by C. A. Sabol
The tiny machine he’d been holding broke in two. He turned and headed back to his ship quarters. The journey home was not going to be pleasant, he thought. There was an invasion to plan.
SELENE AND ETOILEON followed after Kadrianne as she led them through a series of small, complicated hallways. Upon meeting up with the handmaiden, the princess and her protector had decided to follow Kadrianne down the servants’ hallways, corridors that were used by the maids and chamber men to transport food, laundry, and messages, among other things. These hallways were forbidden to guests and high-ranking members of the court. It wasn’t hard to see why the halls were prohibited to the court members, either. They were cramped and tiny, with barely enough room for two people to walk side-by-side down. The lighting was poor for the moment, with only a few lights still working due to the electrical lines that had been knocked down by the Rebel jets.
For a while the three of them walked briskly through the passageway without exchanging a word, before Selene broke the silence and spoke up.
“Kadrianne, wait,” Selene piped up a moment later. Her voice bounced off the walls and echoed back, surprisingly loud for the soft tone she’d spoken in. “What happened? Who is attacking us, and why?”
“I fear, Your Highness,” Kadrianne’s jaw was set with a grim expression, “I fear that Aemon has taken the initiative to get the war started much earlier than anticipated. Our investigations and open communication lines have informed us that he had come prepared for rejection. Many think he would’ve attacked, whether you agreed to his wishes or not.”
“I don’t understand,” Selene frowned. “He didn’t seem like the kind of person to do anything like this. Why would he attack in the first place?”
“Your Highness, his father was the leader in the previous rebellion with your parents. History tells us that Aemon’s father killed himself after your mother died in childbirth. This issue, therefore, carries a bit more weight than Your Highness’- augh!”
Kadrianne’s words were lost, as another round of quaking seemed to streamline through the palace. The floor shook precariously beneath them, sending all three of them hurrying for a nearby wall or doorway. Kadrianne and Etoileon were thrown forward, while Selene flung to the side by the powerful quakes. The floor cracked and broke under the pressure of the shaking foundation.
“Lady Kadrianne,” Etoileon asked as he held on tightly to a decorative tapestry pole, “Can the castle foundation take this abuse much longer?”
“I think so,” Kadrianne shouted back. She’d managed to grab a hold of the doorframe and pull herself into a safer position as they all stumbled around. “But I’m not so sure about the rest of the palace ... we have to get Her Highness into the bomb shelter as soon as possible. The shelter’s entrance is in the throne room!”
Etoileon grimaced and looked back at his charge as she struggled against the instability of the floor. He set his jaw and nodded firmly. “Okay!”
Selene lost her footing and nearly fell into the wall. She quickly regained her footing and, using the wall as a balance, she sidestepped her way toward her other companions. They were near the end of the hallway; Selene could see the once-majestic columns of the Throne room through the arched doorway.
“Princess!”
Selene looked up to see Etoileon reaching for her, his hand extended. She glanced past him for a moment to see Kadrianne not too far from him, clutching the doorframe in an effort to keep herself on her feet.
“Princess! Take my hand!” Etoileon’s call jerked Selene’s attention back to him.
She bravely shuffled her foot out, and reaching out unsteadily, she moved as close as she could to get to him. After struggling and straining her body to stretch out farther, her fingertips just brushed against his. “Etoileon!”
“Hurry!” Kadrianne called to them. “We have to get out of here!”
“We’re coming!” Etoileon called back. “Please, Princess, just a bit further! You can do it!”
As the rumbling and shaking of the palace walls slowed, Selene could feel a bit more balanced and able to remain steadier on her feet. She bit her lip and scooted a bit more, managing to muster up enough strength to propel forward a few more inches. She felt a sigh of relief escape her as she felt Etoileon’s hands clasp around hers and pull her over to where he was.
“Selene,” he gave her a smile as the same sense of relief she felt poured over him. He’d been worried that he wouldn’t be able to reach her. Lesson learned, he thought. Never let her out of reach again. This was certainly not the time to be worrying about formalities. Tightening his hold on her hand, he tried to navigate a path over to the doorway where Kadrianne had been waiting.
“Oh my.” Selene could barely breathe as her gaze fell on the room before her. There were cracks in nearly all the windows. Some of the columns were still shaking warily, while a few had actually fallen over. The throne and its tree trunk remained untouched, but several of the tree’s branches were snapped and hanging on by mere splinters. The floor was covered in fallen decorations, broken glass, and a surprising amount of what looked suspiciously like blood. Several of the High Court members were present, for once all disheveled and unkempt; some of them were still trying to rid themselves of rubble. Selene looked briefly down at her own hands and dress, only to see that she, too, was covered with dust and dirt, and she still had blood on her hands from Etoileon’s wounds.
“Your Highness!” A voice called out to the princess as Selene made her way through the doors to the throne room. A moment later, the voice’s owner came barreling out from around the base of the throne. It was Cyerra, and she was joyfully bouncing up and down as she hurried over to them. Once in front of the princess, she nearly fell over as she made a clumsy bow, and looked up to smile brightly at Selene. “We were all so worried, Your Highness. We all thought for sure you were injured.”
“Thank you, Cyerra, I was worried for all of you as well,” Selene warmly responded. Her eyes hardened again, and she commanded, “Kadrianne, please, see to anyone who needs help.”
At once, Kadrianne bowed and hurried to help a nearby woman who was trapped under a layer of rubble. Selene nodded to Etoileon, who then followed after Kadrianne. Then her attention focused once more on Cyerra, who had not yet moved to help Kadrianne. Seeing the girl’s anxiousness, her expression softened. “Please, tell me what is wrong.”
Cyerra looked down. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness. This is all Aemon’s fault. Word has reached us here at the palace that this indeed was planned—much more than we could have known.” She wrung her hands.
“I see.”
“There has been a significant amount of damage done to the palace, but not too much to the surrounding city. One or two buildings have suffered severe destruction, but that is all.” Her gaze went even lower. “Sadly, there have been a number of deaths and many people are in serious medical conditions.”
“We must help them at once,” Selene stated. She almost started forward, but Cyerra stepped in front of her, effectively stopping the princess in her tracks. Selene was taken aback. “Don’t try to stop me.”
“I’m sorry,” Cyerra nearly cried. “But I cannot allow you to work in here. It is drastically unsafe for you, Your Highness. Several of the columns are still unstable, and already three have fallen. The ceiling is also crumbling slightly in several areas ... you would not be safe, working in here.”
Selene smiled gently at her new handmaiden. “Cyerra, please stand aside.”
As she took a step back, Cyerra was wide-eyed with shock and admiration. The princess hurried past her.
While Selene busied herself in the task ahead of her, Cyerra managed a small smile. Etoileon came up beside her, to tell her that Kadrianne required her help, but Cyerra spoke up. “Our Princess is such a lovely person. No wonder everyone loves her.”
Yes, Etoileon thought, the princess was well loved here. “Lady Cyerra, Lady Kadrianne would like you to-“
“Hey, watch it!” A sn
apping voice suddenly rang through the dilapidated section.
“You’re in my way, and be careful! I had to pay up a lot of currency for this robe!”
Now that the raid seemed to be over, the people in the room were trying to get out and get cleaned up as best as they could. But for the moment, all had stilled as two men were arguing near the base of the throne. Etoileon recognized one of the voices immediately.
“You’re such an imbecile!” Trion was yelling at the top of his voice at a younger gentleman, who, until a moment ago, he’d been trying to help out of a high pile of debris.
The young man, managing to stand up, glared down at Trion. “I’ve never been so insulted in my life! I’m Lord Horatio of the High Court, I’ll have you know, you arrogant ruffian!”
“Well, this ruffian might have arrogance, but I can sure beat you up,” Trion stated darkly. His voice lowered and his eyes narrowed hatefully as his gaze burned into the man in front of him. “Who has the lack of respect here? I don’t think it’s me.” He folded his arms in a taunting way. “What’s the worst you can do to me? Ignore me?”
Etoileon recognized the stance that Trion took. It was one of the neutral stances from their Fighters’ lessons. Remembering how he and Trion had fought earlier in the week, Etoileon started to head over. Horatio was no doubt in danger.
But he was too late. Trion jolted forward, pushing Lord Horatio onto the floor. Horatio grabbed at Trion, his lack of training showing even though he managed to pull Trion down along with him. The two of them fumbled for rocks and pebbles as they managed to hit and claw at the other.
The surrounding members of court were still watching; it was as though the scene had deprived them of the will to do anything but watch. A few people, noticing this, broke forth and headed over.
Selene was the first to reach them.
“Gentlemen!” she called in her most commanding tone. “Stop this at once, do you hear me?” Why are they doing this? Haven’t we had enough tragedy today?
She took a step closer. Neither of the men stopped fighting, even at her insistence.
“Hey!” She tried again, this time several of her guards were coming up beside her. “Stop it! You’re hurting each other. This is no way to behave!” Horatio looked over at the Princess with an indecisive look in his eye. Slowly, he pushed away from Trion and started to stand up.
Trion ignored the Princess’ request and struck out his foot, kicking the feet out from under Horatio. His opponent let out a grunt as he landed hard on the floor. Trion eagerly moved in for another attack, the expression on his face clearly telling anyone he was not yet satisfied.
“Stop!” Selene jumped forward, grabbing onto Trion’s arm. He skidded to a halt, almost losing his balance to the girl who’d just grabbed him.
“Get off, Your Highness!” he insisted, shaking his captured limb relentlessly. “I have been insulted by this man, and he must learn the price of such disrespect!”
“It seems that he is not the only one who needs to learn proper respect,” Etoileon muttered as he came up and helped Horatio to his feet, seizing the opportunity to take the prize away from Trion’s battle. Once Horatio was on his feet and scurrying away to find a safe place, Etoileon turned around to help Selene. She was having trouble holding on as Trion’s struggling grew more violent and irritated.
“ Stop it!” Selene insisted. “Stop it right this –“ Her sentence was interrupted as he managed to throw her off of him, sending her flying straight against one of the palace columns. There was a sickening crash! And the whole room hushed and fell silent.
For the moment, no one dared to make a move or speak a word.
Selene’s face was tight with tension as she collided with the column. It was ridged and elegantly carved, and hard against her back, but other than the pain of impact Selene could feel nothing wrong with her. Her eyes had squeezed shut, but now they slowly opened to find everyone in the throne room looking her way with horror in their eyes. “Huh?” She wondered what they were all so worried about her—after all, she was okay - when she heard it. A creaking noise was emitting from the column behind her.
“Princess!” While everyone started yelling and screaming, Etoileon had rushed through the jumbled crowds.
He’d seen the marble crack near the base. He’d hoped that the impact wouldn’t push it over. But it looked like it would fall anyway. Selene was trapped. If he didn’t hurry, the column would fall right on her and crush her.
Selene glanced up and was met with a horrifying sight. She felt the scream rise in her throat as the column broke in two, causing a bunch of the ceiling to break and tumble down. She tried to scramble out of there, but it was too late.
The column fell, crashing down as the ceiling above it caved into pieces and rained down. A cloud of dust blew up from the refuse, tainting everything with a layer of gray.
Selene waited for the pain to hit her again. She waited for something to fall on her and leave her in a world of darkness. To her surprise, she felt none of these things. Her back was still numb from Trion’s throw, but no new pain was bothering her. Without looking she could tell she was sprawled out on her stomach, with her hands protecting her head. But other than that, she was at a lost. She gradually opened her eyes. They instantly widened in shock.
She had opened her eyes to find Etoileon on his knees, crouching over her body. He had prevented the column from falling on her by letting it fall on him. His triceps contracted as he struggled to hold up under the weight of the heavy column.
“Etoileon!” her whispered exclamation caught his attention.
“Thank goodness,” he grunted down at her. His smile was thin through gritted teeth, and there were beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he held the column away from the princess.
“You—you saved me,” Selene was awed. “But ... but why?” her words ended in a cry.
“Selene, don’t worry about it,” he grimaced. “Of course I saved you. I told you I would always protect you, didn’t I?” He paused and shifted his weight, and managed to give her a kind smile. “I’m sorry that I haven’t always kept it, but I want to. I’ve always wanted to.”
“Stop it! You’ll be crushed!” she began to feel her eyes water. “Stop it, please!”
Etoileon groaned as he was starting to cave under the pressure. But he managed to shake his head. “No.” He looked down at her intently. “Selene ... get out of here, now. You can crawl out from under me, and you’ll be okay.”
“No! I’m not leaving without you,” she declared, her voice a whisper. A sliver of fear crawled up her spine.
“Selene—do as I say, now. Or I’ll be forced to let this go much sooner than intended,”
Etoileon smirked. “Without you there, I can let go of it and let it slide right off of my shoulder ... I’ll be fine. Just go.”
Selene stilled. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” she asked, her voice a frightened whisper.
“I’ll be fine ... Selene.” His gray eyes met hers, and remained that way until she sighed and began to crawl out from underneath him and the column. She would do what he wanted her to.
Once she was out, Selene realized that Etoileon had received some help from several of the guards that had been present. Under their quick direction, several ropes had been looped around the column as it had fallen. They were now anchoring the ropes down and tying them off safely.
Whew, she thought, it looks like everything is going to be okay.
Etoileon managed, with the aid of the binding support, to get out from underneath the marble column without any harm. He looked back at it as he was shrugging off the muscle cramps and sucked in his breath. He’d been lucky that there had been others here to assist him. There was no way anyone could’ve survived holding the entire weight of it.
He looked over and saw Selene relax and start to smile. Etoileon met her gaze and she blushed. But a moment later, her composure regained, she ran over to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him.
Etoileon said nothing. There was a whole room full of people, some calming down from their recent scare, and some attending to the injured ones. The noise was so loud in the room that his words would have been lost anyway. So, for the moment, he allowed himself to enjoy the moment.
But it was not to last.
A rope that was bound down suddenly snapped. The column wavered, causing other ropes to break. People all around were once again fearful, and starting to shout for help or run for the exit as the column fell.
A cluster of screams could be heard as those in the crowd headed for cover. The large marble structure sank into the ground with such a force that it shook the building floor, sending a shockwave through the room. People stumbled and fell; others were thrown off their balance and wobbled precariously. The walls of the building even seemed to shake. The ceiling crumbled further. The branches of the royal throne creaked, several breaking with a loud snap!
What happened next occurred in only a matter of seconds. Selene felt Etoileon tighten his arms around her and hold onto her tightly as a shower of crumbled ceiling concrete rained down on them.
The noise was so loud that she thought she screamed, but she was not sure, because she could not hear it. She heard a sickening crunch! and then nothing more. Her world went black as she slipped away into unconsciousness.
THE CROWD GASPED IN horror as they watched their princess was buried in a waterfall of fallen ceiling. Several of the crowd started shouting, and as soon as the debris settled, only one person held back from helping to get those buried free.
Trion sniffed angrily. He was trying hard to keep the guilt at bay from him for the moment. He hugged his cloak around his shaking shoulders and headed for the exit.
Ronal briefly took into account Trion leaving the throne room. Ronal was too distracted, looking for his friends, to think to stop him.
Once Ronal stopped Cyerra among the people trying to move the crushed ceiling blocks, he hurried over. “Cyerra!” He called out. Ronal scurried over and was about to embrace his love until he was stopped by the expression on her face. Right away he could tell that something was not as it should be. “What’s wrong?” he asked.