Chapter 81: The bridge

"Alright, the top of the bench." There was one. Small as a needle's hose from this distance and Alaric followed her gaze before snorting.

Seeing as this was the training ground it took no more than a few simple steps for Alaric to pick a bow and arrow from the side.

Only walking backwards to create even more distance, seemed quite counterintuitive as his sister rose an eyebrow in mild confusion.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and her brother shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"I have to make this at least a bit of a challenge."

Even Izaya couldn't quite hold back a snort as Sara laughed, "Show-off," she announced loudly, and Alaric smiled.

Smiled, and suddenly moved.

Quick, fluid, and barely even spending the blind of an eye to look at his target he pulled the arrow to his cheeks.

Even Crispin stopped his continuous assaults on his brother to watch as Alaric shot.

Clean and precise the arrow flew through the air and stuck right to the middle of the bench in the distance.

It was an impressive feat to hit his target at all, but to do so with such little time to aim and this kind of ease lifted Izaya's impression to the next level.

Alaric's sister seemed to feel a similar emotion as her eyes glittered with newfound interest.

"Alright, me next," she chuckled and moved in front of her brother, "You could shoot an apple off my head or something," she suggested, but Alaric quickly denied her idea with a smile. "No."

"You can't?" She teased but a hand put on her head quickly seemed to calm her down as Alaric shook his head serious, but gentle. "I'm not aiming at people that I don't intend to hit."

"Admit it, you can't, that just now was a fluke, wasn't it?" Sara suddenly announced playfully, obviously joking as she tried to tease her brother, but Alaric was wiser than to play along.

"Totally! I just hoped for the best," he announced and his sister pouted.

Somehow Izaya couldn't help but feel slightly jealous at the way Sara looked at her brother. She was looking up to him. With so much skill and his personality there were a lot of qualities she probably wished she had. And somehow Izaya couldn't help but wonder what kind of brother he had been to his own sisters.

With his body as weak as it could be and their father trying to ignore his existence, it was mostly his sisters that worried about him instead of the other way round.

Eyes narrowing, Izaya couldn't help but think that he had not been the brother these two would have deserved.

If he had been more like Alaric he could have met his father's expectations. He could have become the heir and prevented his father from selling his sister's off as brides to cruel men. In the end, wasn't this entire mess his own fault?

Mairu. Kururi.

How had they been? While he had been happy with Shizuo at his side, what kind of horrors did they have to face?

He had no idea what had happened to them all alone. They had needed to disguise themselves as boys. What if something happened that forced them to do so?

A shudder trailed down Izaya's back as he tried to ignore the dread of waiting.

What if they came back differently than he remembered…?

What if something changed? Changed their personality? Changed the smiles on their faces to disappear forever?

Looking at Carlyle's injury only increased the horror he felt as he tried to ignore the lump in his throat and the stones filling his guts.

The wait was excruciatingly painful.

Looking at the horizon he wondered how much time had passed. How far Shizuo had already gone. By now he had to have arrived at the village mentioned in the letter.

Or was he already on his way back? He said it would take half a day. That was before midday. Was he already on his way back?

"Are you alright, my lady?" Deep in thoughts and unaware of his environment, Izaya had failed to notice that yet another knight had approached the training ground.

Chester.

Wearing a heavy bag on his back he was looking at Izaya with a decent amount of worry and Izaya quickly nodded to disperse that emotion.

"Hey, Chester, where have you been? Haven't seen you for days," Alaric suddenly announced and the knight put his bag down before spotting the girl next to Alaric.

For a second Izaya wondered whether he was aware of her identity, but then he remembered that these knights had known each other for much longer than he did.

A quick smile spread across Chester's lips and he answered.

"Paid a visit to the nearby villages to check." No more intel was given. No definition of what it was that he had checked and yet Alaric seemed to know immediately what he was talking about.

"And?" he asked, awfully serious compared to his usual easy going self and even his sister seemed a bit confused by the topic.

"Found nothing." Chester answered and Alaric's expression relaxed.

To Sara the conversation made no sense at all and so he just sighed as she looked at the sun now slowly starting to move towards the horizon.

"Can we go home now?" she asked, and Alaric nodded, "Just a little bit, my princess. Mother will be back home soon." A glance was cast towards the bow he was still holding in his hand and he quickly offered it to his sister. "Do you want to try?"

Excitement quickly brought her eyes back to life as Sara reached for the weapon.

"Yes!"

Meeting Izaya's gaze, Chester merely nodded towards Izaya for a second and suddenly he knew what these two had been talking about.

The disappearances.

So far they were contained to lord Hebaron's lands only. But what if they spread?

And suddenly Izaya realized why Alaric had brought his sister to the training ground. A place that was usually meant for knights only. The words about their mother not being at home suggested that the girl would have ended up alone.

Alaric was worried about her. About the disappearances reaching their lands and claiming one of his sisters as its first victims.

Moving a bit closer Chester approached the queen as he watched the girl try to aim with a stick lacking a tip.

"I heard you visited the village," Chester announced and Izaya blinked in mild surprise. His presence had only been short. "Just for a moment. How do you know?"

"You made quite the impression," Chester chuckled as he watched Karazam and Crispin go at it again. "Coming along with our king to check the forest for danger left quite the interesting rumors."

Rumors?

All that had been present were the farmer and his family. Of course they were surprised by his appearance, but he didn't think his visit would have that much of an impact.

Curiosity got the best of him and for a second he forgot the dread choking his throat as he faced the knight.

"Do tell." And Chester's face lit up as he let his body sink onto a box of supplies next to Izaya.

"They call you the fearless queen," he started with a voice made for storytelling and an expression speaking of grand feats before slipping into a brief chuckle. "I heard some kids spin their own stories about how you and our commander met. Quite the thrilling tale I would say."

The children. Of course.

Now that Izaya thought of it he had seen two of them at the farmer's place. They had surely gone off to tell their friends about not only the king's, but also the queen's visit.

"Did he save me from a dragon or something?" Izaya asked, surmising that they had probably mixed his persona with that of beloved children's tales. But all Chester had to offer was a hearty laugh.

"No," he chuckled, "He saved the dragon from you as you apparently were about to slay the devil yourself."

Surprised, Izaya blinked. Him? Slaying a dragon? A moment of doubt layered Izaya's attitude as he rose a brow in light distrust. "They really say that?"

He wouldn't put it beyond the emphatic knight to have noticed something was weighing on his mind and having brought up this tale in order to cheer him up.

But funnily enough it appeared he had spoken nothing but the truth. After all, with Izaya, or rather, the queen having fallen ill for so long, the last impression he should be serving was one of power or strength.

And yet all Chester had to offer was a shrug as he seemed to understand where Izaya's doubt was coming from. "Most people seem to view your illness as a curse that you defeated by yourself," he explained with a smile, "Another great achievement from the fearless queen."

Izaya's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the ground below his feet. Dust and sand covered most of the stoney area and he closed his eyes for a second.

"Fearless, huh?" he uttered quietly.

He was anything but.

All day long, ever since waking he felt this sense of dread clutch his throat.

As if something bad were about to happen. He thought Shizuo would abandon him once he found his sisters. That wasn't the case, so this feeling of dread should have vanished long ago.

And yet it was still there.

Laughing cruelly in the back of his mind.

"Ah, it seems our commander returned."

Nonchalant Chester suddenly said those words without realizing how much they meant to Izaya as his head turned to the side.

People atop the castle walls were moving and apparently that was a hint of their return. And Izaya's breath stilled.

No way-

Shizuo was back?

Quicker than he should, uncaring of his appearance, uncaring for his behavior he rushed off-

"Ah, my lady?" Chester called from the training ground, but Izaya didn't even listen to the knight.

All he could do was run.

Runs.

Run as fast as he could.

He was heading towards the castle's gates. Towards Shizuo. Towards his sisters. And yet-

Why?

Why did he feel like he was running towards an abyss?

Stairs were skipped and walls flew by alongside some roses crawling up the front.

The color of the horizon was starting to change as a cloud shifted into its path. Light purple grazed the sky and dipped the mountains into the color of red.

And suddenly Izaya saw him.

Craigh.

He was there.

And his armor reflects the light more than it should.

Screaming for air his chet rose and fell as he met the knight's eyes for a brief second of confused fear.

"Good lord-" a whisper resounded from Izaya's back and he didn't need to turn to know that it had stemmed from James. The maids. Mika and Clairence. he had barely even noticed them when he rushed forth, but now they were moving as well- Fast and agitated.

"Mika, bring some hot towels!" Clairence quickly ordered and horror glazed Mika's eyes.

Why?

Somehow Izaya couldn't grasp the essence of the situation in front of him.

Craigh was there. On top of his horse.

The sunlight slowly dipping into the darkest of red sunk behind his strained expression and Izaya's eyes trailed to the side.

There was a path leading to the castle. Some grass, the maids, Craigh's horse and infinite nothingness clutching Izaya's stomach.

Shizuo.

Where was Shizuo?

Craigh was alone.

There was only one horse.

Only the single knight and for a second Izaya met Craigh's gaze and it was as if time stood still.

"Where is Shizuo?"

Izaya didn't see. Refused to see.

Red.

Where it shouldn't be.

His eyes refused to see the blood rolling down the side of his face. Refused to see the strain in his eyes and the regret furrowing his brows. Refused to see the bruise to his face and the blood streaming from his leg.

"The king-" Craigh spoke lower than the darkest tone and somehow it was as though all the noise of nature, the bristling of wind and sound of crickets stopped.

Words. Cold and unbelievably void of recognition, dripped from his lips and Izaya felt his body grow unbelievably cold.

"... he is dead."

The wind picked back up and for a second Izaya's ears numbed. Confusion marked his expression and he started questioning the reality he was facing.

The maids nearby stilled

No one said a word.

And for a second Izaya thought he misheard. What did Craigh say? The wind must have thwarted the syllables in the most gruesome way.

"What are you talking about?" he smiled and looked past Craigh's horse. Shizuo had to be following. Seeing as Craigh loved to storm to the front he probably just arrived first.

"The bridge- they fixed it and we thought it was good to go, but-"

Huh.

What bridge?

The one leading to his father's lands?

No it was just a quiet stream up ahead. Sure the bridge was built further down where the stream turned into a raft but-

"What are you saying…?" Izaya repeated, void of emotions with an empty smile forcing the corner of his lips up, but the second he asked the ginger's body started to slip.

"Craigh-"

Izaya hadn't noticed the knights' presence. It was Crispin whose worried expression and hurried steps had approached the ginger and supported his upper body in order to get him safely off his own horse.

Blood.

More and more blood dripped to the ground and somehow Izaya couldn't tear his eyes away from the ground and its colored surface.

"I tried to look for him after we fell, but the stream was too fast. And the stones-" Craigh grunted between two sets of a troubled wheeze, "I found parts of his horse," and his voice cracked as it lost all volume. "When the wolves came I had to move-"

Wolves?

Bridge?

What was he talking about?

Eyes narrowing and fists tightening next to his body as Izaya felt was the burning rage of anger.

This was a joke. A really bad one. Craigh was messing with him. He had to be. He might be Shizuo's oldest friend among the knights, but this-

"He picked up a pair of twins."

Fast, like a gush of air blowing across the tip of a dying flame the anger Izaya felt dissipated. And somehow he felt detached from his body. From his mind. From this world. The sight in front of him. It was as if he were watching someone else's life progress as his lips slowly formed a whisper.

"... twins?" His sisters. Mairu. Kururi. Shizuo had gone to pick them up. He had- And strings of hot iron closed around his neck. "Where are they?" He didn't see them anywhere.

And Craigh's face seemed to age upon sight as his eyes showed nothing but regret. "They were on his horse."

to be continued~

C:

See you next friday~