She breathed in deep, a brief pause in the conversation, before she asked in a slightly less crazed tone, “Well, what makes you so sure it’s her?” She stared at me intently, as if dissecting every part of me with her mind.

The man began to explain but she interrupted. “Wait no,” she said suddenly, very calmly raising her hand and looking back at the man. “We can’t do it. I do not doubt your wisdom,” she paused and bit her cheek before forcing the word out, “friend, but we shan’t try anything as dangerous as that.”

“That is not for you to decide!” The man shouted angrily while the queen backed up in surprise.

Then the man looked regretful and started to say, “Aurora, look, I–”, but didn’t get the chance to finish.

“Guards!” The lady yelled. The man stood in shock as four guards came into the room. With a pained look, she said “I am truly sorry for this, old friend, but I can’t risk you trying anything…”

His shock only lasted until two of the guards seized his arms, which unleashed the man’s true self. He whipped his arms right from the guards’ grips. Then, grabbing their arms, he bashed them into each other, leaving them lying unconscious on the stone floor. Before the other two were upon him he managed to draw his sword.

“Guards! Hurry! The Throne Room!” the queen said with a new look of power and control, but fear still shook her voice.


Both guards looked very uncertain, as if they knew they couldn’t beat him. The first guard took a chance and thrust, only to find that the warrior parried with ease and sent his sword skittering across the floor. The warrior raised his sword to the first guard’s chest. The first guard backed up slowly before running for help. I noticed then that the warrior held back, not letting loose his full skill. It became clear that he didn’t want to hurt anyone; he just needed to do what he thought necessary.

No one else had come yet and the second guard looked completely lost with what to do. He yelled as he charged blindly towards the warrior. The man brought his hilt down upon the guard’s head, but only hard enough to knock him out.

The warrior took a second to look into the queen’s wide eyes, “I’m sorry, Aurora.” Before I noticed it, he had already snatched me up, shifted me to his left arm, and bolted through the large oaken doors, his sword raised high in his right hand.