Fractured Hope

Theron ushered her out of the room and back up the stairs to the corridor between the patio and ballroom. They walked in silence. Music from the ballroom could be heard echoing in the corridor. Serenity stopped in the middle of the corridor. Theron paused and looked at her with raised eyebrows. He moved close to her, taking her in his arms and cupping her cheek.

"Are you alright?"

"Not only do we have to worry about your people rising up to remove us, but now we have to worry about an extremist avian group that thinks I'm an abomination to my species?" she blurted anxiously.

Theron looked at her with a calming expression. He stroked her cheek. "Let's go back to the ball. We can worry about it tomorrow. Tonight, let us just celebrate being together."

Serenity nodded as he leaned in and kissed her deeply on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders while kissing him in return. She wanted nothing more than to leave the party and return to their chamber so they could hold each other. She needed comfort. She did need a distraction.

There were rushed footsteps from the opposite end of the hall. Both Serenity and Theron pulled out of their embrace to see Lady Amira rushing towards them. Serenity hadn't thought much of it before, but she realized that Amira wasn't wearing a gown. She was dressed fully in her royal guard armor.

"Theron," she called informally. Serenity's ears perked up with anticipation of bad news.

"A fire has erupted on the south side of the Den," she said quickly. "The gate has been breached—"

The music in the ballroom stopped abruptly. Screams of terror erupted among a cacophony of violent noise. Amira, Serenity and Theron turned in shock to the open door of the ballroom as armored men flooded in like a swarm of bees invading. They wasted no time and immediately began killing the members of court.

Theron grabbed Serenity's hand and pulled her to the wall between the doors. Amira followed them. The three of them stood in silence as a battle broke out in the ballroom. Serenity said nothing. She was too scared to speak. Theron and Amira both drew their swords, but did not move out of their hiding place.

At the end of the hall, Lord Michael and one of the royal guards emerged at the top of the stairs from the dungeons. Amira stepped forward slightly and raised her hand in a solid fist. The two men stopped instantly and dived against the wall to hide as well.

Two Bengal tigers came bounding out into the corridor, not as humans, but in their full tiger form. They immediately turned on the two parties that were hidden. They must have sensed them with their heightened smell.

Serenity screamed as the massive tiger launched itself at her. Theron stepped forward and cut the tiger down easily with his blade. He stabbed the tiger straight threw the center of his chest. He stepped back, pulling his sword from the beast easily as it fell to the ground. He then lunged forward and swung down viciously with his sword decapitating the animal. Blood splattered everywhere. Serenity grabbed Theron's forearm and hid behind him, burying her head against his back.

It was tigers invading the Den, not birds. It was not Mel's Virtuous Flight. Tears were welling up in Serenity's eyes. This was the moment she was most fearful of.

Lord Michael appeared at their side, along with the royal guard. He removed his helmet, and Serenity was relieved to see that it was Cevin.

"Are you alright?" Cevin asked. There was no time to answer.

"Take Serenity to Tarzaharth," Theron instructed to Amira. "Find Lennox—"

"—your Majesty," Lord Michael interjected. "You need to go too."

"I will follow once I ensure that everyone loyal to us has escaped—"

"—you need to go now—" Amira insisted, but she did not finish her sentence. There was a horrible heavy thumping sound as an arrow burrowed itself into her neck. Serenity screamed as Amira fell to the ground, blood spilling wildly.

There was no time to act—the small group was met by a plethora of arrows baring down on them from an unknown location. Theron grabbed Serenity's body and pinned her against the wall, covering her body with his own. Between his arm and body she could see Lord Michael and Cevin standing in front of Theron to protect him as he wore no armor.

Serenity looked up at Theron's purple eyes. He was staring at her apologetically.

"You have to run," he said. "I will come for you. Find Lennox, stay there until I arrive—"

"—I won't leave you," her voice shook as she stared at him with scared blue eyes.

"You have to if we are to survive," he said strongly before leaning down and kissed her deeply on the mouth. He turned away from her. "Cevin."

"Yes, your Majesty?"

"Take your sister to Tarzaharth," he commanded. "Don't look back."

Cevin nodded his head once and grabbed Serenity's arm. The firing of arrows had seemed to stop. Cevin dragged Serenity across the hall and out onto the patio. Serenity looked back as tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't fight against Cevin's strength. She knew Theron was right, but she didn't want to leave him behind.

A swell of armored men poured out of the ballroom into the corridor. She watched, pushing her hands against Cevin's grip on her arm, as Theron and Lord Michael began to fight for their lives. Their backs were to each other as they were surrounded by their enemy. Serenity had never seen Theron train or in a fight, but he moved brilliantly blocking every blow from his enemy—until suddenly he didn't—

Serenity let out a blood curdling scream as she saw Theron fall back, a sword buried into his chest. His body disappeared from sight as Lord Michael was over taken by the enemy. Serenity dug her feet into the ground and broke free of Cevin's grasp—she dashed across the patio—she had to get to Theron!

Cevin raced after his sister and grabbed her around the waist. He stared into the corridor from their position with a pained expression as she tried to push his arms away from her.

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

He covered her mouth with his hand so her screams wouldn't draw attention to them and dragged her back into the darkness of the palace wall. He threw her over his shoulder as she screamed for her fallen lover. He carried her easily despite her struggling against him.

In her emotional state she wasn't actually throwing skilled or strong blows, just thrashing her arms and legs around with adrenalin in an attempt to break free.

Cevin moved quickly along the border of the palace. Once they were far enough away from the patio, he dropped to his knee and set Serenity on the ground. She was sobbing and glaring at him.

"There is nothing left for you there," he said sternly. "We have to go. Now pull yourself together, we need to fly fast and use cover."

Serenity nodded, but did not say anything. She knew deep down in her heart that Cevin was right. His crystal blue eyes stared at her with sadness despite his harsh tone. She frowned deeply as tears welled in her eyes again. Every time she thought of Theron falling, her heart ached in agony.

Cevin squeezed her arm and stood up, pulling her to her feet.

"Let's go, now," he said. He transformed in front of her and Serenity followed suit.

The two doves took off into the night, flying away from the Den and through the Southend. Serenity followed Cevin high into the sky were clouds were rolling in. She knew he wanted to hide their escape in the cloud cover. She peered down sadly at the Den which was burning in hot red flames. There was a time in her life when she wished to watch the place burn, but now as it did, she felt tremendous pain and longing to be back inside of it.

Serenity flapped her wings strongly to keep up with Cevin who was moving briskly ahead of her. It did not take long for them to reach the edge of the Den and the Magic Forest. They dived down into the canopy of the thick trees. Cevin led the way through the heavy brush. The forest seemed to grow denser as they flew farther into it.

Serenity remembered the last time she had escaped the Den and her journey through the Magic Forest. Theron had saved her that day from a royal guards man who tried to rape her. Serenity choked back tears as she flew. She tried to stay focused on flying. She had to stop thinking of Theron for the moment. She needed to escape and be safe before she could mourn him.

The trip through the Magic Forest did not seem very long. Serenity and Cevin transformed at the edge of the tree line and stood with their backs to the forest as they stared out across the grassy field before Tarzaharth. Cevin took Serenity's hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

"There is hope," he whispered.

Serenity looked up at him with sad eyes. She disagreed. She felt that all hope had been stripped, stolen from her. She was fractured and broken now. There was nothing left to possibly hope for in that moment. The future she and Theron planned to build was gone now.

"Come on," Cevin interrupted her hopeless thoughts with his encouragement. He led her by the hand into the field. "Not much farther."

Serenity said nothing as she followed her brother. She looked back over her shoulder at the forest. Billows of smoke could be seen rising from the opposite end. She frowned deeply and turned her back to the sight of the Tigerian capitol burning in the distance. She walked steadily into the field towards Tarzaharth leaving her torturous past and hopeful future burning behind her.