Chapter 29: Chapter 15: Hostages
It had been two months since we last had the conversation in the library, after a long period of frantically teaching Easton all the correct knowledge for a young noble and training with our weapons, news of the war broke out.
Our country was known for our well profession in the arts, such as music, crafts and art as well as academic and strategic knowledge; few noble children taught fighting, whereas they learned the fine arts or tactical thinking. Whereas the other country was well versed in the martial arts or handling weapons. The war did not have a good outcome for our country, we could only hope that the few talented knights we had and advanced amour and weapons our craftsmen had made could beat them.
Unfortunately, the king had declared that at least one man from each household had to join the war. Luckily, since I was the Crown Prince's fiancé, my family was spared from the war.
***
"I feel guilty…" Luke stared at the window, "Lots of people are out on the battlefield fighting for our country, yet our family doesn't need to do anything."
"It is a shame." Rei nodded. "We can visit the commoners later and supply them with resources if that is your wish."
"I can go gather some food from my café." I continued polishing my dual daggers.
My hands had become calloused from all the training and my fragile and soft arms and legs became toughened. I knew that our country was going to lose as the otome game had briefly mentioned it.
"We should head out to spread resources now." Luke opened the door.
***
Two months later…
"Huuuuh?!" Easton screeched, "What do you mean?!"
"I stated what I meant very obviously." The shopkeeper held up a broken sword up with an irritated expression, "You came into my shop, fiddled around with my weapons, and broke one of my most valuable swords! Are you going to compensate me?!"
I sighed, already opening my purse to pay for the broken sword.
"It's not my fault that it broke!" Easton squawked, "It's your fault for not making the sword strong enough!"
What lousy excuses…
"Here's your money." I plopped some gold coins in the man's open palms, "Let's go."
I steered Easton away from the shop and Rei and Luke followed us. In the distance, a loud horn noise vibrated across the market.
"Huh?" Luke turned his head to the source of the noise, "Let's see what that's about."
We walked down in the centre of the market. There stood a man in foreign clothes and speaking with a heavy accent.
"Every noble house must sacrifice all of their children from ages four to eighteen to become hostages of war, if even one noble house does not comply, we will set every village on fire, until we reach the royal palace and set it on fire, with everyone still inside." He announced.
Murmurs and mutters filled the air as the commoners looked at each other with hesitation and fear.
"Let go of me!" A young woman burst from the crowd, "You're already seizing our country and killing our soldiers! Why must you take our young master and miss?! Speak up everyone! You know this is injustice!"
Loud jeers and agreements suddenly replaced the quiet murmurs and the foreign man sighed.
"It is not my place to argue." The man prepared his horse, "I suggest to think carefully, many lives are at stake here. I bid you farewell."
***
"I heard you're heading toward the enemy as hostages." My coach mentioned as we clashed weapons against each other, the sound of metal colliding echoing across the manor.
"Unfortunately." I nodded, ducking as she swung her sword at me.
"You don't seem too surprised." She commented, deflecting my daggers off her sword.
"Any piece of advice?" I asked, jumping over her.
"Don't die." She advised, just as the rain started drizzling.
Extremely useful.
"I'll be heading in. I'll hope to see you again." I nodded, heading back inside.
"Preferably alive." She dipped her head.
I headed back inside and walked towards the lounge room where our parents were.
"You have to be careful, don't get hurt." Mother wept, brushing Luke's golden hair lovingly.
"You'll be leaving in a week. Get ready." Father nodded his head in Easton's direction.
"I'll just leave…" Rei muttered awkwardly.
I stifled a laugh. Poor Rei.
"Stay healthy while we're gone." I patted Father on the back.
"Staaay safe Ivory!" Father sobbed, "Don't get hurt and don't eat anything suspicious! If a man looks at you, just run!"
"Take care of your sister as well." Mother enveloped Luke and I into a hug.
"I will." Luke nodded seriously.
"What about me?!" Easton wept bitterly in a dark corner.
***
1 Week Later…
"Round up, round up! Start collecting firewood!" Someone shoved us together.
We all stood in a large meadow of green trees, with very long chains attached to our ankles. Luckily, we had managed to sneak Rei with us. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Raven walking around.
"Raven!" I headed towards him, my chains clanking behind me, "What are you doing here?"
"Even the Royal Family needed to spare some children, however, Kyle stayed behind since he's the heir." Raven smiled, adjusting his chains. "Be careful not to trip."
"I am Prince Blu and you will all obey me." A man dressed in cloths of gold walked up to us, "Guards unchain them, but make sure they don't escape."
I heard sighs of reliefs as the heavy metal chains were unlocked.
"Follow me." Prince Blu instructed, swaggering towards a large cave.
The cave was damp and cold, every time water dripped from the ceiling, the sound of it hitting the ground echoed across the cave.
"There's a myth that a beast of great strength lies here in this cave." Prince Blu sniffed, "I want the hostages to capture the beast so I can present it to my father."
"Why us?!"
"Do it yourself!"
"Don't touch me!"
"Prince Blu. With due respect, many of us are young children and will die." Raven dipped his head respectfully, "I was under the impression that we were hostages, not slaves."
"The impudence! I'll make sure you're the first person to fight the beast." Prince Blu huffed, "This is my territory and my rules."
What an annoying man. I kept my eyes bored and expressionless as we entered the centre of the cave.
"To lure the monster out, we need to spill some blood." Prince Blu's eyes glinted, "Let's see…"
His eyes drifted across the crowd before it rested on Luke.
"…You." He pointed at Luke. "Guards."
"I'm afraid I can't let you kill him so carelessly." I stepped in front of Luke, shielding him.
"Young Master." Rei walked beside Luke.
"I must remind you that we are not live-stock for you to butcher." Raven the tips of his fingers playing with his shuriken. "I did try to warn you."
"GUARDS!" Prince Blu hollered, backing away.
Other noble children raised their hidden weapons and dashed forward towards the guards. Overwhelmed by the numbers, the guards drew back, taking Prince Blu with them and rolling a large stone to block the cave exit.
Cheers of the hostages filled the cave, and the other children and teenagers smile in relief.
"Good news. We got Prince Blu to leave." Easton smiled crookedly, "Bad news. The beast is trapped with us."
Everyone stopped celebrating and the only sound was the constant dripping of water.
"…Good one Easton." Rei sighed.
We faced the large lake in front of us.
"How do we escape?"
"We're doomed."
"I wished I enjoyed life more."
"Everyone calm down, we can still escape." I raised my arms, "Remember earlier, we had been in a meadow of green trees. Currently, there are green leaves in the water and there doesn't seem to be any trees here so there should be an exit."
"You're right." Rei nodded, "The only way is to swim in the river to reach the other side.
We all looked at the river which seemed to be a hundred metres in width and length. It was so dark; nothing could be seen inside.
"We'll go." Two eighteen year old offered to swim across the river. "We should be quicker at swimming than the rest of you, we'll tell you if we see any exit."
We watched them swim to the other side and swim back.
"There's an exit!" They exclaimed "Let's go!"
I waited for everyone to go into the water before entering after them, careful not to get kicked in the face.
As we swam, I noticed Easton swim deeper into the water, after a while he did not resurface, so I held my breath and followed him. As I swum deeper into the water, I noticed him swim away from a massive snake. A snake the size of a classroom lay there, sleeping and I quickly swam back to the top to water.
Just as I raised my head above the water, I noticed a small child slipping and slicing his ankle on to a sharp rock. We watched in horror as blood stained the water.
Would the monster wake?
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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