Page 29 of Her Royal Blood

“Why the hell not?” Anger bubbled chaotically in me as I questioned Hawk.

Hawk didn’t answer my protest, just stepped into the crowd and raised his arms.

“Stand down,” he shouted but they continued to advance while I grabbed Aria and held her to my chest. We fit ourselves into a crevice between boulders.

“This is ridiculous, we can fight them,” I scoffed, yet I’d only just barely recovered from the snake bite and Aria was’t yet at her full strength, I was being irrational.

We weren’t in any shape to fight so many.

“I said stand down. You’ll not hurt my queen and her mate,” Hawk shouted again with incredible dominance and command in his voice.

The prisoners paused long enough for Hawk to shift into his wolf and show a near feral display of gnashing teeth and hairs raised up from his back looking bigger and more menacing than any wolf I’d seen before him.

“We should get ready to shift,” Aria said, with fight still left in her. “He needs back up.”

Then much to our surprise the prisoners backed down, some of them even cowared.

“He’s got them,” I said to Aria, stunned.

Hawk shifted back and glared at each and every one of the prisoners.

“She’s our queen and Lex is her prince. You hinder our escape and you stop your own. Polonius will promise you a place by his side, but he’ll give you death as a reward. Fight against him, fight for the queen of Onyx Rah and you will see your families again. Let us go so that we can liberate you,” Hawk was a very convincing orator. “We haven’t the ability to take you now, but if you go with Polonius I promise you will face death at the hands of a brutal tyrant’s apathy and disregard. Play dumb, tell them we escaped without anyone seeing us and I promise, and you know my word is good because I’ve saved most of your families, we will free you all.

“There’s no way off of this island,” one of the prisoners spoke.

He must have been someone familiar with Hawk because he wasn’t being argumentative, just pragmatic.

“There is, but only for the three of us. We will return. Train. Get strong, be prepared for battle and do not let Polonius take you in. If he does, you’re not on his side. Use your position to sabotage him at any moment it is safe. Protect Queen Aria at all costs, keep her informed, keep her guarded, even the proxy in her stead deserves your cover. We were wrong. Choosing to fight for the tyrant will only see our families destroyed and our lives ended. Queen Aria will provide you a better life, you have my word, on my honor and my blood.” Hawk bowed to the prisoners who bowed back at him.

“Let them go,” the prisoner who was a friend raised his chin. “And our brother will return for us.” He nodded to Hawk.

“On my life and name,” Hawk responded.

“Then we hail your Majesty,” the prisoner said to Aria as she emerged from the rocks.

“And I shall welcome you and your families to Onyx Rah. Fight by my side or play a vital role in our kingdom, all I ask is that you give to each other and support one another so that our kingdom will thrive.” Aria was fair and gracious, a true monarch. “What Hawk says is true. Let us leave and when we come for you, you will have sanctuary and a future in Onyx Rah as long as we defeat the tyrant!”

“Let them pass, guard their backs as they go.” A prisoner spread his arms wide shielding us as we walked past them.

Hawk clapped the man on the shoulder as he walked by, “you’ll not regret this.”

And that was it, we made our way to the lagoon by nightfall and saw the smoke signals from the boat. We couldn’t return their signal, but we did guess they were a few hours away from our location. We ate the few berries we were able to gather and Aria conjured stew, enough for us to fill and warm our bellies before we dovefrom the tall cliffs into the ocean below. We said nothing more than words of gratitude to Hawk as we tuckedourselves away after eating, taking the few brief moments we had to rejuvenate before making a death defying plunge. Both Aria and I had already taken similar plunges, me down the Angeline falls and her in a lava pit. We could do this.

Chapter 11

Aria

We waited a few hours for our ship to get close enough. When we could see it on the horizon, Hawk, Lex, and I, having eaten the stew Aria had conjured, we were full and had enough nutrition for the journey. After sleeping for a few hours before spotting the boat, we rose to our feet and scanned the area for any prisoners or guards. We knew that the altercation with the prisoners prior would not have led to guards being alerted to our whereabouts because Hawk guaranteed us that he had the prisoner’s loyalty.

He had rescued many of their families from Brahman's Peak and they owed him their gratitude and allegiance. I tried not to look at the long steep fall ahead of me as we would have to dive from the cliffs into the lapping water below. Luckily the water had risen during high tide and was deep enough to jump in without injury.

Since there was no way for us to alert Derringer of our location we would have to swim fast enough to reach the boat in time to signal them from the water. Our greatest danger was the two Crypt Claw ships flanked on either side of our boat which had been trailing them. Derringer knew their boat would eventually spark the Crypt Claw’s interest. He had the ability to power the boat away with a small motor which would get us outof the way of their canons. The most critical time would be trying to fish the three of us out of the water while still within firing range.

“On three,” Lex said as we stood on the edge of the cliff.

“On three,” I confirmed with my heart thundering through my throat.

“One, two, three, go!” Hawk said out loud and we jumped without hesitation.

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