Nights in Rodan Ch. 00

Iona hurried to the throne room with Eleanor at her heels. She tucked her own black hair behind her shoulders and smoothed it down.

"Come child, your father wants to see us." Her voice wavered but she hoped the little girl didn't notice.

The small red head skipped playfully down the corridor, carrying her favorite doll in her arms. She twirled a circle in her pretty lilac dress and grabbed Iona's hand. Her wild hair hung loosely around her, the sides pulled back with a golden comb.

"Why does daddy want to see us?" her bright blue grey eyes implored.

"It's time for our trip my girl, remember what we talked about? You and I are going on a journey together." Iona reminded her.

"Yes! A trip! Do I get to take my pony?" she was very excited.

"Yes my dear, you can take your pony." She stroked the child's hair and took her hand again.

The guards opened the heavy mohagany doors to the throne room. There were tables along the walls covered with maps and diagrams. Men stood around them talking in hushed tones, arguing, and studying.

King Domnall Cormack stood at the head of the largest table discussing strategy with his General.

Eleanor wiggled her hand out of Iona's and ran to him. The large imposing man patted her head and waved the General off. He swept the child off her feet and above his head, Eleanor squealed in delight. She was such a joyful girl, always laughing and smiling. It was a stark contrast to the war preparations going on around them, Iona couldn't help but smile. Eleanor was the only bright spot in the King's life.

The last several years had been hard on everyone in Rodan, but the Druid king had taken them especially hard. His reddish hair was lighter now, and his blue eyes always looked tired. The death of his wife giving birth to their only daughter had devastated him as much as it devastated Iona, her best friend. Iona noticed the king looked especially haggard these days. The magic that once flowed freely through him and made him so powerful had been crushed by the weight of his grief. The Druid magic was all that kept the tiny kingdom of Rodan from being overrun by invaders, without it they were an easy conquest.

Their neighbors to the south had been trying to reach a trade agreement with Rodan for almost two years without success. They needed port access but the King refused to allow it. Many of his advisors had encouraged him to make a deal or sign an up to date treaty. The first treaty he signed almost 15 years prior had been for the marriage of his firstborn daughter to a son of the House of Mollach. Their allegiance had been called into question when an assassination plot was uncovered, and as a result King Cormack declared all treaties void. Domnall was convinced beyond a doubt that spies from Onaendra had been behind it.

The King held his daughter close, kissing and nuzzling her innocent face. Iona let them have a private moment. Mollach's forces were closing in, they'd be here in a few days. It was the last window of opportunity to get Eleanor out of the city safely.

"Daddy, why aren't you coming with us?" Eleanor pouted.

"I have important things to do here child, when the time is right I will come for you and we can live here together as a family again." he stroked her arm gently, reassuring her.

Iona knew it broke his heart to tell her that. The chances of his survival were dismal at best, they'd be overrun. Onaendra's forces were strong, and three times the size of Rodan's. This was the last stand, Mollach had already taken the southern plains and the western border, all that was left were the Eastern forests and the mountain pass to Proteria, a city as big as Rodan. It was rumored the lord of Proteria had already reached a deal with Mollach, total surrender. The King was angry but thought it would be safer for Eleanor there, where there would be no fighting.

"Iona, can I speak with you privately?" Domnall motioned her to him and put his little girl down.

"Go play in the corridor my dear. And remember, I love you as big as the sky." He whispered and winked at her.

"I love you as big as the moon!" Eleanor whispered back to him before scampering off.

"Take care of her Iona, and maybe with luck she will grow up and have a happy life." His eyes darkened.

"I will do my best Your Highness." She assured him.

"You have been good to her, and to Anne and I. I know you miss her as much as I do." He took Iona's hand gently.

"I do my King. It has been a pleasure to help raise Eleanor in her stead."

"No one could have done a better job my dear." He looked upon Iona and found it difficult to remember she was only 25. She had filled big shoes after his wife's death, she was family to him.

"Thank you, sir."

"You leave after sundown tonight." He was all business now.

"Yes, sir. Everything is ready."

"Good. I have to finish these plans. Give Eleanor another kiss from me." It was very unlike him to speak this way in the war room but he had always been a kind man.

"I will Your Highness." She turned to leave, and when the doors closed behind her she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Eleanor peered out from behind a tapestry.

"Child, come out of there. It's almost time for supper. And then, we go on our trip!" she tried to sound excited, for the child's sake. She was only 4 and couldn't understand the political upheaval that surrounded Rodan.

Eleanor stepped down and ran ahead of Iona, so innocent.

**

After supper in her quarters with Eleanor she sent the bags down to the stable to be loaded on horses. Only one man was accompanying them, Grinley. He'd been Queen Anne's trusted advisor and an accomplished warrior. They would arrive under the guise of a refugee family in Proteria, sending a convoy would be impractical and they'd be tracked down easily. Iona was very nervous; she sent Eleanor to her room to put on her traveling dress. It had been quite awhile so she decided to go check on her.

She was halfway to the princess' rooms when she heard shouting and men running down the corridors.

"To your battle stations men!" someone cried out.

Iona's heart pounded, Mollach's forces couldn't be here yet! She rushed to Eleanor's room and found it empty, save for a maid cowering in the bath.

"Where is she?" Iona demanded.

"I don't know, I came in to check on her and she was gone!" the maid was in tears.

There was only one place she could be at this time of night. The secret passage to the King's quarters, she was probably expecting him to tell her a story as he usually did.

Iona slipped into an alcove behind a tapestry in the corner of the bed chamber. She felt for the seam, to the untrained eye it simply looked like a natural space between the stones. She felt carefully, there it was! The air was being sucked in gently. She pressed and the wall opened quietly.

That stubborn child! She'd be the death of them both. She caught up to Eleanor quickly on the stairway to the King's bed chamber.

"We must go, child!" she hissed.

"No, It's story time!" she shook her loose red locks defiantly and pulled away.

"I will make a deal with you. If the King is in his room you can kiss him goodnight but if he isn't we have to go, immediately. And above all, we must be very very quiet." She pleaded.

Eleanor considered and finally agreed. They crept up the dank stairs quietly. The walls were covered in rivulets of cool water.

Iona peered through the crack in the wall while Eleanor wiggled in next to her to get a look too. A tapestry covered most of this passage but at the right angle a person could see most of the room. Iona knelt down beside the child and whispered, "he's not here."

Just then, there was loud shouting in the doorway. King Domnall crashed through the door, sword in hand. His arm was bloodied, it didn't look good.

"You're too stubborn, you'll have us all killed!" a man accused him.

Iona couldn't see the other man but she could guess what the argument was about. She put her finger to her lips and motioned for Eleanor to stay silent. Eleanor covered her mouth with her hands dramatically; her eyes wide in fear.

"I will make a stand for my kingdom!" the King bellowed.

"Mollach's forces are in our harbor and on our plains, we have nowhere left to go. We should surrender while we still have a chance! His forces are in the harbor and at the gates, we have no more time!"

"Over my dead body!" the King growled and lunged at the man they couldn't see.

Iona wanted to drag Eleanor away but she knew the child would fight her, kicking and screaming all the way.

The swords clanged together loudly, Eleanor covered her ears.

"You stupid old man," the disembodied voice accused. "you can't beat me!"

The King was shoved against the wall, he had run out of space. They could only see the traitor's back now, he took a cheap shot to the King's leg, cutting it from under him. He went down on a knee, Iona looked away and cradled Eleanor's face to her chest. She couldn't let her see.

She'd never heard a man die before, but she heard the sound of metal on bone knew it was over. She never did get a look at the man's face, he exited just as quickly as he'd come. The heavy door shut with cold finality.

The King lay sprawled on the floor, a deep wound in his chest, blood seeping out around his body onto the stone floor. Eleanor pushed open the wall and ran to him.

"No Eleanor, get back here!" Iona was terrified they'd be discovered.

She touched her father's hand.

"Daddy?" she looked him in the eyes but he didn't move. She shook him, "Daddy wake up, the bad man is gone now. Daddy wake up!" She pleaded with him to wake up and come back over and over again. Iona's heart was shattered.

She was crying but she scooped the child up in her arms and carried her back down the passage to a different door. This one led out the back courtyard where they were supposed to meet Grinley. The babe cried quietly in her arms the whole way there.

"The King is dead, "she choked out.

The color drained from Grinley's face, as he saw the child in her arms covered in blood.

"Is she hurt?" he asked her.

"No, It's Domnall's." she sobbed.

"Give her to me, she will be safer up here." He took the child from Iona and sat her up on his great black beast of a horse before swinging himself into the saddle. Iona mounted her own horse and together the three of them stowed away in the shadows of the city.

It was a city in chaos. Homes near the docks were burning, people were fleeing in every direction and soldiers marched the streets. They barely made it out before the entire place dissolved into insanity. Grinley pulled the hood on Eleanor's cloak over her head and face.

The girl didn't say a word for the entire journey. She barely ate and slept fitfully at best. By the time they reached Proteria she looked like an entirely different child.

**

No sex in the prologue. Please be gentle, this is my first submission to the site. The first chapter should be ready in a couple of days. I have written most of the story already but I am open to critiques. Enjoy.