After stuttering for a bit my mom composed herself enough to talk. “I was not aware that you received invitations to these parties. Or that you had ways to cross the waters to other lands.”

Their grins were most definitely threatening and dark this time. “We were not invited, but we had heard about it and wanted to come and wish your beautiful daughter here a late Happy Birthday and to congratulate her on getting a presence.” I managed a shaky nod of thanks. Out of the blue, one of the four easterns in front of us snapped their fingers. Before we could even complete our looks of bewilderment, a loud bang echoed through the air and smoke started spreading throughout the room. All four of my guards grabbed onto me right away so that we would not get separated in the smoke. Using their memories, my guards dragged me to where they remembered the door to the outside to be. Even knowing that move could be exactly what the easterners wanted us to do, it was the best course of action. Feeling blind, I kept my arms out so that I did not run into anything. Finally, my hands ran into the door. Groping for the door knob I found it and yanked the door open. Coughing in the thick smoke, we kept walking until we had escaped most of the smoke and could breathe normally again.

Instantly, we were surrounded by men in black clothing that were each carrying at least one weapon. As they drew their weapons, I was pushed into the middle of my guards. Wishing that I had a weapon of some kind, I curled my hands up into fists and got into a fighting stance. I was so grateful now that I had taken some lessons to know what to do in situations like this. Looking around us, I spotted Darius in a similar situation not too far away. Nonetheless, he was too far away to reach safely. I didn’t dare call out to him just in case it distracted him. No matter where I looked though, I could not see my brothers or parents anywhere. Forcing myself to focus on what was right in front of me, I saw one of the black clothed men step forward. “No one needs to get hurt here. If you all surrender and give us your weapons, then we will just take all of you and leave.”

“Wait, why do you want my guards? I know why you want me, but they do not have to be a part of this.” Judging from the glares and growling coming from my guards, they did not agree with me. I knew that they were just as curious as me though as to why these men wanted them as well as me.

The leader of the black figures shook his head. “I am not allowed to tell you that. Just do as I say and we can do this the easy way. Otherwise I can not guarantee that no one will get hurt.”

“We will never submit to you.” Casey startled me when he spoke. He only spoke when something was really important to him or he was really passionate about something.

Nodding, the black figure said, “I figured you would say that. I am sorry about this.” Right after he finished talking his men attacked us. We were outnumbered about 20 to 4. It would be 20 to 5 if they let me fight. Or at least 20 to 4 and a half. Fighting hard, my guards managed to hold them back for quite some time, but the black figures’ numbers were too great to hold back for forever. The first one overwhelmed was Liam. I stepped into the hole and punched one of them square in the face so hard that he fell down, but it was a lost cause. The attackers had weapons, and I did not. I was grabbed around the waist and held by several of them off to the side. Seeing that struggling would do me no good, I stopped to conserve as much energy as possible. Once they had that hole, even though my guards had tried desperately to close the hole and fight their way to me, the rest of my guards were quickly overwhelmed and subdued. All of our hands were tied behind our backs, and two attackers grabbed onto each of us. Only Tyler had been injured from the fight. His left shoulder had been cut by one of the attackers on accident.

Someone who looked like the black figures’ medic was wrapping it and applying pressure to make sure that the bleeding stopped. The only sign that Tyler showed that his wound hurt was that his teeth were locked together. Glancing to where Darius and his guards had been, I saw that their battle had also ended against the black figures. They had all lost and been subdued as well. None of them looked injured, but one of them looked slightly dazed like he had taken a blow to the head. His captors seemed more like helpers because they were trying more to keep him on his feet than to keep him from getting away. I hoped that Tyler and Darius’s guard would both be healed pretty quickly and completely. Stumbling a bit in my high heels when we started walking, I gave up on them. Looking at the two men holding my arms I asked if I could change into better shoes. When they looked uncertain, I told them that if they wanted to walk any amount of distance then they would either have to carry me, make me walk barefoot, or let me get new shoes.

Their leader had overheard and now he came closer to me. “We will let you go up to your room and change into more comfortable shoes and clothes. Besides, we need to go up there anyway to grab your maids.”

“Why do you need my maids, my guards, Crown Prince Darius, his guards, and me?”

The leader smiled at me. “Don’t forget your castle trainer Cayden.”

I restated my question. “Why do you need everyone except my parents, my brothers, all of their guards, and the rest of the staff here in the castle?”

“That is a much better question. Unfortunately, I can not answer it anymore than I could have answered your last two questions.” Deciding to just go with the flow for now, there was nothing else for me to do anyways, I shut my mouth and let my two captors lead me where they wanted me to go. In the ballroom I spotted my parents, their guards, my brothers, their guards, and Cayden. More of the black figures in here looked injured than the five Darius’ and my group had managed to injure, but that was probably mostly from them fighting with Cayden. He was a very formidable opponent. Particularly, when he has a weapon in his hand or when he is familiar with the battlefield.

My mom saw me first and she almost started crying. “Are you okay?”

I tried to make my tone as reassuring as possible. “Do not worry about me mom. Everyone is fine except for Tyler who got cut on his left shoulder and one of Darius’ guards who looks like he got a blow to the head. Are all of you alright?”

This time my brother Carter spoke up. “We are all good here. None of us got injured, but to be honest, it was not a very fair fight. They attacked us while we were blinded and choked by the smoke.” I bit back a smile.

“Does that mean that all the black clothed people in here that are injured were all hurt by fighting Cayden?”

Cayden nodded with a smile. “They made the mistake of attacking me in my training room with a bunch of weapons, weights, and I was very familiar with where everything was. The only way they managed to beat me was that some of them climbed in the back window and flanked me on two sides. Plus, I was extremely outnumbered. They certainly made sure to bring enough people to attack us. My question for them, that they will not answer, is how they managed to get so many people over here. Especially when they one, do not have a way across the water for even one person, and two, none of the kingdoms there have this many fighters. Or at least no kingdoms there that we were aware of. To get this many fighters one eastern kingdom must have allied with other eastern kingdoms, but that is completely unheard of for them.” Though none of the attackers talked to him, they all smiled mysteriously. Everyone knew that they had at least one huge secret that they were keeping from us, but no one knew what that was.

Feeling my captors start to push me again, I said goodbye and started walking. Panicking, my family called after me. Over my shoulder I said, “They are just taking me to my room so that they can get my maids, and I can change into more comfortable clothing and shoes for the journey.” Hearing my mom demand to know what journey I was going on, I was glad that I was getting too far away to actually answer her. Climbing the stairs to my room, two black figures went in front of me and burst into my room. Screams came from both Sophia, and Hazel. Shaking my arms free from the two black figures who held me, I rushed into the room towards them. Yanking my maids free from the men, I put my body in between them. “I need them to help me get ready.” After looking at me with consideration, they nodded and pointed to the bathroom. Not moving, I looked pointedly at my hands. Taking the hint, one of them stepped forward and untied me. Nodding my head in thanks, I allowed my maids to pick out my traveling clothes and shoes, we then went into the bathroom and they helped me into the clothes.

After they glanced at the door for the sixth time, I spoke up. “I promise that they will not hurt you. I will make sure of it and stay by you at all times.” Sophia and Hazel both had tears in their eyes after I finished talking. Pulling them both into a tight hug, I comforted them. Sniffing and wiping their eyes, they pulled away and finished helping me change. Done, they tentatively opened the door and we walked out arm in arm. As the attackers came towards us, I shook my head. “We will not run and you can tie our hands behind our backs if you want to, but I will not be separated from them.” Seeing the respect and admiration in their eyes, I knew that I would be able to keep my promise at least for a while longer. They did tie our hands behind our backs, but they let us walk side-by-side down to the ballroom. When the leader of the black figures saw us, he took a double take.

My head tilted to the side in curiosity. “What is it?”

“I did not expect your maids to look about your age. To be honest, I thought that they would be way older than you.”

I nodded in understanding. “Most people think that they would be older than they are, but Hazel” I inclined my head towards her to show which one she was, “is only a year older than me and Sophia” I moved my head to her, “is actually a year younger than me.”

“Why is that? Were they the best ones for the job, or was it just because your parents wanted your maids to be your friends?”

I did not even have to think about my answer. “Both. They are extremely skilled at what they do, and they have become my best friends.” Seeing the leader smile, I knew that I had said the right thing.

The leader turned so that he was facing and looking towards everyone. “Okay, I do not want anyone to talk until I am done talking, because I do not want to have to repeat myself alright?” We all nodded. “Good. The reason we attacked you is because we are going to take Crown Prince Darius Hasim of the western kingdom of Thacaea, his guards, Princess Ariana Esma of the southern kingdom of Kuli, her guards, her maids, and Kuli’s castle trainer Cayden.” Noise broke out across the room from my parents, my brothers, and both sets of their guards. Waiting patiently, the leader just stood there looking at them until they calmed down and stopped talking. Once only silence could be heard again, did he continue talking. “I realize that this is coming as a shock, but it is necessary. You see, for a long time us in the eastern kingdom have gotten tired of being ignored and forgotten. Known to the rest of the world only as barbarians, and savages. The time has come for us to step out of the shadows and to show that it was a mistake to think of us as thus. The reason that we are taking these people is because they are very powerful and important people. Crown Prince Darius is the heir to the throne of the most wealthy and dominant kingdom across all the lands, Princess Ariana has eyes so dark that her power, once she learns to control and harness it, could be strong enough to destroy armies, and Cayden is the most fearsome and mighty warrior in all the land. The guards we are taking because we want them to know people and to know that we are not what you think we are. We can be civilized. Plus, we heard that some of these guards are extremely good at what they do and can hold their own against the best of the best. Princess Ariana’s maids are coming because they know what she likes and they are her friends.”

He waited for us to say anything, but everyone was shocked into silence. Finally I spoke up. “What do you want us to do in your kingdom? Fight back against our own people and kingdoms? Wage war on innocents?”

The leader was shaking his head before I even finished. “We want you to help us protect our part of the world and bring peace. Also, we want you to marry one of our royalty, but only if you choose too. That part is not necessary. Another thing we want from you is to learn who we really are and tell everyone else it.”

“So you want us to be your weapons and messengers. You want us to fight your wars, and declare your true behaviors and selves.” All of the black figures nodded. “Will you take no for an answer?” All of them shook their heads. “I will go willingly with you as long as you leave behind my guards and maids. There is no good reason to bring them along. I will be fine.” My guards and maids alike glared at me.

Alex spoke for my guards. “If you are going, we are going.”

Hazel nodded. “You promised us that you would never leave our sides. We return that promise to you now.” My eyes teared up. I knew that they all meant what they said and I was grateful that they were choosing to venture with me into unknown, potentially dangerous territory. I hugged them all one by one as best I could with our arms tied behind us still.

Darius looked to his guards. “Will you all stay here? I refuse to drag you into something you did not choose. If you come, you come of your own free will and not out of any sense of duty to me.”

His guards laughed. “We would follow you anywhere. Besides, it sounds like it could be fun!” Darius hugged his guards and, when he pulled back, I could see that his eyes had gone all teary. We all looked to the leader with new determination in our gazes.

“You may say goodbye to everyone before we leave, but make it quick. We have already stayed here too long.” Going to my parents first, I murmured farewell to them while they sobbed into my shoulders. Next were my brothers who both whispered words of encouragement in my ears about how they were going to gather an army and get all of us back. My guards went to say goodbye to my family and to their guards as well. Darius had no one to say goodbye to. However, my parents said that they would tell his parents everything that had happened and pass on a message for him. They also promised to tell Hazel and Sophia’s families and friends everything as well. Ready to leave now, all of us that were going stood across from those that were staying and memorized their faces before turning and walking out of the room. All of the guards, staff, and servants that we passed from my castle were tied up, unconscious, or both. I let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that none of the people that we passed were dead.

Noting my relieved face, one of the black figures leaned towards me. “Like we told you before. We are not barbarians or savages. The ones who fought back were knocked unconscious. The ones who tried to run were tied up. The ones that were harder than others to defeat, were both knocked unconscious and tied up. The ones that did nothing, we locked in different rooms. A group of us will linger behind and unlock a couple of the rooms and those people can free everyone else.”

“Thank you.” Even though I had whispered it, I knew that he had heard me. His eyes softened and he nodded imperceptibly. Standing up taller, I walked more confidently from the only home I had ever known. Just knowing the fact that the people who had attacked had not tried to harm us, or do anything bad to us made me feel better. It made me realize that I was going to get through this okay and when the time came to decide whether I would stay or leave the eastern land, it may be a harder choice than I had first thought. Outside the kingdom walls now, I turned back to look at it one more time. The black figures did not seem to mind stopping and allowing me to look at it. Closing my eyes, I burned the image of it into my brain. I never wanted to forget the place where I had been born and raised. Especially if I never came back here again.