George – The suspicion
I knew I was there through noble intentions, but I knew that the same couldn’t be said for the Sanyek brothers and I knew they were up to something. I had fought with my father to leave the castle. Our army was strong with the best weapons in the land. There was no reason for us to join any fight as my father was not power hungry. With our army we knew also that we had no fear of being attacked. My father may have hated Bella’s father, but he had no interest in starting a war. He also had no interest in taking advantage of Bella and her vulnerable situation, not that I would have let him.
I had requested that he let our army protect their castle, but he couldn’t see the point and he had little idea of my affection towards Bella. He refused to help, which was understandable, he had no reason to. I also refused to not help, which he found hard to understand. He desperately wanted me to stay at the castle and out of the battle, but I took my personal guard and made my way. He called it suicide; I knew it was for love. He didn’t want his only son to ride off into a situation that was so dangerous, but I had no doubt in my mind.
When I arrived at the castle, I was surprised to see the Sanyek brothers there. I thought they would have been preparing for an attack given how events have unfolded over the course of the last few weeks. May father had given me the news about the failed wedding and I knew the Sanyek king was a proud man.
Our relationship with them wasn’t the best and my father never trusted them. While my father wasn’t power hungry, he always was the sense that they were. They had not long invaded another smaller kingdom to their west and increased their numbers. Even if they did have a good relationship with Bella’s father, I didn’t think they’d be too sentimental if they could sense an opportunity.
I wondered why Isaac and Ralph had stuck around, Bella had told me about the deal that they had tried to make with her which was unbelievably cheeky and she was right to turn it down. For me it looked like a weak attempt to invade the castle whilst making it seem as though they were doing a good dead.
They tried to take the castle through fear, rather than through force. It would have been a smart move if Bella was stupid, but she was far from it. Also there was John; he was suspicious of me which I thought was fair enough. He didn’t like my father by association and therefore didn’t like my presence at the castle. I vowed to him that I was here to protect the princess, and I think he believed me. He was a wise man and a great fighter; we needed to be on the same page.
I woke up very early in the morning and was doing my patrol, walking though all areas of the castle and wondering what this day would bring. I walked into the kitchen and I saw the one of the Sanyek soldiers hurriedly packing away items into his back and clearing the kitchen. He took one look at me and quickened his pace, trying to leave as quickly as possible.
“What have you been doing?” I said to him apprehensively. He ignored me, and kept packing his things away. One of the castle servants was in the room and informed me that breakfast had been made for the princess as a peace offering, and had been sent up to her.
I drew my sword and held it to the soldiers throat “Give me the bag” I said aggressively. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid or overly suspicious, but his manner gave cause for me to doubt his intentions. I pressed the tip of the sword into his throat as blood started to be drawn. He finally handed over the bag and I gave instruction for the servant to empty the contents onto the floor and go through them. There were a few food items and cooking tools before the servant found a bottle and showed it to me, it was poison.
There was no time for an inquest and no time for a trial, I pushed my sword into the soldier’s throat and watched him drop to the ground. “Make sure no-one finds out about this until I get back” I instructed the maid, as I needed to make sure that no alarms were raised. I placed my blood-soaked sword back into my sheath and ran as fast as I could up to the princess’ room. Surely I was going to be too late, my heart was racing and I was in a panic trying to get there quickly enough.
That’s the reason they stayed at the castle. If they couldn’t get the princess to silently surrender her castle, they were going to make it look as though she had died by natural causes and then make claim to a defenceless castle. It probably would have been a good idea but I presume they hadn’t considered that I’d be there.
Even if I couldn’t get to the princess in time right now, their plan had been foiled. There was no way I was going to let them take over this castle. Her room seemed so far away, I had never been so desperate to get anywhere as quickly in my life. I got nearer and nearer as I was fighting though my breathlessness, fighting to save my loves life.