Chapter Fifty Six

Reunited

MELODY

"What…what's going on?" She stared at Prometheus, or Janus as Elsa called him, and watched him stagger to his feet after slicing an enemy officer's throat.

"Your parents…" Janus said, looking exhausted as he gestured at the room.

It couldn't be…Melody looked at the open door of the steel cell, and rushed past Janus into the room. What she saw next was the most relieving thing she'd seen in as many months. Her parents, King Eric and Queen Ariel, were standing in the room, and by the looks of it, they were just as surprised to see her as she was to see them.

"Melody?" Her mother gasped.

"Mom! Dad!" Melody dropped her bow and barrelled into them both, embracing them tightly. A wave of comfort washed over her and she instinctively felt the past few days' worth of anxiety, anger and guilt evaporate into thin air like cold droplets of water on a warm day.

"Are you alright?" Her father kissed her head.

"Yeah." She looked up at her father. "I was so worried about you both. I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner. If I were here, maybe I could have…"

"Nonsense." Her mother cut her off. "There's an entire army of foreigners out there. There was nothing you could do alone against them."

"Then it's a good thing she's had backup." Tracy strode into the room and sketched a light curtsey. "Your Majesty. Your Highness."

Melody's parents favoured Tracy with a warm smile and King Eric reached out to shake her hand.

"Thank you for helping her."

"Well, if I'm being honest, she did most of the heavy lifting." Tracy grinned at Melody, who grinned back.

"What's going on out there now?" Her father asked. "Are the Exonians still around? What about that tyrant calling herself the Empress?"

"We're…still dealing with them. But right now the people of Denmark are storming the castle and the military camps to free them from the grasp of the Empire." Melody explained.

Before they had teleported back here, Tracy had picked up a faint magical signal to track down the rest of the Warriors, and they were both surprised to learn that the Insurgency was launching an all out assault together with every able bodied citizen.

They had first teleported into the courtyard of the palace to find Oliver, Ivon and the rest having already reclaimed the exterior of the castle and were getting ready to move inwards. They had told her that the mercenary was taking care of rescuing her parents while Elsa and Deirdre were busy confronting the Empress in what was supposed to be a final showdown or something.

"Good, the sooner we get rid of that horrible girl, the better." Her mother said with a shudder. "She's positively evil."

"Did she hurt you?" Melody glanced anxiously between her parents.

Her father shook his head. "When the Empress and her cohort broke into the castle, she ordered that we not be harmed. Her soldiers just had us dragged off to this cell and kept us guarded at all times. I would have fought them off, but I was worried for your mother's safety."

Her mother looked a little annoyed. "I told you I could handle myself."

"Still, it wasn't worth the risk." Her father ran a hand through Melody's hair. "I knew you would come back."

Melody bit her lip. She didn't exactly want to tell her parents that she had only returned because the kingdom was under occupation, and that prior to that, she had been putting it off.

"A little too late though, I'm afraid." Melody settled for that.

"No, Melody, you and your friends were just in time. We're free now, aren't we?"

Melody laughed heartily. It felt good to be back, and now that she was, she realised that she couldn't bear to leave her parents again.

"Your masked friend is rather skilled." Her father nodded at the door where Janus was still waiting outside. "He sliced through twenty four soldiers. I've never seen anyone move that quick before, other than you."

"A little ruthless, but I guess the situation called for it." Her mother added slightly uneasily.

"I'd like to see you two duel sometime when things have gone back to normal." Her father suggested. "It would be a rather epic fight."

Melody bit back a humourless laugh. She had fought the mercenary before. Thrice, in fact. Suffice to say, she was glad to not have to fight him again, but there was no real need anyway. He had just proven which side he was on.

"Mom…Dad?" Melody began.

"Yes?"

"I have to go." Melody said the dreaded words. She had no idea how her parents would react to that, especially since she had already spent so many months away. "My friends need me."

"We know." Her mother smiled.

She was a little taken aback, gaping slightly. What?

"You're doing what you're best at." Her father said. "Helping others. Standing up for the weak. Leading people. That's what a good ruler does, and we can't stop you from doing that, however dangerous this life you've chosen is."

"It's your life, and we trust you to make the right calls. I never thought I'd say this, but you're old enough now." Mom hugged her. "Now go, stop the Empire."

"Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad." She embraced her parents again for good measure. "I promise, when this is over, I'll come back." And, she decided here and now, that she would this time.

###

"Thank you…Janus." She said uneasily when she had stepped outside with Tracy. For her parents' safety, she had suggested that they stayed put for the time being to make sure the coast was clear and that the Empire had been dealt with. Once they had, then she would come back for her parents. "I might have been too harsh. I guess I was wrong about you."

Janus glanced at her tiredly. He was slumped against the wall and seated on the stony ground beside the dead body of the lieutenant, and blood was still pouring out of his wound, albeit he was pressing a blood soaked cloth to it.

"Can't blame you for that." He said. "I gave you no reason to trust me."

"And now you have." Melody offered him her left hand, aware that his right arm was more or less disabled.

He took her hand and got to his feet with a grunt. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for saving my parents." Melody said awkwardly. "I'm sorry I was too judgemental."

"You had every right to be." Janus pointed out as he clutched his shoulder. "I did break your arm back in Swynvort."

"Don't remind me."

He gave a little sigh, hand still over his wound. "You don't happen to have a medical kit, do you?"

"Not right now." Melody said regretfully. "Your arm looks bad. Maybe we should get you to the Insurgency base."

"The base got burnt down."

Melody blinked. "What?"

"The First Imperials." Janus explained. "They ambushed the base and…one of the sorcerers, he…saved us but…"

There was only one male sorcerer that they had left with the Insurgency. Melody's heart sank. "Will. Is he…"

"I'm sorry." Janus said sympathetically. "He's gone."

"No…" Tracy gasped. "Will's dead?"

"He brought the whole building down on himself to keep the First Imperials from killing everyone. I'm sorry."

Melody pressed a hand to her forehead. This can't be happening. They'd already lost Jade - who knew if she was still even alive? And now Will too? How many more was this mission going to claim?

"Come on." Melody said when she had composed herself. There would be time to mourn later.

"Where are we going?" Tracy said, sounding shaken up as well.

"To face the Empress. We're ending this tonight." She gripped her bow tightly till the whites of her knuckles showed. "We can't afford to lose anyone else."