Chapter 9 Kookaburra

I actually felt loads better now that I've told the others about my crush on Nightingale, I didn't want them to tell her, I decided that I was going to tell her myself. That night I found it hard to get to sleep, I couldn't get Nightingale out of my mind, I decided that I was going to tell her my feelings tomorrow.

The next time I opened my eyes, there was daylight bursting through my bedroom window, I got up and had a look outside, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, there wasn't a cloud in sight. I looked down into the kingdom, the soldiers were getting ready to stop their night shifts. Looking back up I noticed someone walking around in the bedroom opposite me, as my eyes came into focus, I recognised them, it was Nightingale, I had no idea that she was in the room opposite mine.

As I watch, she placed a small bowl of water and a sponge on the dresser, "I hope that she's just washing her face." I thought, no, she unfastened one strap on her nightgown, my hands were trembling and my heart was pounding, she unfastened the other and my legs went weak, she went to remove her nightgown, but I turned away, phew, that was close, maybe a bit too close, to take my mind off what had happened, I got ready for the day ahead.

I was the first person to arrive at the kings quarters but the others weren't that far behind, Nightingale arrived after Skabb and Faetal.

"Morning." She said.

"Morning." Faetal replied.

Nightingale then turned to me and smiled.

"Morning Kook."

"Er, y-yeah morning." I stammered, my voice was slightly higher than it normally is.

"You alright Kook?" Skabb asked.

"Er, yeah, never felt better." I answered clearing my throat.

By the time the others had arrived, I'd finally calmed down. When we walked into the room, the king was once again sat at his desk but there was something different, it wasn't obvious, but I could feel that there was something different in the atmosphere.

"Your highness." We said.

"Morning everyone, I've got something that I need to run past all of you. It's the rules as I think that some of you may have forgotten what some of those rules are."

The king went through every single rule with detail refreshing our memories, but my almost stopped when he mentioned the rule about defenders not being able to be in relationships, my heart cracked, I'd forgotten all about that.

"You may all go now, except for Kookaburra, I'd like a word with you."

Strewth, this can't be good. When everyone else had left the room, I closed the doors, what would the king want to talk to me about?

"Take a seat Kook."

Without a word, I sat down in the chair opposite the kings desk.

"Kookaburra, I'm very concerned."

This really can't be good, he used my full name.

The king continued. "You are fully aware of the rules aren't you?"

"Yes sire."

"Well, a little birdie came to see me the other day and told me that you've got a crush."

I'm now caught between a rock and a hard place, I can't tell the king the truth else he'll get mad, and I can't lie to him, else he'll get mad, the king could see that I was nervous, so in his way he attempted to calm me down.

"Don't worry Kook, there's no need to be nervous, I won't get mad."

I decided to tell the truth. "Yes sire, I do have a crush."

"I take it that it's one of the girls here."

I nodded.

"Would you mind telling me who?"

"Err...Nightingale."

The king sighed. "I thought that you fully understood the rules Kook, you know that defenders can't be in relationships, and to be honest, if you don't think that you'll be able with that, then we might have to let you go."

"Are you firing me?"

"No, but if you really do like Nightingale and don't think that you could live not being with her, then it would probably be best if you left."

"No, no, I can live with it sire, please, I love this job."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"Yes, absolutely sure."

I really wasn't sure about it, I really do love Nightingale but if I really do love her, then I'll have to leave this job, I could feel the tears filling my eyes, I tried not to blink too much as i was sure that the tears would start to fall.

"Okay, you may go now."

The minute I got outside, I broke down into floods of tears. After breakfast, I went to the lookout tower, Nightingale was still up there, she noticed me as soon as I arrived.

"Hi." she said smiling.

"Yeah hi." I replied.

"What did the king say?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Keep it together Kook, she's just a girl, plenty more birds in the sky.

"Are you crying Kook?" Nightingale asked.

"No, no, I'm fine..." I thought that now would be the best time for me to tell Nightingale how I feel for her. "Erm...Nightingale, there's something that I need to tell you, it's been on my mind for a while and it's rather important."

"Well it'll have to wait."

Nightingale reached for the horn to sound the attack alarm, I looked over at the horizon and there was a large army of attackers heading for the castle, we both raced down the stairs, grabbed our weapons and went to help the others defend.

By the time that we got to the castle walls the attackers were almost here, I grabbed my slingshot and aimed, releasing, the stone went flying hitting someone on the head, knocking them off balance, strike! As I hid behind the wall to load my weapon again, I looked to my left, both Vane and Ballista were working well together as a team, Ballista was giving Vane tips on who to aim for, and when to shoot the arrows, it was good to see that everyone was working together and helping each other.

I turned back to what I was doing, loading up my slingshot, I aimed again, this time striking two attackers down, I'm on fire today. Taking cover again, I had another look around, Nightingale was also taking cover, as she was loading her weapon again, she turned to look at me, I gave her a small smile and a thumbs up, we both got back up to fire, this time I missed, out of the corner of my eye, I saw an archer aiming for me, before they had a chance to fire, I took cover, as soon as I did, the arrow went flying past me, I looked over my shoulder and there was another archer aiming for someone else, they shot but I saw the arrow fly over our heads.

I loaded my weapon again and was about to turn and fire when I saw Nightingale backing up, something had to be wrong as she seemed to be in pain and was clutching her right side.

"Nightingale, are you alright?" I shouted.

She didn't reply, she dropped her slingshot and started to stumble, she turned towards us, and that was when I saw it, she had an arrow in her right side, at that point I also dropped my slingshot and ran over.

"NIGHTINGALE!"

The others were turning around to see what all the noise was about. Nightingale was incredibly unstable when I got to her, i was by her side keeping her steady, dodging the arrows and stones we went to one side, making sure that she was steady, I let go of her arm.

"Come on Nightingale, we need to get you somewhere safe."

"No, just leave me here, I'll be fine."

"Nightingale, you've just been hit with an arrow, don't go telling me that you're fine."

She looked very pale and dizzy, after swaying for a while, she staggered over to the left, stumbled and eventually fainted, landing in my arms.