Aegis

Aegis

  ~ protection, support, patronage

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The ground shook underneath the two as the earth cracked open in front of them. Trees fell as the soil under the roots disappeared. The sounds of the wildlife echoed in the sky around them. The man grabbed her hand, dragging the woman back the way they came. They were going to be cutting it close but there was no other way. They had to retrace their steps.

“We can't go back,” she cried, trying to stop him. Limbs and branches nipped at her chestnut hair and green gown as the woman stumbled into the knight's arms. Isabella stared up at his green eyes. “Ethan, please.”

A sound caught his ear and he jerked to see movement. “We have no other choice, Isabella. We have to hurry,” Ethan told her firmly. He pulled her with him, trying to keep a slow jog as she attempted to run in the folds of fabric.

Most of the roads were being guarded. They had barely made it out alive, even with using the secret passage. It only solidified his assumption that there had been a traitor amongst them. Ethan had no time to think about the culprit as he stilled and pulled the woman into the brush with him.

“I'm only slowing you down, Ethan,” she whispered to him. “They must know. You have to go on without me,” she urged him. She could see the worry on his face as black hair clung to his sweating forehead.

“It's my job to protect you, My Lady, please do not ask me to leave you here for them,” he told her before he stood.

Isabella followed his action, looking around and not seeing anyone. “Is it safe?” she asked softly.

He stepped out and saw his comrade through the brush. The man waved at him and Ethan turned around to help Isabella. “David is waiting for us,” he told her.

“David?” she repeated as they entered the thicket across from them. “I thought-”

“I sent him ahead of us. We needed horses to reach Genannova.”

'Of course,' Isabella thought as Ethan led her. It wasn't something she had even thought of and it frustrated her to think that she was a spoiled princess. She had no common sense when it came to the real world. Her sheltered life hadn't prepared her for this – for war. It was frightening and she was glad that Ethan was beside her.

“I'm glad to see that you two made it,” the blonde-haired man spoke as they entered the small clearing.

“They're everywhere. The castle was almost completely surrounded by the time we got to the tunnel,” Ethan replied as he helped Isabella through the last bush. “The others?”

“Dead, I imagine,” David told him.

“Everyone?” Isabella asked faintly, looking at David.

The two men glanced at her, watching her skin pale. “Everything will be okay, My Lady, I'll protect you,” Ethan told her. “We can't linger any longer, we must move. Please, let me help you on the horse.”

Isabella nodded but shut her hazel eyes, trying to will the tears away. Everyone she ever knew was dead? It couldn't be true.

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