hey there again, I've been less than happy about my last chapter.. I think I should stop writing when I'm tired. This chapter on the other hand is in my own opinion a lot better, and it introduced Anna's parents, if only a little glimpse so far. I'm not a fan of entire chapters being flashbacks so i started out soft in that department. I hope that the quality of my chapters will improve as time goes on so you won't have to read the crap that is chapter 4, I'm not going to change it, because after everything is said and done, it still is my published writing and it is as it is, sorry about that.
How did you like this chapter though? Too early to make Anna a queen?
Edit: some typos and missing words, it annoyed the shit out of me so a small ~4-5 word edit.
Love Mr. Turtle