Love And War

Hello dear readers.

Year 1845

Dark thick smoke rose to the sky turning it dark and awful. The Wailing of children and the sobbing of girls were even louder.

Reeve Kingdom. The once great and strong vampire kingdom was brought down in one night by the scary opposing kingdom, Devontae.

The beautiful road was now dyed with red and black blood from the innocent vampires that were slaughtered during the war.

The once peaceful Kingdom yesterday was now a ruin of today as bodies of men and women were gathered and heaped at the center of the kingdom to be burnt.

Despite every single woman or man being dead, a particular woman sneaked a girl into a quiet room when she heard the voices of men.

The voices belonged to the warriors of Devontae who were merciless and heartless.

"Shh... Keep calm, we'll leave here safely okay?" The woman encouraged the girl who nodded in response.

Her face was filled with dried tear stains and her dark hair now looked like a nest for birds.

Hailey opened the door slightly and peeped for any sign of threat or any warriors still lurking around but there was none as the voice of the men were now gone.

She went back to the young girl who looked eighteen and lifted her from the ground. "It's clear, it's now time to escape or we would be dead in a few hours," she whispered and opened the door wider for both of them.

Both females were shoeless as they hurried out through the back door that led into the forest path.

When Hailey felt they were far from reach, they started running to only god know where. The only similar thought in their mind was to escape before it would be their head.

The ground was filled with roots and stumps which made it inconvenient for the young girl to run. Hailey bit her lips in pain as she managed to find a less difficult path.

Still running, Hailey would look behind them from time to time for any threat.

They might've gone far in the forest when the young girl tripped over a stone and fell flat face ground.

"Aurelia! Are you alright?" She asked while breathing heavily before lifting the girl up.

Hot tears poured out of her eyes one more time and Hailey felt a stab in her chest. She was Aurelia's caretaker right from when she was a child.

Seeing her hurt and crying also pained her as they had shared good times together.

Hailey helped Aurelia lean against a tree in her sitting position. She raised Aurelia's leg and saw a deep cut in between her toes.

"This is going to hurt," she muttered before tearing the hem of her dress with her hands and teeth.

"I can't keep on Hailey, I'm scared," Aurelia said dryly as she coughed.

"No. We can keep on, we're going to escape from this place. Your parents were brutally killed by those warriors, not to talk of you." Hailey tried to convince the princess.

"My toes hurt badly, I can't run quickly and might delay you. The warrior must've found out of the opened back door and would soon come after us," Aurelia said and bit her lips as Hailey tightened the piece of cloth on her injured toe.

"If they come after us, I swear I would protect you with my life," the woman replied and rubbed the young girls' head.

"Nothing is going to happen to both of us," remarked Aurelia as the thought of losing the last person in her life almost made her faint.

"Let's go." She said to her handmaid and stood up with the support of the tree. "I'll be strong," whispered Aurelia when she saw Hailey calculating eyes on her.

Instead of running, they resigned to walking because of Aurelia's injury so it would not open wider.

Far from the two women was a small entourage of warriors. Their red eyes were signaling hunger and thirst as they stood behind their king.

The Devontae king sat majestically on the pure white stallone as he watched the women head towards him and his crowd unknown to them.

Aurelia stopped limping to catch her breath, her head leaning on Hailey's shoulder as the latter wasn't a tall person.

"We are almost near the next village. I told you we would make it," Hailey smiled at the girl. Her red eyes and wrinkles appeared even clearly.

Aurelia could see the joy in the woman's eyes and she nodded her head. This time, she trusted her handmaid in escaping the claws of the Devontaes.

Hailey removed the large leaf covering their view to the other side of the Kingdom. A boundary like place where she knew some people.

All their hopes shattered when they saw the entourage of warriors. Most especially, the Devontae King.

The moment the princess came into view, the warriors suddenly surrounded them while some were on top of their horses.

"It seemed some twos had the guts to escape my wrath. Let's see who they are," the king said with his intimidating abysmal eyes.

"Aurelia...So good to see Reeve's hidden treasure," he said and smiled. A smile that didn't show any genuine kindness but mockery.

"Please, let us go. You won't get anything from us," Hailey pleaded with the heartless king as she felt Aurelia tensed up.

"Kill them!" The king replied and turned away while his horse walked slowly away. After a small walk, he paused.

The kingsman who was ordered to kill both ladies raised his bow with two arrows on the string.

After waiting for a long time, he still couldn't kill the woman. Especially the princess.

Cassius squinted his eyes and galloped towards the archer. He grabbed the bow and fired the arrow at the woman.

Aurelia felt the world turn giddy as the arrow sank into Hailey's head and neck. "Ha..iley... Hailey," she whispered and grabbed the motionless woman in her small arms.

"Hailey! No! No...No, you can't leave me," Aurelia sniffed and tried to hold herself together believing Hailey would answer her.

After some time, Aurelia fell into a daze. She lost Hailey, she lost the last person in her life. A friend was gone right before her eyes.

"No, you can't die like this Hailey, you promised to take me away from here....

Why...why did you leave so early!" Her quiet sobs then turned into a loud wail.

The entourage circled around them before leaving in various directions except the king and the kingsman.

Aurelia's small hand grabbed the arrow on Hailey's head and pulled it out while wailing loudly. "I'll avenge you... You!" She sobbed and looked at the heartless man on the white horse with hatred in her eyes.

"I'm going to kill you!" She said and stood up from the ground with the arrow in her hand.

Aurelia's aim was to pierce the arrow into his neck but she never knew how to climb a horse.

Of course the king knew that. Aurelia was never taught anything by her parents. She went closer to him, gripping the arrow tightly.

A sudden pain on her cheek made her wince in pain. Another pain on her back and she fell flat on the ground.

Cassius chuckled and stretched out the whip. He threw it on the ground and jumped down from his horse. It was then Aurelia who was crying like a child noticed his height.

"Come with me or you die, it's left for you to decide.... for the sake of your handmaid's wish." Cassius said and squatted beside her.

Aurelia shook her head. He was trying to make her follow him. She knew it... then she took a look at Hailey who was laying motionless and cold on the ground.

Cassius stretched out his arms for her to take and for a good minute, his kingsman thought if his king had a mood swing.

Aurelia slapped his hand away and returned back to Hailey who was on the ground. "I won't be the last of the Reeve descendants alive, I would rather die than follow you." She said and held Hailey tight.

Cassius stood up and walked to his stallone before climbing on it. His red eyes staring deep at the girl, "so be it." He replied and stormed away with his horse.

The kingsman who was left with Aurelia was petrified enough today. This was his first time replacing his brother who was ill. He couldn't kill an innocent girl just because he was ordered by his king.

"I won't kill you though, but you will be sold as a slave. The king won't see you again," he said.

"Thank you." Aurelia replied.

"I would help give her a proper burial," he said, referring to Hailey.

"I'm going to kill your king for destroying my family. Maybe it's not now, but it can't be ever."

"That's a matter between the two of you, as for now, you need to join other survivors." He said and patted the space behind him.

Aurelia gulped an invisible lump on her throat as she saw the horse as another war.