Servitude

Chapter Twenty-Five

Our escape from the castle grounds and back into the woods was a lot easier than expected. Since Jacob knew the area, he managed to get us out without detection. It seems that the people of Earth needed the livestock because all the animals still roamed the fields. At this observation, Jacob took a chance and took us to a stable, where we collected two horses and raced our way out. Apparently, on a horse, it's a lot easier.

Nobody chased us, which I put down to there not actually being that many people in the area. They were so confident that everything would go right that they only had a small number of people in the kingdom, so they had no extra resources. It also helped that I had created a huge distraction that meant we had enough time to leave the vicinity.

Once we reached the woods, we went to a canter and tried to allow the horses to rest. We tried not to stop, but we had to for the horse to rest and eat enough to safely return us to the castle.

When we got to the exit of the woods surrounding the castle, we brushed the dirt and grass from us. We then made our way into the castle grounds.

On the grounds, we weren't greeted by anybody; in fact, the whole court area that led to the main castle was empty. Seeing as there was an invasion happening on the planet right now, I didn't understand why nobody was there. To be fair, they didn't know everything, but they were still attacked quite recently, so why leave yourself so open.

As the horse needed to rest, we made sure to find a place for them to eat, drink and sleep. After doing that, we ran up to the front gates and entered.

As the doors opened, we now saw where everyone who should have been outside had gone. It was so loud and busy that only one or two people turned our way when they heard the door go.

I didn't know where to go now I was in so I decided to follow the crowd.

They were all bunched near the big open doors that I was sent into when I first arrived here weeks ago. I was curious to know why everyone was gathered around the door and not inside. But when we got closer, I could see it was because it was packed to the brim, but as I'm technically a royal in the kingdom, I just barged in.

We waded into the room, finding the inside to be even more packed than I had imagined, but it seemed our presence had caused some kind of disturbance as we now had all eyes on us.

"Where have you been?" Came from a very angry-sounding woman. I couldn't see her, but I assumed it was Francesca. I walked towards the voice with Jacob trailing behind. She was standing in the centre of the room with her husband. They both had very disappointed looks on their faces.

"You don't need to answer that I already know where you've been. You disobeyed me and left even though I told you not too." She turned to look at her husband, and he took over.

"Daisy, we told you that you couldn't go. In this kingdom, our word is the last word." I looked at him with the most confused look ever.

"You have no power over me. I don't need your permission to help someone. I have only come back here to warn you." He sighed and nodded.

"We know. We have been threatened. They want our kingdom. We need to either give up and let them be the rulers of this whole planet, or we fight. Our kingdom is only slightly bigger than Jacobs was. We may have fighters, but we have reason to believe that we are outnumbered. That's what we were discussing before you arrived. We were trying to work out what was the best course of action to take." I looked around. They can't possibly be thinking of giving up. Did they forget they are not the only kingdoms that preside on this planet?

"What about the other kingdoms? Couldn't you join forces? After all, it's the whole planet they are trying to take. Earth is obviously becoming even more inhabitable, and they want another planet to destroy. You can't let them take here as well." When I spoke, I tried to address everyone in the room, not just Thomas and Francesca.

I found that Francesca was much more frustrated by my comments than Thomas, but he still held a sour face. I just ignored them both and took the raised platform next to them.

"This planet is separated by kingdoms, and it shouldn't be. I don't understand why you are all divided. Right now, the difference between you and the enemy is the fact that they have all come together to take this planet. Whereas you lot are debating on surrender instead of trying to find a way to come together and save the whole planet, not just your one kingdom. Who cares about royals and kingdoms? It's about keeping what's left of this planet alive. You need to fight back and give Earth a choice to either return to their own planet they destroyed or try to help them live in peace here. I know I am not your ruler, but I just returned from a kingdom where all their people have just been dumped in a hole. They don't care who you are! If you are royal, half or just a citizen. THEY DON'T CARE. They want to rule this place and will do whatever they can to achieve that. If you choose to surrender, I can promise you they will still kill you and not even bat an eyelid at it."

After I was finished, I was met with complete silence. But I don't think it's because they disagreed; I think it's because I gave off the power I had felt from Jacob when we first met. I could feel it emanating the minute I spoke.

When I looked at Thomas and Francesca's faces, I knew they had felt it too.

"Daisy, your right. You do not rule this kingdom. I do! My husband and I are Queen and King in this kingdom. It's our choice if we decide to surrender or fight. It's not up to you. So, I would kindly ask that you leave this room. If you decide to leave and help the other kingdoms fight the enemy, then I will have to banish you from this kingdom and my family. I will officially denounce you as my sister and of this royal family." I looked at her with pure disgust painted on my face.

"I can't believe you. You'd rather show power to your people by banishing and denouncing me instead of trying to save the kingdom you seem to run so poorly. I assumed all the royal bloodline rumours I heard were just another stupid myth, but maybe they are right because all you are doing is sending these people to their death and destroying the planet you have lived on your whole life. I guess I will be banished and denounced because I want to save the planet I should have called home from the people who took that away from me."

I got down from the platform and looked at Jacob.

"Will you join me in avenging your family and finally seeing the back of those monsters." Jacob looked up at Thomas and Francesca, then back at me.

"Hell, yes!"

"If any of you would like to join us, we leave now."

With that, we exited the big court-like room, grabbed our horses, and left the castle grounds. I was disappointed to see nobody had followed us but not surprised. You can give off power and authority, but that doesn't mean you've earned people's loyalty.

We had been walking just until we were far enough out not to still count ourselves in the kingdom when we stopped and let the horses graze, and Jacob spoke.

"Daisy, how are we going to find these Kingdoms and convince them to come together to defeat the people of Earth?" I looked him dead in the eyes and responded.

"Do you know the one thing I was lacking during my time on Earth? The reason I never fought back against the people who made me a monster? I never had a reason to fight. Well, now I do. This planet. I may not have a master plan, but I know with you by my side, we will find a way to take this planet back and unite it once and for all."

End of Servitude