Chapter 4

"Do we really have to wear these silly hats?", Sampson asked Minnie. They had been setting up the grand hall where the royal party would be commencing in the next hour and they still had much to do. The food had yet to be ladened out on the table but with the floor only just have been scrubbed they were waiting in case anyone slipped. The servants had special uniforms, they wore all white garments with oversized floppy hats that kept covering Sampson's eyes.

He had never seen something ridiculous in his whole life. The dress robes they had given him were two sizes to big and so they dragged along the floor as he walked. It was obvious they were made to make the servants look stupid so not only did he look it but he felt it too.

"Compared to what we had to wear last year this uniform looks a lot better". Sampson looked down at his outfit sceptically. What could possibly be worse than this?

When the floor was dry, Sampson and Minnie helped take the food from the kitchens and into the grand hall. It just so happened that as Sampson went back for the last dish he realised it was the apple pie. He looked even more glorious in the light of the day than it did last night and as he set it down on the table his mouth began to water. Minnie who was watching him nudged him with a small smile.

"I bet it tastes horrible". "It doesn't look horrible", Sampson murmured in disdain. He would be dreaming about that apple pie tonight and it's sweet feeling he would never get the chance to try. "How can it taste horrible when it looks so good".

"Imagine it's covered in horse dropping and you won't want to eat it anymore". He tried but the longer he looked at it the more desirable it looked, there was no amount of helping Minnie could use that didn't make him think it wasn't worth eating.

"Come on, we should go to our position the guests will be arriving soon". She clasped her hands around his forearm and dragged him away. Men and Women were kept on either sides of the room so they parted ways but kept each other in their sights. The grand hall was large and he could just about see Minnie. It filled him with hesitancy, he had volunteered for Perity's sake but also for Minnie's.

Though there was limited things he could do if someone did start hassling her, he was a servant and the guests and the parties would be noble lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses. He was nothing but a lowly servant.

The party started off painfully slow as the guests began to arrive. The music being played was dreary and it was starting to put him to sleep. He had to be nudged a few times by the boy that was standing next to him as his body started drooping and his eyes closed. It didn't help that all he could do was stare at the floor in front of him. A few times he snuck a few looks at the eligible ladies that had come to the party.

Many of them looked the same with their hair in elegant updos and their lids painted vibrant colours. If you were to put them all together they would have looked like the feathers on a peacock. When the guests arrived the gates to the castle were closed.

Sampson snuck a look at the King and Queen of Dormis. Their kingdom had been ravaged by the army of dead souls not more than a few weeks ago and they had taken refuge in the nearby Kingdom of Efferis. Their status and titles were reduced to nothing given that they no longer had a Kingdom to rule. They had only been invited because the Kings were long term friends and it was common courtesy.

They had brought their oldest daughter with them. Sampson guessed they were hopeful the Prince would take an interest and ask for her hand and their status would be survived.

He felt sorry for any woman the Prince decided to marry, given they would have to deal with his arrogant and improper attitude for life. The Princesses Yumi, India and the youngest Toombak child Eleanor were the next to arrive. The twins wore matching dresses in scarlet red and Eleanor wore a light shade of pink.

Soft music was played as they walked down the golden steps, before taking their places in their seats. Next was the King On and the Queen Egrit. They came walking hand in hand which if you didn't know that they held great contempt for each other you might have thought they looked like they were in love. They certainly weren't the type of people to be ignored. They only ever interacted at these royal events and for the most part the Queen was kept away in her royal chambers whilst the King entertained his concubines and mistresses at night.

They took their places, the King on the throne and the Queen beside him. Their hands disconnected the moment they sat down, and so did the welcome smile they had on their faces when they first walked in. Sampson could see them both scanning through the crowd, looking for the most eligible women for the prince. There was talk that it would be the Princess Segal from the Kingdom of Iverness. It was the second largest kingdom after Toombak and it would be a perfect opportunity to unite both kingdoms.

But even so they would pick five women for the Prince to dance with and he would decide from there. Sampson doubted he would entertain the idea. He had been told by Perity that he never asked anyone to dance and he refused every woman that had plucked up enough courage to ask him themselves.

There was a low rumble as the drums were playing, a signal that the Prince was about to join them. The hall quietened and a dozen young girls ran forward, making a line at the bottom of the stairs to greet the Prince. They pushed and shoved each other to get to the front, stamping on each others feet and hissing vile words to each other. Sampson looked across at Minnie, hoping to catch her eye. But she was too far away for him to see whether she was looking or not so he smiled regardless.

The sound of drums grew louder and louder until the grand hall shook and the glass chandelier that hung high on the ceiling started swinging from side to side. Sampson's heart pounded as an uneasy feeling settled through him. For some reason he was nervous, this was the first time he had been attendance at a royal event and he was worried he would do something wrong. In front of the King and his consort with hundreds of royal guests there was nowhere to hide. With every mistake he made he was punished, usually by a slap or a hit but he had been close to death all too often recently.

The drums abruptly stopped and deadly silenced ensued for several moments. Sampson held his breath as the grand doors and the Prince stepped out. His face was void of emotion, and his lips were curved downstairs. He had wiped the makeup applied to his face and instead his bronzed skin was clear. It made him look even scarier. There were gasps all around but especially from the front as he took the steps one by one.

Sampson blew out the breath he was holding. He thought of everything he could have done with his life if he had, had everything handed to him from birth. The Prince would one day rule over thousands of people never knowing the pain and suffering they dealt with.

It's why Toombak was the greatest Kingdom because they knew how to control and treat people as if they were as mindless as Cattle. Once the Prince got down to the bottom the music started and the chatter continued. He walked the length of the line the Princesses had made, they stood straight with their faces forward and their best smiles emblazoned on their features. His face only grew in disgust with every smiling face that he passed.

By the time he reached the last girl she was shaking. She was so afraid of the Prince's expression she had even refused to look at him, keeping her eyes firmly placed on the floor. He had barely looked at any of them before he stalked forward, getting himself from the table in the middle. The girls looked hesitant but eagerly followed him, creating a crowd around him. He gave them a seething look when he saw they had crowded around him, giving him no room to breath.

Sampson wasn't the only one that could sense his discomfort or his unwillingness to show the women any of his time. The Queen descended from her throne and with three large steps crossed the grand hall to where he was standing. She barked a few words at him before turning around and descending back to her throne.

The Prince took another drink from the table, only taking two large gulps to finish it before he set the glass down on the table. He addressed the first lady in front of him. Sampson noticed he didn't speak, he merely extended his right arm out for her. She was so overjoyed she jumped up and down on the spot before she stopped, coming back to her senses as she took the Prince's arm.

He led her out to the dance floor where they danced for several minutes. In that whole time the Prince didn't look at her once and his movements were mechanical. He was an excellent dancer, he followed the beat well and knew all the right steps but anyone could see from his face how bored he was.

When the song ended the Prince merely bowed and stalked off in the opposite direction, followed by a flurry of ladies who were eager to dance with him. The other young men that had come to the ball had given up already, sitting by themselves and conversing. Sampson imagined they were placing their bets on which Princess the Prince would choose.

This period of the Prince dancing, moving from Princess to Princess continued for some time and Sampson began to grow bored of watching as did the men either side of him. More than few times he had to be the one to nudge them so they didn't fall asleep. Even the King and Queen had now become disinterested, the Queen sat talking to her servant whilst the King ate platefuls of food. Sampson was counting down the minutes until it ended, not that there was much point. These parties could last until the dawn of the next day or even longer. He knew for sure it wasn't going to end until the Prince had chosen his princesses.

Sampson had bowed his head for some time, growing bored of sneaking glances at what the dreadfully boring and it's guests.

When the low rumble of drums came again he didn't bother to look up. It was the Prince's parting music which meant he must have found the Princess he wanted to marry. Sampson lifted his head briefly only to find the band wasn't playing drums at all. The guest party was a mixture of puzzled faces. The noise was coming from outside the grand hall and it was gradually getting louder. He looked at the King and Queen who had both stood, looking as perplexed as the guest party did.

Screams and shouts sounded outside. The knights were all on guard outside of the castle with only a small handful being guests themselves. They drew their swords, nearing the door in a clump with Onyx at the front whilst the guest party huddled together. The ladies who had kicked and shoved each other before were no holding tightly onto each other in a small huddle.

The Prince had gone with the knights despite the King's shouting demands from up in his iron throne that he stay back. The rumbling was only getting louder, Sampson thought the floor underneath was going to break at any minute.

As quickly as the rumbling came it stopped, followed by an ear shattering scream. Sampson's eyes widened. The scream was part of the story that he never quite believed. It was said when the army of souls were upon you, you would hear the combined screams of their previous victims. With every person they killed they took another soul into their horde.

The door to the grand hall burst open, taking down the knights and the Prince with it. The glass behind Sampson shattered causing him to be thrown onto the floor. For a while all he could hear was the sound of his head pounding because of how hard he had hit his head against the floor. There was blood coating his hands as he got up from the floor.

The army of souls had traipsed in one by one, their siege was almost lazy. They were slow moving and they dragged their weapons along with them. Sampson had heard hundreds of stories about what a soul looked like but nothing could have prepared him for the real thing.

Most of them didn't have eyes and if they did they were sunken, reaching down to where their mouths should have been. The souls have the bodies of humans, with two arms and two legs and yet they were the most inhuman thing you could see. They had come in from every corner of the room. The knights had gotten up and using their weapons started fighting with them whilst the rest of the guest party ran around the room.

There was nowhere to escape and so they were like chickens in a cage, waiting to be slaughtered. Minnie. Sampson looked across the room, the servants that had been standing there were no all running around fruitlessly, using chairs and various pieces of cutlery to defend themselves. Sampson couldn't see her anywhere as he made his way from across the room.

"Get the Toombak family to safety", he heard Onyx call as they rallied around the King and Queen. The Prince was fighting with a soul but it was futile. You cannot fight with air, silver swords swept through their body, landing nowhere. It was the reason they are called souls, not because they were the bodies of the dead but because they really are nothing.

Sampson ran through the grand hall pushing past bodies who were desperate to get away from the souls. There were shouts and screams everywhere as the souls callously killed every person that got in their path by running their black swords through their bodies.

"Minnie", Sampson called, desperately hoping she would hear him over everyone else. "Where are you?".

"I'm here Sampson". He turned around but there was too many people running around for him to see her. "Where?". "Sampson". He rushed forward to where he thought he could hear her only to land directly in front of a soul. It's mouth hung low and swung like hair as he lifted his sword. Sampson only just managed to move before he pierced it through his chest but the blade sliced his shoulder, creating a deep cut.

"Minnie where are you?". He ran away from the soul before it could swing for him again. He was in the middle of the grand hall now and everywhere he looked he could see a soul killing a human. The knights had surrounded the King, Queen and their daughters but the souls were slowly making their way across the room towards them. The Prince was fighting with three souls simultaneously but Sampson could see he was growing weaker by the second. Nothing stopped a soul, it's why they were the most vicious army ever created.

"Sampson help me". His head whipped to the side where he could hear her call. Minnie was lying on the floor, her face flooded with tears as a soul made it's way towards her. "Minnie". He started running but he was far away from across the room and he wasn't going to make it in time. "Minnie", he called again. Her eyes flickered to his, she let out a sob before she closed them accepting her fate.

"No, Minnie I'm coming". The soul was standing in front of her but he could still see her cowering on the floor. Tears streamed down from her closed eyes as she hugged her knees to her chest, making herself into a tight ball. The soul had risen it's sword high above his head now and it was about to strike her. Sampson was still far away and the realisation that he couldn't save her dawned on him.

"No, stop. Don't hurt her, don't you dare hurt her", he had screamed the words before collapsing to his knees, watching as the soul brought the sword down. Except the sword landed on the floor in front of her. It was only as the soul stopped did he realise the hall which was full of shouts and screams was now deafeningly quiet. All the souls had stopped attacking and instead they were rooted in their places like they were frozen.

The soul that had attacked Minnie roughly turned, it's movements clumsy and unhurried as it turned to face him. It gargled some words from it's mouth almost like it was trying to speak before it started moving, dragging the black sword behind it. It made a harsh scraping noise scratching the floor as it walked closer and closer to Sampson. He was still on his knees, he should have ran away but his thoughts were jumbled and his body full of shock from what he was witnessing. Souls don't listen to anybody and yet it had listened to him.

As it neared closer to him he noticed the rest were walking towards him too. They had abandoned their other assaults and were crowding around him. He gingerly rose to his feet, they were ghastly and horrible but for some reason he was no longer afraid. Even as they approached him he didn't think they were going to hurt him.

They stopped once they had circled him, leaving only a small parameter around him. There were hundreds of them, so many he couldn't see anymore of the guest party or Minnie. The soul that had approached him first let out another gargled noise before it bowed. One by one they all bent their heads and bowed at him.

It was then he could see the guests that were at the back of the hall. Every pair of eyes were on him, with a mixture of bewilderment and horror emblazoned on their faces. His eyes found Minnie's who's mouth was agape, her eyes wide and full of fear.

"Leave, leave Toombak and never come back". One by one the souls straightened and left, dragging their limp bodies with them as they exited the room. When the last soul had left it was quiet for a few moments before anyone spoke.

"Knights seize him". The knights that had been surrounding the King and Queen ran forward. Sampson took a few steps back, looking for an escape. They would be sure to kill him now, given that the souls listened to him.

The only exit was the door that had been broken when the souls had stormed in and as the knights were charging towards him they were no longer guarding. Sampson was quick on his feet having had to run away from them many times in the past. He had almost reached the door when the ground beneath his feet was swept away from him. A pair of arms had woven their way around his waist like vines and it didn't matter how much he tried to move they were held tightly around him like iron shackles.

"Let go". "Stop struggling", a hiss came and he recognised it as the voice as the Prince. If anything that only made him struggle worse, his moves became violent. The knights were almost at them and if he got caught there would be no escape then. He put all of his weight in his arm as he elbowed the king harshly in the stomach. His arms loosened due to the shock and Sampson took the chance to break from his hold and start running.

He would find Perity first and they would wait for Minnie to return before they all left together. The other servants knew they were close and so they could twist it to say Minnie and Perity were his accomplices. He couldn't leave it to chance that nothing would happen to them.

There was a flurry of footsteps behind him but he didn't look back as he took the winding corridors. He only knew his way around the Prince's chambers which were in the West of the castle and he was in the East. The hallway he was running through took him down a winding staircase followed by a series of doors. He pushed open the first door he came into, finding he was in one of the private studies. He couldn't be sure to who it belonged to because of how messy it was, papers were strewn all over the place and both the table and chairs were toppled over.

Sampson tried the windows but they were screwed shut, plus he was too high up to climb down. He stayed there, hiding behind the bookshelf at the far corner of the room that was fit to burst with the amount of books that was packed on it's shelves. He read a few of the titles coming to realise he was in the great teachers' room. The Toombak children were the bearers of black magic and because of that they needed a teacher. The great teacher, the one to teach them how to use their magic safely was the King On's brother and the children's uncle. Not much was known about him given that no one knew what he looked like. The only people that were permitted to see his face were the Toombak's.

When the hurried sound of footsteps passed by the door Sampson came out of his hiding place, approaching the door with small steps in case it burst open. He pressed his ear up to the door and listened for a while. When he was sure he was safe he pushed open the door, coming out into the hallway. He made it three steps before he heard the sound of a sword being drawn and dread overcame him.

"A servant boy that can control the army of souls, you'll fetch a fair price on the black market". He turned around coming face to face with the head knight Onyx. He was as cruel as he was pleasing, he was married and yet had no shortage of women that he entertained. Sampson had heard he had a particular liking for brunettes and had warned Perity to stay clear from his path.

"Tell me how you did it and I might let you live". "I didn't do anything", Sampson murmured, moving his feet backwards slowly so Onyx wouldn't notice. "Only a member of the Vahda tribe can control the army of souls. A servant could never possess such royal blood. I'll take great pleasure killing you".

He raised his sword and before Sampson could even flinch he was pulled back with such vigour, the sword dropped from his grip. The Prince stood between them, he was facing Onyx but Sampson could tell by the tightness of his jaw what menacing expression he would be wearing.

"What do you think you're doing?". "Linshanth, what are you doing here? It's not safe, you should go back to your chambers". The Prince grabbed Onyx by the collar. "Who are you to tell me what to do? Are you my father or my uncle?".

"I didn't mean to cause offence Linshanth. It's not safe here, the souls could still be lurking". Sampson walked a few more steps back, hoping now they were occupied with their arguing they would forget about him.

He was about to turn around and run when the Prince turned, giving him a searing look. "If you take another step I'll be the one to kill you".