Chapter 110: Chapter 110

110 Chapter 110 : A glimpse of the past

“Honey wake up, come on get up there’s not much time..”

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain everything later honey get your boots and a cloak hurry, we falling behind!”

Marceline grabbed Aiden’s hand and rushed him out of the room, down the long dark hallway only lit by candles on the verge of going off, and out through the back doorway that barely anyone used.

The outside was dark and cold, it was probably past midnight but Aiden could hear shouts and screams coming from a distance. As his mother dragged him on, he saw about half a dozen carriages parked in a line and a number of people getting on them. Aiden’s blue eyes, that he had taken after his beautiful mother fell on his father, the Kaiser of the nosferatu who broke into a swift movement towards them.

Kaiser Stefan hugged his wife and kissed her tenderly on her lips. “Are you ready?” He questioned Marceline.

“How can I be ready for something like this Stefan? Why are the humans doing this?”

“Its an act of pure greed and selfishness,” Stefan responded. He rubbed his wife’s shoulders lovingly, “but we will get through this, I promise.”

Stefan looked at his son who was standing looking confused behind his wife. Aiden was his only child, a handsome young man who was only a hundred and twenty one years old and greatly resembled his mother, but had the strong stature of his father.

.....

“Father what’s going on?” Aiden asked, “why are those carriages parked there and where are we going.”

Stefan gripped his son’s shoulder and have him an instense stare, “Aiden I need you to be strong and take care of your mother until I join you.”

“Take care of mother? Father tell me what’s happening?”

“The humans ambushed us over night,” Stefan explained, “many of our kind, including the elves, lycan’s and dwarves have been killed. The humans have us outnumbered, so our best bet now is to leave and find refuge elsewhere.”

“Then why aren’t you coming with us?” Aiden questioned his father.

“Me and the other rulers and a few soldiers will stay back and hold off the attack while the rest of you escape.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Aiden grabbed his father’s hand firmly, “then I’m staying too! Let me help to-”

“No Aiden!” Stefan bellowed, “I need you to lead our people, and if gods forbid something happens to me, you’re the only one who can take my place as Kaiser.” He grabbed the back of his son’s head and placed his forehead on his, “I need you alive and well my son, so please, survive this.”

Aiden’s eyes turned misty as he looked into his father’s intense orbs, “Father...” he squeezed his eyes shut and held his father by the shoulder, with tears flowing down his cheeks and his forhead against his, Aiden nodded, “I promise not to let you down.”

Stefan let go of Aiden and gave him a nod. “Now go, hurry before they reach the castle, go!”

Aiden grabbed his mother’s hand and they both ran towards the carriage. He dared not to turn back and look at his father in fear that that would be the last time he would see him, he didn’t want that to happen. He instead moved forward, praying to the gods that they would return his father and all who were left behind in one piece.

*

They had been on the road for almost a week now, traveling northeast towards the uninhabited forests, taking breaks during the night to sleep and during the day to water the horses and replenish their stocks of water and food.

As they traveled, Aiden had learned that the carriages consisted of nobles from the nosferatu, the elves, the dwarves and the lycans, the others moved with them by horseback or small wagons. The atmosphere was a bit gloomy but they all tried to keep their spirits up regardless.

When the carriage came to a halt, Aiden peeked out the window and sighed, there was a flowing river near them and everyone was rushing to fill their water canteens. To think that four of the most powerful races were reduced to mere refugees, it was angering.

“I’ll go fill up the water container,” Aiden spoke to his mother, uncle and cousins. “You guys can rest or stretch your legs.” He hopped out of the carriage with a large container in hand that was fitted with a small tap. Each carriage had been given a container like this and Aiden and his two male cousins would take turns to fill it up.

The handsome redhead placed the container on the banks of the river and proceeded to taking off his boots so he could go into the water. After kicking off his shoes he folded his pants to avoid them getting wet but unfortunately for Aiden, some of the younger members of the caravan were playing tag and one of them bumped into him, sending both of them splashing into the shallow end of the river.

Aiden spat out some water that had made it’s way into his mouth and glared at the little dwarve boy who had landed in his chest.

“Hehe sorry mister are you okay?” The little boy asked

Aiden sighed and ruffled up the boy’s wet hair, “you should go dry yourself up before you catch a cold,” he spoke

“Sure thing!” The boy rushly slipped off Aiden’s body.

The handsome redhead was about to get up when he caught site of a little hand reaching out to him, “you should get out of the water too mister,” the boy spoke with a smile, “before you catch a cold.”

Aiden chuckled and allowed the little boy to help him up before sending him off. He looked at his wet clothes and sighed heavily again, “these will never dry in time.”

“Maybe I can help...” a voice spoke gently.

Aiden turned around to see where that melodious voice was coming from and came face to face with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The woman who was smiling at him had long golden hair that reached her knees, plump pink lips and the most beautiful brownish- purplish eyes that felt like they could see within his soul.

“I’m Estel,” the woman spoke sweetly.

“Err I’m ah... I’m Aiden..” the redhead responded jittery.

“Oh you’re Kaiser Stefan’s son,” she spoke as she pulled his container into the water, “next in line to be Kaiser, pretty impressive.”

“It is?.. oh yeah it’s really impressive!” Aiden responded nervously in a pathetic attempt to woo the beauty. “A lot of duty you know, but being the man that I am it’s no big deal at all.”

Estel chuckled at the man, “I can see that.”

Aiden blushed when she saw her eyes raking over his wet clothing, “this was just a Umm.. I was just caught off guard that time.. you know.. with the kids and all.”

Estel chuckled even more, making Aiden’s blush intensify. Talk about an embarrassing first impression. But his embarrassment was short lived when he saw Estel pull out streams of water from the river and place them gracefully into the container.

“T- that’s magic... you can control the elements?” Aiden asked in awe. He looked up at Estel and now noticed her pointy ears and the little tiara on her head. “You’re an elven princess!”

“That I am,” Estel responded as she inched closer to Aiden. “It’s a lot of duty you know, but being the woman that I am it’s no big deal at all.”

Aiden facepalmed when Estel threw his words back at him, gods was that how he had sounded when he said it?

Estel burst into laughter instantly making Aiden do the same. Gosh it had been so long since he laughed, the entire week’s worth of journey from the central continent, he had been in low spirits thinking of his father, his people and everything and everyone they had lost.

Estel held Aiden by the shoulders making him tense up, “what are you doing?” He questioned her.

“Jusy hold still Mr man I’ll be done in a jiffy.”

The beautiful woman drew in a breath, and when she exhaled, the water on Aiden’s clothes all dripped back into the river till he was as dry as before.

Eatel took a step back and admired her work, “mh hm that should do it.”

“Thank you Estel..”

“Don’t mention it.” The beautiful woman squeezed her eyes shut and gave Aiden the cutest smile he had ever seen. It was then that he knew the gods had favorites when it came to looks.

“Estel!”

“Oh crap it’s my mother,” the woman spoke as she turned to look at who was calling out to her, “she’s a bit of a stiff and doesn’t want me moving out of the carriage, can you believe that?! It’s crazy right?!”

“Um yeah so crazy..” Aiden mumbled.

“Estel!!”

“I have to go before I get in trouble,” Estel spoke as she walked away, “it was nice meeting you Aiden.”

“Wait!” Aiden blurted out, making Estel turn back to face him. “I was wondering if we could spend some time together again, if that’s okay..?” He asked the woman.

“I’d like that,” the princess responded with a smile, “I’ll see you at our next stop then.”

“Yes perfect!”

“Great, see then Addie.” With a quick wave, Estel ran towards her mother who scolded her before taking her back into the carriage.

Aiden remained with his hand waving even after she was out of site. “Addie?...” he muttered to himself as a huge grin painted his face. Had she just given him a nickname?