The Prince's Escape

Chapter 19 || Alone In This World

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I watched as Luca left me in the dust. I silently prayed he would come back and take me with him. But he didn't even look back. Scuffing the dirt with my shoe, I go towards the thatched house I once called home. I push open the door, and the first thing that hits me is the stale smell of blood and lots of it. I rush quickly into the darkness and discover Ferbius bending over my parent's bed. He is placing a washcloth over someone's forehead. Trying not to disturb his work, I quickly move to see who the patient is. Why would he bring the person here? 

I hear him whisper to the man in the bed, "Yes, my lord." My lord? It can't be. Can it? I move forward and there laying the bed with a layer of sheen over his pale face his the King. His blonde hair is matted with sweat and blood, and his half-closed blue eyes have deep red circles around them. 

Ferbius must have sensed my presence, for he turns ready to kill, but his old face softens upon spotting me at the edge of the bed. His shoulders sag in relief. "Ember, my girl," he cries, leaving his work to pull me into the tightest grip imaginable. "I thought I had lost you too," he states through gasps of breath. I return the hug, burying my face in his neck as I use to when I was a child.  

"I'm sorry," I tell him, my voice cracking over the weight of emotion that flooded through me. Then, a sharp intake of air filled the air, and we both looked down at our dying King. I know there is no time ask just yet, so I ask "What do you need me to?"

Ferbius grasps my shoulder once and lets out a sigh of his own before his eyes focus on the task at hand. "It's dangerous, and I know you'll love that, but I need you to get me my medicine bag."

"Alright," I nod. Preparing to take my leave without another word, but he stops me. "Please, be careful, my child, Irles is very different place since you were last here. Trust no one," he whispers the warning is clear and it sends a chill down my spine. It's only been three days. How different can the kingdom be? But then my thoughts go back to the dying King. With Luca sick and the King in hiding. That wretched woman has taken control. The King. Luca's father. He can't lose another. He won't be alone in this world, I vow. 

Pulling my cloak up to cover my face, I walk in the shadows, but what I noticed was there seemed to be no one out. The streets are dead silent, and eerie thought seeing as we have one of the largest populations in the seven kingdoms. As I get closer to where Ferbius and I called home, a sickening smell begins to evade my nose. It's strangely familiar but wrong. The closer I get the stronger it becomes, and I realize the source is from the smoke emitting from the castle. Luca. Davis. Conrad. James. They could all be in trouble. No. I must get the medicine first. Quickly pushing open our little wooden door, I'm shocked to see it has been ransacked. The tables and chairs are broken into pieces. Ferbius's books are scattered across the floors. The more I look the more anger takes a hold of me, so I know I must stop. I head straight for Ferbius room, where he hides his medicine bag. I use to think him paranoid for doing that. Smart man. With the bag securely in my hand, I make my way back. Sticking to the sides, and not bothering to look too closely at anything in my way. 

When I'm finally at my parent's home, I push open the door, and Ferbius greets me with impatient hands, taking the bag out, and searching for the items he requires. He is bent over the table still pulling items out, when I hear the King whisper, "Luca."

"Go to him," Ferbius states, not even bothering to look up at me. I nod even though I know he didn't see it, and rush to the side of the King. 

"Where is my son?" he asks, and waves of sadness hit me as I know this is something Luca needs to be here for. 

"He is protecting the Kingdom," I inform him. His hands start to move too fast, and I notice the tearing of stitching Ferbius had done previously. So, I grab the Kings hands into mine, and I hold them steadily. "Shh, he is well trained and a good man. He will be just fine. You, on the other hand, need to focus on being well when he is done. Don't let the last conversation between you two be a fight. Stay alive for him," I state, hoping he will listen. In all my years of training with Ferbius  I have noticed that the mind just has powerful as the body. The King's unfocused eyes, seem to look straight at me, and he gives me a stern nod. 

"He-e is much like his mother-r," The King strains to talk over the pain. "He was too much like her. I couldn't look at him after she died. I-I pushed him away, but not out of hatred towards him, out of pain for her," he sighed the last part, as though finally saying it out loud to someone even an unknown figure was better than keeping it inside him another moment.

"Tell him that. He needs to hear it," I urge, and to my surprise, he gives one strong nod, before grimacing. I have to give the King credit. He is a lot stronger than I would have expected. 

"Okay," Ferbius calls from the kitchen, moving rather quickly for a man who prefers to sit to move at all. "I've got the medicine. This will help with the pain, and I'm just about done with the healing potion," he smiles to the King.

After the King is peacefully sleeping Ferbius whispers, "I'm nervous he as been in this state for too long for the potion to take effect. It may be too late for him."

"He will not die without talking to Luca first," I state, walking off. 

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to save the bloody, Prince!"

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