Chapter 21

“I’ll tell the others,” Thomas looked at her with wide eyes and urgency, “I know Drystan and the others, they would want to know you are safe!”

“No!” Izzie reached out and gripped his arm, pulling him back behind a tree, “You must not tell them that you saw me!”

“Why?” Thomas looked at her with worry lingering in his eyes but she knew him enough now that she knew he was worried for her rather for himself, “Drystan is-”

“-Drystan most of all cannot know!”

“Why?” Thomas begged her, “He loves you.”

Izzie closed her eyes in desperation, “I know.”

“Then I don’t see why I can’t-” Thomas moved to walk passed her and back to the camp.

“-Because he’ll come after me,” Izzie pulled him back behind the tree, her eyes lingering on the bruises on his face that she had put there, “Just like I would go after him.”

“Where are you going?” Thomas frowned, watching her with confusion.

Izzie looked over her shoulder at the forest, “I’m going back into the castle. I have to kill the prince,”

Thomas froze beneath her grip, “There must be another answer other than violence,” Thomas begged her, “If we simply talked to the Prince, I’m positive he would-”

“-This is not the time for words, Thomas,” Izzie stepped back, “I shall rest tonight and as soon as night falls tomorrow evening, I shall enter the castle,”

Thomas was silent.

Izzie turned back to him, “Promise me you won’t tell Drystan or the others about this. They must go their own path. Promise me, Thomas!” Izzie urged him.

“I- I promise,” Thomas nodded his head pertly; his eyes soft as he recognised that they may never see each other again.

“I’m sorry about . . .” Izzie nodded her head at the cuts and bruises on his body.

“You saved my life,” Thomas took her hand paternally in his, “I shall pray for you,”

Izzie was transported back to when they first met; she would have striked him down long before he could touch her hand let alone utter words of such comfort in her ear but now she just smiled, “Thank you,”

She did not believe that such words would fall on anything but deaf ears where she was concerned but she knew it would help Thomas recover when he learnt of her death.

“I must return,” Thomas looked at his feet before he dropped her hand and started to backtrack through the forest to camp, “And Izzie . . .”

“Yes?” Izzie whispered.

“He knows,” Thomas smiled, “Drystan knows.”

Izzie had promised herself she would not break down but hearing that made her heart sing and she cursed him for giving her something to live for.

She had been confident that Drystan would not mourn her passing and that there was nothing left in this world for her but now he went and said that.

Izzie said nothing as she watched his hooded figure walking back through the forest; snapping every twig and branch as he went.

It brought a smile to her face as she watched his clumsiness; staring at the space he had been long after he had left.

“You should not have lied to him,” A brute voice told her solemnly as Iagan stepped out from behind the tree he had occupied for the last ten minutes.

“I know,” Izzie muttered, still staring after Thomas before she turned and faced Iagan like an old friend, “But when he tells the others that I intend to leave tomorrow night, I shall already be gone,”

“You knew he would tell them?”

Izzie gave Iagan one of her looks, “Thomas may be a man of God but he cannot keep a secret and this way, it will keep Drystan and the others out of harm’s way. Giving me an extra day to do what I must. Now you must go.” Izzie ordered him as she tightened the sheath around her waist and prepared herself for what was about to happen.

“Oh lassie,” Iagan chuckled, “You do not think I would let you go on your own?”

“No,” Izzie sighed as she closed her eyes briefly, clenching her sword in her hand, “I do not,”

And with one determined swing, she hit him on the side of his big head with the hilt of his sword.

For a moment it looked like he would remain standing and grab for her throat but in the next instance his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crashed to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Izzie whispered over his unconscious body, “But this is for your own good,” by the time he awoke she would be safely in the castle and no one would be any the wiser.

Looking at the sky, she could sense that she still had a few hours left of darkness before dawn broke.

Keeping off the main roads, she was running through the forest when a set of footsteps joined in behind her.

Taking a few more steps, she swung behind a tree and waited.

Pressing her back against the trunk, she waited until he was level with her before she held up her sword until it was level with his throat.

Iagan stopped in his tracks and looked at her from the corner of his eye with humour, “You didn’t think that that,” he looked at the sword, “Would be enough to knock me out for hours, did you lassie? I have a head of stone,”

“Go back, Iagan,” Izzie sighed, sheathing her sword and getting back on track

“I can either follow behind you or walk by your side,” Iagan latched onto her heels, “Either way, you’re not going to shake me off and something tells me that you might need an extra sword in this,”

Izzie said nothing as she kept pushing on; his footsteps ever present behind her.

“Can’t you see what I’m trying to do!?” She snapped in frustration when he wouldn’t stop following her, “I’m trying to save your life, you ignorant brute!”

“And I’m trying to save yours!” Iagan looked back at her with an uncommon show of emotion catching Izzie off guard.

“Now are we going to do this before the others find out I’m missing or are you going to stand there arguing with me?” Iagan snapped as he walked passed her and set the pace up ahead.

They had been walking for almost a mile before they heard voices below them.

Looking through the trees and passed the cliff face, they watched a small encampment huddled around fire and thanking the Lord for their food.

“I envy them,” Izzie whispered, knowing that if she was going to bare her soul to someone it ought to be to Iagan; he was risking his life for hers, he deserved this in the least, “They believe, with their entire being, that there is a life after death. I wish I had that certainty, especially now . . .” Izzie couldn’t speak anymore.

“Do you ever wish,” Iagan whispered, sensing that they were going to die in this attempt, “That your life had worked out differently?”

Izzie frowned, watching his face in a new light.

“I wish every day that my wife and daughter were alive,” Iagan murmured, his voice catching.

Izzie looked up at him with shock; she had never thought about him as anything else but a warrior. She had never once given a thought to his own family and it dawned on her that she wasn’t the only one to have suffered pain and loss.

“What were their names?” Izzie stepped forward and let him know that she was there.

“Maria and Scarlett,” Iagan smiled softly and she could sense that he was no longer with her, but he was remembering his family, “They were killed while I was away fighting.”

“Iagan, I-” Izzie didn’t know what to say.

“-I guess, you wish the same about your family,” Iagan whispered as he started to walk again, not wanting to linger on the topic of his family.

“Every day,” Izzie murmured but she was different; she had killed her own father and that was something she could never forgive herself for.

The rest of their walk was in comfortable silence as they thought about their own reasons for doing this and about what was going to happen.

They soon reached the edge of the forest as they looked out up at the hill where the kingdom rested.

“We’re not going to get far if we go by the front way,” Iagan sighed, his eyes only seeing the obvious route.

“We’re not going through the front,” Izzie smirked up at him as kept her body low and darted across the path and through the bowels of the kingdom.

“How did you know about this place?” Iagan frowned as Izzie transported them down through hidden passage ways of the castle.

“I followed a maid into them,” Izzie whispered so the people on the other side of the wall didn’t hear them, “I found a way out, and therefore a way in, before I was captured by the prince,”

“Not just a pretty face,” Iagan chuckled with a deep throat before Izzie told him to be quiet; their entire plan hinged on the element of surprise.

If the prince caught them then they might as well slit their own throats right there.

“The prince’s bedroom is down the left,” Izzie whispered as they reached a fork in the tunnels, “And the guard’s room is to the right. I’ll take the prince’s bedroom, you take the-”

“No, no,” Iagan stepped in front of her and took the left, “I want a word or two with this prince before he meets his end. You take care of the guards; I’ll see you soon,”

“But-” Izzie put up a meagre fight before Iagan chuckled and ran off down the tunnel, “Goodbye Iagan,” she whispered as she watched his retreating figure.

Looking down the tunnel to the right, she felt slightly bad that she had lied to Iagan, sending him towards the soup kitchen not the royal bedroom.

The guard’s room was across the castle and there was no way she was leaving the prince to anyone else but herself.

If anyone was going to kill the prince it was going to be her.