Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 3: The Prophecy

*BOOM*

*CREAK*

*BOOOOOM*

*CCRREEAAKK*

The sounds of a mobile battering ram were heard resounding in the hall of the Manor...!

"Mother...! Father...! Come with me and Tanya...! Our guards can hold them off for a little while...! We got to make our escape and rebuild what we had lost right N-O-W...!"

I shouted to my parents who were brandishing their long swords and guarding the last line of defence in the Manor.

It was a heavy door that had been bolted down from inside and the guards had formed up and gotten ready to tank the incoming surge of rebels.

Shields were brought up to guard against any onslaught and their hands held their trusted swords unsteadily as they knew that their lives were at stake and it would be soon overwhelmed.

It was as if they knew they were at death's door at any time.

"No, Audemars...! You go on with Tanya to the cellar and stay hidden there. No one would discover you there. You've got to go N-O-W...!"

Mother was screaming her response to me as Father just held his longsword in both hands as he looked forward, ready to slay the enemies behind the door as they tried to breakthrough.

Was the scene that was replaying before I had happened before? Why was I dreaming of all these instead of all the happy dreams a person would get after having a heavy meal?

I picked up a round wooden shield and placed it over my left hand. Two strips of leather held my hand securely while a linger piece was used to tie around my forearm to further hold it steady.

"Get behind this shield, Tanya. It would do you good." I have my instructions to my little sister and she did accordingly.

Just then, the battering rams behind the door managed to break the heavy beams that were used to bolt it, and with a few more kicks, the door finally gave way.

*CCRRAASSHH*

A surge of rebels entered the main hall and the opposing force somehow managed to overwhelm the pathetic amount of guards that were manning the last line of defence which I knew failed miserably.

At this time, I never felt any heart rending feelings as I knew and thought everything was a dream. Armed with a short sword on my right hand, I managed to hit and divert the trajectory of those arrows flying towards me.

It was like in a slow motion flick and I could easily swing my blade and hit the arrows before it could even come close to me.

Fortunately, Tanya was hiding behind the shield that was used to protect her and a few bolts managed to hit the shield, instead of through my sister back then...!

Suddenly, as I thought that everything that I had worked in my mind could be well executed this time, I heard Tanya's grip on my left forearm became excruciating forceful.

"BROTHER...!!!" An assailant managed to sneak behind her and drove two short daggers into her back and performed an eviscerate which left her gasping for breath and also her very life.

I turned around in surprise and when I raised my sword to strike (which was a stupid thing to do to perform an overhead strike right then), a loud voice boomed behind me as a dark figure suddenly loomed nearly twice my height.

"You can't change fate and destiny...! Now go back to where you came from...!!" before I could even react, I was forcefully kicked from behind and was thrown forward and down the dark cellar and bumped my head in the process.

I fainted right there and then as the sounds of clashes continued and then turned silent as the objective of the rebels had been attained and soon after some hours, the sounds of massacre around the town had died off too.

It was already night time when I came to and the first thing I checked was my surroundings. It looked somewhat familiar to what actually happened and I shrugged it off as part of my dream.

I walked over to my bedroom where I had already removed the shield off my left arm and saw from the top balusters that the scene below looked just the way it was back then.

I managed to let out a sigh and was wondering why should I be dreaming like this part and relive it once more like before. I opened up my room and saw that the things were strewn across the room.

I picked my backpack and a pillowcase where I emptied the contents of the secret drawer within my wardrobe into it. There's a mix of gold and silver coins which I had saved from the time I learnt the value of coins right till date and it had been more than 10 years of doing so.

I then went to a drawing on the wall and removed it. A loose slab of concrete, part of the wall, was then removed and pouches of gold coins and silvers were taken out as well. There's a few pouches of copper coins and that too was removed and placed inside the pillowcase where it was tied up on its end.

Well... Eagle doesn't have to come back here to get the coins for now. Its been settled by me then. Heh... What a dream. If I had a few men I think the stuff from the library and blacksmith also could be removed and brought out from here.

That's what I had in mind as I went to the back of the garden and dug up a sizeable hole in the ground to bury my parents. Back then, I had asked Eagle and the rest to perform the last rites but at least I could do it for them now.

After digging a two feet depth hole in the garden which I thought would be enough to bury my deceased parents, I went over to the main hall once again.

There, I removed the coat of arms, a few flags, our knighting longsword and lastly the crown jewels into my bulging backpack and set it aside.

I placed my hands under my Father and discovered something — their bodies were light as feather...! It seemed surreal but I knew it was just a figment of my dream, that's all. After I had placed them in the shallow graves in the garden, I knelt down on my knees and gave my last respects to them.

Even though I knew or thought it was all a dream, but the process was not. "Father... Mother... Tanya... I am not sure if this is a dream or not but one thing for sure I knew that you had fallen to the rebels that were paid to these jobs."

"I do not have any faintest idea of who these rebels are but the burial they happened today was not done by me, actually. It was performed much later in the following months and all I've got were the clothes you had worn last."

"Today, I've got to fulfil my wishes to pay my last respects to you and I felt glad. By the way, Mother... Father... I've already accomplished in setting up a town miles ahead in the west and I am glad that I had done so with the help of some of the citizens that had managed to get away."

"Thank you once again for your great upbringing of your only son and if only Tanya didn't perish along with you, she would also be leading a great town with me. At least you would be proud to know that the Macleod's name could be heard from afar once again."

"There's so much I wish to relay to you but looking at you now, having lived a life they were full of ups and downs, and finally being laid to rest here by me, I knew that somehow you would be able to hear what I am trying to say and do in the next few years to come."

"Last but not least, may your souls rest in peace, my dear parents and sister."

I had managed to shroud their bodies with the colours of our town before I laid them inside the makeshift burial grounds. I poured some dirt before I started to shovel more earth down the burial grounds.

Soon, a small noticeable mound was finally formed when I had patted down the last earth on it. There are no tombstones but I managed to get some bricks and then lay it around the burial grounds. When others came to this town many months or years later, they would be able to see this makeshift grave.

I soon stood up, saluted and bowed low towards the burial ground and picked up my heavy backpack which I had swapped for a bigger knapsack since I had stiffed it with some of our banners.

I slung the cost of arms shield and our knighting sword behind my back as I made sure the short sword was slung beside me, ready to be unsheathed at a moments notice.

I heard a noise at the side of the Manor as I walked out the garden and when I turned to look and held the hilt of the short sword, the familiar voice that kicked me down the cellar boomed near my ears again.

"You can't change fate and destiny...! Now go back to where you came from...!!" and I heard a *SWOOSH* sound as a large mace came diagonally down, breaking the sound barrier as it hits me squarely across my abdomen, sending me sliding across the ground, making me lose my short sword at my sides as well as the coat of arms shield and the knighting sword as well.

I could taste the metallic blood inside my mouth and my wind was literally knocked away from my body as I was sent tumbling after making a few sliding movements through the force of the huge mace that had knocked my abdomen area.

My vision turned from white and then it faded to black as I lost my consciousness... Again!