Narrow Escape

They were completely surrounded by prince Remus's men, scowling, the man leading these group of men belonging to prince Remus stepped forward and bowed towards the queen but if one paid enough attention, one would notice that such a bow was just per functionary and one could not see any hint of real respect towards the person he bowed to, then he looked up directly into the eyes of the queen and said with a hint of a smirk in his face, "My queen, where are you rushing to in the middle of the night?" he asked looking at the queen but the queen showed no hint of answering such a rhetorical question. Noticing the cold reaction of the queen, he just ignored it and continued talking "We are under the strict instruction of the prince to escort both you and the little prince back to the palace" there was a flash of fear in the queen's face, but it only appeared for a moment before strengthening her resolve before replying "And why should I listen to the words of the prince? Am I a little doll that's easily controlled?" she said in anger mixed with a trace of fear in her voice, she looked towards the men accompanying her and told them to lead the way so they can leave but as they were about to start moving, they were once again stopped, the leader once again said "My queen, am afraid you will have to follow us" he said looking menacingly at this group in front of him, this time around he is no longer pretending to be courteous anymore, he then turn towards his men and gave a command, "Escort her majesty back to the palace, if anyone tries to stop you, kill then" he said without any trace of emotion.

Upon hearing this command, the man leading the dozen guards whose name the queen couldn't bring herself to remember despite seeing him a few times in the palace, "You will have to step over my dead body if you wish to take them with you" the leader of the opposing group just looked at him nonchalantly before his right hand was flipped towards the queen's men, "Kill them and if the queen will not follow us willingly we can only kill her too"

"Step back your majesty" he looked back towards he subordinates before pausing on one of them "Dag, come here" one of the guards stepped forward upon hearing his name being called, "Take two men with you and quickly escort the queen and the prince out of here" he then turn towards the queen and bowed "Your majesty, he will escort you while we try to hold off these people, protect them with your life" he said sternly looking at the young guard. 

"Yes commander, let's go your majesty," The rest of the guards spread and blocked the retreating guards escorting the queen. "Do not let them escape" shouted Nemas, the head of the opposing guards, upon hearing this, the scene changed from the standoff to a bloody scene within the blink of an eye, meanwhile Dag and the two men following him were able to leave the scene with the queen in time, as Dag escorted the queen to the northern stable with the hope of finding her a fresh mount, along the way the men were conscious of their environment making sure to not to attract attention, at last when they arrived at the stables, one of the men rushed forward and got a fresh horse for the queen, "Your majesty, this is a fresh mount" said the man who went to get the horse. 

"Why don't you give me the prince your majesty while you get on the mount" said the Dag who is the one currently in charge of the situation. The queen gently handed over the prince to the man's outstretched hands while he took the prince, the queen looked at the prince for a moment before mounting the horse, after she has settled herself on the saddle, she reached out to take the prince back from the man's outstretched hands, at the moment when Dag handed over the prince back to the queen, queen Minerva could hear a grunt escape from the mouth of the outstretched man and at the same time she saw him looking at her while losing his stamina before falling down with a thud, she looked down only to see an arrow piercing his back, a light scream escape her lungs, in that moment her face was almost ashen, in that moment of shock, one of the guards slapped her horse and it neighed before galloping off at a high speed. 

Hyah, hyah, the horse galloped off at a high speed, the queen looked back to see those men giving chase, at the head of these men is Nemas, prince Remus right hand man, the queen kept on galloping at such a high speed that it made her realized that she's never found herself in a situation where she has to flee like this and it made her feel some kind of anger, she hasn't even has the time to grieve due to the demise of her husband the king, the current situation made her feel somewhat sad, because she could remember warning her husband to keep an eye on his brother but maybe due to blood between them, he's always rebutted that notion because he trusted his brother a lot but at the end, this is the result of such a trust. He could feel her face moist with tears, as such she's finding it increasingly impossible to see what's in front of her, therefore she could only slap herself to wake up, "I have to find a way and get to Dars, he's the only one I trust right now", she kept moving and didn't stop for anything because she know stopping is tantamount to inviting death, despite her determination, she couldn't bring herself to forget the moment that she heard her husband is dead, that right there is a shock she will never be able to get over, because unlike other marriages among nobles and royal households whereby the precondition is that of a mutual benefit of strengthening each other's family or country, her marriage was one of love, she loved her husband more than the world and she knows he feels the same way towards her, so to lose such a partner is something she finds it difficult to accept.

While thinking about all of these things while at the same time trying to escape the clutches of these wretched demons, she felt something hit her back, that force propelled her forward on her horse but fortunately she was able to quickly recover therefore she avoided falling down from her horse, she had been hit with an arrow, gradually she felt her body getting weaker but she persevere despite the intense pain she was feeling at that moment and kept on going, she believed that with this wound, the chances of her surviving is low but she would do anything in her power to get to Dars and save her child.

As time goes on, the queen felt that she couldn't go on anymore, but when she looked ahead, she could see that she is almost at the border of the kingdom of Dars, in that moment she felt a glimmer of hope in her heart, she knew as long as she entered that kingdom even if she ended up dying, at least her son will be safe due to the close bond between her husband and the king of Dars, when she got closer to the border, the soldiers drew their weapons and raised their hands on see this woman charging forward, queen Minerva stopped her horse when she was near enough, "Who are you?" shouted one of the soldiers, "I am Minerva, Queen of Esop" upon hearing this, the men rushed forward to check it out, but the appearance of the woman she was looking at does not look dignified enough to be a queen, "Laughs, if you want to lie, think about something more believable, you? A queen?" said the leader of the soldiers at the border.

"I am queen Minerva of Esop, tell the king that my husband the king of Esop has been killed by his younger brother in a coup," upon hearing this, the soldiers' eyes became stiff because they understood the close relationship between their king and the king of Esop. After saying these, the queen fell from her horse, but despite falling from her horse, she protected her son with her body so he wouldn't get hurt. "Please take me to the king, we are being chased by prince Remus men" the soldier drew closer at this woman on the floor only to see an arrow piercing her back, "Quick, come here, let us get her out of here and take her to the palace." Shouted the captain.

Nemas and his men stopped some distance away and observed the proceedings, they knew they couldn't do anything anymore because she is already in the kingdom of Dars and compared to Esop, Dars is more frightening, "There is nothing we can do anymore, let us leave before we are discovered." Nemas looked one more time before turning to leave.