Fantasy | Monday Mash-up | Violence
Bloodshot
A Royal Message to Prevent War
Prompt: “A messenger delivering letters between a dwarven prince/king and elven princess/queen on opposite sides of an ongoing war.” Read the full Prompt here.
Martin skulked up to the servant’s entrance to the castle keep. Since the escalation of the war between the elves and the dwarves, it had become harder and harder to play the role of a neutral courier.
Luckily this time, the entrance was unguarded.
He had two black eyes — bloodshot from a lack of sleep — and a swollen lip, gifts from guards who didn’t think his message was worthy of passing the checkpoints, yet here he was — the guards were food for the crows now.
“Halt!” came a call from behind him. It was that shifty sergeant — the one who kept suspiciously following him everywhere. This time he failed to elude the soldier. “Halt in the name of the King!”
Martin raised his arms in surrender and slowly turned around. The Sergeant — a greasy, mustachioed fellow — stood an arm’s length away, brandishing a wooden mace. “Oh, no. You’ve caught me,” he said, his voice monotonous and devoid of emotion.
The Sergeant grasped his arms and forced Martin against the wall and began to search him roughly. He missed the concealed knife but managed to crush something squeaky, making it sound loudly in the crisp night air.
“What in the ten kingdoms…?” He reached into a hidden pocket and revealed a yellow rubber duckie, a cherished dwarven child’s toy.
While he examined it more closely, Martin produced his knife and swiftly went to work on the Sergeant, cleanly slicing his neck and stomach before stabbing the doomed elven guard in the heart.
It was too late for both of them now, he realized, as sounds carried in the night air. It would only be a matter of time before another guard came investigating and discovered the Sergeant’s body. He had to act fast if his mission was to succeed.
Martin climbed the stairs unseen and dodged a patrolling soldier, searching for his final destination. He gripped the bloody dagger tightly, wrapped in his cloak to avoid drops of red that might lead others to him.
He rounded the last corner — a guard!
Martin had little time to react. He could not escape down another passage; this was the only way into the Princess’ chamber.
Martin jabbed at the soldier’s throat, slicing his neck wide open and disarming the guard’s scream. He eased the guard onto the floor, then proceeded to drag him off into a closet.
Returning to the door to the Princess's chamber, he tapped once, three times, then twice more.
Princess Aurelu pulled open her door after undoing the heavy bolt securing it, revealing a dirty, bloody human man with a blade. While her eyes no longer afforded her sight, her divine gifts offered her sight of a more spiritual form.
She would have cried out, but he knew the password. He was a trusted Raven.
“My Princess,” Martin forced himself into the room. “I’m afraid that I’ve been found out. Take my letters; they are promises of your True Love’s devotion to you.” He took a bundle of leather-wrapped parchment and placed it in the Princess’s trembling hands, along with the rubber duck.
“You have delivered his tidings unto me?” she whispered. As she caressed the duck, her thoughts flashed to a gruff but handsome dwarven prince she had only met in her visions. “You have risked much to bring these to me. Shall I hide you away in my chambers until you can escape away?”
“No, my Lady, for there have been deaths this night, and I cannot continue as your Raven any longer.” Aurelu gasped, saddened that her guards died in their duty, unknowing why this infiltrator was even here.
“Sir Brooke is staying at the Armored Pigeon,” Martin went on, pulling out his bloody knife. “He will take over my duties as your Raven, you need only send word to him there. Now quickly, call out to the guards. They will find you vanquishing this assassin — ”
He plunged the knife into his chest. Aurelu cried out as she heard the knife penetrating his body.
“Oh, brave Raven,” Aurelu sobbed. “I shall send for this Brooke, and tell him of all your brave deeds in the service of peace. Be at rest now, my dear Martin.”
She could hear a group of soldiers climbing the stairs. She let out a scream. “Your sacrifice will not be in vain.”
The soldiers burst through the open doorway, immediately regarding a dead assassin with bloodshot eyes and the elven princess, her nightgown smeared with blood. “Assassins in the compound!” the lead officer called out, and ordered his men to comb every inch of the palace. “Princess Aurelu, are you unharmed?”
The sobbing Princess only nodded, taking great care to conceal the letters held in her hand.
Sometime later, after Martin’s body was taken away and the guards had removed themselves from her presence, did Aurelu remove the letters from underneath her bodice.
The symbols upon the parchment were raised, and as she traced their shapes with her fingers, she could read the words they represented, and she smiled, a joyful tear escaping her eye.
My dearest Princess Aurelu;
I have longed to speak with you again, but our fathers and their constant belligerence thwarts me at every turn. Your Ravens have proven themselves reliable and trustworthy couriers, though I worry for their safety as well as yours.
Please know that I am doing everything in my power to end this fighting so that we may one day be reunited.
Yours truly and eternally,
Prince Darmon
Hopefully, Martin’s spirit could rest knowing that he had helped the two warring nations come one step closer to peace, and all it took were two bloodshot eyes and a handful of corpses.
Aurelu rubbed her reddened eyes.
War was hell.
My score:
Points: 6/8
Prompt #2: 2 Points
Rubber Duck: +1 Point
Blind (The elven princess): +1 Point
Being Followed (The Sergeant): +1 Point
Bloody Knife: +1 PointI’d love to challenge Rayne Sanning and CleverandWtf to complete this challenge. Because why not?! :D