2 Clashes in the Garden

Rema watched speechlessly as her father slid to the ground. Her mind went blank as she stared her step mother, the Queen approached General Ralf. Instead of showing any forms of anger, the queen planted a deep kiss on General Ralf's lips. Then she proceeded to take the sword that had just stabbed her husband and wiped it clean.

Rema turned around and saw the shock look on her guards. They were also left speechless by the sudden turn of event. Before anyone could break the silence, a sudden noise of footsteps heard approaching their location. Their attention turned towards the noise.

A group of armed soldiers numbered about twenty was advancing on them. They proceeded to surround Rema and her bodyguards. The three bodyguards turned vigilant and placed their hands on their swords. Rema stood stunned at this and lay motionless.

One of the soldiers presumably their leader stepped up and declare, "Princess Remalia, by order of the Queen you are to go to your room and stay there until further notices. We will ensure your safety in the castle."

Rema's group stood silently before one of her guard spoke, "Ensure her safety? Her highness already had us as her protector. Besides, the Guardians are the one in charge of the castle's safety by order of the king. Imperial Army don't have any authority even inside the capital."

"Ha, ha, ha. The new king has decree the change to the status quo. Right now, all Guardians are to disarmed and report back to the quartermaster." The leader gleefully reported.

"What?!" All three guards exclaimed.

"He, he, he. That is why we are here to relive your duty of protecting the princess. Soldiers, disarmed the Guardians!"

"What happen to the previous king, my Father?" Rema suddenly asked.

The leader paused for a bit before replying, "My apologies, Princess Rema. It is with heavy hearts that I have to inform you that your father, the beloved King Raynor had passed away this morning."

Rema didn't replied but her face turned to horror and silently nodded. "Passed away this morning, I just saw uncle Ralf killed him in the courtyard just now," Rema thought.

"Passed away this morning? We just saw the king had been stabbed in the courtyard." One of her guard retorted.

"Treason!" One of the soldier shouted. "Saying he had seen the king being killed. That means he had something to do with the king's death."

"He's right. Leader," another soldier said. "Let us apprehend this traitor for interrogation." The two of them stepped forward and drew their swords.

Seeing the threat on them, the three guards quickly drew their swords and readied their stances.

"What bullshit!" One of the guard said.

"My men are right," the leader stepped closer. "Lay down your swords guardians and come with us. We had may questions to ask you."

Without warning, one of Rema's guard attacked the leader. His swing missed but he continued attacking. The rest of the her guards stood a little closer to Rema.

With the first attack done by the other party, the soldiers advanced towards Rema's party.

Clashes of swords happened in front of Rema's eyes. She had seen many duels before but the duels usually done using dummy swords. This was the first time she saw real swords clashes against each other. The sound of the clashes hurt her ears as she covered them in fear. Not long after, the first blood was spilled.

The guard who attacked the leader was killed by the soldiers easily. He fell easily to the ground. The other guards perked up seeing their fallen comrade.

"You scum!" The guards cannot hold their anger and proceeded to attack the soldier leaving Rema's side. One of them managed to injured a soldier. He sneered triumphantly but only for a while. Another soldier approached him from the side and cut of his left arm. The guard howled loudly.

Rema felled to the ground watching the scene in horror. She had seen blood from cuts or bruises but this was the first time she saw a sword wound. And not an ordinary wound either.

The one handed guard soon was cut down by the other soldiers. The last of the guard resisted for a bit before he too felled under the soldiers attack.

Unnoticed, Rema lost control of her bladder and warm liquid seeped through her beige dress. She stared dumbly at the scene.

"You fool!" the leader's voice sounded. "You could've left one of them alive so we can have someone to blame for this event. Now how do we explain about this bloody scene?"

"It's easy, leader," one of the soldier opinioned. "We can just tell them that these guards try to assault the princess and we manage to stop them."

"Hmmm. Smart. Then we all agree that we were protecting the princess from traitors." The leader confirmed.

"Yes sir!" All of the soldiers agreed.

The leader finally turned his attention to Rema who sat motionlessly on the ground.

"You don't have to worry, your highness," the leader said. "The situation is under control. Please follow us to your room. We will ensure your safety from here on."

The leader approached Rema slowly.

"Wow did you smell something?"

"Yeah. Smells like a pee."

"Did you pee?"

"No, not me."

"Not me either."

Hearing the soldiers mockery, Rema's face turned red.

"Hey you. Stop right there!" A man's voice warned.

A stout figure suddenly stood in front of Rema. He held a dummy sword in his hand and rest it on his shoulder. He was shirtless and scars littered all over his back. Rema watched the figure silently.

It was Captain Jon who was practising near the pavilion. He had heard the commotion from his practice field and came here to take a look. To his horror, three of his men were slaughtered and Princess Rema sat on the ground seemed threatened by the soldiers. He was off-duty but he can't let any harm came to the princess.

"Who are you?" the leader asked.

"Your maker!" Jon shouted and in one smooth motion hit the leader's head with the dummy sword. Then he quickly held the leader's scabbard and drew the sword. Hastily, he slashed the leader's chest. Warm blood gushed out of the wound as the leader fell down to the floor. He fell unconscious due to the shock attack.

The rest of the soldiers stood dumbfounded. They knew their leader was not the strongest soldier but he was still well-trained. To be able to steal the enemy's weapon and used it to attack in a quick motion, they admitted this guardian is skilled.

"Group leader!" Shout of disbelieve let out by some of the soldiers. Some of them were quick to react and advanced at Jon. Jon was unfazed and met them calmly.

Using his dummy sword and the sword he stole from the fallen group leader he parried, blocked and thwarted every attack he faces. He attacked them in between and managed to cut and arm and leg or two. After sometimes, only 12 soldiers left standing surrounding Jon. The other 8 were left injured or unconscious on the ground.

Jon wasn't left unscathed as bruises and cuts can be seen on his stout body. However his concentration remained firm and his eyes trained on the surrounding soldiers. Jon's already got the soldiers attention and drove them away from Princess Remalia. He did this to let the princess escape however Rema remained sitting motionlessly looking dumbfounded.

"Princess, run away quick!" Jon said while blocking another attack. "I'll hold them off so quickly escape from the castle."

Rema heard the plea but she didn't move a muscle. "Stupid, how do I escape from this place if the Imperial Army got the place surrounded." Rema shouted shakily.

Injuring another soldier, Jon replied, "Yeah, your right. Sorry for my rudeness your Highness. Hold on a while. I'll finish this and we'll escape together."

Jon's bold statement made the soldiers angrier and their attack grew more aggressive.Jon's situation turned to a worse when one of the soldier managed to cut deeply into his left arm. This force him to let go of the stolen sword. He quickly retaliated and managed to graze the soldier chest. Unfortunately, he was using dummy sword so the soldier only got bruise on his chest instead of sword wound.

"Why did I left my sword in my room this morning?" He regretted not bringing his weapon for this morning workout. Just as he was preparing to receive attack from the rest of his attacker, a loud clap was heard.

Another group of Imperial Army had arrived. Leading the group was a youth who was unarmed and only wear a light armour. This youth was the one clapping just now. On his face showed a look of delight and disgust.

Seeing the new arrival, the soldier surrounding Jon stopped their attack and retreated a step back. They were showing respect to the newcomer especially to the youth. Jon recognized the youth. He is Captain Rysis, second son of General Ralf.

"Captain." The earlier soldier put their swords on their hearts and salute the youth.

"At ease boys," Rysis acknowledged the salute and put his right fist on his heart. "You've done well to find the princess as soon as possible. However I see that 9 of you had lost. Londi had fell too. It looks like I have overestimate your abilities." He looked disapprovingly to the soldiers.

"We..." Before they could reply, Rysis snapped again. "To not be able to take down a small group of guardians and even incur heavy losses, you guys are to be assigned as a recruits again! Lay down your swords and take off the Imperial Plate. You dogs don't deserve to wear our uniform!"

Meekly, the soldiers disarmed and took off their uniforms one by one. Then they went off the garden with their heads and eyes looking down.

Rysis eyes didn't followed the departing soldiers. Instead he had his eyes on Rema. His eyes was filled with lust seeing the beautiful figure looking frighten like a kitten. He licked his lips as though savouring the taste of the scene. Suddenly a figure stood blocking his view and his eyes turned to bloodlust.

"If you want her than you have to go through me," Jon declared boldly.