Dark clouds were gathering outside the castle. The wind howled through the castle's windows. Nothing seem to be a missed in the eye of a passer-by. It just seemed to be an ordinary storm brewing.
" Are you sure you want to do this Tarika?" asked the king. The princess looked up. It had been a long time since someone called her that name. Even the king himself called her Princess Aaratrika, an ancient sanskrit name that the king had named his daughter in favour of his best friend who sacrificed his life to save him in a battle once. It was that day that the princess was born.
"Yes father, we have to take them down if not they will launch another attack and we will lose even more of our people. I am not losing anyone anymore" replied the princess. She walked to the window, the clouds continued to gather.
"We don't have to do this you know. I mean if we could just give them what they wanted they would not bug us anymore"
"WHAT? GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT AFTER WHAT THEY DID?" bellowed the princess. She turned to face her dad, her rage was seizing through her. She was fuming. "How dare you say that?"
"No dear, what I meant was..." The princess held out her hand.
I am not giving anyone anything. You were not there when it happened. I am not as merciful as you are father." She bellowed.
"But my dear..." The princess stopped him again. She quickly faced the window before the tears start tearing down.
"Please leave. I want to be alone" she whispered. The King hesitated. He wanted to hug his daughter and comfort her but he knew it was no point. She needed her time alone. He quietly left slowly shutting the door. The princess felt the door shut and collapsed and cried. she was devastated. She remembered the incident as if it happened yesterday.
She was kneeling at the willow tree when she heard a loud cry. Suddenly the carnival had turned into a death arena. It was chaotic and people were running and screaming. Arrows were being shot at people and for the first time she came face to face with death. She was confused when suddenly she felt a huge arm around her lifting her. It was uncle Mar on his horse. "We need to get out of here" he cried
"What's going on? Why are we being attacked?" the princess asked as she adjust herself up on the horse.
"It's the highlanders. They have launched a sudden attack. Apparently they knew that we were coming to settle the deed and have instead choosen to deal with us with brutal force."
" But it makes no sense. We have not even told them about our proposal" shrieked the princess.
"They are highlanders, barbarians. They would never listen to us" scrowled Uncle Mar. The princess kept quiet. Something did not make sense. When she was asked to settle the matter with the highlanders, it seemed their representative was more than happy to settle the matter over an agreement. Why the sudden change?
Uncle Mar rode on into the forest. It seemed very quiet. The clouds were gathering above. Uncle mar stopped suddenly and got off his horse. He brought the princess down and dragged her into a small cave. "Stay here until you see one of our men. Whatever happens don't come out. Keep mum" The princess opened her mouth but Uncle Mar bent and kissed her forehead. There was a certain sadness in his eyes, The Princess felt queasy. Uncle Mar walked to where the horse was. Suddenly, the princess saw horses and men appearing out of no where. They were dressed unusually with what seemed like rags and the men were wearing shorts and skirts. The princess chuckled. It was funny to see men in shorts and skirts. But stopped. Something seemed wrong.
"Where is she?" asked the tall roughed looking man in a funny ascent.
"I don't have to tell you anything" Uncle Mar replied.The men stepped closer to him.
"Look, spare us your patriotism to the King. You were once a highlander, you traitor. Now you cleaning the king's butt?" they laughed. The princess was shocked. Uncle Mar was a highlander?
"Better than betraying my own clan" replied Uncle Mar spitefully. The laughter stopped.
"Whatcha talking about?" growled the man again. Uncle Mar sneered.
"You dame well know what I am talking about. I am not the one that killed my own brother so that I can take over the clan. I am not the one that banished my own family from the clan so that I can have my own rule. Who you talking about as a traitor? Have not seen the mirror lately, have you?"
The man who spoke when forth and slapped Uncle Mar and there was blood running from his nose. The Princess blood boiled. she was so tempted to come out of hiding and give the man a good trashing. But Uncle Mar looked at her while turning to face the man again. From his quick glance she knew he wanted her to stay where she was.
The man laughed. "They are all gone. I am the true clan and no one can ever defeat me"
"I won't be that sure. Adlus' clan is growing and one day you would be defeated" Uncle Mar replied.
"I will kill them all before your best friend can defeat me. Now tell me where is the girl?" he asked again.
"Over my dead body!" he spat at the man's face.
"Then die!" he screamed. The princess watched in slow motion as the man took a sliver dagger and stabbed Uncle Mar. Uncle Mar spit out blood and slowly cumbered to the ground while the man whose name was Bart was laughing out a cruel laugh. The Princess cried silently as she watched her beloved family member died alone. She wanted to run and hug him but his words rang in her ears. She sat there watching him, slowly dying. It was nightfall before one of her soldiers came, by then the princess had no more tears to cry. The princess later understood that there was a change in the leadership of the highlanders and that Bart their leader was a violent man who wanted to conquer more lands for his own interest. His new target was the Princess and her family.
It has been a year since Uncle Mar's murder. The war against Bart and highlanders have been an on going battle. BUt the only difference was now, the princess was in charge. Uncle Mar's death made her change. She wanted revenge. She cancelled her own wedding, trained harder and went to battle. She was more violent than she ever was. She was still the happy normal person that she had been but when it came to war she transformed to Joan of Arc and there was no stopping her. Over a year, she became more focus and daring and buried herself to being a warrior rather than a princess. Her parents had given up hope talking about marriage and she told them if they did anything against her wish she would leave the castle and disappear.
The clouds grew darker and it started to drizzle. A knock on the door
"Princess Aaratrika, may I come in?" The Princess wiped her tears. It was her general.
"Please do" and turned to face her general
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