Capítulo 16: Chapter 16: Surrounded
Perseus POV
As I was creeping around, I overheard a conversation that sent a shiver down my spine. The guards and mages were receiving orders from the king himself, orders to eliminate us without any mercy or hesitation.
"We cannot proceed without proper preparation," one of the mages said, "We must regroup and ensure that all of our forces are aware of the king's orders, tell them to wait for the signal when they hear it, and we'll all attack at once and overwhelm them."
*****
As I told Harold and the other couple few who knew of me, they started to have this sense of panic. Many of them had never dared to imagine that the king would risk the safety of his own sister and nephew, they'd thought the king would at least be some representative like the past.
"Surely he wouldn't risk harming his own family just to crush a rebellion?" Cato questioned, "You sure you didn't hear it wrong?"
"I'm sure, they're only waiting for everyone to know of the order and to all attack at once, to overwhelm us where we can't hold them off completely."
"We need to arm ourselves and be ready to strike when the signal comes," Harold declared, "We may not have the numbers, but if we act together, we can overwhelm them and show the king that we will not be silenced."
We were vastly outnumbered and outmatched, facing off against the full might of the king's forces with little more than makeshift weapons and sheer determination.
Despite his brave words, we both knew that our chances of victory were slim at best. The guards and mages were well-trained and well-equipped, and they would stop at nothing to crush our rebellion after such a direct command.
"Yurd, gather a few of the elderly, women, and all the children, lead them and get them out of here." Harold ordered
*****
"You're going to go with them." Harold said after handing me a much newer and more durable dagger, "A kid like you deserves to be more useful on the outside."
I felt a knot form in my stomach as I realized what he was asking of me. "But what about you?" I asked, "What about the rest of the adults?"
"But you need to get with the women and children to safety under Yurd, he's a trustworthy man." he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
I understood what he was asking of me, even if he couldn't bring himself to say it outright. He was asking me to leave him and the others behind, to abandon them to face the king's forces alone.
But as much as it pained me to do so, I knew that he was right. This is one of those situations where it's either all of us die or a good number will. Harold had made a difficult decision, one that he hadn't even shared with most of the others as if they knew of the king's command, they'll run away too.
If that happened, they can't hold the guards or mages for long enough.
*****
As Harold's words sank in while I was running away, a part of me wanted to stay behind and fight alongside my comrades, even if it meant risking my own life in the process. After all, as the assistant hero, shouldn't I be leading the charge, facing the enemy head-on?
But deep down, I knew that Harold was right. This wasn't a battle that could be won through heroics or bravado. It was a fight for survival, and sometimes survival meant making difficult choices, even if they went against every instinct screaming inside of me.
But in the end, I knew that my position as the assistant hero meant that I had a responsibility, not just to myself, but to the countless others in the future.
If I stayed behind, I risked not only my own life, but the lives of those who looked to me for guidance and protection in the future, even if they're people who aren't doing anything to save us.
I had a weird feeling a hope in me, though...it's not a great kind of hope. A hope that perhaps, against all odds, a few of them would manage to survive the mass killing.
And if by some miracle they managed to do so, if even a handful of them could evade capture and find themselves imprisoned in death row to be used for public examples in the future, then perhaps there would still be a chance, a chance for me to return and rescue them from their fate.
And so, as we made our way through the tunnels, I clung to that hope with all my might, vowing silently to myself that no matter what it took, I would return one day to save those who had sacrificed everything for the sake of our freedom.
This is wrong, everything was wrong. Where's the hero when you need him?
Why wasn't the prophecy true? We're now needing him the most, but he's nowhere to be found. What good would it do to find the hero now? He was just a child.
*****
As we emerged from the darkness of the tunnel into the light of the open air, we all had this cautious and nervous feeling passed around as we realized that something was amiss, there were no guards standing watch at the exit of the tunnels.
Someone got their binocular out and found that the guards and mages appeared to have let their guard down, gathered together in a cluster some distance away closer to the main camp of the mole team and the lab to deal with where the rest of us were.
They were completely surrounded, and even if they were to jump off of the cliff...
Seizing the opportunity, we made a silent run for it, our hearts pounding in our chests as we hurried away from the camp.
But our relief quickly turned to dread as we reached the exit of the camp and found ourselves confronted by a line of carriages, flanked by mages and knights who seemed to have just arrived.
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