Malignant Siege

Three thousand warriors drew their swords for a war they would not win. The enemy force before them was strong, overpowering in their number. They charged at the warriors across the red, darkened field, swarming over the three thousand.

They held their ground, the weight of their sworn duty keeping them from faltering. The warriors had been sent by the king and queen to protect the princess and her kingdom from the traitors who grew and spread throughout it, seeking to bring an end to the princess’s young rule. They’d swarmed across the kingdom, infecting it with their influence and causing more of her subjects to turn against her. It was all the king and queen could do for her against their enemies.

The traitors flanked the three thousand. They came storming in from all sides. The reddened field churned beneath their onslaught, and the three thousand ran to meet them. Their cries filled the dark space, the princess’s name sounding over the battle loud enough that stories would later say it could be heard throughout the kingdom.

Sword met sword as the warriors clashed with their enemy. Steel against steel rang through the darkened air. The warriors’ strength was high at the start, and they held off the traitors for many hours, slaying some just as valiant knights would slay an evil dragon.

But the battle raged on for many days, and the traitors were just too many for the three thousand. For every foe brought down, five warriors fell shortly after. Though they managed to destroy a few of them, it wasn’t enough. The warriors were overwhelmed until only one remained standing on that red field in a sea of evil. Ones who had once been his friends and brothers were allied against him. He fought until his last breath.

“Do you understand, Miya?” the father asked the little girl before him. It was hard to meet her young sunken eyes looking so intently at him, but he had to. There had been a time when he couldn’t pull his eyes from hers, back when she was born.

Miya just sat in the bed, holding a teddy bear worn from numerous hospital stays. She shook her small head, now with only the faintest wisps of her blonde hair. She didn’t like wearing the scarf her mother had bought her, even if it did have unicorns on it. 

“You remember those needles they gave you, princess? With the warriors in them?” He took her pale hand into his own. 

Miya nodded. “I didn’t like them,” she said, grasping her teddy bear a little tighter.

“I know, but they were medicines,” he said.

“Medicine to make me better?”

He nodded, willing the words to come. “But it didn’t work, princess. The warriors they gave you couldn’t stop your cancer.”

There were no more words left to say. Miya sat, clutching the ragged bear she’d been given when she was two. It had been brand new back then. Her mother stood just by the bed, straining against the tears building in her eyes and yearning to look away so Miya wouldn’t see her cry but not daring to lose a second more of looking at her little girl. Her father stared at the small hand in his and thought it was growing frailer by the day until it would be nothing but bone in the end. 

With the last warrior gone, the traitors were free to continue their plot against the princess. They ransacked her kingdom, inflicting pain and suffering in every corner. Her kingdom turned against her, one citizen after another falling to the infectious influence of the enemy. 

Only the king and queen remained allied with the princess in her throne room, surrounded by the traitors seeking her head. They, who had been guardians of the princess since the day she was born, stood helplessly as the betrayers slammed at the doors. They were not warriors. Neither possessed the training or the power to defend the one they loved from this siege.

The door splintered inward, fragments scattering across the floor. The traitors, like a fiendish mass, writhed at the threshold. Foul, tainted screams reverberated through the room, announcing their impending victory over the princess. Her head would be theirs tonight. 

There was only one last thing the king and queen could do. They pulled the princess into a tight embrace as the traitors swarmed into the room and overwhelmed them all.

About the Author

Rebecca Hane is an English major in the Creative Writing concentration. She has a deep love for all things science fiction and fantasy. In her free time she loves to read as well as write fiction, watch her favorite movie and TV shows, and play video games on her very out-of-date consoles. She is currently in the process of writing a fantasy novel or two, with several Pinterest boards for future projects. In the future she hopes to be a published novelist with a side freelance proofreading and editing business.