At times, seconds can be endless. That's how those moments felt, locked in the room, trying to formulate a plan to escape from the castle, dealing with the fact that Rayn had abandoned us.
'His gone,' I dared to say, within the chaos.
The recognition of his absence was instantaneous and everyone's faces were tinged with anger and fury.
'He turned us in,' Tryx looked hopeless when she said it. 'It was one of Caelus' strategies, if there is trouble, save yourself at any cost.'
'The heir to Crescendo's throne is a reasonable cost to him?' cried Russell, at the blast of the arrows and the yelling of the soldiers.
'It doesn't matter now, we have to focus on getting out of here,' I tried to calm the waters, though despair was filling my body.
'Make the portal like you did before, come on,' Rich urged me to repeat my trick of the day before.
A single glance from me informed them of the cruel truth. I had no idea how to repeat it.
'Just try,' Galaga didn't look desperate like the rest, she tried to stay calm like the great warrior she was.
I threw myself on the floor and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate, which seemed impossible to achieve in an atmosphere of panic and uncertainty.
I stretched out my hands and invoked the same words that had led us there.
A portal, I need a portal, a portal.
Not to my surprise, nothing happened.
Or so I thought.
'Guys...' Tryx said in a disturbing tone, looking out the window. 'She did it, but not like we thought.'
'What do you mean?' Aaron asked, looking in the direction she was facing.
It didn't take long for me to join in where their eyes were pointing.
The portal had been created, but in the same place it had been before, several feet away from the castle. To reach our exit, we were going to have to pass through the soldiers.
'Bring it over here,' Rich urged. He grabbed his head and walked around not knowing what to do.
'I can't, I don't know how, I can't control it...'
'Don't make me say Rayn was right.'
'Rich, shut up.' Russell stood in front of his older brother, asserting himself no matter how old he was. 'She's trying. She's doing the best she can.'
I looked at him in amazement. No one had ever stood up for me as much as Russell did. I never thought anyone would do it, but he did it by his own choice. He wanted to protect me, he wanted to be the one who always had my back.
He wanted to be my partner, and I accepted that, and I loved him for that.
Indeed... I loved him.
'We're going to have to get out of the castle somehow,' Galaga vocalized the obvious. 'I say we look for the tunnel,' she said, adjusting the swords that hung from her back.
'The tunnel?' I asked somewhat confusedly.
'How do you think your mother got you out,' she replied, not wanting to seem offensive. 'My father told me that it was the emergency exit, which very few people knew about, for safety. If we go out that way, we'll only have a short distance to run. I mean, I would go out and face them, but there are only... six of us who know how to fight, so it's not a good idea.'
It was true.
Even though I had powers, I had no idea how to defend myself, how to use a sword. I had never been trained.
The women in Bieno were not considered part of the army. At Crescendo, and apparently in most kingdoms, men and women fought together as equals. Everyone who wanted to, received training. If only I had listened to the Comrades, maybe I could do some trick that would stop them all, but it was too risky. Without control of my powers, I could hurt any one of them. No, I couldn't risk it.
'Through the tunnel we will go.' I repeated her plan.
'How do we know they don't know about the tunnel?' asked Fred, who was already preparing his sword in case he needed it.
'Let's have faith that they never found it.'
'And if they didn't find them, how the heck are we going to find them?' Rich remained skeptical. He didn't seem to have faith in anything but his own fear.
I closed my eyes again and walked up to one of the walls. I touched it gently and focused on the idea that had appeared before my eyes.
Show me the way.
I called out to that voice that appeared from time to time in my head when I was a child. That voice that had helped me to hold on, to follow the path.
That voice that I could now recognize, like my father's voice.
Going down two levels, through three doors and turning right, behind the second bookcase, the fifth book.
'We have to go down two levels, through three doors, turn right, and behind the second bookcase is the place we are looking for.'
How did I not do that before? Why didn't I think of doing that before?
The sign, where is the sign?
Nothing.
The voice didn't answer me. It faded away, as if choosing what to help me with and what not to help me with.
Tell me where the sign is.
Russell took my arm, as my eyes were kept closed and I was twitching as if my body was getting a little electric shock. That's how he described it to me after what happened.
The sign. Tell me. Tell me now.
I pushed as hard as I could. I needed the answer.
And I got it.
Right where it belongs.
The voice pulled me back and I almost lost my balance. It didn't take long for me to pull myself together and I said to everyone, with some heaviness:
'It's time to go.'
The careful steps we took a few minutes ago were left behind. We were determined to run as fast as we could, dodging the areas with windows.
How many arrows did they have? Why didn't they stop?
Just as the voice told me, as we went down two levels, through three doors, to the right, behind the second bookcase, after moving the fifth book, a door opened in front of us.
A spiral staircase extended downward. There was no light to tell us what was waiting for us at the bottom, but we didn't hesitate to venture down, as we didn't have much of a choice. It was either to dare or to dare.
I went down first, in an attempt to be brave. The pressure of being a monarch was starting to get to me. My life was worth more than I imagined, but that wasn't what worried me.
I was worried about the thought that anyone who was following me was willing to die for me. Aaron himself had asked me to leave him there, in order to save myself. Perhaps other people would say that it was the best thing that could happen to them, knowing that they would be protected no matter what. But for me it wasn't like that. Just the thought that something might happen to them because of me, living with that remorse, I simply couldn't.
The stairs became darker as we continued to descend, if that was even possible. The noises from the impacts gradually evaporated.
How far were we going down?
What seemed endless came to a sudden end when we hit the lowest level of the castle.
The darkness was absolute. The silence welcomed the sound of our soles, like old friends whom it missed. I wanted to call the light, I wanted to see where to go, but I was afraid of making a mistake, of drawing attention to ourselves, of condemning us to a worse fate than being locked up in darkness.
We followed a path by instinct, without any reason. I felt the ground begin to rise, slowly like a footbridge rising to the surface. I kept walking up until I hit something.
'I think this is the end of the tunnel,' I whispered, though my voice was heard clearly within the immense silence.
'Let me go first, Your Majesty,' Galaga stepped forward towards me.
Fortunately, I recognized their voices, otherwise it would have been impossible to distinguish them.
'Together,' I said without moving. I was not afraid to die, I was more afraid to lose them.
We pushed upwards with all our strength, and the earth began to fall in our faces. A small hatch under the dark grass in front of the castle opened, letting in the light from outside, the perfect way to escape undetected. It would have been perfect, but for the number of soldiers surrounding the castle. We carefully lowered the door and communicated what we had seen.
'What are we going to do?' Tryx's deep voice became shrill in the face of fear and uncertainty.
'We'll run, we'll run and pray to the Gods that they don't catch us.' Galaga remained confident, or at least that was what she showed. She would make a better monarch than I, without fear or doubt, a pure warrior at heart.
'Brothers, I can't see you, but if we don't make it, I don't want you to look for me in the afterlife,' Rich said in a mocking tone, 'you're too much work.'
'Shut up, don't say that.' Aaron scolded him in the dark.
I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Maybe I should have said goodbye, maybe I should have looked for Russell and kissed him again, one more time, before we faced our possible deaths. But all I said was:
'Knowing you was the best thing that ever happened to me.'
I opened the hatch wide and pushed myself upwards. With my hands, I rose to the ground and got up as quickly as possible. The soldiers were very close; if even one of them turned around, we would be discovered.
I began to run, looking back and not breathing too hard. One by one they came out of the tunnel and followed my footsteps.
But then, luck betrayed us.
One of the soldiers turned and shouted with all his strength.
'THEY ARE ESCAPING!'
Running is not the right word to describe the intensity of our movements. We fled in desperation.
Arrows began to fall around us and some soldiers began to chase us.
Russell came forward and covered me with his body as we ran.
We were getting closer and closer.
However, we did not see the other soldiers waiting on their horses on the other side of the land.
They were going to intercept us just before we could jump into the portal. It would have happened, if Galaga hadn't gotten in the way.
She drew her two swords from her back, and with surprisingly precise and agile movements, she wounded two soldiers, who fell from their horses.
But they were not the only ones.
More and more steeds appeared at once.
Galaga continued to fight. The brothers began to shoot their arrows and knocked out several soldiers. Galaga turned and faced them.
'Take her away! Go!'
'NO!' I shouted, though it was in vain. The brothers surrounded me until we were next to the portal.
Tryx pulled out her knives and stood by Galaga's side, but Galaga ordered her to do the same as the Laochs.
I had to do something; I couldn't let her fight for me.
I slipped out of the circle of the brothers, in a second when they weren't paying attention to me. I raised my hands and tried to invoke my power.
Attack...
A sharp pain spread through my body.
I felt myself fall to my knees right in front of the portal.
Those around me did not understand what was happening.
'Princess!' screamed Russell in despair.
An arrow hit me right in the middle of my body.
Blood, I could only see blood coming out of me.
Russell took me in his arms and shouted some more before jumping through the portal.
I closed my eyes and let myself go, although I could only see black.