They all knew they could do nothing. It was a war they were going to lose if they decided to fight head-on. Their people had been held hostage, and they had also been outnumbered.
Alicia and those who had been fighting alongside her were in the middle. Tyra and her group were at the other end, while the crying hostages were on the other side.
Alicia looked at the people beside her. Every one of them had blood all over them. No one could tell which exactly was from them and which was from the opponent. They were all severely injured. She didn't want to mention the many dead bodies all around them or the pungent smell of blood in the air.
Harvey had blood trickling down his head too. He had been knocked off his horse and sustained a couple of injuries. Lance looked like he would pass out any minute, and his father, who also had blood all over him, held his son up to keep him from falling. The same could be said about Williams and Lord Evan.
They were all hurt, yet they were trying to survive. But it looked like that dream was bleak now.
"HOWEVER, I WOULD OFFER YOU ALL A CHOICE TO SAVE YOUR LIVES..." Tyra offered as the rogues surrounding her made her path for her to advance towards them.
Tyra stopped her movement and looked pointedly at Alicia and shook her head, saying, "Only I get to be on a horse."
She wasn't negotiating with Alicia. It was a firm instruction that she wanted her on the ground just like the others. Not in a high position like her.
"You must have really low self-esteem," Alicia remarked, but instead of getting offended, Tyra let out a laugh.
"You won't be able to keep up with that attitude for long anyway." She said it with a confident shrug while still keeping her gaze fixed on Alicia.
Alicia looked around at all the lives that were in danger. She swallowed hard and tapped Hellion twice, who seemed to understand what she wanted and crouched down.
"Haha! What a great performance from a witch. Too bad you are only good at controlling animals. Oh... and causing windstorms that cannot stop me." Tyra said it in a mocking tone that made the rogues laugh in amusement.
Alicia was surprised the rogues even had the guts to laugh when so many of their brothers were lying dead on the floor. This just seemed to confirm to her that these people didn't care about brotherhood. Maybe the first group she witnessed outside the dungeon was the only one close enough to feel that.
She ignored Tyra's taunting and got down from the horse, waving for Hellion to go away, and the horse didn't waste time before it ran off. When a rogue tried to shoot at Hellion, Tyra glared daggers at him, and he put his arrow down, not understanding why she didn't want him to get rid of the stubborn horse that had caused them great trouble during the battle.
Seeing Hellion gone and Alicia reduced in height to a position where Tyra could look down on her together with the others, Tyra smiled and moved closer again to address them all. This time, she didn't bother to raise her voice too high.
"You are all members of this kingdom. We are one kind. And I am not a monster who would be happy to watch you all die." She said softly.
With that tone, she could have fooled everyone.
Even Alicia admitted she had been fooled too.
This was a plot twist she had not expected.
Seeing Tyra as a villain was still unbelievable for her. But it didn't change the fact that she was one.
"WHAT ELSE ARE YOU THEN?" Alicia asked in anger.
"What am I?" Tyra repeated the question and then looked at the others with an innocent look in her eyes.
"Do you blame me for what just happened?" She asked the other.
No one said a word. They were either too scared of the big men holding them in place or they were so filled with hate that they couldn't give her the attention she was craving. She had the upper hand here. They, unfortunately, had to admit it.
"It was her who caused all of this," Tyra said, pointing at Alicia.
All eyes turned to Alicia.
"There wouldn't have been a fight if you didn't intervene. People wouldn't have died. So everyone's death was caused by you."
Tyra was unfortunately getting into the heads of some of the frightened women who were crying quietly. Many noblemen disliked Alicia and had even locked her out of the palace, so now that they were looking for someone to blame, it would naturally fall to her.
"There wouldn't have been a fight if I hadn't intervened?" Alicia asked, laughing lightly in disbelief. "You brought in men with weapons and desecrated the palace. You had children arrested for nothing!"
"YOU BROUGHT IN THUGS!"
"THEY ARE MY ARMY!" Tyra yelled back at Alicia in anger.
"TYRA!!!" Sir Evan bellowed at her. If looks could kill, she would have been dead from the way he glared at her.
"What is the meaning of all this? This is treason." He said before his voice grew louder in anger, yelling, "YOU KILLED YOUR OWN PEOPLE!" He said in utter disbelief.
It had been back-to-back grief for him.
"Do you know what the punishment for treason is? Surrender now, and you may still be spared for this." He offered in a furious tone.
Tyra looked at him closely, and then she broke into a laugh. Her thugs, or rather, armies, joined in, laughing in amusement.
"Treason? Punishment? Surrender?" She chuckled and shook her head at him pitifully.
"Who is going to punish me, uncle?" She spoke in a challenging tone but still had a smile on her face.
"Even if no one can, as long as there is a Moon in the Sky, you will be punished for what you have done to... my family." A woman cried while looking at the dead bodies of a young lad and a man beside him, who had both joined the fight earlier.
Tyra followed the woman's line of sight. And it did look like she felt guilty. But that look only lasted for a second before she turned to the woman with a serious face.
"You will only find peace when you join them," Tyra said sadly in a sympathetic tone, and at the same time, the rogue behind her stabbed her from the back with his sword, piercing right through her.
Screams and startled cries filled the air as they all watched the scene in horror. The man drew back the sword that had impaled the stiff woman, who fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Tyra looked at the body on the ground as blood slowly surrounded her. She had an unreadable expression on her face. She wasn't laughing like a maniac, and she wasn't pulling her hair either. She just stood still and stared.
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