My overflowing grief threatened to drown me in the cramped space behind stone walls and iron bars. How did it come to this? How could I not see what was happening under my own nose? What have I done? How could I kill an innocent man? I'm a monster just like those who set fire to my village years ago. Anguish's tight grip crushed my heart and lungs. Tears pricked my eyes while the legion of thoughts buzzed around my head.

"You've got to pull yourself together, Iskander. We need to find a way out of here." Calim's hands pulled at the arms that held my knees close to my chest and hid my face from his view. "This was not your fault. You were misled. You didn't know any better."

Swallowing the knot in my throat, I mustered the strength to reply. "I killed the High Priest even though he told me he didn't do it. I should have taken him in for questioning. Now, because of me, a family has been left without a father."

"Again, you were misled Iskander. The king gave you orders, and you followed them. Thinking you were doing what was right like you always have. It's just this time, the person that we all trusted the most preyed on that trust to do his dirty deed. This is all on him."

"Don't coddle me. I know what I did was horrible, and it's all my fault for not stopping to think before I acted. I have become jaded after years of war and let my anger and frustration get the best of me when I shouldn't have. I'm the Supreme Commander of this kingdom, and I should always excel in my position."

"You know that you're not perfect, right? None of us are. You made a mistake like anyone of us would have, and sadly it did cost the life of someone, but it wasn't due to your own doing. It was the king who lied."

You know that's not the truth. You came into that mission searching for blood, and you got what you wanted. You didn't care that the high priest was innocent. You are a brute, a monster like everyone thinks you to be. Too stupid to notice when someone is using you to get what they want. The nightmarish voice of my thoughts ran rampant inside my head. Blocking my ears to his words with deafening, grating whispers. "I should have seen it coming. He was acting strange before all this happened. I let my prejudice against the High Priest cloud my judgment."

"Iskander, you shouldn't feel th-"

"Why do you care how I feel? For all I know, you could be plotting against me too!" Calim pulled back and froze in shock at my outburst. "Are you really my friend? Or are you just pretending until you have achieved your goal?"

Calim sighed, "No, I am not just a friend. Like I said before, I am your brother. But I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Think whatever you want." His eyes betrayed his hurt, piercing another hole into my tattered heart. Why do I keep messing up? "We still need to get out of here. Do you want your wife and butler to be dragged to the capital like traitors? To be judged by that brat who is not very happy with you at the moment?"

A surge of adrenaline shot up my veins at the thought of Leyla and Benjamin being in danger due to my incompetence. "Leyla!" I jumped up to my feet and dashed to the door to run my palms over the wooden surface. Searching for a way to break out of the cell. "Darn! The doors have those new hinges without the pin you can pull out."

"I noticed, and even if they did have those. We will need to pray to Iz for some supernatural strength to get those out." Calim deadpanned and continued, "Listen, I was thinking about another way to get out of here. Let's say I pretend to be injured, and you scream for the warden to get some medical help. When they come in, we fight them, knock them out and run out of here."

"If it were that easy. We would have jailbreaks happening every single day. Also, even if they believe your theater-worthy performance. They will come in a group of six, armed with their swords, and would skewer us before we can set foot outside of this cell."

"Well, what else can we do? That's the only choice we have with at least a one percent chance of-" A heavy metallic groan interrupted Calim's words. Peeking between the iron bars of our cell door, we watched four dark silhouettes get closer.

"Here's our chance. Let's go with my plan," Calim whispered.

"No; Both, if not, one of us will end up dead," I whispered back.

"You traitors. How can you do this to your kingdom? Your king, you swine?" A familiar gravelly voice berated from the shadows. Fergus? "Anyways, I should also thank you both as now the Supreme Commander and Grand Commander positions are now available."

"Fergus, you don't understand-"

"I don't want to hear it!" He snapped and turned to the men at his flank, "Where's the key?"

"Sir, I don't think we're supposed to be here, let alone go inside the cell." Protested one of the young soldiers.

"Oh, come on. Wouldn't you like to get the opportunity to let out all your pent-up resentment on the person that has inflicted you with all-consuming anger for part of your life? This is my chance. This commoner bastard took away my opportunity to get further ahead in the ranks. I, a noble who has served the king for years, was snubbed for a poor nobody who came from the unlearned, useless bowels of the Vria countryside." His insult stabbed my already wounded heart. He's right. I am a nobody who didn't deserve the title.

"But, sir." Protested the other.

"This is not the first time I do this. You're new, so you might not know about this. But it's common for the higher-ups to do this kind of thing. We'll just rough them up a bit, and after, we'll say they fought amongst themselves."

The man lowered his brow in thought, and after a while, he gave a curt nod. "Alright."

"Good boy." Fergus smiled, took off his sword, and placed it beside the door. "Now, let's get these out of their reach."

When the men bent to place their swords next to the grand general's, Fergus' eyes locked into mine. With a subtle lean of his head and an eyebrow raise with a pointed look, he gestured towards the two soldiers. Wait, is he trying to help us?

The door opened with a resounding creak, and the three young soldiers walked in with a cautious gait.

"Fergus, I don't want to fight you."

Fergus smiled. "No, need to fear boys. The rumors about the bloodthirsty Supreme Commander are nothing but a fallacy. Look," His eyes flashed an apology, and a fist collided with my stomach, making me collapse and curl inwards in pain. "See? It's nothing but an act. That's why it was so easy to lock him up."

"You are a coward, Fergus. You know that, right? Fighting two outnumbered, unarmed men." Calim shouted, going along with his act.

"They're all bark and no bite. Go on, try it." Fergus urged the men to approach us, and the men stepped forward with eyes full of exhilaration.

"Seriously? You're going to listen to him, you bunch of idiots? You think you can beat us?" Calim's fists raised and squaring off; he shouted, "Come fight me if you dare."

The young recruits cornered Calim, and when they had their backs to me, I swept my foot and hit the back of their knees. The men crumpled to the ground, giving us the opportunity to wrap our arms around their necks and put them to sleep in a matter of seconds.

"We need to make this quick. They'll be up in a minute." Fergus muttered, dashing to the door to grab two swords. "Head left, then right, down the hallway, left again, third door to the left. That's the supply room. It has another door that leads to the outside of the castle. Here's the key. Now hit me."

"Wait, what? Why?" Calim asked while he helped me get back on my feet.

"No time to explain. Hit me." He responded and braced himself.

My spine straightened after the pain in my abdomen subsided. "What? No."

Grabbing me by my shoulders, Fergus pleaded, "Come on, Iskander. I need to protect my family. I need to protect Emmie. What I said before; was something I really used to feel, and, lucky for me, I was pretty vocal about it some years ago. So it will buy me some time." My eyebrows pushed together in worry. "I overheard your conversation with the king. And again, I don't resent you anymore, don't fret. I was being a dum-dum like my dear wife says. Now come on, hit me."

"Brace yourself, Fergus." Calim alerted before his fist connected with his jaw.

With a groan on his lips, Fergus straightened his back and braced for another impact. "Again." At his command, Calim's fist connected with his stomach. "Finish it." He wheezed.

Stepping behind him. My arms surrounded his neck. "Sorry, Fergus."

"No hard feelings here." Fergus panted, and after a few seconds of pressure on his neck, he collapsed unconscious to the floor.

Calim placed a sword in my hand and looked back at the groaning soldiers. "Let's go. They're waking up."

We sprinted out of the cell and into the hall. "Left, right, down the hall, left, left third door," I muttered, over and over.

Running to a thick wooden door, Calim outstretched his hand toward me. "The key." Chainmail clanked at the far end of the hall and he whispered, "Hurry!" Key in hand, he jabbed it into the lock, and with the turn of his wrist, it clicked open. Pushing through the door, we threw ourselves into the room. "I can barely see in here."

My hands came into contact with a cold wall. "Where's the other door?" We felt our way around the walls like blind men until my fingers scraped over a coarse surface. "I found it." The lock rattled as our hands groped the door, searching for the keyhole.

"I have the lock" A click and a thud followed Calim's words. My eyes were blinded by the sun's glare blasting through the open door. "If I'm not mistaken, the palace outside walls are not too far from here."

Making sure to always keep watch of our surroundings. We sneaked into the small patch of trees between the dungeon and the stone fence surrounding the palace.

One, two, three, four sets of royal guards patrolled the perimeter while we watched behind the shrubbery.

"They appear on this side of the enclosure in intervals of approximately three minutes. I think that's enough time to pull ourselves over the wall."

"But what about the guards at the other side?" Calim asked.

"We'll figure it out as we go. Because, if my calculations are right. They will sound the alarm to alert everyone of our escape in four minutes." The warning bell chimed, proving my calculations to be faulty.

"They're gone. Let's make a run for it." Calim's feet skidded on the soil as he sprinted towards the pale wall. With the momentum of his mad dash, Calim's feet pushed him a few steps up the stone barrier, successfully putting him in hands reach of the top edge of the wall.

In a less swift; and agile fashion, I mirrored his actions and pulled myself over the wall.

The guards at the other side were thrown into chaos by the bell's alarm rings and neglected to look over their heads to spot the two fugitives in question. We descended hard over their heads, knocking them down and out of consciousness.

Using the shadows cast by the buildings of the city as a cloak. We reached the main entrance of the capital, where a multitude of people huddled and skittered around the sidewalks in alarm. Scared of the daunting bell chimes that resounded around the city. "Did something happen? Are we under attack?" The city folk asked themselves. 

"It's been a long time since they rang those bells. It must be really bad. Can the walls protect us? We need to get out of here." Others muttered. Thankfully, the mayhem and the dwindling light of dusk obscured our passage through the city's fortified walls from the eyes of the guards.

Walking out of the road and into the shelter of the surrounding foliage, Calim muttered, "It will take us the whole night to reach your manor by foot."

"Then let's get to it. We need to get there before the royal knights arrive."

The sun had replaced the moon and stars in the sky by the time we arrived at my dukedom. Traversing the pathways in the woods behind my estate. We reached the manor in time to watch in horror as they dragged the people who I care about the most into wagons.

My voice rushed out of my lips in a tormented whisper. "We're too late." You always let the people who care about you down. All you do is stop and watch. My inner voice hissed.

Calim sighed at my side, "I'm sorry. We'll think of something and get them out as soon as we can."

"No. I won't just hide and watch my family be taken to their graves." Strong hands pulled me back before I stepped out of the safety of the trees.

"No, we won't allow that to happen. But we also won't do anything stupid and rash. We need to think this through first."

"We don't have the time!"

His hands shook my shoulders, clearing my turbulent thoughts and freeing some space for his words to sink in. "You know how slow the caravans are. We have at least a day to think of something before they arrive at the capital."

"Fine." I spat.

When the knights cleared the estate. We dashed inside the manor to grab a couple of cloaks and more weapons before we shadowed the string of wagons and cavalry into the outskirts of town.

Out of everyone's sight, we weaved in and out of alleyways and columns, searching for a way to free the innocent people in the wagons.

"Supreme Commander Iskander Nubilus and Grand Commander Calim Acoma are on the run after being accused of treason! Shocking truth or a vicious and cruel injustice? Read all about it in today's issue of First Light Chronicles!" Tommy shouted from his perch on top of the wooden crate at the town entrance.

"Damn! The civilians already know. Do you think they will turn us in if they saw us?" Calim whispered from behind the column next to mine.

"Most probably." My jaw clenched while I weighed the pros and cons of an attempt to walk through the entrance unseen; or turning back to my estate to cross through the woods.

"If we want to go through here, now is our chance. The dense morning foot traffic is at its peak now."

My gaze stayed on the wooden cart that seemed to dwindle more and more into the distance. "Let's go." Pulling our hoods over our heads, we walked into the inattentive crowd and tried to blend in.

The tight noose of anxiety loosened its grip around my heart more and more as we got closer to the edge of the town. Just a couple of more meters, and we are out.

"Sir!" A frigid cold sensation trickled down my spine when Tommy called from his place above the crowds. "Sir!"

His voice got closer and closer as I stood frozen in the middle of the sidewalk. Should I run? No, that's only going to garner even more attention.

"Sir! Would you like to have a copy?" The young man asked. "I'm sure that our story on page seven will be of interest to you."

Without turning my head in his direction, I responded, "No, thank you."

"I'm so sure you will like the story on page seven. That I'll give a copy to you for free today. What do you say?" My arm raised to wave him off, but the man grabbed my wrist and placed the folded sheets of paper in my hand. "Here you go. Page seven." As a reflex, I turned and caught the small upwards lift of the corners of Tommy's lips before he turned and ran back to his post.

Calim's voice materialized from behind me. "What was that?"

The pages trembled as I flipped through the newspaper. As soon as my eyes stumbled onto the number seven at the top of the page. I dropped my gaze to search through the sea of neatly printed letters where the handwritten scrawl of 'Elderly Care House' stood out on the margin.

"We need to check it out," Calim said from the side of my shoulder.

"It's a trap."

"I doubt it. If he wanted to turn us in. He would have done so already. Let's go." Calim turned to head to the house further inside the town.

"What about Leyla, Benjamin, and the others? We can't abandon them."

"Do you have a plan yet? Because I don't. Maybe the person who wrote this can help us and wants to do so. I say we go there and check what this is about."

"B-but." My head jerked towards the wagons and then to the road that led to the elderly care house as both choices pulled at my heart, threatening to rip it in two.

"Iskander, this is our best shot. Trust me." Can you trust him? The unsavory question rushed to the front of my mind. It must have reflected in my eyes because Calim instantly pulled back and frowned. "If you don't want to go, don't, but I will." He turned on his heels and stomped in the direction of the house.

Why am I doubting him? Shaking my head free of negative thoughts, I ran after Calim.

We reached the elderly care home in several minutes at our quick pace. Rushing into the porch, I knocked on the door. Hoping that whoever was there will help me get my family back.

The door opened with a creak, and Ms. Huxley's relieved face appeared. "Come in." The woman peeked outside and closed the door behind us after we stepped inside. "One second, Your Grace. I'll be right back." She said, disappearing into a room.

A woman dressed in loose clothing and a shawl over her head ran out of the room Ms. Huxley walked into. "Zander?"

The sight and sound of Leyla made my heart want to take flight. "Leyla." Running over to her, I took her in my arms, relishing her warmth and delightful scent of lavender and rose. "H-How are you here? What happened?"