Chapter 17 No Where To Run

They got onto their horses and fled. The army of Curtis, about fifteen soldiers, led by prince William, got to the spot where the trio previously rested. He got down from his horse and checked the ground for any sign that the ones he was chasing were here. He saw some footprints and hoof prints.

"They must not have gotten far," he said to his crew. He got back on his horse and urged it forward.

Iris and Levi urged their horses to move faster because the army of Curtis is catching up to them.

"What should we do, they could be catching up to us?" Iris asked.

"We keep riding, besides, I think we lost them" Levi responded, looking behind him as their horses slowed down.

"We have to get to Daria fast."  Iris said,

Levi looked ahead, "We should find a place to rest first. A place where they won't find us. As they rode through the forest, they reached a Creek and decided to take a break. They rested for a few hours then started moving again. They kept moving until the sun almost went down. Then they heard rustling leaves around them. Iris got up, his hand on the hilt of his sword ready to draw it, Levi got up and stood in front of Kara. They looked around and heard movement in the bushes.

"Ummn Iris, do you have another sword in that ring?"  Levi asked,

Iris looked at him with a confused look on his face. "No. Why?"

"Just thought we should give the Princess one, you know. In case anything happens so she can protect herself."

The first person to come out of the bushes was prince William, then behind him were the twenty soldiers, spread around them, all in full body armor. Iris drew his sword and so did Levi.

Prince William walked towards them, "Surrender in the name of the king"

"My king is dead, your father king Festus killed him, " Iris replied with contempt.

"You're out of your mind if you think we will hand over the Princess easily." Levi said.

Prince William raised his eyebrows "Right. That is a secondary priority. You must be Iris Wit"  he said, pointing at Iris. "You are coming with us"

Levi and Iris exchanged glances. "Why?" Iris asked.

"It's an order from king Steven."  Iris and Levi frowned and princess Kara looked from behind Levi, her face filled with worry.

"We were asked to capture you alive. The spears of king Steven will come to retrieve you."

"Why" Levi asked "What does he want with Iris?"

"I don't know, it was in a letter we received this morning. We were asked to detain a man named Iris."

Levi looked at Iris but Iris turned his face away. "After this we are going to have a serious talk Iris"

"Surrender and you may live to see another day"

Iris looked at him with disgust, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword,"I'd rather die" 

"Sigh. …. I'll kill you if I have to and bring your dead body to him. We will take you by force if we have to." He signalled for his soldiers to move and they started coming towards Iris and Levi.

"You are all cowards. Bowing down to Kingsland" Kara shouted "at least my father fought"

"AND HE DIED" William shouted. He sighed.

"Make sure to take the girl and the boy alive, kill the other man" Prince William said to his men.

Three soldiers started moving towards them. Princess Kara looked worried, "There are sixteen of them and only three of us." Levi said.

Iris frowned, "you mean two of us and sixteen of them."

Author laughs.

Levi turned to Iris,"Iris take the Princess and leave, I'll hold them off."

"That will not be possible. Look behind you," Iris replied, and Levi turned and saw two more guards approaching them from behind, while the others were approaching them slowly, they were surrounded.

The three guards rushed at them but Iris stepped forward and blocked one of the guards' strikes, and kicked him in the chest knocking him back, Iris turned only to see prince William swing at his head but Iris ducked, he turned around and swung his sword to the back of William but it bounced off his armor. Iris took a step back from the recoil.

"I thought you weren't trying to kill me?" Iris yelled. "Mistakes happen, king Steven would understand" Prince William replied.

The third guard went for Levi but he swiftly deflected the guard's blade and stabbed him through the leg. The guard screamed, he kicked him in the chest and turned around to face more guards coming at him while protecting princess Kara.

Iris blocked a hit from a guard, another one was coming at him from the side but a dagger flew towards his head. Unfortunately, the dagger was blocked and flew back to Iris' hand. Iris' eyes widened in shock, as the only ones who had ever blocked the dagger were the spears, the elite soldiers of Kingsland.

Prince William who was watching from the sidelines smirked, "you think these are the fodder you fought at the city gates, they are some of the elite squad of Knights in curtis."

Iris blocked a hit but another guard came from behind and slashed at his leg, he managed to dodge but not completely and is now injured. Iris went in for a stab but it was swiftly blocked, another swung from the side but Iris used the dagger to block the hit, but was kicked in the back of the knee. He staggered and before he could gain balance he was kicked in the chest and fell on his back. He turned and saw Levi was getting overwhelmed, a guard went behind Levi to grab Princess Kara but Iris quickly sent the dagger and it struck the guard's hand stabbing through his palm, his sword fell and he screamed. Levi turned to face Kara only to be stabbed from behind in the back, he fell on his knees close to Iris, just a few feet away from the Creek.

"Leviiiiiii, noooooooo" Princess Kara screamed as tears welled up in her eyes